Knockout the Jew

As prerequisite, I require you to read a column by Thomas Sowell.

The media are not correctly reporting this offensive behavior: they are calling it the “Knockout Game”. The original version is what I quote in the title. Worse, it was invented by black street gangs: the goal is to coldcock anyone who looks Jewish, and you get double points for an obvious orthodox Jew, anyone wearing a yarmulke, or a Rabbi.

Very recently, that billionaire-gadfly Winfrey, while “across the pond” as they say, made a racist remark that I will not dignify by repeating. From my viewpoint as a non-white, non-black, non-Christian, non-Jew, there is one last bastion of racism here in the United States: black antisemitism. So, consider: take Winfrey's remark and turn it on its head by using the last 2 words of the previous sentence.

Pretty nasty, huh? Yet her remark is what passes for enlightened discourse these days. Sigh...

Editorial: Lincoln was totally wrong

This is the 150^th anniversary of the great Gettysburg Address. IMHO, it was the greatest and also the darkest hour of American, yea, human history.

Slavery

There is no human behavior more worthy of scorn than this. We honor our Founding Fathers, but the fact that President Lincoln was still battling this evil decades later does not bespeak well of their legacy. Even today, this evil persists: specifically, Muslims who enslave blacks as living beings of little value above that of pigs or dogs (regarding Muslim prejudice against dogs and pigs, Google it).

$$$

As background, it is important to understand that the battle for the almighty dollar was a significant factor, and anyone who denies this and claims that the Civil War was only about morals is an idiot, ignorant of the realities of the times. There was economic warfare at the time, just as it is today. Then, the industrial North wished suvereignty over the slave-driven South, and versa-vice.

The Great Compromise...Not

That civil war based solely on slavery was eminent on several levels, including moral and economic and political grounds, was obvious to everyone, including a doofus like Lincoln. The South, recognizing this reality, offered Lincoln a compromise. Henceforth, there would never be another new human slave in the United States; also, all existing slaves would end their lives as such. Within one generation, where he willing to wait, slavery would have disappeared from our country. In his arrogance and stupidity, Lincoln rejected this out-of-hand.

Lincoln...makes the wrong choice

He was not a stupid man. He knew that civil war would make the earth run red with American blood. Brother against brother, father against son.

Indeed.

In the end, the number of dead Americans is a number with 6 digits, more than all other wars put together, and he knew it would happen. A serious military mistake. Nevertheless, the same mistake made by several respectable warlords during the Sengoku (Japanese Medieval civil wars).

Of the great warlords, there are many you can read of: Sun Tzu, Miyamoto Musashi, Mori Motonari, Hojo Tokimune. They all agree one on point: the greatest victories are battles that are won without shedding a single drop of blood.

By this measure, Lincoln was an abject failure.

Have a nice day.

President Obama: kiss my *ss

Please forgive my lack of decorum. As a Buddhist, 100% truth and honesty are my guideposts. Thus it is now. I herewith present an open letter to the President.

You repeatedly proclaimed that, under your new way, ordinary working-class citizens can keep their doctors and health insurance policies. This is demonstrably not so. Your response:

“I am sorry.”

Sir, you are a liar and hypocrite. Your “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act” has caused millions of people to lose their current health insurance and forced either to go without or pay dramatically higher monthly premiums. You are not sorry, nor do you care that you have f*cked up the healthcare of many who are living paycheck-to-paycheck. From your point of view, it is a proud and vital first step to the complete control of medical care by the Federal Government bureaucracy (single-payer healthcare; Google it). Nothing else really matters to you.

I acknowledge that this is a perfectly reasonably viewpoint, if you are honest about it. You, sir, have not been so. This legislation is the worst piece of dog-poop that has ever been produced by the House of Representatives, and it has your name on it: “Obamacare”. I hope you are proud of it.

Your own actuaries, 3 years ago, warned you that between 37% and 80% of all people with private health insurance will lose their medical coverage.

It is one thing to be stupid or ill-informed. You, sir, told a flat out lie, and knew it. There are many human weaknesses that I can forgive, even in a CIC. Your sin, sir, is not among them.

I humbly suggest that you apply lip balm and pucker-up.

Have a nice day, President Obama. 

Top Ten + 2 Facts About Obamacare

The Roll-Out...Has Been A Success?

Note well: there is great controversy no to mention a PR nightmare, but this entirely about the defective website. The argument about whether Obamacare is, on net, a good thing or bad thing, is totally missing.

The Numbers Not Available Till...Mid-November?

This is total nonsense. HHS is holding back the numbers, so they do not come out till after the elections. The numbers are available real time, as this is computers and not a dude cranking away on an adding machine. In fact, there is no reason HHS could put a counter right on the webpage proudly displaying how many have actually signed up. Another wrinkle is the difference between just opening an account and actually applying for insurance. See, there is no looky-loo provision like any other retail website, so you have to start an account to find out how much a policy will cost you. Why? Cuz HHS was afraid that visitors would get sticker shock, so they removed the preview function so you actually have to open an account to get your quoted price with subsidies and the like.

The Real Reason Obamacare Was Created

Medicaid.

That's right: the qualifications were loosened considerably as part of Obamacare so that more people than ever can get it (if the website ever gets fixed). All this subsidy stuff is just a prelim to moving everyone towards Medicaid and single-payer-healthcare.

Why Your Health Insurance Policy Is Being Canceled

According to an article in Forbes, all policies (including the cheapie Bronze ones) must include all of the following:

• Emergency services
• Hospitalization
• Laboratory services
• Maternity care
• Mental health services
• Occupational and physical therapy
• Prescription drugs
• Preventive and wellness services (such as vaccines and cancer screenings)
• Speech-language therapy
• Addiction treatment
• Ambulatory patient services
• Care for newborns and children
• Chronic disease treatment (such as diabetes and asthma)

At least half of these are not normally covered by insurance policies, even the expensive ones. If your current health insurance does not cover all of these, it is not allowed.

Why It Is A Threat To Your Privacy

Cuz the Obamacare database will connect to many other databases that have your personal data, which is unprecedented. Including: criminal records, employment data, family records, where you live, your voting history, driving records, taxes, gun registration, health records, INS records, all with your personal data. Obamacare will be the new central hub to gather all your private info. The stated reason is that the HHS website has to verify who you are to determine what subsidies you are eligible for.

A Simple Fix That Will Never Happen

All the Obamacare website needs is a simple, text webform. You fill in the blanks, and the website gives you the price of your insurance policy assuming you filled in the form correctly. You click a button that says “OK, I'll take it”. Then, on the back end, the servers verify your form, and you get an email in a few days with an offer from the insurance company. This will never happen, cuz then HHS cannot capture all your private data in realtime.

Health Insurance Broker/Agent

All this is so unnecessary. These folks know their stuff, and are licensed by the state. They know the policies forwards, backwards, sideways, upside down and inside out. Why are they being cut out? See the previous paragraph.

If You Like Your Doctor...You Are Probably Screwed

“If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor.”

Not.

Depending on which survey you read, up to half of all physicians are either putting themselves out of reach of Medicaid, Medicare, and Obamacare, or outright retiring. You might have the same doctor under Obamacare, but this is sheer random luck.

Narrow Provider Networks

Before you celebrate the lower-cost or no-cost insurance policy, note carefully which hospitals, doctors, clinics, and pharmacies you can use. You might be surprised at how few resources you have access to.

The Roberts' Supreme Court...may have permanently killed single-payer healthcare

Another little-noticed development is that the Supremes deemed that individual states can opt-out of the provisions that dramatically expand Medicaid. Under Obamacare, if a state opts of the Medicaid increase, then the residents of that state are not eligible for premium subsidies either. I am sure that Larry Summers, the primary architect of Obamacare, never envisioned such a thing. All states will be under Obamacare and the Medicaid increases, a good first step to single-payer healthcare (where all people in medicine are federal employees and the President controls all premiums, coverage, and medical decisions). The fact that almost a third of the states have opted out means that this liberal dream will never come true.

Healthcare vs. Health Insurance

Is this about access to basic medical services, or about the price of the monthly insurance premiums? I submit to you that Obamacare is about the latter.

The Infamous 'Death Spiral'

This is something that should be explained if you do not already understand. Health insurance for us old fogeys and people who have preexisting medical problems are going down. How? All people, especially the young, are now required by law to have health insurance. They are going to put into the kitty, but because they are young and strong and virtually immortal, will never use medical care. Therefore, they subsidize insurance price reductions for everyone else.  

Battlefield Report—the War on Obamacare

• We learned that St. Obama has feet of clay.
• Barry's Heroes hit a grand slam, clearing the bases. The Good Guys got skunked.
• The Good Guys suggested several improvements (delaying the individual mandate for one year, eliminating the medical devices tax, making Congress and the Executive branches submit to Obamacare just like ordinary citizens), but Barry's Heroes successfully turned back all of these skirmishes.
• Guardians of National Parks and Monuments were given explicit instructions to make the gov't shutdown as painful as possible to citizens.
• Unity of Barry's allies in the Senate trumps disunity of the Good Guys in the Senate and House.
• The carpenters who built https://www.healthcare.gov/ , CGI Federal, have political connections to Barry's command staff, and were awarded a no-bid contract. My good sirs, please look up the meaning of 'Crony Capitalism'.
• The Exec for the Good Guys is relieved: surely the rookies Generals have learned their lesson, that theirs was a fool's errand, had no chance, and should not have been attempted in the first place.
• Few have noticed that this was but the opening volley in what is sure to be a long, protracted, and costly war against Barry's Heroes.

My good Generals' Cruz and Lee [no, no, not that Lee—think 'Utah'], please accept this report in good grace. I must now return to my post.

The GOP Surrenders...again

We hope you have enjoyed this encore presentation of The Republican Kabuki Dance. For those who may have missed an installment, here is the...

Plot Synopsis

Act 1

The Wise General announces his wish to build a castle. It will include cylindrical solar cells on the roof, a golf course, a cigarette factory, its own Buffalo Wild Wings franchise, and an exercise cycle being used as a coat rack.

Act 2

The Stupid Nobles, tired of having their gold stores raided repeatedly by the Wise General, are fed up. They decide to barricade themselves in the gold vault by blocking the door with furniture. Smirking, the Wise General announces, “very well, then: with no gold, there will be no food for the children”. He loads up all the rice into the bed of his natural-gas powered Silverado and drives to the Archer-Daniels-Midland refinery where every last grain is converted to ethanol for E85 fuel.

Act 3

The Royal Nobles rush out of their Ivory Castle, and pound on the door, “open: you have no chance of winning, besides not having an endgame”. The Stupid Nobles respond, “over our dead bodies”.

Act 4

One of the Royal Nobles goes back to castle and returns with his toolbox: he takes the door off its hinges. The Wise General triumphantly strides into the vault and begins shoveling gold into the waiting pockets of his flunkies.

Act 5

Beaten and dejected, the Stupid Nobles shuffle home, hoping at least to be greeted by throngs of peasants, whose gold their were protecting. Sadly, they were all too busy in their homes feeding their children with rice.

The Moral of the Story

If you are going to play clog-the-wheels, use brand new furniture from IKEA.

This performance will repeat on Friday, Feb 7, 2014.

The 14th Amendment...does not say what you wish it to say

First, the full text of Section 4:

The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void.

HISTORY

The 14^th Amendment to the US Constitution was hotly contested, hence its rather circumspect language. See, in the Constitution, words mean exactly what they say, no more and no less. This amendment was adopted in 1866, in the wake of the Civil War. Mostly, this one was designed to ensure that blacks were citizens with the same full legal rights as whites, an idea that was revolting to the South and even some in the North. Section 4 was included to ensure that states south of the Mason-Dixon Line would regard debts incurred by the Lincoln government fighting the war would be recognized as legit for all.

“Questioned”?

In the past several days, I have heard any number of “opinions” about the meaning of this word, and therefore its implication. Problem is, this sentence has never been litigated up to the Supreme Court, and its correct Constitutional meaning has never been determined. In particular, I am not convinced that reneging on Treasury debt is the same thing as 'questioning the validity' of same: it just means you are a deadbeat, but not necessarily contesting the legitimacy of the debt. It might mean that, but this has never been determined. If I am not correct about this, please do put the Supreme Court case reference in the response box below, won't you?

Section 5

The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.

OK, this is the funny (i.e. strange, not funny ha-ha) about this. It is the House, not the Executive, that is tasked with enforcing this amendment. Therefore, if Barry tries to enforce this part, is it Constitutional?