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I understand that crazy old Uncle Hank Johnson is at it again.

No, he hasn’t predicted that Manhattan will fall into the ocean or anything like that.

That was Guam, and it was a long time ago.  This time he just thinks we need to pass a constitutional amendment that places limits on freedom of speech.  Constitutional amendment!?! When an Executive Order would suffice? Isn’t that a bit of overkill?

Don’t be concerned though, for now he’s only talking about corporate speech:  

“We need a constitutional amendment that would allow the legislature to control the so-called free speech rights of corporations,”

Because “corporations control … patterns of thinking,” he said. “They control the media. They control the messages that you get,” he added.

I thought it was the Democrats that controlled the message

Butt that’s right! CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN, Ms.NBC, The New York Times, Washington Post, LA Times: all those big corporations controlling your pattern of thinking! I say, off with their heads!

Slightly off topic, butt did you know that Hank was only the 2nd Buddhist elected to the House of Representatives? Don’t you find it a bit odd that people who seemed so anxious about electing a Mormon have no concern at all about appointing a member of the real religion of peace to the Committee on Armed Services? It’s probably just me butt it seems a conflict of sorts to have a member of a basically pacifist religion assigned to the oversight committee for our military which is, when you come right down to it, designed to be a killing machine. And while I’m at it, if abortion is a litmus test for appointees to the Supreme Court, ought we not be concerned about a guy who believes in “karma” serving on the House Judicial Committee?

Butt I’m getting way off topic here: If Rep. Hank thinks that we’ve got altogether too much freedom of speech around here, he sounds like the perfect pick for us to send to the UN to accommodate their effort to implement worldwide Internet control.

Especially since Susan Rice will, if Rep. Johnson has his way, will soon have bigger fish to fry at the Department of State.

And if you don’t think she’s qualified to serve as Secretary of State, well than you’re one of those people whose “message” Hank’s amendment would limit.

Internet freedom? Nah, we can live without it. Just like Israel.

Linked By: Larwyn’s Linx on Doug Ross@Journal, and BlogsLucianneLoves, and NOBO2012 on Free Republic, Thanks!

Negotiate to WIN! Hijinks Ensue.

I see the fiscal cliff has given us an opportunity to return to Big Guy’s WINNING! negotiation strategy that I call the  “How about you give me your new car for my old shoes?” scuffle. For some reason it’s been working for him for a long time.

Portrait of a young man with an old sole…and a big plan

Maybe it’s because those old shoes always come in handy for kicking the can down the road.

Assuming there is a road…at the end I mean.

Danger: road may end at the cliff’s edge

Boy, I hope they don’t crash that new car I just gave them

Charles Krauthammer explains how Big Guy’s 2% solution of higher taxes, more stimulus spending and no entitlement cuts might work:

Obama is claiming an electoral mandate to raise taxes on the top 2 percent. Perhaps, but remember those incessant campaign ads promising a return to the economic nirvana of the Clinton years? Well, George W. Bush cut rates across the board, not just for the top 2 percent. Going back to the Clinton rates means middle-class tax hikes that yield four times the revenue that you get from just the rich.

So give Obama the full Clinton. Let him live with that. And with what also lies on the other side of the cliff: 28 million Americans newly subject to the ruinous alternative minimum tax.

Republicans must stop acting like supplicants. If Obama so loves those Clinton rates, Republicans should say: Then go over the cliff and have them all.

And add: But if you want a grand bargain, then deal. If we give way on taxes, we want, in return, serious discretionary cuts, clearly spelled-out entitlement cuts and real tax reform.

Otherwise, strap on your parachute, Mr. President. We’ll ride down together.

So, from where I sit it looks safe to say we’re still firmly entrenched in Wonderland; hijinks ensue.

“If you drink much from a bottle marked 'poison' it is certain to disagree with you sooner or later.”

I think the operative term here is “later.”

I guess we’ll just have to wait and see if anyone offers to sweeten the deal.

Linked By: Moonbattery, and  Zilla Stevenson on twitter, and BlogsLucianneLoves, and NOBO2012 on Free Republic, Thanks!

Administrative Note: I’m not available to check in on things regularly for the rest of the weekend. Butt I’ll catch up in the evenings. I know you’ll carry on honorably without me.

In light of the Mayan Mayhem, be sure to enjoy your Morning Meal

Good morning everyone. I have an early plane to catch today, so won’t have time for my normal news updates.

I just wanted to let you know that you can stop worrying about Big Guy kicking the fiscal cliff can down the road into 2013. The bad news is there will be no “resolution” butt the good news is it doesn’t matter given the quickly approaching end of the world on December 21.

Hoping you all have an exciting day.

And as comrade Schatzi reminded us the other day:

 

Today’s post was brought to you by the letter “M” – tags: Mayan, Mayhem, Morning Meals

Linked By: Larwyn’s Linx on Doug Ross@Journal, and NOBO2012 on Free Republic, Thanks!

The Obamacare-Bears

Well, I don’t want to call it a lie…

Butt it is beginning to look like a mis-misunderstanding. Probably because nobody knew about all the entitlements (like free condoms) that were in the bill until after we passed it.

So that’s good news, right? It just gives Big Guy more entitlement spending to “reform” like he promised to do in the way, way back machine in order to reduce the deficit.

No wait - let’s be clear - Obamacare is NOT included in those entitlements:

“The Affordable Care Act reduces the deficit considerably,” White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters today. “I would simply point out to you that the Supreme Court has spoken, the American people have spoken, congressional leaders of both parties have spoken, and we’re going to continue with implementation.”

So yesterday’s Obamacare-bears will still be around to make sure everyone is getting all the “free” services they’re entitled to.

In fact, now that we WON, I guess spending cuts of any type (other than military) are no longer in the cards:

Democrats emboldened by the election are moving in the opposite direction from the GOP on curbing spending, refusing to look at cuts that were on the bargaining table just last year.

So we will have to get all the blood we need from that 1% 2% of the wealthiest Americans who can afford to pay a little bit more. Boy, I sure hope they have enough, as I understand the economy is still pretty sick.

Well, I’m sure Congress will take care of everything. They always do.

Or as Winnie-the-Pooh used to say: “Don't underestimate the value of Doing Nothing, of just going along, listening to all the things you can't hear, and not bothering.”

In other news, The US Ambassador to the UN must have skipped that Ambassador school class they have on “charm” because her attempt yesterday to wile her way back into the good graces of Senators McCain, Graham and Ayotte apparently didn’t go so well. Somehow she managed to tick them off even more with her new answers to the questions about Benghazi. She should probably sign up for a refresher course with Lady M. Now she’s a charmer!

Huggs!

Or maybe the Senators just mis-misunderstood Susan’s answers. Or Susan  mis-misunderstood their questions. It’s sometimes hard to hear the questions correctly in those meetings. Especially if your wearing an ear piece.

“If the person you are talking to doesn't appear to be listening, be patient. It may simply be that he has a small piece of fluff in his ear.” Winnie-the-Pooh

I can’t really shed any more light on the Bengazigate affair, butt I do think we’ll have a solution to the fiscal cliff and economic problems fairly soon.

Since there will be no cuts to Obamacare, the good news is that the resulting bureaucracy required to float this Leviathan will create so many government jobs that the private sector won’t have to worry about contracting their labor force. So all the Teddy bears graduating from college will be able to find a warm fuzzy job in a helping profession, just like Big Guy and Lady M did - and look where it landed them!

And since they won’t be making enough money to pay back their $100k student loans, their new employer (the government) will forgive a large portion of it. It’s a Win Win!

So we don’t really need all those private sector jobs and doctors after all. So stay calm everyone; we’ve got everything under control now.

 

As long as you keep your “things” hidden away they will always seem much more “thingish” than when they are exposed to the light of day,

 

 “The latest CBO estimate says ObamaTax will cost $2.6 trillion nearly three times as much as Democrats predicted.”

 Sometimes it IS better to keep your light hidden under a bushel.

 

In closing then, I leave you with this last thought - brought to you by Max the Lab Rat, and funded by the Obamacare-bears:

 

Sometimes you get the bear…

 

…and sometimes the bear gets you.

.

 

I’m Barack Obama, and I approved this message.

Linked By: Zilla Stevenson on twitter, and Teresa Land and Mireille Buser on facebook, and BlogsLucianneLoves, and NOBO2012 on Free Republic, Thanks!

Teddy Bears Illustrate Obamacare

Good morning everyone. Today I have prepared a remedial lesson for us on Obamacare. 

I just realized that we haven’t discussed Big Guy’s legacy legislation since well before the reelection. And I recall that many of you have some reservations concerning its efficacy.

So now that it has been deemed the law of the land, I did a little additional research. As it turns out, Obamacare is not as bad as you’ve been led to believe. It’s actually worse, much worse.

All the way from the “free, preventative” annual exams,

If you are complaining of a new problem, then you have to reschedule, since Obamacare is very clear as to what is covered and what is not. Obamacare — intentionally — makes it as difficult to be seen and taken care of as possible.

to the end of life care we can expect in the future.

Not only will Obamacare “cut $247 billion of future funding for payments to hospitals over the next decade,” said McCaughey, in a follow-up interview, “In October 2012, the Obama administration will start awarding ‘bonus points’ to the hospitals that spend the least per senior…And it whacks the higher spending hospitals with demerits, not only for what they spend on a patient while the patient is in the hospital, but also what is spent on that patient for the three months after hospitalization. So hospitals also get hit with demerits for recommending physical therapy after the patient leaves the hospital, or even recommending a doctor’s visit; it’s all counted.These regulations are not going to wring out the fraud, waste, and abuse. No, they are going to force these hospitals to provide a lower standard of care.”

Goodness! Perhaps such drastic changes to such a crucial system is worthy of at least a brief tutorial.

 

 

Unfortunately, with a 2700 page bill that nobody - except Betsy McCaughey – has yet figured out what what all it contains, I wouldn’t know where to start. So instead I just went through my vault of “senseless videos that will one day appear to be prescient” and found one that I think does a pretty good job of illustrating how the country will respond to the implementation of Obamacare (see below).

I don’t think it needs much explanation, butt since it was not originally intended as a metaphor for Obamacare, I should point out that in your viewing you should imagine that the cars represent our existing healthcare system and the Teddy bears represent the citizens trying to enter the new, government sponsored system. The rest is fairly self-explanatory.

It’s creator originally called the video “Cycles” butt that was before I recast as a morality play. For my purposes I’m thinking it needs a new title: “Teenaged Mutant Teddy Bears Act Out When They Discover They Have To Buy Health Insurance They Don’t Want, Don’t Need and Were Told Would be Free” works, butt is a little wordy. I’m open to other suggestions.

One last viewing tip: note how the Teddy bears are fairly benign and docile at the beginning butt grow increasingly hostile and subversive as their ability to safely navigate the increasingly obstructed path becomes less and less probable.

Enjoy.

“I’m Barack Obama, and I approved this message.”

Linked By: Larwyn’s Linx on Doug Ross@Journal, and Phyllis Hanniver on facebook, andBlogsLucianneLoves, and NOBO2012 on Free Republic, Thanks!

White Pawn to Red Queen: I’m Watching You

As happens time and time again: you wake up one day and it’s Spring!

The next thing you know, summer is in full swing:

and suddenly it’s Autumn.

Then in the wink of an eye we find ourselves back in the grip of another cold, barren Winter.

Egyptian tanks confront protestors in Cairo demonstrating against Morsi’s power grab

“The Arab Spring in Egypt looks a whole lot like the Hosni Mubarak tin-pot dictatorship, minus the secularism, good relationship with Israel and reliable partnership with the West. In other words, Egypt now may have Mubarak-style oppression plus Islamist rule. (snip)

The explanation is self-evident: This is not secularized democracy protective of the rule of law and individual rights but Islamist authoritarianism.”

Boy, who could’ve seen that coming? It’s almost as if our good intentions and the power of Big Guy’s personality alone aren’t enough.

It’s like Gerard’s Sidelines post yesterday:

The Red Queen's race

"Well, in our country," said Alice, still panting a little,

"you'd generally get to somewhere else — if you run very fast for a long time, as we've been doing."

"A slow sort of country!" said the Queen.

"Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!" --

This seems to be related to another wise man’s definition of insanity; doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.

There may be a lesson in here somewhere.

“The problem is that we nominate too many Republicans -- no matter how nice, decent and good they may be -- for whom conservatism is a second language.

And then they lose.”

Maybe we should just slow down a little. You, know, like the slow food movement; get back to basics. Instead of fomenting another Muslim Brotherhood uprising in the Mideast we could just focus on some “local” issues for a change. Like our fiscal cliff. And unemployment. And an economy that’s still shrinking and sinking. And the impending Obamacare doctor shortage. And inflation in the face of weaker growth (sometimes nostalgically called “stagflation”).

Although, now that we live in Wonderland where you have to run as fast as you can just to stay in place, that “slow movement” probably won’t work. And yet, as my late comment on Saturday’s thread noted, it is one of life’s incontrovertible facts that the hurrier you go, the behinder you get. So it appears we are caught on the horns of the Red Queen’s dilemma.

Although the Republicans are even worse off; they seem not only caught, butt impaled:

h/t Sondrakistan

“Let's review the fundamental principles again. One cannot plunge the country into astronomical debt without there being a financial come-to-Jesus reckoning. One cannot tempt aggression with weakness. One cannot tax one's way to prosperity. One cannot build a behemoth federal government and expect the country to prosper. One cannot, as Mark Levin puts it, not understand the "interconnection of liberty, free markets, religion, tradition and authority" -- and not pay a price for that lack of understanding.

Were these conservative principles true in 1980? Yes. They were also true in 1780 and 1880 and they will be true in 2080. They are to the world of politics and government what Newton's law of gravity is to the physical world. And to the extent that they are ignored, one is -- politically speaking -- jumping off the Empire State Building without a parachute.”

If returning to fundamentals doesn’t work, they might try applying Alice’s strategy as laid out in the table of contents of Through the Looking Glass.

It worked for Alice – she advanced from pawn to White Queen and ultimately captured the Red Queen; maybe it would work for Republicans too.

On the other hand, if they’ve grown comfortable being pawns, none of their next 11 moves will capture the Queen.

I would certainly think, however, they would want to capitalize on having their own two-way looking glass.

Perhaps I should have Little Mo get in touch with them.

Linked By: Andrea Shea-King on facebook, and HostileLogic on The Telegraph, and BlogsLucianneLoves, and NOBO2012 on Free Republic, Thanks!

A Bucket-full of Thanks!

On the last day of this year’s Thanksgiving holiday, we are going to focus on a few more things that the Wons and their constituents have to be truly thankful for this year.

Number one on the list of heretofore unmentioned blessings is Rush Limbaugh. Apparently without him Big Guy never would have WON!

Let’s start with the charge made by Steve-Sarah-Palin-made-McCain-lose-not-our-crappy-campaign-Schmidt: on Meet the Press two weeks ago he named Rush as this year’s scapegoat. He explained how the lovable little fluff ball was responsible for undermining the Romney campaign strategy developed by himself and fellow Big Brained consultant Mike Murphy. That would be the time honored “prevent defense” strategy proven again and again to all butt guarantee a loss.

Somehow the other team always finds a way around it to win

“to too many swing voters in the country, when you hear the word conservative now, they think of loons and wackos.”

 

Tea Party Platform: Wow! That’s Crazy! Right Ms.NBC?

Because as we all know, debunking inaccurate notions about your team is in no way the responsibility of the CAMPAIGN! That job falls on the shoulders of the media – the conservative media that is, not the MSM which is far too busy promoting their own progressive agenda to worry about the conservative message.

Schmidt went on to snarl:

“Our elected leaders are scared to death of the conservative entertainment complex, the shrill and divisive voices that are bombastic and broadcasting out into the homes.”

 

Whose side are you on again, Schmidty?

 

It was left to Lefty historian Doris Kearns Goodwin put it in perspective:

“The fundamental loss of this campaign probably took place in the Republican primaries when they put out a group of people who were so far off the political cliff on issues that mattered to Latinos, to women and to young people.”

Absolutely,  you nailed it Professor Kearns-Goodwin! The Republican consultants couldn’t agree more! All those wacko Republicans yammering about deficit spending and the fiscal cliff when we all know that all Latinos are interested in is amnesty, women care only about free contraceptives and abortions, and young people only want gay marriage, free tuition and legal dope. How could the GOP be so out of touch with MSM mainstream culture?

Fellow Romney camp strategist Mike Murphy was on the show the following week to declare:

The biggest problem that Romney had was the Republican primary. That's what's driving the Republican brand right now to a disaster, and we've got to get, kind of, a party view of America that's not right out of Rush Limbaugh's dream journal.

Let’s ask Al Franken for his ideas instead

Butt suddenly, from out of nowhere, people seem to be lobbing bombs back into camp GOP Establishment. First Rush, defending himself:

What, folks, did I or any of you have to do with the Republican primary?  Did not Murphy get the candidate he wanted?  All these consultants, do you realize they get rich no matter who wins or loses?

Next, long time double-agent Pat Caddell took to the podium to place the blame for GOP failure squarely at the feet of the very consultants who have been busy all month placing blame anywhere butt (because it obviously worked after the 2008 election, as evidenced by their return engagement). Thus giving Big Guy and his Big Brains one last thing to be truly thankful for this year: the Republican "consultant-lobbyist-establishment" complex. 

Elephant in the room going down for the second time: send backup!

He outlined in fine detail all the ways the consultant class went astray; everything from failure to develop a narrative:

He said the Republican party needed to be more imaginative -- like promoting education reform against teachers unions as the new battle for civil rights and running against corruption in Washington,

to ignoring effective messages and mechanisms that didn’t line their own pockets.

For instance, even though a Frank Luntz focus group found that the “Hope and the Change” movie was the most effective way for Republicans to appeal to independent voters, Caddell accused the Republican “consultant-lobbyist-establishment complex” of not utilizing the film because “that communication didn’t fit” in their conventional plans to make the consultant class wealthy.

Never a man to mince his words, Mr. Caddell went on to identify the media as the “enemy of the people” that needed to be dealt with and suggested that the Republican “consultant-lobbyist-establishment complex” needed to be “eviscerated.”

Take away for the R-words: next time you may be better off to fire the Big Brained consultants who appear to be negative-value-added overhead and go with that “crackpot Tea Party” fringe anti-establishment crowd.

Caddell compared Romney to…Thomas Dewey in 1948, who lost to Harry Truman in an election nobody thought Truman could win. Obama, Caddell said, turned "hope and change" into "divide and conquer" and activated his liberal base just like Truman energized the New Deal coalition in 1948.

Thereby demonstrating once again history’s proclivity for repeating itself. Which brings me to my last thing to put in this year’s big bucket of things to be thankful for: Oliver Stone’s Untold History of the United States, a 10 part revisionist U.S. history series to be aired on Showtime. I understand it recasts Stalin as the hero of WWII; that ought to be good.

Butt boy, when your lies, lies and damned lies! are even too much for the New York Times and Newsweek/Daily Beast to swallow, you know you’ve wandered a little too far off the reservation. In Oliver’s case, all the way into negationism. Michael Moynihan went so far as to call it “ideological drivel.” That’s interesting, since I didn’t think writers on the pragmatic left were able to recognize that stuff any more.

So there you have it: a few blessings to toss in the “thankful” bucket that can be shared and appreciated by both the Left and the Right: el Rushbo, the consultant-lobbyist-establishment complex and disdain for Oliver Stone’s junk history.

Is this a great country or what?

 

What Big Guy’s going to do if he ever leaves office

Linked By: Doug Ross, and  Larwyn’s Linx on Doug Ross@Journal, and HostileLogic on The Telegraph, and BlogsLucianneLoves, and NOBO2012 on Free Republic, Thanks!