Category Archives: Idiots on Parade

Affordable Care Act Helping The Poor

Posted on November 4, 2013 | 25 comments

Poor Artist

Came across this article in the NY Times this morning:

For Mark and Elisabeth Horst, both artists in Albuquerque, the risks of signing up for a bronze plan were outweighed by the prospect of getting it free. The Horsts, who make $24,000 a year between them, qualified for $612 in monthly subsidies, but the cost of a bronze plan was $581 a month.

The Horsts are the couple pictured above.

I object to redistribution in general but have to admit to having sympathy for folks who fit the mental picture of “the poor”.  Struggling factory worker barely getting by.  Single mom who can’t pay rent, electric bill AND the water bill.

But THESE ‘effing people?!?  I have to work my ass off to support these people’s health care?

The article goes on to to quote Mr. Horst as claiming to be in good health, so I’m guessing that they are making 24k is that they CHOOSE to make 24k, not because life has dealt them some shitty hand.  These are people who CAN work, COULD work but are making the choice NOT to work.

And we’re taking care of them like children.

Look, I’d like to wake up every day and draw.  Or color.  Or make clay ashtrays too.  But I don’t; I go to work and bring home the bacon.

And because I do – these people get to color.

Awesome.

In honor of the working poor:

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Posted in Health Care, Idiots on Parade, Politics: National

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Obamacare – Econ 101

Posted on October 30, 2013 | 10 comments

Monopoly Free Market

It’s a simple concept; make a thing more expensive and the demand for that thing is reduced:

Andy Puzder, the CEO of CKE Restaurants Inc. which is the parent company of Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s, told Megyn Kelly on “The Kelly File,” that his company and others will choose to hire part-time employees instead of full-time employees because of increased costs from the health care law.

He said in the six months in 2013 before the Obama administration delayed the employer mandate, which requires companies with over 50 full-time employees to provide health coverage to all full-time employees, employers were already reducing worker hours to prepare for the law.

“It’s very simple if you increase the cost of something businesses will use less of it,” Puzder said. “If you decrease the cost they will use more of it. So if you increase the cost of full time employment, there will be less full time employees. If you decrease the cost of part time employment, you’ll have more part time employment.”

I am reminded of Hanlon’s Razor:

 Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.

It is becoming increasingly clear, even to Obama’s supporters, that he is stupid.

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Posted in Idiots on Parade, Politics: National

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Pino Is Right – Sebelius Blames Claims Obama Kept Promise

Posted on October 30, 2013 | 3 comments

Kathleen Sebelius

Last night at about 6:30 I opined on how long it would take the administration to deflect blame on the policy cancellations from Barack Obama to the insurance companies.

It took about 18 hours:

The White House has struggled to defend President Obama’s 2009 claim as thousands of people receive notifications that their insurance companies are dropping their plans.

“Is he keeping his promise?” Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) asked Sebelius.

“Yes he is,” the Health and Human Services secretary responded.

She repeated the administration’s argument that, if people are losing their plans, it is because of insurance companies and not the new healthcare law.

“If a person had a policy in place in March 2010, liked that plan, and the insurance company made no changes to disadvantage the consumer, those policies are in place, you keep your plan if you like it, and that goes on,” Sebelius told the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

“People though who had a medically underwritten policy, were paying more than their neighbor because they happen to be female … they will have a new day in a very competitive market,” she added.

Many insurers have stopped offering plans that do not comply with regulations issued by the Health and Human Services Department outlining basic levels of coverage. Consumers who have received such notices are often left with more expensive options.

These people simply lied.  It’s not like the traditional campaign speech promising no school on Fridays and a pretty girl for every boy.  They knew that people, by the millions, would lose their coverage and they kept saying that they wouldn’t.

The next sound bite?

“Yes, you DID lose your plan, however, it will be replaced by one that is better.”

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Posted in Health Care, Idiots on Parade, Politics: National

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Obamacare – Accountability

Posted on October 28, 2013 | 9 comments

Barack Obama

At some point the man in charge has to be held accountable for the success or failure of the organization.

Right?

So far, Obama has escaped that.  But this is an interesting metric:

Obama Unaware

83,300 results for “Obama Unaware”.

However you feel about the Affordable Healthcare Act, at some point you have to admit that Obama simply has no clue as to what is going on.

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Posted in Health Care, Idiots on Parade

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Echos Of The Civil War

Posted on October 17, 2013 | Leave a comment

For two reason I don’t like this:

Washington (CNN) – Rep. Charles Rangel on Tuesday compared what he considers the most intransigent members of the House Republican caucus with the Confederates of the American Civil War.

The last-minute holdups on a deal over funding the government and raising the debt ceiling, the longtime Democrat from New York City told CNN’s Ashleigh Banfield, are not coming from conflict between Republicans and Democrats.

Rather, “this is all about a handful of people who got elected as Republicans that want to bring down our government. You can see it in the streets. You can see where they’re coming from,” Rangel said.

“The same way they fought as Confederates, they want to bring down the government and reform it.”

Rangel was asked to confirm that he was referring to the Confederates of the Civil War. He told Banfield, “If you take a look at the states that they control, take a look at the Dixiecrats, see how they went over the Republican Party…”

The reasons?

  1. The reaction to Obamacare has nothing to do with race.
  2. Nothing good comes out of incendiary remarks like this.

 

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Government Shutdown – Obama Making It Painful: Part I

Posted on October 6, 2013 | 10 comments

Amber AlertWow.  Just wow.

Obama has shut down the Amber Alert program.

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Posted in Government, Idiots on Parade

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Conservatives And Charity

Posted on October 4, 2013 | 4 comments

While searching for “charity” images for my last post I stumbled upon this tidbit:

The Fraser Institute has released their latest report on charitable giving in the U.S. and Canada, and once again North America’s leaders in charitable donations from the Rio Grande to the Arctic Circle reside overwhelmingly in red states. This has been the case for some time, and the reason for it almost certainly comes down to a difference in philosophy regarding charity and the role of private/public institutions in its application. It’s unsurprising that conservatives – who by and large believe in the sovereignty of the individual, particularly in terms of fiscal decision-making – choose to give of their own net incomes to charitable causes and organizations that they find worthwhile. It’s also unsurprising (and stereotypical) that liberals choose to give less of their own net income to charity, instead leaving that responsibility to the government, which replaces the individual as the evaluator and benefactor of charitable organizations and endeavors.  Based on that philosophy of charity and responsibility, it’s no surprise that some liberals have been calling on the government to reduce or eliminate the charitable giving tax deduction.

Based on 2009 data, the Fraser Institute found that the top ten states by percentage of aggregate income donated to charity are: (1) Utah, (2) Georgia, (3) Alabama, (4) Maryland, (5) South Carolina, (6) Idaho, (7) North Carolina, (8) Oklahoma, (9) Mississippi and New York.

Conservatives think that charity means taking one’s own money and contributing to the relief of the deserving.

Liberals think that charity means taking other people’s money and contributing to the causes of their liking.

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Posted in Idiots on Parade, Liberty, Life

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Government Employees

Posted on October 1, 2013 | Leave a comment

One of the fallacies that the main stream leftist has of upper middle class America is that these upper middle class folks they simply have their world given to them.

You know, they’re white and male therefore don’t have to work or achieve.  They just walk in a room and get given the bounty of life.

The truth is far from this perception.

Consider this:

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development said it will close its offices at 1:30 p.m. Other agencies, such as the Labor Department, expect most employees to be gone by mid-day, but haven’t set a specific time.

Once they head home, furloughed employees are under strict orders not to do any work. That means no sneaking glances at Blackberries or smart phones to check emails, no turning on laptop computers, no checking office voicemail, and no use of any other government-issued equipment.

Every single vacation I’ve taken in the last 5-10 years has included my work laptop.  My wife and I got married on the beaches here in North Carolina; we spent 10 glorious days celebrating with friends and family.  We brought work laptops with us.

When I am NOT on vacation, I often times check my email before my feet hit the floor in the morning and one of the last things I  do before going to be is check my work condition.  I often interact with global teams located who knows where, and their needs may not fit a US based schedule.

My point?  Government is without a clue and these people are only making it more painful than they need to be.

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Posted in Government, Idiots on Parade, Politics: National

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Government Shutdown

Posted on October 1, 2013 | 13 comments

First, I would like to point out that I fully support a shutdown of the government.  The aspects of the State that I think are essential are not in jeopardy of being turned away; we only face the fat of the pig.

Second, this is the hammer I would wield if I were a republican lawmaker.  I would simply slip the paper to Reid and Obama, look them straight in the eye and say, “Manage your career as you see fit.”

There is support across the political spectrum for delaying the individual mandate one year and using the government funding bill to implement the delay. Additionally, the survey found that by a 5-point margin, respondents support using every opportunity to defund or delay the ACA rather than simply passing a “clean” bill to fund the government.

Fully 56 percent of respondents support the individual mandate delay in the context of a continuing resolution debate, including 55 percent of independents, and 52 percent overall in “swing districts.” The survey also found that strong majorities across the spectrum oppose the Affordable Care Act, including 60 percent of independents, and a majority in “swing districts.”

If brought before the people in districts that will swing, defunding the bill will win.

Game over.

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Posted in Idiots on Parade, Politics: National

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Playing With Toy Guns On Private Property – GUILTY!

Posted on September 26, 2013 | 6 comments

Nanny State

You have *got* to be kidding me:

Two seventh-grade students in Virginia Beach, Va., were handed long-term suspensions Tuesday that will last until the end of the school year for playing with an airsoft gun in one of their front yards while waiting for the school bus.

We have become France.

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Posted in Government, Idiots on Parade, Liberty

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