Thursday, June 28, 2012

Health Care Debacle

This is a sad day for America and America's freedoms.  The Affordable Health Care Act is a bill that was passed against the will of the American people.  It is still against the will of the American with 67% of the population believing the individual mandate is unconstitutional.  It was passed with representations by Obama and his administrative thugs that it was NOT A TAX.  The word tax is not mentioned anywhere in the legislation, and was never mentioned at any time until it got into the courts.  Yet that is the basis upon which Justice Roberts cast the swing vote affirming this monstrosity.
All of the representations made by Obama have been lies.  He said your insurance rates would go down...not up.  A like.  He said you can keep your insurance if you have it and like.  A lie.  He said there are no death panels.  A like.  This bill represents the essence of Barack Obama, and ideologue who will lie and cheat and bully to get what he wants, and we are left to pay the price.

Those in Obama's scope of "friends" will receive exemptions from Obamacare.  This will be crony capitalism on steroids.  He will maintain his enemies list, and not be afraid to use it against those who defy an Imperial Presidency never before seen in this country. As for the rest of us, get ready for the do-gooders.  Government will now intrude in every aspect of your life with health care as the excuse.  The American public has NO IDEA what will be coming down the pike.  If you want a sample, look at what Mayor Bloomberg has done in New York City.  Latest "health" related edict is the elimination of cranberry juice is schools because it has too much sugar.

Unless this bill is overturned, you will be forced into mandatory weigh ins, taxes on "unacceptable" foods; forced into purchasing goods that are determined to be socially acceptable as Obama and his intrusive government continue to the force a path to an oppressive governmental dictatorship in ways beyond you can imagine. 

Now it is time to stand up and say enough.  This election will determine the future of the United States in ways not seen since the Civil War.  If Obama and his regime are allowed to stand along with this massive piece of beaurocratic pastiche, then we are not only on our way to European style socialism, we are already there.

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Obama's Lore

The birther issue has gone away for now.  I am sure it will be back.  It has been trivialized by the liberal press, and somewhat marginalized by the conservative press.  It has been characterized as being "dirty" or "whacko" with the proponents of the issue vilified to the point of irrelevance. 

Unfortunately, the real message about the birther issue has been lost across the board.  We will never know as long as Barack Obama is president whether he was born in Hawaii or Kenya.  The folks in Arizona seem to have been placated by information sent to them by Hawaii.  But the investigation by Sheriff Joe Arpaio still raises many questions. 

Notwithstanding, we have established one thing: Barack Obama is a liar.  He has either lied to the American public in his election bid, or he lied to his public when trying  to sell his book.  One way or the other, he lied.  And that goes to the character of the man who is aloof, elitist, and seems above the law.  Do you want a liar as President?

In 1991 his literary agent Acton and Dystel published at a great expense biographies of those authors it then had under contract.   Obama was to write a book for them entitled Journeys in Black and White.  It its promo piece it stated that Obama was born in Kenya and raised in Hawaii.  Others in the promo booklet included Ralph Nader, Joe Montana, and Tip O'Neill.

Breitbart News broke the story.  It reported that it had no luck in talking with the agents directly involved.  But that sources told them that the non-athletes under contract most likely approved the content of their bios prior to publishing.  Notwithstanding, nothing was done to change or correct the content of the promo.  I would guess that a person with Obama's ego more likely than not had more than several copies lying around, no pun intended.  

This story has been in the news for a few weeks.  Breitbart News stated that it believes that Obama was born in Hawaii.  But content aside, how come we are only now just hearing about this?  Where was the investigative press in 2008?  The Washington Post ran a story about how Mitt Romney hazed a classmate when he was in high school...and they couldn't find this?

The fact that these issues continue to flow beneath the surface shows that whether or not Obama was born in the United States still is an important issue.  For most of us, it's irrelevant because too much time has gone by and nothing can be done anyway.  Conventional Wisdom has made its decision.

That being said, I still cast a jaundiced eye to the story concluding that Obama is either a liar or incompetent...or both.  It is clear that he was a pothead in his youth.  It is clear he associated on a regular basis with known radicals, some of them violent.  It has now been disclosed that his love interest in Dreams of My Father was non-existent, rather an amalgamation of various girls he dated, a standard literary trick for sure...but one not expected of the President of the United States. And it is clear he either lied to either the American public during the campaign, or to his potential book purchasers back in 1991.

Playing fast and loose with the truth is a political hazard to all politicians.  Look at the babe in Massachusetts running for Senate claiming she is a native American...and she isn't.  She is still making those claims...and the press lets her get away with it.  It's in her "family lore", she says. 

What is Obama's lore?  And what is the truth?  We will never know until he is out of the White House and the press comes to its senses once again.  I only hope it is sooner rather than later. 

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Religion and Broadway

The Tony Awards is the only award show I watch on television. Minor awards are given out pre-show, leaving only handful of the “Best” awards for the broadcast, including best musical, best play, best actor, and best actress. We are treated to a series of blockbuster acts from the best of the best that Broadway has to offer while blessedly relieved of having to sit through best supporting script writer who also does stage lighting awards. It is the best promotional show on television. I usually end up scheduling a trip to New York after watching it!!!

This year was interesting. A plethora of revivals showcases the fear investors have of the new and unproven. Even stage plays featured revivals like Death of a Salesman. New musicals included the award winner Once beating out Leap of Faith, Newsies, and Nice Work If You Can Get It. Even these shows demonstrate timidity, with Leap of Faith being based on Steve Martin’s tour de force movie from 10 years ago, and Nice Work based entirely on Gershwin tunes.

But what really surprised me tonight was a plethora of Broadway shows with a religious theme. There were revivals of Godspell and Jesus Christ Superstar; Leap of Faith ( now closed) based on a traveling evangelist who runs into a real miracle; and last year’s Tony winner The Book of Mormon, an irreverent look at the Mormon religion.

I find it somewhat ironic that Broadway…that hot bed of liberalism…is still fascinated with religion, which is viewed a forbidden fruit by some. Three of these musicals are straight forward attestations of faith. In the now closed Leap of Faith, Rev. Nightingale runs a scam on Kansas farmers telling them he can make it rain to break a drought. He dummies up a fake Christ on the Cross with tears of blood streaming down from Jesus’ eyes. In the process, he crosses paths with a crippled boy who believes what the good Reverend is peddling and later walks without his braces or crutches. Faced with a true miracle of faith, Rev. Nightingale runs away to come to terms with his personal belief system

Jesus Christ Superstar is a moldy oldie from the 1960’s rock opera days. It has held up well. Jesus’ crucifixion is viewed through the eyes of Judas, who is the storyteller and cannot come to terms with Jesus combined humanity and divinity. The music is outstanding. I Don’t Know How To Love Him is probably the most famous tune from the show. It is sung by Mary Magdalene as she wrestles with the same issues facing Judas. The song ends with her concluding that despite what she has seen, He is just a man.

Written in 1971, Godspell is based on the Gospel of Matthew. Like JC Superstar, there is a variety of styles of music, but it is far less intense and you leave humming Day by Day to help get you through your life. It is a feel good musical and favorite of local theater groups.

I’m not sure why the resurgence of religious themed plays and musicals is happening now. It costs a lot of money to see any of these shows. I find it fascinating that when times are tough, and attendance in mainstream Protestant churches is down by almost 35% from the attendance high point set in 1965, that these types of entertainments can be successful. But they are, and they are winning awards as icing on the cake.

Faith in America is an enigma. While we are surrounded by secularism, our souls are still looking for the sacred. Maybe Broadway is a strange place to look. But in this day and age, any port in a storm.

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Governor Walker Triumphant

Governor Walker’s victory in Wisconsin tonight should be a warning sign to Barack Obama in the upcoming Presidential election. At the end of the day, the American people understand debt. They also understand when they are getting screwed. They will not tolerate a bureaucratic governmental class that has become the new upper middle class in America at the expense of working Americans in the private sector. This is the true class warfare: the political class vs. the working class.

Notwithstanding, this is NOT a referendum on Barack Obama as the media wants us to believe. It IS a referendum on middle class taxes. More than 48% of working Americans pay no federal income tax. What they do pay are state income taxes, state sales taxes, and local property taxes…all of which go to pay state and local government employees. The excesses in the pay rate, benefits, and pensions are directly related to taxes paid by everybody. Taxes that go to pay state and local public employees are regressive in nature, hurting the poor and lower middle classes more than the demonized 1%. These are the folks that voted in today’s election.

Property and sales taxes are at an all time high. The arrogance of the public employee unions in Wisconsin is staggering. And the Democratic elected officials who support them, and left the state to avoid a debate on the issue, should be ashamed. Public employee unions are the backbone of the Democratic Party political contributions, and the Democrats owe them big time. But don’t tell the poor private sector guys, many of whom are working at minimum wage, that the sales and property taxes have to be raised to pay even more to the public employee unions. Sooner or later folks are going to wise up. As the saying goes, don’t piss on my leg and tell me it’s raining.

Although the premise of this essay is that the Wisconsin election is state and local in nature as opposed to national, it also shows that the American public can add. Most people understand there is no free lunch. Somebody pays somewhere. People understand debt. They understand massive amounts of debt. And Barack Obama will learn in the fall that Americans don’t believe him when he says somebody else will pay the trillions and trillions of dollars of debt he has added to this nation’s financial burden. ALL AMERICANS will be paying for this fiasco for the next 100 years. Especially since the ones who benefited the most from the massive amounts of spending were…public employee unions.

And here is the dirty little secret. Public employee union members know it. Since Governor Walker’s reforms which included the state government no longer deducting union dues from employee pay checks, public employee union membership has dropped more than 50%. It will be interesting to see if the election gurus can determine how these folks voted in the recall election.

At the end of the day, it’s not nice to fool Mother Nature….or the American public!!