Christmas Movies

I am a Christmas movie junkie.   So pardon me if I don’t join the chorus of those complaining about the early start of the Christmas season, at least as it applies to movies.  Both Lifetime (“It’s a Wonderful Lifetime, not to be confused with Fa La La La Lifetime) and the Hallmark Channel (Countdown to Christmas) started mid November, and even sneaked a few in when you weren’t really looking in September!!

These are wonderful examples of cinematic skill…alright, most of them are crap.  They are mass produced in the middle of summer.  Each network is introducing at least 12 new movies this season to add to a library of hundreds upon hundreds of cheesy made for television Christmas movies.  But when the world is going to hell and back in a hand basket, you can turn them on and veg out…better with a whiskey.

The plots are all the same.  Save the town.  Save the Library.  Save the small shop.  Save the farm.  Save the ski lodge.  Save the Christmas resort.  Save the soup kitchen. Stop those big, bad greedy corporations. Who needs money?  They are always saving something or pontificating on corporate evil doers.

The protagonists all have glamorous or cutesy jobs.  They are writers or run small bookstores or bicycle shops or bakeries or diners or Christmas stores.  Then there are the  female fashion designers or advertising execs and the lawyers…all home after their studly, rich beaus have dumped them or overworked or were inconsiderate or died.  And that’s just the women!!!!

Ahhh, the women!!! For all intents and purposes they are, shall we say, bitchy.  These are empowered women.  And the men slink around exuding compassion and patience until these femi-nazis finally realize they cannot live without the boy next door who grows and sells Christmas trees for a living and was dumped by the dumb babe 10 years earlier.  Now the dumb broad wants the guy back  I am yelling at the television for him to get out now!!!!

Did I mention there is a high rate of widows and widowers in these movies?  Yes, Jim was killed in February leaving me to run the business and raise three bratty kids on my own.  Yes, Betty died of a strange illness in March leaving me to run the house and raise three bratty kids on my own.  Forlorn looks abound as we gaze into the falling snow.

Which is falling on maple trees with all of their foliage!  Yes, it may be Christmas in the story, but the movie was filmed in July.  You can put all the scarves you want around the necks of the cast, but it can’t hide the fake snow on the rose bush in the background.  In one movie, the snow on the ground was in the form of a blanket. The actress’s foot got stuck in it and she tripped moving across the set.  I almost wet my pants!!!!  They didn’t even try to edit it out!!  Hey…it’s August and this thing needs to get on the air by October and under budget.

But I digress.  Back to the bratty kids.  Geez Louise, I want to stick a sock in some of these kids’ mouths.  Oh, the wisdom of youth.  One little sweetheart was telling her father to find his happiness by following his heart.  Really?  She’s ten.  What the hell does she know?  The parents have to come to terms with their spawns infinite wisdom.  Give me a break!!!  A good swat across some of their rear ends would do more to move the story line along than anything else.  Shut up and go to bed.

That being said, I watch these suckers night after night.  But every now and then a good movie comes along.  You can tell because it is filmed in the winter.  But some of them are more than moving.  Those are gems that make Christmas movies worthwhile.  My favorite? A Christmas Visitor with Meredith Baxter Birney and William Duvane.  It’s about their son killed while in the service, and a mysterious visitor that shows up at their house several years later.  Get out the Kleenex for this one. 

So, turn on the television.  Put your feet up.  Pour yourself a VO on the rocks.  Watch a holiday movie. Then go out and save the town.  

All Hail King Obama

All Hail King Obama.  Since his re-election engineered by a compliant press and ginned up employment figures, Barack Obama has slowly but steadily lost ground in the court of public opinion.  His approval ratings are in the toilet.  This has been to a series of scandals including seizing records of conservative reporters, using the IRS as a tool to punish political enemies, the fiasco in Benghazi where Obama repeatedly lied and continues to lie as to what happened…and it wasn’t due to a video, and now the complete Obamacare meltdown.  Any one of these things would have led to the impeachment of any other President.  But with race as his shield, Obama has managed to stay afloat, at least for now.

The great Obamacare lie about the “Affordable” Care Act is scaring the hell out of the Democratic party, especially those Senators up for re-election. They should be scared.  Obama lied.  Pelosi lied.  Harry Reid lied.  And those Senators up for re-election lied to their constituents. This is the pinnacle of looking for the good of the party rather than the good of the public.  They should be punished.  Unfortunately, there is no easy fix.  Plenty of Americans will be paying the price of Barack Obama’s ideological wet dream.

But these ideological nut cases are not easily deferred.  They know the jig is up.  They know their days are numbered.  So they decided to go on a shopping spree and open up the wallet that was partially guarded by the Senate filibuster.  The filibuster has been around for 200 years. It is even immortalized in a Jimmy Stewart movie: Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.  You don’t hear that movie discussed now.  The Senate filibuster protected the rights of the minority.  It made the Senate the most prestigious elected body in the world.  But it stood in the way of Obama’s ideological and patently unpopular agenda.  So this past week the Democratic majority in the Senate eliminated one of the main safeguards against the tyranny of the majority.  It in effect made the Senate a parliament. 

This is Obama’s method of operation.  As all leftists do, they trash the safeguards against their ideological, elitist agenda to push through what they know is good for you.  There is a reason worker paradises are dictatorships.  It’s because what they want is against human nature. The unclean population must be controlled. And so they begin to reign by fiat.  When criticized they say elections have consequences.  What they don't say is how the lied and cheated to win the election.  This is how they do it in Central America. 

Thus goes Barack Obama.  He is bypassing that useless legislature.  He is trashing perceived obstacles.  He is suspended this law and implementing that law and suspending this senate rule and imposing another environmental rule.   He is doing nothing less than destroying the rule of law.  All Hail King Obama. He knows what’s best for you.

Even the press is growing weary as he moved to restrict access to White House events to the press just as he has ended White House access to the public under the guise of the sequester.  He WANTS it that way because he is way too smart and important to deal with the likes of us.  We are an irritant to his intelligence and inspiration.  He shouldn’t have to answer to anyone.  He just goes along as if there is nothing wrong.

Well folks…there is something seriously wrong.  Unless people get off of their duff and begin to pay attention, we will be living in a banana republic sooner than you think.  It’s time to pay attention.  The life of our Republic and the foundation of the Rule of Law is being supplanted by King Obama.  We should be very concerned.    

Rapists and Thugs: The Collapse of Rule of Law

Two cultural phenomenan are threatening America today.  Both came to the forefront in what turned out to be relatively minor stories reported in the news. The first is related to the bus beatings in Florida a month or two ago.  Three black teens beat up a white boy on a bus as the driver followed school procedures and called the police rather than intervening himself.  These teens just about killed this boy, who was injured and has since transferred to another school.  The teens were sentenced to....get this....probation and anger management courses.  You've got to be kidding me.  In addition, there will be random drug testing and for sixty days they will have to wear an ankle monitor.   Oh ya...they are not allowed to contact the victim. 

I don't know what happened here.  If the race components were reversed these kids would be charged as adults and be saddled with a Federal hate crime rap.  This kind of punishment is inappropriate and insulting to the victim and the rest of us.  These kids were dealing drugs in a school.  They should expelled and sentenced minimally to a juvenile facility until they are twenty-one, both for the sake of the victim and their own good.  Maybe they might get an education.  I suspect that there may have been a problem with the testimony of the victim and a reluctance to go forward out of fear.  Who knows?  The coverage, however, was minimal even on Fox News...and that's too bad.  No wonder the Zimmerman's of the world feel they have to be out on the streets.

The next outrage took place in Billings, Montana, where a 49 year old teacher was charged with raping his 14 year old student who later committed suicide.   He pled guilty and was sentenced to...are you ready...30 days in jail with credit for time served.  The judge, in his comments attending the sentencing, referenced the young girl's sexual demeanor...she was old for her age. 

This wasn't a "rape" rape.  It may very well have been consensual with the statutory rape statutes coming into effect.  The victim, however, was troubled.  The teacher used his counseling role to nudge the young lady into bed with him.  The reports did not say whether Montana has a mandatory sentencing statute applied to teachers who have sex with their students.  Prosecutors are upset and are frantically looking for some way to appeal the decision, but are coming up empty.  The judge has since "apologized" in one of the more bizarre videos I have seen as of late. 

The collapse of rule of law, political correctness, and the growing tolerance for abhorrent behavior in our country is growing.  It contributes to the disgust of Americans as the government ramps up its surveillance of all Americans while letting the bad guys get away with just about anything.   

And you wonder why our country is going down the toilet!!!

Egypt Burning

I wrote several weeks ago that Egypt is the front line in the war against Islamists.  This past week as the tension and violence in Cairo has escalated I have watched in complete disbelief the liberal whiners on the major networks worried about the rights of the Muslim Brotherhood. Let’s be clear. There are NO good guys in this situation.  There are only bad guys.  Our choice is between the lesser of two evils.  In Egypt, the bigger evil is the Muslim Brotherhood.

Across the entire Mideast, there are only two countries relatively stable: Israel and Jordan.  Israel is the only functioning democracy.  Other than Israel, America has NO reliable friends in the Mideast; not Saudi Arabia; not Turkey; not Iraq.  It is a dysfunctional part of the world that holds the seeds of destruction to the western democracies much more than the Soviet Union ever did.

These folks are religious fanatics who subjugate women, kill homosexuals, and practice Sharia law which cuts off people’s hands, pokes out their eyes, and beheads them in the public square.  Their goal is an Islamist world.  They burn down churches.  Persecute Jews and Christians.  Imprison people for life for carrying a Bible.  These folks are evil….and they sense America is weak and on the run.

The only source of stability in northern Africa right now is the Egyptian Army, which receives 1/10^th of its funding from the United States.   The balance comes from Saudi Arabia.  The Egyptian Army is fighting for the future of a secularized, moderate Egypt who recognizes Israel and acts accordingly.   While they are brutal and dictatorial, they are not willing to sacrifice Egypt to the theocrats who want an Islamic state.  The Egyptian Army more than anyone else on this planet understands the threat of human degradation by the Islamists.  The whining press may be willing to walk away from it.  Obama may be willing to walk away from it.  But the Egyptian army is not.  They have to live there and are fighting for their lives.

It is easy for us to sit here in the United States and pontificate on democracy.  We did that once before, in Vietnam, and got our butts kicked by a piddley ass third world country. Imagine life in a re-established caliphate.  Imagine Iran with nuclear bombs.  Imagine the Islamists controlling the Suez Canal.  Imagine the coming war when an Islamist Egypt facilitates the destruction of Israel by other Mideast states.  Imagine the dead Americans as we go to war for a third time in the Mideast.  It is not a pretty picture.

Foreign policy is tough.  Mideast foreign policy is next to impossible.  But the Obama administration is hanging out to dry the good people of Egypt who want rights we take for granted here not smothered by a bunch of Islamist extremist whack jobs.  Can anyone be so inept? 

America, and liberal Americans, need to wake up to the fact that you can’t play nice with folks who want to kill you.  There is no bridge to be built with zealots. No matter what you do they will still want to kill you. These are violent people who are burning churches and killing Christians and Jews.  We better hope that the Egyptian Army prevails.  If Egypt falls to the radical Muslim Brotherhood, there will be hell to pay in ways we can't imagine.  It will make both Iraq wars and the Afghan war look like Sunday playtime. 

Better the Egyptian army fights these people than us. 

How To Bankrupt a Newspaper

( UPDATE: After this article was written, the Washington Post announced it has been sold to Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.com.  Purchase price: $ 250 million....CASH.  Mr. Bezos has previously stated that in twenty years there would be no more print newspapers.  Although a publicly traded company with substantial shareholders like Berkshire Hathaway, the Graham family has controlled the paper since purchased in bankruptcy in 1933.)

Everyone knows the definition of stupidity: trying the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.  I think that sums up the news media.  Beitbart  reported today that the New York Times is selling the Boston Globe to the owner of the Boston Red Sox for $70 million.  Sounds good but for the fact the Times paid $1.1 billion for it in 1993…that makes for a 93% loss (not taking into account inflation which would make it worse)…and the NTY has to keep the pension liabilities estimated over $100 million.  What is utterly amazing is the Times in 2011 turned down an offer to sell the Globe to the owner of the Orange County Register for $300 million plus assumption of the pension liabilities.

It warms the cockles of my heart to watch this debacle involving two of the most liberal and elitist newspapers in the country.  What a bunch of idiots.  Even better, when the Times announced it was going to sell the Globe, Rupert Murdoch (yes..that’s the Fox News Rupert Murdoch) was giving serious consideration to buying it.  Oh the humanity…the liberal press harangued how they would never let that happen.  The staff of the Globe said they would quit in en masse; which makes one query as to the Orange County Register offer in 2011!  The OC Register is one of the most conservative papers in the country.    Mmmmmm.

Ostensibly the reason the Times turned down the Register offer was because it did not contain sufficient up-front cash.  There may be some truth to that.  On the other hand, political correctness may have reached a pinnacle.   The New York Times, you see, is a publicly traded company.  If I were the shareholders, I would be viewing the entire series of transactions with a skeptical eye, perhaps CBS!!

Even AlGore put business first.  He sold his green television network to the oil sheiks.  Maybe we’ll have a few more carbon emissions…but who cares.  AlGore pocketed a cool $100 mil.   And that really warms the cockles of my heart!

Here is how it works.  Liberal media does badly.  Conservative media does well.  Liberal television news networks, including CNN, languish in the Fox News dust.  Liberal magazines go under.  Liberal radio flops.   And liberal newspapers don’t sell…not even to liberals who tend to get their news from an assortment of liberal blogs.  Why needs to pay for the Times?

Barack Obama is not the source of our country’s ills.  It is the elite media who have been his lap dogs, not holding him to account.  In the worst economy in 60 years…there are no homeless.  Nobody is going hungry.  There is no crime in Chicago or Detroit.  There is peace and love in the world.  America has more respect among the family of nations than ever.  Everybody is making lots of money.  The poor are getting richer and rich are getting poorer.  Education is abounding.  What national debt? And what problems we have left are the fault of Rush Limbaugh. 

It is comical, if it weren’t so sad.   I am optimistic about the future of America because I faith in our people.  I am also optimistic about the press.  If the New York Times is any indication as to how the liberal media does business, they will be bankrupt by the end of the Obama administration, and then maybe we can get back to normal; that is if we are not bankrupt ourselves!!

Justice and Trayvon Martin

The really sad thing about the Trayvon Martin tragedy is had the justice system been free to follow normal procedures George Zimmerman would probably have been convicted of something eventually.  This is what happens when politics gets in the way of justice…a trial based on political correctness rather than facts.  This trial was the confluence of all that is bad with American media, American politics, and the American justice system.  When the verdict was announced, the judge actually looked relieved.  She is a trained lawyer, and knew that had there been a conviction, she would have had to rule on motions to overturn the verdict based on lack of evidence as a matter of law…and she would most likely have had to grant them.

Geraldo Rivera, someone I don’t normally quote, got it right yesterday morning.  He said this was a technical legal case.  If you picked it apart piece by piece, there was nothing there.  Each act George Zimmerman did was in and of itself not illegal.  It was not illegal to have a neighborhood watch.  It was not illegal for him to carry a gun.  It was not illegal for him to follow Trayvon Martin.  It was not illegal for him to defend himself if he felt his life was in danger.  The events that could have made Zimmerman legally culpable were not provable.  Speculation or wishful thinking is insufficient to send someone to jail for the rest of his life.  Worse, the circumstantial evidence supported Zimmerman’s account of events.

Here is what we know.  We know Zimmerman, as part of a neighborhood watch, followed Martin in his car and called 911.  We know he was told by the 911 operator not to follow him.  We know he got out of his car and followed Martin at a distance.  We know Martin called a girl friend and told her he was being followed by a “cracker”.  We know that Martin had marijuana in his system. We know there was an altercation.  The only eyewitness said Martin was on top of Zimmerman pounding his head on the edge of the concrete. There was a scream from one of the two before the gunshot. We know that Zimmerman had a broken nose and cuts on the back of his head.  We know that Zimmerman’s clothes were wet on the back, and Martin’s clothes were wet on his knees.  We know the trajectory of the bullet supported Zimmerman’s narrative.  Everything else presented in the trial was fluff.

In order to convict Zimmerman, the prosecution needed to show that Zimmerman either verbally provoked or physically attacked Martin sometime after exiting the car.  There is absolutely no evidence of either.  In fact, given Martin’s phone conversation midst the incident, there may be some indication that it was Martin who provoked Zimmerman. Notwithstanding, given Florida law which says the prosecution must disprove claims of self defense beyond all reasonable doubt…and all the physical evidence supported self defense…this was a no brainer for the jury both for manslaughter and second degree murder.

Like the Duke Lacrosse rape case, the media went looking for racism and found it, facts be damned.  When the press discovered that Zimmerman was actually Hispanic, they even created a new racial classification to continue to feeding the racism beast…he was a "white" Hispanic.  NBC doctored 9-1-1 tapes to portray Zimmerman as a racist by which all accounts he is not.  Local law enforcement was literally fired as the State of Florida, at the urging of the press, the race baiters, the United States Justice Department and Barack Obama himself, took the case over.  

Angela Corey, the whack-a-doodle state attorney, charged Zimmerman with second degree murder, the highest charge she could bring without going to a grand jury which would have no billed any charges against this guy in a second.  By the end of the trial, her prosecutors were reduced to begging for a third degree murder jury instruction based on “child abuse”.  Ms. Corey’s “have a little tea with Goldie” press conference immediately after the verdict was totally bizarre and inappropriate.  Who are these people?

CNN and NBC have gone ballistic.  David Gregory of NBC made a vague reference to legal execution in America.  Commentators are now calling for the Justice Department to file civil rights violation charges against Zimmerman.  This is the ugly side of political prosecutions.  It is a different side of the same political prosecution coin embedded in the IRS.  Americans should be concerned.  Add to this the allegations that the Florida State Attorney withheld evidence in discovery; this is going to get nasty.

The race baiters, be they political or rooted in "for profit" non-profits, need to feed the race beast to keep the power and money coming in.  While Trayvon’s death by any calculation is a tragedy, the media has completely ignored the massacre on the streets of Chicago with black on black violence reaching epic proportions.  It is being repeated in various cities throughout the country.  The media simply won’t report it.  It doesn’t fit the racist narrative.  Meanwhile, politicians won’t touch the problem with a ten foot pole.

This case is bothersome because George Zimmerman was told by a 9-1-1 operator NOT to follow whom he suspected as being a thief in a neighborhood experiencing numerous break-ins.  He didn’t follow the operator’s suggestion.  But that was not illegal…and the rest is history.

I can’t imagine the pain Trayvon’s parents feel.  His death deserves a serious and thorough investigation to find out why it happened.  But the investigation has to be honest and not tinged by political correctness. Political correctness and make believe parameters about how things are in our society only magnify the problems, not solve them.

Our legal system cannot protect everybody from everything.  Things fall through the cracks for various reasons and this is one of those times.  If laws need to be changed, then change them.  If attitudes need to be changed, change those too.   But for this case, as sad and unsettling as it may be, justice was served.  That doesn’t say a whole lot about us, does it?  

Paula Deen and the "N" Word

So let me understand this.  Paula Deen is accused by a white employee for sexual harassment and racial discrimination.  Translate: a disgruntled employee.  Then, in a deposition, she is asked if she ever used a racial slur, specifically the “n” word.  She answers truthfully and says yes, years ago...to her husband.  She then admits that some of her kitchen staff may tell off color jokes and make racial comments in her kitchen which she has apparently “tolerated.”  Then, in answer to the accuser's claim that that accuser "overheard" a conversation where Ms. Deen wanted to a "plantation wedding with little "n...'s" dressed up and serving , she says she “considered” doing a wedding based on a recent restaurant she visited where all of the servers were middle aged black men dressed in tuxedos (think Youngstown Club).  It never happened because she also said it would be innapropriate in today's world. 

The race baiters went wild.  Paula Deen is a racist screamed the headlines.  The Food Network, that paragon of gluttony, indignantly decided not to renew her contract at the end of June and pulled her television shows from its lineup.  Smithfield Ham, now owned by a state controlled Chinese corporation, dropped her like a hot potato.  So did Sears, QVC, and her publisher. 

What did she do?  She said the "n" word to her husband 30 years ago.  She is my age.  She is from the south.  I would be surprised if she didn'd say the "n" word 30 years ago to her husband. 

Enough of this self righteous indignation about race!  It’s time America grows up.  Put on any urban radio station playing hip hop and you can hear rappers calling women whores and bitches and African Americans niggers in just about every song played on the radio.  I don’t think I would be wrong in surmising the use of words “honkie” and “cracker” is used by many members of the black community.

Add to that the testimony in the Trayvon Martin trial in Sanford, Florida, where the prosecution's lead witness spouted racial hatred like running water...or Alec Baldwin calling a reporter he didn't like a "queen".  That one even got Anderson Cooper fired up. 

To me, words are words.  If I had a nickel for every hateful deed let alone words directed at me, I’d be a rich man.  Should they be used? Probably not.  But at the end of the day, it’s not words but actions that determine a racist.  I never judge a person by the color of his/her skin or ethnicity.  I always believe in giving everyone a fair shot.  I believe that everyone is entitled to a fair shot.  I appreciate folks for who they are.  I respect our cultural differences because, after all, that’s what makes life interesting.  Be they black or white or native American or Asian or blue with pink polka dots…we are all human underneath…alleged racism and all.

So did Paula Deen use racial slurs?  Yes she did, and probably most everyone in the United States at some time or another, and if you deny it, I will call you a liar.  She didn’t kill anyone.  She didn’t assault anyone.  She didn’t rape or sexually harass a minor.  She didn’t steal.  She told the truth under oath.  She is a self starter who has worked hard through difficult circumstances to get to where she is.  And used the “n” word a long time ago.  

Maybe the Food Network should pull out the polygraph machines to see who else may have used the “n” word sometime in their lives, or told an off color joke, or made a sexual remark.  Hypocrisy is the worst sin, and the self righteous hypocrites walk among us.  Let he who is not guilty cast the first stone.  I don’t think the officials at the Food Network should be throwing any stones at all.    

Information Per La Bellezza del Giorno.

Civil disobedience has long been a hallmark of American politics.  It has been interesting to watch the nation come to grips with Edward Snowden, the twenty nine year old whistleblower who disclosed the extent of the massive surveillance of American citizens by the National Security Agency (NSA).  The debate has been raging among the talking heads and politicians alike whether he is a patriot or a traitor.   Their reactions have been chilling.

Start with the Patriot Act which is the basis of this massive collection of information. It was sold to the public claiming it would only be used to monitor incoming calls from suspected terrorists.  In addition, it was to be monitored by a FISA Court.  These are secret courts established under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.  The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court appoints sitting Federal judges to FISA Court positions to issue subpoenas in support of actions by the various intelligence agencies.   To date, about 98% of all requests have been granted, including the quarterly renewal of the subpoena under which the NSA monitors all telephone calls, texts, emails, internet searches particularly within the Verizon system, and most likely all communication systems. 

The reaction by those in the intelligence community, Republican and Democratic congressmen and senators alike fains disgust with Mr. Snowden.  Those who sit on congressional intelligence committees of both houses call him a traitor claiming he has irreparably compromised American intelligence operations.     Those who work for the intelligence agencies and former agency directors and Justice Department officials have looked positively scary.  One gentlemen looked so angry I thought he was going to have a stroke.

That begs the question as to whether gathering information relating to my emails, my telephone calls, my web searches, my texts is constitutional when I am neither a suspect nor participant in subversive activities.  What do they need my information for?  In what way am I connected to a terrorist in Pakistan?

This is a fishing expedition on steroids.  All of that information is being gathered not for la bellezza del giorno (Italian for “the beauty of the day!”) as my grandmother used to say.   They gather it, store it, and will use it for something.  What?

The Fourth Amendment reads as follows:

“The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”

There must be an oath describing both the place AND PERSONS.  Does the population of the United States meet that definition?  On its face, no!!!  The fourth amendment was set up specifically to prevent blanket searches and seizures. There must be specificity.  There must be more than conjecture. There is nothing different here than British soldiers going from house to house, rummaging through drawers and closets and basements, looking for traitors to the British crown.

The Obama administration has played fast and loose with the Constitution for the past five years.  Its representatives have lied to Congress.   They have lied to the American people.  Although the surveillance was started under George Bush, the expansion to this has taken place under Obama.  There is no excuse for either. 

. 

This intrusion of Big Brother on the American public is such an affront to the Constitution it is beyond comprehension.  If ever there was a case for civil disobedience to awaken the public and a compliant press, this is it. 

I don’t buy for one minute that the government watching who I call, how many times I call, or looking at my web searches or emails, bolsters national security one iota.  This is a bridge too far.  It is the stuff of of Nazis and Communists. 

I don’t know the motivations of Edward Snowden.  His connection with the Chinese is fishy.  But the fact remains that nobody else had the guts to tell the public the truth…especially those appearing in front of Congress and lying.  So for that, I am grateful. 
 

America, wake up.  Distrust of the government is reaching dangerous levels.  Do we have to rely on a 29 year old high school drop out for the truth about what these people are doing?  In what way does monitoring my calls make this country more secure?  When someone provides me with an answer, then I will be quiet.  In the meantime, we need more Edward Snowden’s.  

Turning Pages - Or Where I Have Been Lately

You may have wondered where I have been for the last couple of weeks.  As I have gotten older, I have become more and more involved in things I wanted to do when I was younger but I didn't have the time, or I didn't have the skills, or I didn't have the money, or family got in the way.  All of that is gone…well…I still don’t have any money…but I do have the time and the inclination.  What I don’t have is the strength.  Like I say…none of us is 20 anymore.  And I get tired!!!!

Those who know me know I tend to overcompensate.  It’s okay most of the time, but from time to time all the work convergences and then I am kaput.  Add to the mix my normal business routine, I am overwrought!!!  But at age 63, I am holding my own.  It’s all about turning pages.  Turning the page from what you have to do to what you want to do.

Much of my practice is in elder law.  I don’t do the complicated stuff, but I know the basics.  You learn real fast what happens as you get older.  Some…a very few…live well into their nineties.  My uncle will turn 100 this August and he didn't turn his pages until his wife and daughter passed away.  He made the most of the few years he had left.  He recently entered into a nursing home.  But up until last November he wanted his scotch and his steak.  He loved to shop.  He loved to go to dinner. 

Others aren't as lucky as my uncle.  Some people say death is the great equalizer.  They are wrong; it’s nursing homes.  You can have $300 million or $30.00.  You will be treated the same.

So, the lesson is do what you want now.  I have always liked arts and culture so I have chosen to become heavily involved.  It’s a fascinating world of beautiful venues and beautiful music and wonderful plays and art…tempered by money, politics, and interesting people who run these organizations.  All of them are originals, some more than others. They are all a breed unto themselves.  And all of them are great and I have been privileged to know and to work with them.  Many of them are my age filling the gaps in their lives, selflessly serving the public good by offering beauty in an often times ugly world.  Some are like me finding areas where they can excel.  "Arts and culture" is an area where my legal and political and business abilities are propelling me to do things I could only dream of when I was younger…fearlessly hiring lobbyists…charging to Columbus to meet with high ranking politicos….meeting the crème de la crème in a world of culture I had only read about…meeting LIBERALS and finding we have much more in common than an old conservative like me would care to admit. 

I actually got to sit in on a meeting of one of the most liberal foundations in the state.  Here’s what I found out.  Just as in the private sector, the folks who run the foundations expect results.  Maybe they measure the results in something different than profit or business success, but they have their goals and ways to measure if they are attained.  Each of these organizations compete for money, then compete for success.  Fascinating. 

Turning pages means change.  It is a humbling experience starting a new life in a new area.  But at my age, the secret is not to care about what others think, or the mistakes you might make.  Who gives a damn  if people think you are nuts.  You probably are!!!  And any mistake can be fixed.  200 years from now it won’t make any difference.  You will be lucky if there is someone to cut the grass on your grave.

I have spent the last several weeks turning pages.  Hopefully things will start to slow down again.  Then I can write and reflect…and I don’t care what anybody thinks!!!       

Obama Descending Fast

There are two great commandments for those of us in politics.  When you don't know what to do, do nothing.  When you are in trouble, lay low.  We are now privileged to witness Rule #2.  Whence Obama?  The most visible President in history has disappeared.  Up until the election, Barack Obama was everywhere.  He campaigned non-stop for his first four years.  Name a function, there he was, pontificating to beat the band.   Now...not so much.  In fact, he has fallen off the face of the earth.  Where is he?  Well....he is off hiding as his insulated world begins to fall around him.

 And for good cause.  The Obamacare debacle is picking up steam as America slowly wakes up to the reality he has foisted upon us.  When Max Baucus, the author in chief of Obamacare says it is going to be a train wreck as he retires from office at the end of this year...run for cover.   When Harry Reid says it's going to be a train wreck because not enough money to implement properly, run for cover.  When Barack Obama says there will be glitches and bumps in the road, run for cover.  That's politic speech for train wreck.

Even more ominous is the pending Benghazi revelations.  The big lie is about to popped.  The new investigation based on the heretofore blocked testimony of those who were on the scene has, according to CBS, can "bring down the Obama administration."  The testimony will show willful negligence at best, or intentional and deliberate decision making based on political expediency resulting in the deaths of four Americans, including the United States ambassador to Libya.  Then came the cover up with Obama's political operatives deliberately changing the talking points originally issued by the CIA in order to protect the political narrative. 

The media is beginning to pick up the story.  What was originally only reported on Fox News is now being examined in a major way by CBS which is being surprisingly aggressive.  Sooner or later the role of the press in the cover up will be exposed, and hopefully the likes of Candy Crowley who openly gave Obama cover in the debates will be brought to task.

Obama's appearances have been few and far between.  He gave a "love government" speech at Ohio State's graduation.  He gave a lame press conference which was embarrassing.  He gave a speech to Planned Parenthood...his core constituency.  It's clear he doesn't know what to do.  He is in trouble.  He knows it.  He is laying low.

Obama's biggest asset was the American public trust.  Now he has Benghazi.  He has the Boston bombing which shows the total ineptitude of his Department of Homeland Security (except if it is buying bulletts), and problems within the CIA and FBI chilled by a President who values political correctness over good results.  Lost in the discussion of the Boston bombings was the re-raising of barriers between the CIA and FBI at Obama's impetus.  That is a story that has yet to be told.

This is what we know.  The Dems will one by one start to run for cover as we approach the 2014 midterm election.  Then there are the folks who want Hillary to be the next President and will run from Obama like a rabbit from headlights in an effort to put distance between her and the President.  Then there is Joe Biden who has lots of friends in the Senate.  He wants to be President too, and under the current circumstances would have difficulty getting nominated let alone get elected.  Lord knows what he is doing behind the scenes.

 I have written before that the President that most resembles Barack Obama is not Jimmy Carter, who was at least an honest man, but Richard Nixon.  Dare I hope a similar outcome? 

Gun Rights 1 - Obama 0

It was fun watching Obama’s temper tantrum after the righteous defeat of Sandy Hook inspired gun control regulations.  He pulled out all the stops.  Using the families of the dead Sandy Hook children as props, prodding a swooning media, using every emotional trick in the book…he failed.  All of a sudden he was concerned about thwarting the “will of the people.”  Actually it was the will of his fuming uber-left wing friends.  They didn't get their way.

Four Democratic Senators voted with Republicans.  All of them are up for re-election next year in red states.  They weren’t going to throw away their senatorial perks and privilege for Barack Obama…not this year anyway.  They aren’t stupid.  They saw what happened after Obama thwarted the will of the people on health care reform, and they want to be sure that doesn’t happen to them.

Americans actually get the Second Amendment.  An armed citizenry is the last defense against an imperial government.  Gun rights are not there to protect hunters.  They are they for people to defend themselves just in case the government gets too big for its britches.   The first thing any dictator does is get rid of the guns.  The next is to get rid of the lawyers.  That’s not a joke.

The facts contradict the anti-gun arguments.  Mass murders of the type in Sandy Hook and Aurora, Colorado are actually rare and represent on a small fraction of murders in the United States.  More deaths result from knives and hammers than semi-automatic weapons.  These incidents are horrific and tragic, but not common.  If the government wants to stop violence, go into the cities.  Go into Chicago and Detroit where gun violence is so common and a part of everyday life it has ceased being news worthy.  These are war zones in every sense of the word.

It also doesn’t help that none of the proposals in the defeated legislation would have stopped Sandy Hook or the Colorado theater shooting.  These are mental health issues, and NO proposals have been made to get the whack jobs off the streets; nor will you see any from the left because they put them there in the first place. 

The press has jumped on the anti gun band wagon.  At least CNN had the guts to admit that it was for this piece of legislation and would report the news accordingly.  The death of 20 some innocents in this type of violent incident is a tragedy in every sense of the word.  But what about the babies who survive an abortion procedure and are then killed by the performing doctor and his staff?  If you don’t know about the trial underway in Philadelphia as you read this, I rest my case.  Why is one story so horrific, and the other totally ignored? What is more tragic than breaking a baby’s neck after it is born alive in the name of abortion rights?  And what is really scary is I could probably mount a defense for this evil man given the state of abortion rights in America today.

Selective moral outrage has always been a hallmark of the left and Obama.  They are governed by causes rather than common sense.  The goal is power, not good government.  The motive is revenge and elitism rather than the will of the people.  Obama is a master of looking at the cameras and lying to the American people about his motives…and the will of the people.

Congrats to the Senate for standing up for individual freedoms and rights and the Constitution. But wait until after the election next year.  Gun control will be back!!!!

Spring Break with the Obama's

Audacity is a word associated with Barack Obama. His book was entitled The Audacity of Hope. Perhaps a more apt title would have been The Audacity of Traveling on the Taxpayers' Dime. While the White House is still closed to school children and air traffic controllers are being laid off and illegal immigrant prisoners are being released, Obama’s family is partying on the beach in the Bahamas followed by skiing in Aspen. When a Colorado television station caught Obama’s little darlings on the slopes surrounded by an entourage of 20 secret service, Obama demanded the station remove the clip from its station website…and these jack asses complied. Really?

Now you need to try to understand. Can you say H-Y-P-O-C-R-I-T-E? We are now approaching $17 trillion in debt, borrowing between 30 – 40 cents of every dollar that is spent, and we are now paying for ANOTHER vacation for Obama’s brood. And not just one place…but two…one warm and the other cold! When was the last time you spent Monday Tues and Wednesday in the Bahamas and Thursday and Friday in Colorado skiing? Even Joe Biden got into the act with a $500,000.00 night in Paris and he's on vacation again this week.

Barack Obama has done an outstanding job of hiding his children and wife from view as they travel around the world at your expense. How many of you actually know the name of his children? That is how tight lipped the press has been about the comings and goings of Obama’s family. It made sense to me that he would want to protect his children’s privacy…but something is askew.

The heightened awareness of spending since the sequester has brought new and deserved scrutiny as to how the Obama family is spending our money. Malia will be 15 in July and Sasha is 12. Sending these kids on back to back vacations in the Bahamas and Aspen ought to be enough to bring them into the limelight. They aren’t in pre-school anymore. No, it is not their doing and they probably are blissfully unaware of the issues at hand.

On the other hand, Barack Obama has deliberately and vindictively made the decrease in the increase in spending as hard on the public as is possible as he throws his tantrum. Here’s an idea, Mr. President, how about a vacation on the Jersey shore?  When were the last time any of you reading this rant have been to the Bahamas and then to Aspen?  My family got a bus ticket to Niles and the Eastwood Mall for our vacation.

The hypocrisy of what I am seeing takes my breath away. The fact that the press is letting them get away with it is downright shameful. It’s time for the Obama Zombies to wake up. He has pulled the wool over your eyes, and the best is yet to come next year. Our economy grew .04% last month. We have 48 million people on food stamps. Those on disability are at an all time high and those participating in the labor force are at an all time low. In the middle of this mess, HHS is running ads in Mexico touting America’s food stamp program as illegal alien felons are released from custody. Why?  They are coming on vacation to the United States to test the waters.

But never fear….Sasha and Malia are vacationing at Atlantis in the Bahamas and Sun Valley in Colorado.  The world is safe for Democracy.

Bastardi and Global Warming



                      Joe Bastardi on AgriTalk Radio discusses global warming.

Joe Bastardi formely of Accuweather was a guest commentator on Neil Cavuto’s business wrap up show on Fox News. This is a smart guy. He has been a critic of global warming nut cases for the past several years. His comments are particularly important in light of Barack Obama’s coming assault on fossil fuels with attempted dictates through the EPA.

Mr. Bastardi was frank. There is no global warming. Global temperatures have evened out and have actually gone down the past ten years. Contrary to what is being reported on the news, the amount of oceanic ice is higher now than the past fifty years, particularly in the southern hemisphere. Yes…we have had draught in the United States and very warm summers, but it’s not global warming. It’s due to a cooling of the Pacific Ocean as a result of decreased world temperatures….and that is not unusual. He also commented that the temperatures in the United States account for about 2% of the makeup of global temperatures. The temperatures in Europe and Asia have been positively frigid. The news media just won’t report it.

He noted the amount of carbon in the atmosphere as the result of human activity is small almost to the point of irrelevance. While I can’t remember the exact statistic, it is something like 4% of the total carbon makeup of the atmosphere and is so irrelevant it can’t possibly have any effect on global temperatures.

Unfortunately, global warming has become like a religion. The facts are irrelevant. We have been told by the media that all normal climate variations are now a result of carbon emissions. Global warming causes the temperatures to go up. Global warming causes the temperatures go down. Bastardi said its like both sides of a war at the same time. It is either one or the other.

Even scarier are the made up statistics. From time to time the media splashes graphs across the screen showing global temperatures rising. But is has become clear to me that the media has templates of news, and the only report the news that fits the templates. Now they even make the news up. It doesn’t take much individual research on Google to debunk a whole lot of stuff one hears on television and reads in the New York Times.

Global warming is a myth being used by leftist thugs to as a mechanism to tax rich nations and redistribute the wealth to poorer nations often run by dictators. There is no other financial mechanism outside of a worldwide income tax to accomplish that goal. But a hidden carbon tax rooted in saving the environment…that is one that can be sold.

I keep writing in all of my columns that America needs to wake up as to who these people are and what they are trying to do. Sooner or later the truth will prevail. I just hope it is not too late.

Close the White House

The more I see Barack Obama in action the more I believe that he is whacked. I don’t think he is playing with a full deck. He is a narcissist and a spoiled brat tending towards tantrums when he doesn’t get his way and not afraid to bully people until he does.

His handling of the Sequester is the perfect example. For five years he has bullied Republicans and they have backed off. This time it didn’t work and he flipped. First he and his cronies scared the beejezuz out of Americans telling them that everything short the end of time would result from trimming back the rate of increase in government by 2 cents on the dollar. Then when the Republicans didn’t back down, he had to backtrack saying it wouldn’t be so bad and we would get through it. Meanwhile, he quietly instructed his minions to make it hurt wherever possible to make sure Americans suffer so he could blame the Republicans.

But he crossed the line when he closed the White House to tours. Claiming there was no other way to save a buck from the White House budget he closed the people’s house telling the people to shove it up their ass. Really? This guy is nuts.

Never mind we paid to have him play golf in Florida while his wife and children vacationed in Aspen. Never mind he couldn’t find some place on the mainland for his “vacation” White House…he has to go Hawaii. Never mind that his wife took an entourage at the public expense for a vacation in Spain. Remember when Nancy Reagan bought new White House china? The press screamed for a year and she was fodder on every late night comedian show for months.

So a bunch of kids from Colorado put together a video asking the President to re-open the White House so they could take their scheduled tour on a class trip to Washington. Maybe he could fire the guy to whom the American people pay $100,000.00 to care for his dog.

Obama is a vindictive man who has ice in his veins beyond that engaging smile and winning speech delivery. This time he has gone one step too far. His biggest asset this past election was people trusted him. He has destroyed that trust in less than a few weeks by his childish and mean spirited behavior. He will not be able to regain it.  And all of those children who he pulls out for political photo shoots...maybe their teachers will learn this man's true colors.  When the chips are down, everyone is expendable to achieve the socialist dream.

And as Obama sinks into the muck of his own making, Libertarian Rand Paul makes a Jimmy Stewart-esque old fashioned filibuster to force Eric Holder and Barack Obama to say publicly they don’t have the right to use drones flying over the United States to bomb American citizens.   

I think the momentum has shifted. The golden boy isn’t so golden anymore. The bloom is off the rose. Maybe now America can see him for what he is…a young 60’s style socialist radical who stands for freedom so long as it is his freedom and not yours. As we finally learn who this guy is, we are the better for it.

Sequester This

We now have a new word in the English dictionary...Sequestration.  It is a scary word.  Apparently the government is going to come to halt on March 1 as it is implemented, cutting federal programs to the core.  Children will be starving.  Crime will run rampant in the street.  Schools will close for lack of teachers.  You will die in your house because there will be no EMT's to answer you 9-1-1 calls.  Planes will fall from the sky.  Did I mention children will be starving?  Obama and his cohorts are on the rampage preaching Armageddon if all of these spending cuts are implemented.  Build an ark.  The second flood is coming. 

So let's see how much Drama Obama is BS'ing us now.  Sequestration is not a spending cut.  It is a decrease in the rate of increase over the next seven years.  It amounts to a 2 1/2 percent cut in the rate of increase.   Here are the figures:

Defense spending increases 18% instead of 20% with sequestration.

Non-defense discretionary increases 12% instead of 14% with sequestration.

No change in the increase in Medicare.

Interest expenses rise 136% instead 152% with sequestration.

Total government spending the first year with sequestration would be 3.62 trillion vs. 3.69 trillion; and by year seven would rise to 5.26 trillion vs. 5.42 trillion.

So....over a seven year period, spending would rise 1.6 trillion instead of 1.7 trillion.

Let's put this in terms that you understand.  Let's say that your monthly budget is $2,000.00/month.  You were supposed to get a 5% raise over next year generating an additional $100.00 per month that you can spend.  But things are tough at the shop, so the boss announces that instead of a 5% raise, he has to reduce your raise to 2 1/2% which is a "cut" in your pay raise.  Instead of having $2,100.00 per month next year to spend, you will have $2,050.00 per month to spend.  Now....that's not a cut in your monthly budget, but a smaller increase.  I'm sure you would adjust without too much pain, unless you had already spent the extra $100.00 per month, which Obama has done.

Notwithstanding, you would make adjustments and the world would not end.  Here are some adjustments Obama can make.  Don't vacation in Hawaii.  Go to your home in Chicago instead.  And don't take separate vacations.  Take Michele to Florida with you, instead of spending an additional million to send her to Colorado to ski while you go to Florida to golf.  I haven't gone anywhere on vacation for the past several years.  How about going to Camp David to save some money?

As in all things Obama...look at what he does, not what he says.  And as far as the Sequester goes:  Mr. President, sequester this!!!

Put Some Clothes On Part Trois

This is another put on some clothes rant.  I frequent a pizza place which is primarily takeout.  The pizza has always been good.  It has great reputation.  Has been there for years.  It has always done a good business.   My trips there have been somewhat limited as of late because it is a distance from where I live, but we still go there occasionally when we tire of the pizza closer to home.

Last night was one of those nights.  I ordered the pizza and was told it was going to be at least a 40 minute wait, but it worked for me because I could finish watching my movie.   It has been awhile since I had been there.  I know personnel changes over a period of time, but I was dumbfounded what I saw when I got there.

I know I should have an open mind.  I have been told by every liberal do-gooder I should be tolerant.  My church tells me we are all God's children...and the fact that these folks are actually working says something for them.  But at the end of the day, the appearance of the staff was deplorable, and I almost walked out.   And I feel bad because their pizza was, and is, very good!

The guy making the pizzas had a pair of baggy shorts on...looked scraggly and unshaven...and had those huge round earrings in his pierced ears.  Another lady was wearing a bandanna and had piercings going across part of her upper lip.  Still another employee...and this one needed an attitude adjustment... was wearing flannel skin tight pajama bottoms that didn't go up very high and a tube top which didn't god down very low showing way much more than I wanted to see.

Now....I know working in a pizza shop is hard work and hot work.  And this particular place was the busiest I have seen it years with people taking out pizzas five at a time.  And all of the above folks were working very hard save the pajama lady who was moving slow and it made it verbally clear she didn't want to be there.  And my pizza was as good as ever.

BUT....appearances count, and by all accounts I would normally walk out of a place with a serving staff that looked like that. This anything goes attitude in America needs to change.  IF they want to express themselves, that's fine!  But don't expect me to spend my money there.  And I am not going to be made to feel guilty by those saying how intolerant I am.  When it comes to business, any business, appearances count.

There are those who are going to tell me I am an old fogey and times change.  Yes they do.  But the acceptance of this type of professional appearance, even working in a pizza shop, degrades and insults the customers.  Does everything have to be reduced to the lowest common denominator in this country?  At what level do we say enough?  They say I shouldn't judge people by appearances, but this kind of in your face dressing invites exactly that. 

I love business, and I pull for everyone who is out there trying to make it in a difficult world.  I am glad these folks are enjoying the success they are because by any measure, they are successful.  Those who dress like that are asking me to accept and tolerate them.  It is a two way street.  They need to set some standards too.  What the owner showed last night was disrespect to me, and I count as much as they do.  They are selling to me, not the other way around,.

Will I go back there for a pizza?  I'm not sure.  I suspect that the attitude their appearance conveys does not translate into what is a very good product.  But you know what?  After 63 years, I just don't want to look at that anymore.  We'll see.   

Computer Virus

There’s a lot to rant about this week, but none as up close and personal as my computer. I sounded like the old coot that I am when after spending several hours trying to fix it I shouted at my wife: "There ought to be a law.”

The troubles started at the office when I decided to upgrade my QuickBooks program because I am taking on a new responsibility and want to make sure it is done right, plus I don’t want to have to bring my computer to my accountant because my old QuickBooks program was SO old that a copy on a flash drive wouldn’t work on his new and improved version.

I bought the update online after talking to the sales rep over the phone demanding assurances that it would not be a problem. He assured it would not be, but gave me an 800 number for tech support in case I had a problem that he said I wouldn't have. It didn’t take too long in the process before I knew I was in trouble. The new stuff didn’t work, and the old stuff was gone. But at least I was smart enough to back everything up before I started installation. Three hours later the tech guy finally worked through the glitches after taking control of my computer remotely (creepy) and things work sort of fine. I liked the 2007 version better, but at least I got what I need to do my work and keep my accountant happy.

The bigger problem was on my four year old computer at home. This has been a work horse, but it only has 4 gigs of RAM. I wouldn’t recommend less than 8 for most things now. At any rate, when I would sign onto You Tube I kept getting message that my movie player was out of date and should be upgraded. After looking at that for 4 weeks, I gave it a go yesterday morning because my movie player was old. My Norton virus protector said it was safe. Right!!!! Big mistake.

After the download there was a new tool bar on my screen I didn’t want. Pop ups were happening everywhere. Google Chrome was taken over by some other entity 100% with Bing being the browser provider. It was a mess. It took me several hours to undo what this thing did. Even more frustrating I noticed that when I typed certain words on Word, there was a link attached to those words that translated not only to my computer but to my website. It was my website program that discovered the problem by highlighting the words. NOTHING could get rid of the links to something called SmashButtons, which is a site that sells audio equipment.

I did a full computer scan on Norton and a full computer scan on Windows Defender (which took five hours). They found nothing. Finally, after trying everything else, I moved my mouse very slowly over the words that were affected, and ever so briefly it flashed Sidekick Sales Plug In. Some research told me where to find the plug in on my computer. There it was in plain sight as a complete program. I uninstalled it and the problem went away.

These folks didn’t even try to hide who they were!!  Sidekick is not a some spooky unknown hacker.  This is a business. To me, this is no different than someone breaking into your house. Breaking into my computer and wrecking havoc on it in the name of God knows what violates my property and can destroy my property. These folks should be prosecuted, and no new laws are needed. Ordinary breaking and entering laws as currently exist should suffice. The theories and elements are the same.

Given that this last escapade involved You Tube, Bing, Sidekick, plus numerous other websites that are not stealth sites….prosecutors should look at these folks and take action.

In the meantime, I am going back to my practice of not doing updates. New and improved usually means work and money.

America's Head in the Sand: What Obamacare Will Cost You!

As 2014 approaches, the implementation of Obamacare is drawing nigh. Businesses and unions are the canary in the coal mine relating to costs and pitfalls. Unfortunately, the general population and many small businesses and organizations still have their heads in the sand and will be caught unprepared when the proverbial “you know what” hits the fan. The below article appearing in CNS News this past week is a report on the regulations being developed by the Internal Revenue relating to the costs of Obamacare to businesses and individuals. It is scary. THIS is what Republicans voted against. Everyone should read it, and get their heads out of the sand.

FROM CNS NEWS.COM

by Matt Cover

In a final regulation issued Wednesday, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) assumed that under Obamacare the cheapest health insurance plan available in 2016 for a family will cost $20,000 for the year.

Under Obamacare, Americans will be required to buy health insurance or pay a penalty to the IRS.

The IRS's assumption that the cheapest plan for a family will cost $20,000 per year is found in examples the IRS gives to help people understand how to calculate the penalty they will need to pay the government if they do not buy a mandated health plan.

The examples point to families of four and families of five, both of which the IRS expects in its assumptions to pay a minimum of $20,000 per year for a bronze plan.

“The annual national average bronze plan premium for a family of 5 (2 adults, 3 children) is $20,000,” the regulation says.

Bronze will be the lowest tier health-insurance plan available under Obamacare--after Silver, Gold, and Platinum. Under the law, the penalty for not buying health insurance is supposed to be capped at either the annual average Bronze premium, 2.5 percent of taxable income, or $2,085.00 per family in 2016.

In the new final rules published Wednesday, IRS set in law the rules for implementing the penalty Americans must pay if they fail to obey Obamacare's mandate to buy insurance.

To help illustrate these rules, the IRS presented examples of different situations families might find themselves in.

In the examples, the IRS assumes that families of five who are uninsured would need to pay an average of $20,000 per year to purchase a Bronze plan in 2016.

Using the conditions laid out in the regulations, the IRS calculates that a family earning $120,000 per year that did not buy insurance would need to pay a "penalty" (a word the IRS still uses despite the Supreme Court ruling that it is in fact a "tax") of $2,400 in 2016.

For those wondering how clear the IRS's clarifications of this new "penalty" rule are, here is one of the actual examples the IRS gives:

“Example 3. Family without minimum essential coverage.

"(i) In 2016, Taxpayers H and J are married and file a joint return. H and J have three children: K, age 21, L, age 15, and M, age 10. No member of the family has minimum essential coverage for any month in 2016. H and J’s household income is $120,000. H and J’s applicable filing threshold is $24,000. The annual national average bronze plan premium for a family of 5 (2 adults, 3 children) is $20,000.

"(ii) For each month in 2016, under paragraphs (b)(2)(ii) and (b)(2)(iii) of this section, the applicable dollar amount is $2,780 (($695 x 3 adults) + (($695/2) x 2 children)). Under paragraph (b)(2)(i) of this section, the flat dollar amount is $2,085 (the lesser of $2,780 and $2,085 ($695 x 3)). Under paragraph (b)(3) of this section, the excess income amount is $2,400 (($120,000 - $24,000) x 0.025). Therefore, under paragraph (b)(1) of this section, the monthly penalty amount is $200 (the greater of $173.75 ($2,085/12) or $200 ($2,400/12)).

"(iii) The sum of the monthly penalty amounts is $2,400 ($200 x 12). The sum of the monthly national average bronze plan premiums is $20,000 ($20,000/12 x 12). Therefore, under paragraph (a) of this section, the shared responsibility payment imposed on H and J for 2016 is $2,400 (the lesser of $2,400 or $20,000).”

Republished without permission from CNS News.  See link above for original story.