Two Train Wrecks in One

Your bemused Peasant reported a few weeks ago
that U.S. Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) admitted that
the implementation of the Affordable Care Act,
a/k/a Obamacare, will be a "train wreck" for all
the inherent complications in setting it up, along
with some additional snags; this from a senator,
by the way, who was one of the principal archi-
tects of this hellacious legislation. It's par for the
course, as the act itself is a train wreck as well.

As the deadlines approach for getting us all enrolled
in the program, the consequences of this mess are
now becoming manifestly apparent. And a burgeon-
ing movement has begun to defund or repeal outright
the act. What is most astonishing, though, is that
there are some Democrats joining the chorus!
Former DNC chieftain Howard Dean, a physician
by trade and a long-time supporter of government-
provided health care no less, has called for repeal.
35 House Democrats voted with Republicans to
delay the "individual mandate" part of the plan
for a whole year. President Obama himself has
unilaterally waived the Employer Mandate until
after next year's elections, as the forecasted loss
of jobs, the downgrading of many full-time jobs
(30 hours or more) to part-time status (29 hours
or less), the cost to businesses, and the public
outrage prompted Obama's decision, as he does
not want to risk not only failing to regain the
House from the GOP but losing the Senate to
them as well. The president wants to bring this
mandate back after the election when he thinks it
will be safe from an electoral standpoint for his
party.

Among the complications in Obamacare:

*Congress repealed the IRS 1099 reporting mandate
in 2011, after it was shown to be a significant finan-
cial burden on small businesses.
*$500 billion in cuts to Medicare Advantage which
were to go into effect last year were put off until this
year, so as to stave off electoral anger that may have
prevented Obama from winning a second term.
*The CLASS Act insurance provisions were repealed
as part of the "fiscal cliff" talks (remember them?)
when both sides agreed that it was, in essence, a
"ponzi scheme" and "unworkable".

Obama also delayed anti-fraud and income verification
measures until 2015, so as to increase participation in
the health care exchanges. But the prez also added a
provision that would exempt Congress and their staff
from participation; they will continue to receive the
health care plan that the taxpayers have paid at least
75% of every year! Furthermore, he has assured his
union supporters that they too will not lose their
fantastically generous health care coverage as they
too will be exempted from Obamacare! Question:
if the Affordable Care Act is such a great health
care panacea for the American people, if it is the
health insurance equivalent to a wonder drug, if
it is the greatest thing to come along since ice cream
(or at least penicillin), then why are Congress, labor
unions, and other chums of Obama's all so anxious
to avoid being ushered into registration for the
plan along with us peasants? And of course the
First Family will never have their names on the
plan's rolls!

Thirty states, including your loyal Peasant's home
state of Wisconsin, have refused to set up any
exchanges, stating that if this nightmarish program
is to go into effect, that the federal government could
jolly well set them up itself. Bravo to my state's
courageous governor, Scott Walker for taking this
tack! And Obama and the HHS have sent loads of
money to Democrat constituency groups, such as
the NAACP, the AFL-CIO, and a few major unions
including the Service Employees International Union
(SEIU) to hire, train, and send out "navigators" to
go out into targeted communities, mostly economic-
ally hurting ones, to sign people up for the exchanges
and ultimately the program. But the training has been
so hurried so as to be slapdash, and many of the
"navigators" themselves don't know much more about
the program and how to get enrolled for it than the
people they are supposed to bring on board! Keep in
mind, my dear readers, that these same unions and
their umbrella outfit the AFL-CIO don't want to, on
the one hand, be required to join the rest of us in
Obamacare, but they are all too happy to take money
from Washington, OUR money, to sign us up for it!
Hypocrisy and elitism are the order of the day!

Meanwhile opposition to Obamacare is growing, as
tracked and measured in opinion polls throughout
the country, and the Democrats are hard-pressed to
assure the public that this sorry program is not the
horror that it in reality is, lying like they never have
before. But the implementation of this atrocity is
coming closer, and will be upon us, unless the
Republicans can muster the guts and the votes to
stop it --- cold. Your faithful Peasant has written
and petitioned both Republicans and Democrats in
Congress to do just that; I know that many of you,
my indefatigable readers have done likewise,
and that is why the push to ram this plan down our
throats has been stymied for the time being. Let's
keep up the pressure until this awful thing has been
turned back once and for all!


MEM

Gratitude for Four Great Years!

Your joyously grateful Peasant thanks you,
my fantastic, fabulous, loyal readers, for
four great, wonderful years together! The
day after tomorrow is September 23, the
anniversary of the establishment of this
blog. That is the date when we met and
started to become acquainted with each
other, forming a friendship based on our
desire to preserve our great country and
the ideas and principles upon which it was
founded. And, of course, to engage in a
studious overview of the political and
economic news of the day with the aim
of learning the whys and wherefors of
these stories and identifying those who
have acted for the good of We the People
and those who have acted for the selfish
schemes of themselves and their chums,
politicians and others alike.

We have both praised and criticized those
in our ongoing conservative movement;
the former to commend those who exhibited
their committment to constitutional, limited
government and the preservation of our
liberty and our property, the latter when
some in our ranks have shown some squish-
iness rather than firmness in same, and
certianly when some have just plain sold
out to gain favor from our political enemies,
as well as when some have not practiced
our conservative principles in not just
governance but in their private lives
(former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford
for one!).

We also have praised those uncommon few
from our opposition for their actions which
have proved beneficial to our society by
going against their side's "conventional
wisdom" and general way of doing things;
recently your appreciative Peasant wrote
a tribute of high praise for the late liberal
journalist Jack Germond, who had shown this
inclination and willingness to do precisely this.
I even had some complimentary things to say
about U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, who was a
shameless RINO who eventually left the GOP
to return to the Democrats whom he began his
political career with. The late senator did, and
your grateful Peasant shall indeed always be
grateful, for his forceful defense of Clarence
Thomas when Thomas came under fire from
radical feminists and their point woman Anita
Hill when Thomas was a nominee for a seat
on the U.S. Supreme Court. The shameless
and vile attempt to besmirch Thomas and his
reputation was quashed largely due to Specter's
unexpected and unequivocal words of support
for the man who would go on to be confirmed
for that very seat as a result.

In the coming year, and all subsequent years, we
shall continue to gather here to critically examine
the stories from the political battlefield, praising
the heroes and sticking the prongs of truth into
the backsides of the villains in exposure of their
self-serving actions --- and having a ball doing so!
God bless you all, my loyal readers! And God bless
America!


MEM

An Announcement of Technical Difficulties

My grand and wonderful readers, your frustrated
Peasant has had some technical difficulties with
the website on which I post this blog for your
enjoyment. Over the course of this summer I
have had some entire days where I could not
post anything because I could not get the cursor
to appear in the text box, thus preventing me from
typing text. At first this had occurred about every
other day, then it began occurring more frequently;
this week and last I had only two days each week
where this problem had not come up.

At first I thought it was because of the computers
I had been using, but as I use the public access
computers in two local libraries I had encountered
the same problem at both. Then I thought it was
because of abnormally heavy traffic, or usage, of
the internet, with many people being online at the
same time. This can affect one's ability to acess
anything on the 'net, as I learned long ago.

Now, I think that this is something that Google,
the company which purchased Blogger and its
blogging web site a few years ago, can and should
do something about. Toward that end, your concerned
Peasant had e-mailed them to let them know of this
problem and asked them to look into and ultimately
solve it --- this was never done from what I can tell.

Well, I shall discuss this matter in more detail with
you, my wonderful readers, perhaps as soon as next
week. In the meantime, I shall post whenever I can,
it will not always be on a Thursday as I have been
doing; but post I shall, whenver the technical bugaboo
does not crop up to wreak more havoc. In the meantime,
your grateful Peasant thanks you all for your patience
and understanding. By the by, the 23rd of this month
will be our fourth anniversary of getting together at
this blog to examine the political and economic news,
identifying the heroes and villains in the stories,
praising the former and castigating the latter while
offering solutions to the challenges we face whenever
we are able! Thank you, my beautiful readers, for
a fantastic four years together! May we have many
more to enjoy!


MEM

Orwellian-speak Simplified

National columnist Charles Krauthammer wrote a splendid
piece recently detailing the language used by the Obama
Administration and the State Department in regard to certain
events which transpired at home and abroad. What lengths this
cabal won't go to in order to whitewash tragedies which
happened to us, especially those which Team Obama have
wrought with their lackadaisical inaction or grossly
inept action.

Krauthammer shared the following examples of Obama-speak:
Jen Psalki, State Department spokeswoman, stated that the 
evacuation of our embassy in Yemen was not an evacuation but
"a reduction in staff". That alleged staff reduction got the staff
in the reduction out of dodge and back home mighty fast!
Janet Napolitano, outgoing head of Homeland Security,
told us that terror attacks are merely "man-caused disasters".
Nothing to worry about, folks, go on about your business.
Just someone having carelessly caused a disaster, no big deal.

Nidal Hasan, the traitor who shot 13 American soldiers dead
and wounded many others at Fort Hood boasted to a military
court that he killed the soldiers he killed in the name of jihad;
no matter, the government has simply labeled the whole affair
as "workplace violence". Just a soldier having a little too much
pressure to cope with? Ha!

And then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrogantly declaring
before Congress "What difference does it make?" regarding the
four dead Americans killed at our embassy in Libya, murdered
by Al-Qaeda -backed thugs in what the administration tried to
pass off as a demostration gone awry. The difference, Hill, is ---
as Krauthammer explains in his piece --- first, truth is a virtue.
Second, if you keep lying to the American people, they'll question
everything that you say from this point forward. Your leery Peasant
would pull out a pocket calculator to check Clinton's statement if
she announced that two plus two made four! And third, leading the
country through a long struggle requires both honesty and clarity.
All the Obama folks do is lie and obfuscate to cover their
backsides.

Also, President Obama cannot bring himself, according to
Krauthammer, to utter or allow any of his administration to utter
the word "Islamist". Apparently the man won't acknowledge just
who our biggest enemy in the world at this point in time is. And
he forbids his administration to do so as well. All this points to
what Krauthammer calls the world's first lexicological war, a war
in which one parries and thrusts with linguistic tricks and other
such obfuscative maneuvers. Meanwhile, as he treats the real
enemy with kid gloves, Obama persecutes Tea Party activists and
others who dissent regarding his policies by having the NSA spy
on them, snooping on ther telephone and e-mail conversations,
as well as having the IRS harrass then with endless audits.

Krauthammer concludes by stating that "This isn't about language.
It's about leadership. The wordplay is merely cover for uncertain
policy embedded in confusion and ambivalence ..." Your faithful
Peasant couldn't put it better. This is what happens when a country's
leaders have contempt and disdain for the country's people and its
laws. George Orwell warned the world about such things in his
books, among which were "Animal Farm" and "1984". 

Read them sometime, my grand readers, and see the eerie parallels.
1984 came late, but it has indeed arrived.


MEM

Jack Germond, R.I.P.

A journalist whose work your appreciative Peasant
has long enjoyed, even though he was a liberal,
Jack Germond, passed away in August after a long
spell of poor health at the age of 85.

Germond was a reporter, columnist, and commentator
in print and on television, plying his trade for nearly
50 years, nearly half of those years with the Baltimore
Sun. He worked in the Sun's Washington bureau,
covering the White House and Congress.

"Jack was a truly dedicated reporter and had an old-
fashioned relationship with politicians. He liked them,
but that did not prevent him from being critical when
they did bad things and behaved badly. That was a
trademark of Jack's," said Jules Witcover, his writing
partner of many years.

Germond was the only child born to his engineer father
and homemaker mother in Boston, Massachusetts.
After a brief stint in the Army, he attended the Univer-
sity of Missouri where he earned degrees in journalism
and history, soon afterward becoming the sports editor
of the Jefferson City Post-Tribune. His next position was
as a columnist for the Monroe (MI) Evening Times.
Germond held these positions in the early 1950s.

From 1953 until 1973 Germond was a reporter for the
Rochester Times-Union, then became the Washington
Bureau Chief for Gannet Co. Newspapers, which owned
the Times-Union back then, holding this position from
1969 until 1973. He then joined the Washington Star
and was with that paper until it ceased operations in 1981.
Germond was political editor and later assistant managing
editor for the Star, where he met and started collaborating
with Jules Witcover.

When the Star ceased to shine, Germond and Witcover
were hired by the Baltimore Evening Sun. They co-wrote
a column for that paper until it too ceased operations and
the pair went over to its sister publication, the Sun, where
they continued their column. They came to specialize in
covering presidential campaigns, and became trusted and
admired for the thoroughness of their work, which entailed
giving much more print to their coverage than many of
their rivals at other papers around the country. The portly
Germond came to be affectionately referred to as the
Fat Man.

Germond was a regular member of the often rambunctious
gathering of journalists on the political talk show The
McLaughlin Group, hosted by former Nixon speechwriter
and former catholic priest John McLaughlin. The quirky,
unnerving McLaughlin and Germond were at odds both
in front of and behind the cameras, and Germond eventually
left the show. While there, however, Germond met and struck
up a friendship with the very conservative late pundit
Robert Novak; Germond proved that he could indeed get on
well with people from across the political divide, McLaughlin
aside. Your bemused Peasant has to say that, as a frequent
viewer of this TV show, the host certainly did come off as
a "mad hatter" with his antics, which included childish-
sounding play with panelist's names. McLaughlin called
The New Republic's Fred Barnes "Fred The Beetle Barnes"
many a time on the air! I would remark to myself "Is that
necessary?" in dumbfounded amazement.

Retiring in 2000, Germond had concluded a career that listed
among many accomplishments six books about politics and
covering politicians, successful solo and collaborative columns,
many political stories broken (that is, brought to the public's
attention ahead of rival reporters), countless TV appearances,
and widespread renown. What your admiring Peasant liked best
about jack Germond was the fact that he never let his politics
get in the way of reporting the truth about people or events; if
someone was a good actor Germond said so. If one was out
for himself at the expense of others Germond made that known.
The politicos that Germond was friendly with knew this about
him and rarely tested the Fat Man, for they knew that he was
a man of unshakable ethics and integrity. This is, sadly, a trait
that has become an increasingly rare commodity among today's
journalists, regardless of political tastes.

Jack Germond has left us. May it be that conscientious journalism
has not left us as well. Rest in peace, Mr. Germond. A job well
done, sir.


MEM

This and That

Here's a random sampling of the latest political and
economic news for your perusal and enjoyment, my
fabulous readers:

Elitism grips Congress; Congressional lawmakers and
their aides will, for the foreseeable future, continue to
have nearly all of their health care costs paid for by the
taxpayers, while exempting themselves from Obamacare
(the Affordable Health Care Act). This means that not
only will the members of Congress continue to receive
out-of-this-world health care coverage paid for by you
and I, but we lowly peasants will have to purchase and
pay through the nose for inefficient and costly coverage
for ourselves as mandated by Obama's health care scheme.
We thus get a double shafting! Thus far congressional
Republicans have yet to do the one sure-fire thing needed
to do away with Obama's scam, and that is to stop all
funding for this nightmare. What's keeping them? And,
dare your favorite Peasant ask, how many GOP members
of Congress have voted for exempting themselves from
going on Obamacare? We deserve some honest answers
to these questions!

President Obama claims that his policies are helping to
create many new jobs across the country; indeed this is
so. However, what he is conveniently not telling us is
that they are nearly all part-time jobs. That's right, out of
the 935,000 jobs created so far in 2013, 731,000 are jobs
with less than 30 working hours per week. Obamacare is
a big factor in this, as one of its stipulations is that employers
will have to spend a certain set amount of money for health
care coverage for their full-time staff. They are getting
around this rule by cutting back work hours for many of
their employees, mainly hourly wage earners. Now, many
workers will have to work a second, some even a third, job
just to stay in place from an economic standpoint, not
including health care and retirement benefits. But at the rate
in which many other jobs are dying out because of the sickly
economy, lots of luck trying to find any extra jobs! One way
or another, Obama and his pals are going to get us, and get us
good, unless the Republicans get their act together and do
what we elected them to do.

Apparently, many of Obama's fellow Dems and Dem constitu-
ets are not all that keen on Obamacare anymore, now that they
have had a chance to see just what's in it. Soon to be retiring
U.S. Senator Max Baucus (D-MT) called its implementation "a
train wreck". Many labor union chieftains are, like Congress,
not fond of the idea of giving up their Cadillac health care
coverage plans for the clunkier Obama package. But are these
union stalwarts demanding that Obamacare be scrapped and a
new plan created in its place? They instead are demanding that
they, too, be exempted like Congress from participating! They
are in effect saying "Make the rest of the country go on the
plan, leave us and our incredibly cushy health plans alone!"
Don't you just LOVE the way that unions stick up for the
regular folk, the Joe and Jane Paycheck lot? All of this looks
like Obama is getting more blowback than he thought he'd
face on his national health care scam, and that its ultimate
implementation is not a given after all.

At Central Missouri University, the College Republicans were
turned away from a speech by President Obama, even though
they had tickets for admission. The campus organizers for the
event denied entry to any students wearing "Tea Party" or other
patriotically-themed clothing, citing (your amused Peasant will
try hard not to break out in laughter here!) "security concerns".
Well, naturally, the organizers of this wingding wanted to secure
the Great and Powerful Obama's feelings from being hurt by the
sight of upstart right-wing peasants from even quietly voicing
their political disagreements with His Nibs. Can't have The
Great One in a funk, now, can they? Remember when the buttons
proclaiming "Question Authority!" were ubiquitous during the
George W. Bush years? They disappeared as soon as Obama first
won election to the White House in 2008, and have not resurfaced
since. Apparently that message only applies when there is a
Republican president.

More bad news about Detroit: As this piece is being typed, Detroit
owes money to over 100,000 creditors. That figure is about one-
ninth of the Motor City's current population figure, which is still
dropping like a stone in a lake. At least there's affordable housing
aplenty there; many houses in Detroit are currently on sale for $500
OR LESS (emphasis mine)! About one-third of the city's 140 square
miles are either vacant or derelict. 40% of Detroit's street lights
do not work. The murder rate is 11 times higher than that of New
York City, and police solve less than 10% of Detroit's crimes these
days.Crime has gotten so bad in Detroit that the police are telling
people to "enter Detroit at your own risk". Your loyal Peasant is
neither that bold, nor that foolhardy!

Elliot Spitzer, the disgraced former New York Governor (Love
Client #9) announced his candidacy for New York City Controller
in July. His opponent? Kristin Davis, the "madam" who supplied
the ex-gov with call girls when he was governor! You just can't
make this stuff up! They will be joined on the ballot by the disgraced
ex-U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner, who is running for Mayor of the
Big Apple. And on this blog we discussed the troubles that this
guy has seen! Perhaps someone should wrap New York City's
politics and politicians in a plain brown wrapper!

Few mainstream, or maybe your bemused Peasant should say
"lamestream" media outlets made mention of the over 100 demon-
strations nationwide that occurred on July 4 protesting the NSA's
snooping on Americans, especially those who are not enamored
with the Almighty Obama. The "Restoring the Fourth" demonstra-
tions sought to restore fourth amendment protections against
"illegal search and seizure", and that surveillance methods should
be "constitutional, limited, and clearly defined." No fishing
expeditions! The gatherings ranged in size from several dozen to
several thousand people, as the demonstration in New York's
Union Square had. Is there any doubt anymore about the bias
of our media? The watchdog for the public interest is not asleep,
it has been co-opted.

Have a great week everybody!


MEM