We Are Not Subjects!

by Laura Hollis

The unveiling of the dictatorial debacle that is Obamacare absolutely flabbergasts me. It is stunning on so many levels, but the most shocking aspect of it for me is watching millions of free Americans stand idly by while this man, his minions in Congress and his cheerleaders in the press systematically dismantle our Constitution, steal our money, and crush our freedoms. 

The President, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid (with no small help from Justice John Roberts) take away our health care, and we allow it. They take away our insurance, and we allow it. They take away our doctors, and we allow it.They charge us thousands of dollars more a year, and we allow it. They make legal products illegal, and we allow it. They cripple our businesses, and we allow it.They announce by fiat that we must ignore our most deeply held beliefs – and we allow it.

Where is your spine, America?

Yes, I know people are complaining. I read the news on the internet. I read blogs. I have a Twitter feed. So what? People in the Soviet Union complained. People in Cuba complain. People in China complain (quietly). Complaining isn't the same thing as doing anything about it. In fact, much of the complaining that we hear sounds like resignation: Wow. This sucks. Oh well, this is the way things are. Too bad.

Perhaps you need reminding of a few important facts. Here goes:

1. The President is not a king. Barack Obama does not behave like a President, an elected official, someone who realizes that he works for us. He behaves like a king, a dictator – someone who believes that his own pronouncements have the force of law, and who thinks he can dispense with the law's enforcement when he deigns to do so. And those of us who object? How dare we? Racists!

And while he moves steadily "forward" with his plans to "fundamentally transform" the greatest country in human history, he distracts people with cheap, meaningless trivialities, like "free birth control pills"! (In fact, let's face it: this administration's odd obsession with sex in general - Birth control! Abortion! Sterilization! Gay guys who play basketball! -- is just plain weird. Since when did the leader of the free world care so much about how people have sex, who they have it with, and what meds they use when they have it? Does he have nothing more important to concern himself with?)

2. It isn't just a failed software program; it is a failed philosophy. People are marveling thatHealthcare.gov was such a spectacular failure. Well, if one is only interested in it as a product launch, I've explained some of the reasons for that here. But the larger point is that it isn't a software failure, or even a product failure; it is a philosophy failure.

I have said this before: Obama is not a centrist; he is a central planner. And this – all of it: the disastrous computer program, the hundreds of millions of dollars wasted, the lies, the manipulation of public opinion, the theft of the public's money and property, and freedom (read insurance, and premiums, and doctors) -- IS what central planning looks like.

The central premise of central planning is that a handful of wunderkinds with your best interests at heart (yeah, right) know better than you what's good for you. The failure of such a premise and the misery it causes have been clear from the dawn of humanity. Kings and congressmen, dictators and Dear Leaders, potentates, princes and presidents can all fall prey to the same imperial impulses: "we know what is good the 'the people.'

And they are always wrong.

There is a reason that the only times communism has really been tried have been after wars, revolutions, or coups d'état. You have to have complete chaos for people to be willing to accept the garbage that centralized planning produces. Take the Soviet Union, for example. After two wars, famine, and the collapse of the Romanov dynasty, why wouldn't people wait in line for hours to buy size 10 shoes? Or settle for the gray matter that passed for meat in the grocery stores?

But communism's watered-down cousin, socialism, isn't much better. Ask the Venezuelans who cannot get toilet paper. Toilet paper. ¡Viva la Revolución!

Contrary to what so many who believe in a "living Constitution" say, the Founding Fathers absolutely understood this. That is why the Constitution was set up to limit government power. (Memo to the President: the drafters of the Constitution deliberately didn't say "what government had to do on your behalf.") They understood that that was the path to folly, fear, and famine.)

3. Obama is deceitful. Just as the collapse of the computer program should not surprise anyone, neither should we be shocked that the President lied about his healthcare plan. Have any of you been paying attention over the past few years? Obama has made no secret of his motivations or his methods. The philosophies which inspire him espouse deceit and other vicious tactics. (Don't take my word for it: read Saul Alinsky.) Obama infamously told reporter Richard Wolffe, "You know, I actually believe my own bullshit." He has refused to be forthcoming about his past (where are his academic records?). His own pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, told author Ed Klein, that Obama said to him, "You know what your problem is? You have to tell the truth."

Did Obama lie when he said dozens of times, "If you like you plan, you can keep it. Period!"? Of course he did. That's what he does.

4. The media is responsible. And had the media been doing their jobs, we would have known a lot of this much, much earlier.

The press is charged with the sacred responsibility of protecting the people from the excesses of government. Our press has been complicit, incompetent, or corrupt. Had they vetted this man in 2008, as they would have a Republican candidate, we would have known far more about him than we do, even now. Had they pressed for more details about Obamacare, Congress' feet would have been held to the fire. Had they done their jobs about Eric Holder, Fast and Furious, Benghazi, the IRS scandal, NSA spying - or any of the other myriad betrayals of the public trust that this administration has committed, Obama would likely have lost his 2012 reelection campaign. (A fact that even The Washington Post has tacitly acknowledged. Well done, fellas! Happy now?)

Instead, they turned a blind eye, even when they knew he was lying, abusing power, disregarding the limits of the Constitution. It was only when he began to spy on them, and when the lies were so blatant that the lowest of low-information voters could figure it out that they realized they had to report on it. (Even in the face of blatant, deliberate and repeated lies,The New York Times has the audacity to tell us that the President "misspoke.") They have betrayed us, abandoned us, and deceived us.

5. Ted Cruz was right. So was Sarah Palin. The computer program is a disaster. The insurance exchanges are a disaster. What's left? The healthcare system itself. And this, of necessity, will be a disaster, too. Millions of people have lost their individual insurance plans. In 2015, millions more will lose their employer-provided coverage (a fact which the Obama administration also knew, and admitted elsewhere). The exorbitant additional costs that Obamacare has foisted on unsuspecting Americans are all part of a plan of wealth confiscation and redistribution. That is bad enough. But it will not end there.

When the numbers of people into the system and the corresponding demand for care vastly exceed the cost projections (and they will, make no mistake), then the rationing will start. Not only choice at that point, but quality and care itself will go down the tubes. And then will come the decisions made by the Independent Payment Advisory Board about what care will be covered (read "paid for") and what will not.

That's just a death panel, put politely. In fact, progressives are already greasing the wheels for acceptance of that miserable reality as well. They're spreading the lie that it will be about the ability of the dying to refuse unwanted or unhelpful care. Don't fall for that one, either. It will be about the deaths that inevitably result from decisions made by people other than the patients, their families, and their physicians. (Perhaps it's helpful to think of their assurances this way: "If you like your end-of-life care, you can keep your end-of-life-care.")

6. We are not SUBJECTS. (or, Nice Try, the Tea Party Isn't Going Away). We have tolerated these incursions into our lives and livelihoods too long already. There is no end to the insatiable demand "progressives" have to remake us in their image. Today it is our insurance, our businesses, our doctors, our health care. Tomorrow some new crusade will be announced that enables them to take over other aspects of our formerly free lives.

I will say it again: WE ARE NOT SUBJECTS. Not only is the Tea Party right on the fiscal issues, but it appears that they are more relevant than ever. We fought a war once to prove we did not want to be the subjects of a king, and the Boston Tea Party was just a taste of the larger conflict to come. If some people missed that lesson in history class, we can give them a refresher.

The 2014 elections are a good place to start. Call your representative, your senator, your candidate and tell them: "We are not subjects. You work for us. And if the word "REPEAL" isn't front and center in your campaign, we won't vote for you. Period."

Laura Hollis is an attorney and teaches entrepreneurship and business law at the University of Notre Dame. She resides in Indiana with her husband and two children.

(Sent to me by several readers. ~ KU)

Update: Here's the original post, on Town Hall.

Kakistocrat of the Year Award

The suspense has been building all year. Who will it be? Well, who else? Last year's winner -- Teh Won, the only, the most selfie president in history, Emperor PotUS himself, Barack Hussein Obama!

Here's an image of il douche for you to gaze upon while we wait for the applause boos, catcalls and groans of the newly-uninsured and soon-to-be-uninsured to die down:

Creepy: Barack Obama portrait at the US Embassy in London (Size Matters)

I should probably list some of the other kakistocrats that were in the running for the KotY awards.

1. Kathleen Sibelius -- Responsible (or not) for the worst roll-out of a government program in the history of the nation since prohibition. I decided against her because what she had to work with was so bad to start with. Besides, who was responsible for giving her a job that she was unqualified for (hint: BHO)? And who was responsible for creating an environment in which managers are hesitant to tell the CEO that the project was coming in over budget and over schedule (hint: BHO)? Kathleen is pathetic, is all. She may be a kakistocrat, but her boss takes the cake on this one.
2. Harry Reid -- Responsible for invoking the "nuclear option", breaking a rule that has governed Senate procedure since the body was founded. In a political ploy to stuff the courts with 'progressive' judges, he simply changed the rules to suit his whim. So much for a nation of laws. That is very unstatesmanlike behavior (the definition of a kakistocrat).
3. There were other, distant runners-up, such as Eric Holder (who might be a bigger kakistocrat than Sibelius), but Sibelius beat him out in sheer luzerdom. Reid narrowly beat him out in sheer craven-ness. Others, too numerous to mention, populate the halls of Congress and the Senate.

This year's award has to go to the KotY-LotY-PotUS, Mr. Barack Hussein Obama. The serial supra-constitutional executive orders; the doing an end-run around Congress to delay phasing in ObamaCare until after the pivotal mid-term elections was a very shameless bit 'o constitutional vandalism. The politicization of the Trayvon Martin affair was also a very kakistacular stunt.

The thing that really clinched it for me was the Lie of the Year (LotY): "If you like your health care plan, you can keep it." (and the corollary, "If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor.") Period. End of story. Although the lie was told ad nauseum in 2012, it was largely responsible for KotY-LotY-PotUS-BHO's re-election. So it really didn't take effect until 2013, and many people didn't really find out about it first-hand until 2013. Therefore, the effective date of the lie was 2013. (I should point out that I knew it was a lie -- or at least a falsehood -- when I first heard it, based simply on my knowledge of economics and government track records on every social program in history.)

Here's the thing about lies: I really don't like to call something a lie when it is merely a mistake (cf. the "Bush lied; people died" meme). But this was no mistake. KotY-LotY-PotUS-BHO himself might not have known it was a lie. Obama is nothing more than a text-to-speech converter -- mindlessly reading whatever appears on his TelePrompTer. (We could fix a lot of problems with this regime simply by putting the Constitution on his TelePrompTer.) But whomever was responsible for programming KotY-LotY-PotUS-BHO had to know it was a lie, because even a casual reading of ObamaCare would reveal that it could have no other effect. Frankly, no matter how insulated KotY-LotY-PotUS-BHO might be, it is hard to imagine him not getting at least a whiff of the lie that was, "If you like your health care plan, you can keep it." I can imagine Sarah Palin saying, "I can see Obama's Pinocchio nose from my house!" Hell, I bet we could see the nasty thing from the international space station.

KotY-LotY-PotUS-BHO was lying his keester off. Here's your award, KotY! You've earned it!

ObamaCare: Define Success!

Local morning talk show host Dillon Honcoop noted that people focusing on the failure of the HealthCare.gov website were missing the big picture, namely that millions of people are losing their health insurance due to ObamaCare.

While I believe Dillon was correct as far he went, I think he is missing an even bigger picture: ObamaCare was never intended to succeed in the way you or I, or dozens of Democrats in the US legislature who voted for it, would define success.

The progenitors of ObamaCare measure success by the degree of chaos that it can cause in the health insurance and health care provider market. Because the ultimate goal is single payer, which will be much easier to implement when people are demanding relief from the bomb that is ObamaCare. Who knew?

I think Obama knew, Pelosi knew, probably Harry Reid, and a handful of other Democrats in the legislature knew. The rest of them were hornswoggled into believing that ObamaCare was this benevolent thing that would bring affordable health care to the masses. They were the useful idiots.

They were the useful idiots who didn't read the bill, because the bill was designed to be unreadable. Most of the text simply modifies arcane elements of other laws. It would take a team of lawyers months of research to make sense of it. The rest of them simply read the executive summary, assumed it was an honest representation of the bill's intent and scope, and voted on that basis.

President Obama famously said (numerous times), "If you like your plan, you can keep it. Period". That is now obviously false. Since I believe Obama knew, I'm calling this a lie. So, why would Obama lie? He had to lie, in order to make ObamaCare succeed in the way he wants it to succeed. You might say I'm a conspiracy theorist, but a week ago, you would have called me that for saying millions would lose their health care coverage. There's a big difference between conspiracy theory and conspiracy fact.

Need Less Freedom, More Control

I was on facebook the other day, and I became embroiled in a health care discussion. I asked the Pen Gillette question, "Is it possible we can solve this problem with more freedom instead of less?" The answer from the other participants was a resounding, "No, we cannot". They didn't even want to consider free market solutions. They don't understand free market economics 101, or they think the free market has already been tried, and failed. (We haven't had a free market in health care for over half a century, and it's getting less free all the time.*) The other commentators couldn't possibly see how it would even work.

According to them, we need more control and less freedom, and ObamaCare is just the ticket. It's sad, frustrating and frightening. Check it out... There are a few locally well-known names in that discussion. I really had to flap my gums rapidly on this one to un-twist my words, and dodge bullets.

*Is it any surprise the cost is going up? I realize that correlation does not imply causation, but this is an easily testable hypothesis. Hardly anyone wants to test it though.

Obama: Make it Hurt!

Executive summary: The regime is scared to death that We the People might discover that we can live without "non essential" government, and demand our money back. So they're making this government shutdown hurt.

Obama Went Freaking Nuts After Being Told “No!”

By Curt Dale

Bobblehead Obama is totally off his meds and having a hissy fit from being defied on his precious Obamacare’s funding. I’ve been looking at the blatantly insane things he’s causing around our nation as he takes the government shutdown to completely unconstitutional, intentionally harmful, logically warped and malicious levels. I’ve been looking for those things that stand out most to me. Only a total imbecile would go to this level of vindictiveness, and that imbecile is the President of the United States. Does Congress share any responsibility for the shutdown of government? Of course! A large number of us see the actions the House took as doing their job. But Obama is at fault and responsible for the beyond-the-pale stupidity we’re seeing blamed on the shutdown. He went nuts on Sequestering, and now he’s in high gear with outrageous actions and trying to blame them on Congress.

Possibly, Obama’s most stupid, yes, stupid, is making the National Park Service tell charter fishing boat captains that they have closed the Florida Bay due to the shutdown. Fishing boats can’t operate here to take fishermen into 1,100 square miles of wide, open ocean during shutdown. He added Biscayne National Park to the same closure. Anglers can’t go out with family and friends to enjoy fishing. The Park Rangers will have to police this area, shooing people out, keeping them from the waters, maybe even arresting them if threats are carried out. During sea survival training, I parachuted into Biscayne Bay and enjoyed the comforts of a tiny one man raft for some 6 hours right in the middle of Biscayne Bay. So, I appreciate the size of even that policing task. Thinking he can keep people out of 1,100 square miles of open ocean in the Keys is akin to early dementia. This effort will take more Park Rangers to police the POTUS ban than would normally be on duty. So, it is a vindictive exercise to “make things as difficult as possible on the people.” Why would I claim that? One Park Ranger supervisor reported that he was told “to make things as difficult as possible” on the people, is guidance issued Rangers by the National Park Service part from the Administration. He also declared, “It’s disgusting.”

We know that he had the World War II Memorial and all the other Memorials on the Washington Mall closed in a fit of pique, only to have WWII Veterans from the Invasion of Normandy cast the barricades aside and go in to see THEIR memorial. Washington Monument, the Vietnam Memorial, the Korean Memorial, Iwo Jima Memorial are barricaded from any entrance by their veterans and dear families. (I love the play on words used by “The Great One,” talk show host, Mark Levin. He said they are “Barrycaded.” How appropriate his coined word! I intend to use his term as it’s so perfectly descriptive of the presidential snit.) I see that not only the WWII Veterans are defying and ignoring the Barrycades. Veterans and visitors are throwing them aside at the Vietnam Memorial (“The Wall”), and at the Korean War Memorial as well, under threat of arrest. Vietnam Veterans and visitors who had knocked the Barrycades aside were escorted out by police, but they immediately went right back in, defying the Barrycades again. Seems there are some patriotic and thinking Americans who know how to lead the charge to defy stupid. Have they decided it isn’t unlawful to defy the unlawful. Is it surprising that many of the brave veteran chucking aside the heinous Barrycades were the ones who charged Normancy, Bastogne, Inchon, Iwo Jima, Guadalcanal, Hue and a long list of other enemy fortresses. Obama even had the American Battle Monuments Commission shut down two dozen US Military cemeteries in foreign nations, and closed all its memorials and monuments. How many family members saved for year and crossed the ocean to visit the grave of their fallen loved one, only to be denied access to salve Barrys EGOBAMA. Does this help Barry feel he “rules the world?” I am in no way surprised at how heavily Obama has targeted the military, past present and future, in his frenzy. I’ve written about his closure of the Military Commissaries. That affects the active duty military, taking money from them by forcing them to buy necessities at higher commercial prices, does the same to military retirees, and depletes the personal funds of both for the future. I thought I knew Obama’s disdain for the military, but these actions go beyond my wildest imagination, and they certainly cement that thought for posterity.

Here’s what he’s doing to Catholic Priests as they attempt to carry out their religious duties for US Military members on bases as reported by John Schlageter, the general counsel for the Archdiocese for the Military Services USA, in an op-ed this week. “With the government shutdown, many [government service] and contract priests who minister to Catholics on military bases worldwide are not permitted to work – not even to volunteer. During the shutdown, it is illegal for them to minister on base and they risk being arrested if they attempt to do so.” Not only did Obama violate First Amendment Rights by impeding the rights of these people to practice their religion in the way they choose, but he violated the right of peaceable assembly for the Veterans and others going to the wartime memorials. Will any future president and administration have the gumption to take him and his cohorts to task for such illegal actions against Americans?

He has had Mt. Vernon, the Plantation home of President George Washington shutdown by having his federal workers close the parking lot, cutting off the privately owned memorial. The federals government merely shares ownership of the parking lot with the private organization that restored, maintains and operates the national treasure. So, Obama’s overbearing directions take precedent in the shared ownership and closes Mt. Vernon to tourists who want to visit there.

We know that the National Parks are closed, as we expected, but closure of these open air Memorials is a display of his incredible dislike for anything patriotic, for the military or even the memory of what heroes of the past have done. I will continue to maintain that Obama wants all adulation, all ceremony, all celebration focused upon him and him alone. His Imperial Presidency is his first priority. He’s willing to make things “as difficult as possible for the people” if they choose to look toward anything else as being more praiseworthy than he. It’s perfectly ok to herd them like cattle, fence them out like livestock, and punish them for any complain against his repressive and costly policies.

I contend that the Republicans, or anyone who is defying Obama on funding Obamacare, are not ultimately responsible for these horrible consequences of this government shutdown. Yes, fundamental things happen in a shutdown, but not the absurdities he has invoked. I’ve lived through many of them. He’s taken what has been a rather orderly, mildly disagreeable process in the past and fomented it into scorched earth vengeance and retribution because his ego is bruised. I hope the thinking people of American can comprehend this fact. And anyone who says, “But he’s not responsible; the government is so big, he couldn’t be responsible for all of this,” I say, “He’s the President. These outlandish slaps in the face are the fruit of his whimsy. Let “Make it as difficult as possible” for the people ring in your ears incessantly. That is Obama’s unalterable, inflexible form of governing. He knows nothing else but force, coercion and blackmail!

Colonel Curtis D. Dale, Ph.D. USAF (Ret)

Petulant, Petty, Vindictive, Unstatesmanlike

Knowledge is Power, over at Sondrakistan posted the following image. See if you can guess what it is.

Cones are shown along the road to Mount Rushmore. The National Parks Service placed the
cones there to prevent viewers from stopping on the side of the road to view the monument.

Seriously? Is this the kind of unstatesmanlike conduct that we can expect from this regime?

Now before you pile on me about the "unstatesmanlike" conduct of the House "Tea Party" Republicans who "caused" this shutdown, let me remind you that many, if not most of those "Tea Party" Republicans were elected with a voter mandate to stop ObamaCare. They are now living up to their campaign promises - albeit much watered down at this point.

Our founders designed the separate branches of government and the bicameral legislature with checks and balances to discourage bad legislation from being enacted. Regardless of which side the issue you're on, or which piece of legislation you think is bad, that's what is happening today. The Constitution may be coughing up blood, but parts of it are still working.

The "Tea Party" Republicans had originally voted to fund all functions of government except ObamaCare. The senate Democrats rejected that out of hand. Now, all the "Tea Party" Republicans are asking is for ObamaCare to be implemented as written, equally for all citizens, with no exceptions. The senate Democrats rejected that out of hand.

The senate Democrats could have accepted either bill to keep the government from shutting down*, and then negotiate to fix whatever issues they have with ObamaCare. This whole thing had the potential of being a positive move for We the People by ironing out the truly bad elements of ObamaCare.

But instead, we get this petulant, vindictive "shut down" of services that require no actual service, limiting access to sites that we own. This isn't The King's Land, after all. This land is your land, this land is my land... This land was made for you and me.

So now, the NIST websites, including time services are closed. Are you kidding me? Those computers don't require any staff to operate them. And I'm pretty sure they're not powered down to save electricity during the "shut down". They're just reprogrammed to cause maximum inconvenience.

Barack Hussein Obama, you're the executive; these are your bureaucracies to manage. They're all closed to the public, but your ObamaCare sites are sort of working. You should be ashamed of yourself.

* Actually government isn't shut down; over 80% of it is still (dys)functioning quite nicely, thank you very much.

Yeah, Fox News is the Problem... Riiiight!

The President is Dead! Long Live the King!

This was on Drudge Report today. It stinks on ice, and everybody knows it:

BANNED FOR LIFE!
Clowns ordered to 'sensitivity training'...
Announcer, rodeo president resign...
'I know I'm a clown, Obama just running around acting like one, doesn't know he is one'...
MO CONTROVERSY SPIRALING OUT OF CONTROL...
NAACP: DOJ, Secret Service Should Investigate...

Ahem! I attended county fairs and rodeos since my high school days in Idaho, in the early '70s. During that time, I saw rodeo clowns wearing (in order of appearance), Nixon masks, Ford masks, Carter masks, Reagan masks, H.W. Bush masks, Clinton masks (Bill & Hillary - and Monica - the whole famn damly!) ... and (wait for it!) ... G.W. Bush masks. 

And now, someone dares to wear a Barack Hussein Obama mask, and everyone goes bat-scat crazy? Hey, Barack Obama is president, not freaking emperor! Of course, I guess we can't expect Obama voters to be familiar enough with the Constitution to make that distinction. 

Unless ... unless ... this is about racism?! But no! I thought we're supposed to hold all presidents to the same high standards, regardless of race. And when we think they fail to live up to those standards, the First Amendment guarantees the right to treat them with the same reproach and ridicule, regardless of race. 

I hope this tempest in a teapot has the result of enhancing this rodeo clown's career in the long run. And I hope it helps to shine an even brighter light on the ass clown in the white house.

Update: This is a good read.

Scandalabra!

I shamelessly plagiarized this article from Grouchy Old Cripple*. This is evidently circulating on the interweb as an email too:

Bob: “Did you hear about the Obama administration scandal?”

Jim: “You mean the Mexican gun running?”
Bob: “No, the other one.”

Jim: “You mean dropping the case about the New Black Panther intimidation at the polls in Philadelphia?”
Bob: “No, the other one.”

Jim: “You mean the setting up of Seal Team 6?”
Bob: “No, the other one.”

Jim: “You mean the State Dept. lying about Benghazi?”
Bob: “No, the other one.”

Jim: “You mean the voter fraud?”
Bob: “No, the other one.”

Jim: “You mean the military not getting their votes counted?”
Bob: “No, the other one.”

Jim: “You mean that 3 or 4 of Obama’s GAY boyfriends were mysteriously MURDERED when they came forward with claims he was gay too?”
Bob: “No, the other one.”

Jim: “You mean the president demoralizing and breaking down the military?”
Bob: “No, the other one.”

Jim: “You mean the president flying around the world apologizing for America?”
Bob: “No, the other one.”

Jim: “You mean the president bowing to the Saudi Arabian king and other world leaders?”
Bob: “No, the other one.”

Jim: “You mean the Boston Bombing?”
Bob: “No, the other one.”

Jim: “The NSA monitoring our phone calls, e-mails and everything else?”
Bob: “No, the other one.”

Jim: “You mean the president wanting to kill Americans with drones without the benefit of the law?”
Bob: “No, the other one.”

Jim: “You mean the president not complying with the War Powers Act on our Libyan intervention?”
Bob: “No, the other one.”

Jim: “You mean the $787 porkulus that didn’t stimulate the economy and didn’t keep unemployment under 8 percent?”
Bob: “No, the other one.”

Jim: “Giving 123 Technologies $300 Million and right after it declared bankruptcy it was sold to the Chinese?”
Bob: “No, the other one.”

Jim: “You mean the president arming the Muslim Brotherhood?”
Bob: “No, the other one.”

Jim: “The IRS targeting conservatives?”
Bob: “No, the other one.”

Jim: “The DOJ spying on the press?”
Bob: “No, the other one.”

Jim: “Sebelius shaking down health insurance executives?”
Bob: “No, the other one.”

Jim: “You mean lying about the cost of Obummercare?”
Bob: “No, the other one.”

Jim: “Giving SOLYNDRA $500 MILLION DOLLARS and right after they declared bankruptcy 3 months later the Chinese bought it?”
Bob: “No, the other one.”

Jim: “You mean the president not following bankruptcy law in the GM and Chrysler bailouts and stiffing the bondholders?”
Bob: “No, the other one.”

Jim: “The president’s ordering the release of nearly 10,000 illegal immigrants from jails and prisons and falsely blaming the sequester?”
Bob: “No, the other one.”

Jim: “The president’s threat to impose gun control by Executive Order in order to bypass Congress?”
Bob: “No, the other one.”

Jim: “The president’s repeated violation of the law requiring him to submit a budget no later than the first Monday in February?”
Bob: “No, the other one.”

Jim: “The 2012 vote where 115% of all registered voters in some counties voted 100% for Obama?”
Bob: “No, the other one.

“Jim: “The president’s unconstitutional recess appointments in an attempt to circumvent the Senate’s advise-and-consent role?”
Bob: “No, the other one.”

Jim: “The State Department interfering with an Inspector General investigation on departmental sexual misconduct?”
Bob: “No, the other one.”

Jim: “HHS employees being given insider information on Medicare Advantage?”
Bob: “No, the other one.”

Jim: “Clinton, the IRS, Clapper and Holder all lying to Congress?”
Bob: “No, the other one.”

Jim: “You mean claiming executive privilege and refusing to supply Congress with information on Fast and Furious and Eric Holder being held in contempt of Congress for it?”
Bob: “No, the other one.”

Jim: “You mean the president increasing the deficit more in four years than Bush 41 did in eight years?”
Bob: “No, the other one.”

Jim: “I give up! … Oh wait, I think I got it! You mean that 65 million low-information voters stuck us again with the most corrupt administration in American history?”

Bob: “THAT’S THE ONE!”

*Pushing the boundaries of bad taste and political incorrectness.

You Might Live in a Country Founded by Geniuses But Run by Idiots

From an email circulating on the interweb:

• If you can get arrested for hunting or fishing without a license, but not for being in the country illegally ... you might live in a country founded by geniuses but run by idiots. 
• If you have to get your parents' permission to go on a field trip or take an aspirin in school, but not to get an abortion ... you might live in a country founded by geniuses but run by idiots.
• If the only school curriculum allowed to explain how we got here is evolution, but the government stops a $15 million construction project to keep a rare spider from evolving to extinction ... you might live in a country founded by geniuses but run by idiots. 
• If you have to show identification to board an airplane, cash a check, buy liquor or check out a library book, but not to vote who runs the government ... you might live in a country founded by geniuses but run by idiots. 
• If the government wants to ban stable, law-abiding citizens from owning gun magazines with more than ten rounds, but gives 20 F-16 fighter jets to the crazy new leaders in Egypt ... you might live in a country founded by geniuses but run by idiots. 
• If, in the largest city, you can buy two 16-ounce sodas, but not a 24-ounce soda because 24-ounces of a sugary drink might make you fat ... you might live in a country founded by geniuses but run by idiots. 
• If an 80-year-old woman can be stripped searched by the TSA but a woman in a hijab is only subject to having her neck and head searched ... you might live in a country founded by geniuses but run by idiots. 
• If your government believes that the best way to eradicate trillions of dollars of debt is to spend trillions more ... you might live in a country founded by geniuses but run by idiots. 
• If a seven year old boy can be thrown out of school for saying his teacher's "cute," but hosting a sexual exploration or diversity class in grade school is perfectly acceptable ... you might live in a country founded by geniuses but run by idiots. 
• If children are forcibly removed from parents who discipline them with spankings while children of addicts are left in filth and drug infested "homes"... you might live in a country founded by geniuses but run by idiots. 
• If hard work and success are met with higher taxes and more government intrusion, while not working is rewarded with EBT cards, WIC checks, Medicaid, subsidized housing and free cell phones ... you might live in a country founded by geniuses but run by idiots. 
• If the government's plan for getting people back to work is to incentivize NOT working with 99 weeks of unemployment checks and no requirement to prove they applied but can't find work ... you might live in a country founded by geniuses but run by idiots. 
• If being stripped of the ability to defend yourself makes you more "safe" according to the government ... you might live in a country founded by geniuses but run by idiots. 
• If you are offended by this article, I'll bet you voted for the idiots who are running, and ruining our great country.

Courtesy of Uncle Richard.

I Am Not a Tyrant

President Obama made these comments during the unveiling of his Second Amendment infringement yesterday:

There will be pundits and politicians and special interest lobbyists publicly warning of a tyrannical, all-out assault on liberty — not because that’s true, but because they want to gin up fear or higher ratings or revenue for themselves. And behind the scenes, they’ll do everything they can to block any common-sense reform and make sure nothing changes whatsoever... ~  Barack Obama

Not because that's true? Mr. President, of course you don't think you're a tyrant because,

Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. ~ C.S. Lewis

The problem that I fear we are facing is the one our founders debated at great length when they were designing the American form of government: Are Americans virtuous enough for self-rule? Or, do we require an elite governing class to make us do the right things, against our baser instincts?

I am sure that some folks will scoff at the suggestion that we need to be "virtuous". What an outmoded concept! It's so... nineteenth century! That’s a problem with our culture, not the concept. With liberty and freedom comes great power -- including the right to keep and bear arms -- dangerous! Yes, but,

With great power comes great responsibility ~ Voltaire, Churchill, Roosevelt, Spider Man

The word "virtue" might be a bit dated, but "responsible" isn't. If there are too many irresponsible people walking the streets these days, we may not be responsible enough as a culture to enjoy freedom anymore, as President Obama seems to be suggesting. 

Sadly, Obama may be right. Our culture selected him (a second time!) in part, because he offered to take responsibility for things that we should be doing for ourselves -- at a great cost to our freedom. I fear we are seeing only the tip of the iceberg.

Gun

Emergency! Emergency! Java 7 Could Kill You!

The people at www.us-cert.gov tell us there is a Java exploit that might allow some attacker to take over your computer (if you're insanely stupid about your browsing and email habits). They say, "Web browsers using the Java 7 plug-in are at high risk."

Yes, it could be serious, if the attacker steals your identity and all your money. They say, "To defend against this and future Java vulnerabilities, disable Java in web browsers". Future Java vulnerabilities? Why not disable everything? In fact, you should just stay in bed.

In another story, President Obama is poised to impose an executive order that would infringe on The Constitution (the second amendment, but it really doesn't matter which), and ... (crickets). It's too bad we can't simply disable Barack Obama in our browsers, to prevent this and future threats. This is much more serious. It isn't mere trifles such as your computer, your identity and all your money; it's your life, liberty and pursuit of happiness!

Perspective, perspective, perspective...

-----Original Message-----
From: US-CERT Alerts [mailto:technical-alerts@us-cert.gov] 
Sent: Thursday, January 10, 2013 2:53 PM
To: technical-alerts@us-cert.gov
Subject: US-CERT Alert TA13-010A - Oracle Java 7 Security Manager Bypass Vulnerability


-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

National Cyber Awareness System

US-CERT Alert TA13-010A
Oracle Java 7 Security Manager Bypass Vulnerability

Original release date: January 10, 2013
Last revised: --

Systems Affected

     Any system using Oracle Java 7 (1.7, 1.7.0) including

     * Java Platform Standard Edition 7 (Java SE 7)
     * Java SE Development Kit (JDK 7)
     * Java SE Runtime Environment (JRE 7)

     All versions of Java 7 through update 10 are affected.  Web
     browsers using the Java 7 plug-in are at high risk.


Overview

   A vulnerability in the way Java 7 restricts the permissions of Java
   applets could allow an attacker to execute arbitrary commands on a
   vulnerable system.


Description

   A vulnerability in the Java Security Manager allows a Java applet
   to grant itself permission to execute arbitrary code. An attacker
   could use social engineering techniques to entice a user to visit a
   link to a website hosting a malicious Java applet. An attacker
   could also compromise a legitimate web site and upload a malicious
   Java applet (a "drive-by download" attack).

   Any web browser using the Java 7 plug-in is affected. The Java
   Deployment Toolkit plug-in and Java Web Start can also be used as
   attack vectors.

   Reports indicate this vulnerability is being actively exploited,
   and exploit code is publicly available.

   Further technical details are available in Vulnerability Note
   VU#625617.


Impact

   By convincing a user to load a malicious Java applet or Java
   Network Launching Protocol (JNLP) file, an attacker could execute
   arbitrary code on a vulnerable system with the privileges of the
   Java plug-in process.


Solution

   Disable Java in web browsers

   This and previous Java vulnerabilities have been widely targeted by
   attackers, and new Java vulnerabilities are likely to be
   discovered. To defend against this and future Java vulnerabilities,
   disable Java in web browsers.

   Starting with Java 7 Update 10, it is possible to disable Java
   content in web browsers through the Java control panel applet. From
   Setting the Security Level of the Java Client:

   For installations where the highest level of security is required,
   it is possible to entirely prevent any Java apps (signed or
   unsigned) from running in a browser by de-selecting Enable Java
   content in the browser in the Java Control Panel under the Security
   tab.

   If you are unable to update to Java 7 Update 10 please see the
   solution section of Vulnerability Note VU#636312 for instructions
   on how to disable Java on a per browser basis.


References

 * Vulnerability Note VU#625617
   

 * Setting the Security Level of the Java Client
   

 * The Security Manager
   

 * How to disable the Java web plug-in in Safari
   

 * How to turn off Java applets
   

 * NoScript
   

 * Securing Your Web Browser
   

 * Vulnerability Note VU#636312
   


Revision History

  January 10, 2013: Initial release

 ____________________________________________________________________

   Feedback can be directed to US-CERT Technical Staff. Please send
   email to  with "TA13-010A Feedback VU#625617" in
   the subject.
 ____________________________________________________________________

   Produced by US-CERT, a government organization.
 ____________________________________________________________________

This product is provided subject to this Notification: 
http://www.us-cert.gov/privacy/notification.html

Privacy & Use policy: 
http://www.us-cert.gov/privacy/

This document can also be found at
http://www.us-cert.gov/cas/techalerts/TA13-010A.html

For instructions on subscribing to or unsubscribing from this mailing list, visit http://www.us-cert.gov/cas/signup.html
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Fool Me Once, Shame On You! Fool Me Twice, Shame On Me!

As I write this, Mitt Romney has conceded the election to Barack Hussein Obama. I actually thought Mitt Romney might have been the optimal candidate for our time. We were interviewing for the CEO (Chief Executive) of the United States. Romney has been a very successful executive in both public and private capacity. If anyone had the know-how to turn the economy around, it was Romney. And what he lacked in reverence for the founding principles, he more than made up for by nominating Paul Ryan for VP. Ryan is a great numbers guy too. They would have made a fantastic team. Sure, Ronald Reagan was possibly more personable, and had better instincts for the founding principles, but I think one could argue that Romney's and Ryan's talents might have been more pertinent to our present situation. I think it's a horrible loss to America that they weren't elected. Given that, and how astonishingly bad Barack Obama is, it is nothing less than disgraceful that those two didn't win by the biggest landslide in history.

For the last four years, I half believed the sign,

It is now abundantly clear that it wasn't a mistake, it was a deliberate self-inflicted bullet to the head.

Pundits kept saying that people bought the empty "hope and change" rhetoric, and giving him the benefit of the doubt, painted Barack Obama with their own hopes and aspirations. But now that they know who he really is, they'll reject him.

Well first of all, you would have to be willfully ignorant not to have known what Barack Obama was all about back in 2008. He wrote not one, but two "autobiographies" (most likely ghost written by none other than William Ayers), in which he described in agonizing detail exactly who he is. He hung out with the most radical racists, haters and criminals imaginable, not to mention profligate pot head slackers. You show me who your friends are, and I'll show you who you are, Barry.

But now that everyone knows who this Manchurian candidate is, we re-elected him anyway. The left excoriated Mitt Romney for saying that 47% of the citizenry were lost to him. It turns out, it is more like 51%. We now have more takers in this country than we have producers, and that is not sustainable. Can you say, "death spiral"? I knew you could...

Barack Obama is openly hostile to The Constitution, which will be nothing more than a formality in four more years (because after the election, he'll have "more flexibility"). Our Constitution can't uphold and defend itself. The fact that a majority of Americans would re-elect such a man tells me that more than half of us have no idea what it takes either.

Acting more imperial than presidential, Obama has already systematically rendered congress irrelevant, issuing rapid fire executive orders, and side-stepping every check and balance that stood in his way. The idea that more than 50% of the voters would make this man even less accountable to the people by awarding him a second term, is astounding. In four more years, this nation will be irreparably separated from the founding principles that made this the freest nation on earth.

The national debt and deficit will continue to rise, unchecked. Obama will appoint several more Supreme Court Justices (does "Justice Eric Holder" have a nice ring to it?), and of course the biggest assault on our economic and personal freedom -- ObamaCare -- will become writ in stone. We now have no chance to repeal it. And that just scratches the surface: we will get more of the same criminally negligent, if not malevolent policy such as the Fast and Furious gun running scandal, and of course, who could forget the murdered Americans in Benghazi? Their families sure won't.

Emperor Obama will continue to divide the nation by race and by class. At a campaign rally, he recently told his disciples that "voting is the best revenge". Revenge for what? Against whom? Against the people that made this nation the best hope for rags-to-riches on the planet? Against the people who made this nation the beacon for your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free? Those guys?

Jefferson, Madison, Washington, Franklin, you had a good run. It was nice knowing you, but don't let the screen door hit you in the ass on the way out.

Make The Best Choice, Not The Perfect Choice

We don't live in a perfect world. We don't have the perfect candidates. But one of two men will in fact become president. It is inescapable. So vote for one of them, and select the least bad, or the most good candidate that will actually win. I think Bill Whittle explains the situation as clearly as it can be explained.

You don't have to complete your entire ballot. You can leave parts of it blank if you don't know all the answers. There is no penalty for turning in an incomplete ballot, but there is a huge penalty for leaving a very bad man in office. That's what I'm talking about.

Gun Sales Hinge on Obama Re-Election

A Wall Street Journal article has the headline, "Gun Sales Hinge on Obama Re-Election".

As Cabela's Inc. prepares the selection of guns it will sell for the holiday season and winter hunting, the outdoor-gear retailer has two plans: one if President Barack Obama is re-elected, and one if he isn't.

The Sidney, Neb.-based retailer and other companies in the guns-and-ammo business say if Mr. Obama wins a second term they are preparing for a surge in sales—the same as they saw after he was elected in 2008—from buyers fearful the president would back policies to make buying a gun more difficult. If Republican challenger Mitt Romney wins, though, the chain plans to stock more items such as waterproof boots and camouflage hunting gear. (Continue reading...)

So there you have it folks. If you're truly interested in reducing gun ownership, you need to vote for Romney, the boots and camo guy.

Obamanation

People have been forwarding in email, an interactive rendition of Barack Hussein Obama's  kakistocratic  presidential legacy. The painting, called "Obamanation" was created by the McNaughton Fine Art Company. I wouldn't call it fine art, exactly, but it is informative art. Hover your mouse over each shameful scene to read a description of the transgression.

I suppose the 'progressives' or the communists could make a similar painting, celebrating the choomster's "shining achievements" but I would probably would consider them shameful usurpation as well (e.g., ObamaCare). 

Make My Election Day

In honor of Empty Chair Day (not Labor Day, which I most assuredly do not celebrate), I made this sculpture in my front yard.

Make My Election Day

Eine Kleine Obamusic

Some good song parodies about Barack Hussein Obama are going viral on the interweb:

(Thanks to Dave and Maddie)

There are some good original tunes, too. This might not be your cup o' tea, but I think these guys are good (the hard rock starts about 1/3 of the way in):

(Thanks to Denny at Grouchy Old Cripple)

I might not look like it today, but I am a huge rock & roll fan. Like Paul Ryan's, my iPod goes from AC/DC to Zepplin, with a lot of Beatles, Creedence Clearwater Revival and Moody Blues in between.