Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Incompetence from the Majority

I was going through my email, and I find one from MoveOn(left).org.

(Okay, before you you start typing WTF, I ended up on their mailing list when I went there to mess around with one of their petitions and ended up on the mailing list. What I've found is that it's great opposition research. So let's get back to....)

The email begins: We knew the Republicans were going to be a problem when President Obama called on Congress to invest in a clean-energy economy and universal health care.

Wait a minute. I thought it was a Democrat Congress and Democrat president in Washington now. a good majority in the House, and two votes (until Stuart Smalley finally wins in Minnesota, then one) short of a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate (and with the three stooges (Specter, Snowe, Collins) easy pickings.

This begs the question: Do they really have a majority? Here's more: This is the nightmare scenario: a few conservative Democrats teaming up with Republicans to stop the progressive pieces of the President's agenda.

Ah, makes me feel hope that they aren't an ironclad bunch of asshat ideologues. It means there's hope (the real kind, not the Obama brand).

And speaking of the POTUS (and his teleprompter, who was in another room feeding him answers by shoddy telepathy last night), President Obama was back before us again with his second prime-time news conference/snoozefest. Of course, as is my wont, I listened to everything he said, punctuated only by random expletives when he spewed bullshit (thus giving my children a vocabulary I have to beat out of them (irony, indeed (and kidding about the beating, you pansies (good ol' bar soap!)))).

Specifically insane was the continuing insistence that he's going to cut the budget in half in two years. The only way I see this as possible is if he quintuples it first, then slashes that number in half (which means it's still 2 1/2 times larger).

And he still insists on harping on his holy trinity of "recovery: Education, green energy, and health care (possibly the whole reason for the press conference?). So I'll have to bash him a little for this.

I'm trying to think of a time in my life where anyone has cut the education budget (although I'm sure someone will come up with an example). We continue to pour money into this problem and are seeing diminishing returns on our money. Is it because we're not "investing" (the quotes are because we're not investing; it's Barry's buzz word) enough in education? Simply put, no amount of money will educate a child unless there is a drive (usually parents) for the child to learn. So throwing more into education is merely an attempt to look like he's doing something.

As for the green energy, there is a partial logic to this. After all, our dependence on foreign oil is a problem we have to address, and something that has led (due to policy to protect that oil flow) to some of the terrorism we now face. However, even in the shambles of a free market we have, there's one way to make green energy work: Make it comparably priced to the traditional alternatives. There's two ways government can do this. They can subsidize the shit out of it to make it affordable (the ethanol debacle), or they can tax the shit out of the current fuels to raise their price to the prices of the green ones. With c(r)ap and trade, Obama is leaning toward the latter. He said as much when he "lamented" about the high gas prices, indicating the only problem with this was the speed at which they had risen. As this is tied in with manmade global warming hysteria, there's no solution that won't cost us money. Especially if the government breaks out its third way to change our energy habit: Mandate things in and out of existence (and passing the cost on to us).

Now with health care, I absolutely agree with him inasmuch as the skyrocketing costs are kicking our ass. Okay, now I'm done agreeing. I'll expand on this in a future post (probably the next so Satyavati doesn't yell at me for procrastinating), but the cost of health care began skyrocketing when we stopped paying for it ourselves. During my foray back into the dentist over the last couple of weeks, I got a few laughs and at least one look of mild surprise when I was asked about insurance and responded that I had a checkbook. And our solution to the medical prices will be found in the same way.

One last thing. When you have your teleprompter removed to blunt criticism, you should probably make sure they don't get a wide shot of you reading from a TV in the back of the room. Then everybody just knows your teleprompter is hiding in another room. Whoever came up with that idea should get an AOTW honorable mention. There's always note cards.

9 comments:

Shaw Kenawe said...

It's really funny how the conservatives have gone all Bachmann over the teleprompter.

I guess when you've got no ideas, no leaders, and no hope, you become bitter and cling to teleprompter jokes.

Mr. Toad nicely covered that subject with lots and lots of photos of Great Moments in Republican Teleprompter History and even threw in one of a Great Moment in Presidential Debate Cheating, Bush vs. Kerry.

As for having to suffer through a "boring" presidential press conference, next time we'll see if we can bring some shoe-throwers in to liven things up and entertain the Sesame Street whiners.

LOL!

Arthurstone said...

This is too funny.

After eight years of listening to the single most inarticulate world leader I've ever had the misfortune to having to endure some folks are somehow of a mind that President Obama is the same sort of prisoner to a script.

Not even close.

And let's not forget that while it was a given George would rarely have anything very illuminating to say he occasionally had trouble finding the exit after having said it.

TAO said...

Patrick,

You are RIGHT!

Your comment about our educational system pretty much solves everything from my perspective.

American parents are lazy and their kids are stupid or as you say: "Simply put, no amount of money will educate a child unless there is a drive (usually parents) for the child to learn."

So, lets call it a day. We can just sit around and blow smoke up our own ass about how we are the greatest and most powerful country in the world. We can pull our underwear out of the crack of our ass as we get up from the sofa to get another beer while we exclaim about kicking the shit out of Al Qeada...

Its always the liberals that ruin everything because they want to 'improve' and 'prepare' for the future....hell, we can just nuke our competition and get on with what we do best....

Which is basically bitching about everything and doing nothing about anything.

Yes, cash really changes everything inregards to healthcare. So, how much does your dentist charge for something paid via insurance and how much via cash? Did you get a discount?

Cash saves us alot of money inregards to healthcare....no one would go to a doctor if they paid cash....doctors would be bankrupt in a matter of days.

I went to my doctor and asked him how much he charges for an office visit via insurance and how much would he charge me if I paid cash. He did NOT know.

So, we went out and checked his nifty difty computer system. Under my insurance it would cost $86.00 for cash it would be $120.00 and there were nine different rates for a simple office visit depending on which insurance company you had coverage with.

When I remarked that by paying cash they get their money up front and thus should have the biggest discount they both looked at me like I was nuts. Yep, the economic principles of capitalism would work real well on our healthcare system.

Lets just accept the fact that we are a nation of big fat stupid lazy people and there is no future for us and lets just enjoy the ride as we slide into third world nation status.

Gordon Scott said...

Why yes, we have gone all Bachmann on the teleprompter issue. Why? Because Obama can't say goodnight to his kids without one.

After all, Shaw, you've been telling us all this time how wonderful it was to have an articulate president. But it turns out that when he doesn't have it, he wanders off into bad jokes, and says what he really thinks, like wanting to bankrupt the coal industry.

Gordon Scott said...

Oh, and you're always writing about horrible things you read on conservative blogs. Why did you praise Toad's post, instead of calling him out on labeling the CPAC a "Nazi Convention?"

Patrick M said...

Arthur, Shaw: There's important shit in the middle and you're whining about teleprompter jokes? Considering he made it a point to NOT have his teleprompter, it's fair game (and funny). Not the best strategery, as Bush would say.

Tao: I think you missed the point. All the things being proposed won't solve the problem! Now since I was trying to cover a lot of ground, I didn't get detailed. But I've got my health care post, with will underscore the point there.

And your example of the billing insanity is a perfect example of what our current system has done to prices.

Yep, the economic principles of capitalism would work real well on our healthcare system

Considering we've had this system longer than I've been alive (35 years), how would we know?

Lets just accept the fact that we are a nation of big fat stupid lazy people and there is no future for us and lets just enjoy the ride as we slide into third world nation status.

Isn't that Obama's reelection slogan? :)


Gordon: I don't remember getting this worked up about Bushisms as the liberals are about Obama, Michelle, and the teleprompter having a three-way. From what I've heard, it just uses notes that Clinton left from his time in the Oval Orifice.

Gordon Scott said...

Oh, it's the new theme that the Carville/Begala/Axelrod/Emanuel team have dictated to the left. Leave Barack's telepromper alone!

Neoneocon has an very good analysis of exactly why BO doesn't go off prompter very often. It's here.

Arthurstone said...

PatrickM whined:

'Arthur, Shaw: There's important shit in the middle and you're whining about teleprompter jokes? '


Actually there isn't 'important shit in the middle' Patrick.

In fact, here's the 'middle':

'And speaking of the POTUS (and his teleprompter, who was in another room feeding him answers by shoddy telepathy last night), President Obama was back before us again with his second prime-time news conference/snoozefest. Of course, as is my wont, I listened to everything he said, punctuated only by random expletives when he spewed bullshit (thus giving my children a vocabulary I have to beat out of them (irony, indeed (and kidding about the beating, you pansies (good ol' bar soap!)))).'

Cheers!

Patrick M said...

Arthur: That was the beginning. Here's where the middle begins:

And he still insists on harping on his holy trinity of "recovery: Education, green energy, and health care (possibly the whole reason for the press conference?).

And yet you revisit the teleprompter, and ignore the fact I'm making jokes (and thus parentheses in parentheses).

And I wasn't whining. I was laughing. As I am now.