As the Fourth of July approaches I am finding myself perplexed at the idea of celebrating a non sequitur. The day which brought independence to a nation of self-reliant people because of the freedom it promised is now gone. The dregs are left along with a few patriots who still think independence is a good thing. The reasons for celebration are lying on the ash heap of history. The day seems more like a funeral this year than a celebration of anything.
Evidence of this non sequitur came this week in a pamphlet from the City of Gastonia. The pamphlet is entitled, "Good News" and is brought to us in our utility bill. The entire front page is devoted to Federal Stimulus Money being divvied up in Gastonia as if it is Manna from Heaven. The author of this front page announcement is none other than our city manager, Jim Palenick. The article touts the $6.5 million in funds that our fair city is being granted from the Federal Government. Aren't you deliriously happy?
Independence Day was all about self-reliance. It was a commemoration of all that is good about freedom from oppression and being able, without government oppression, to take care of yourself and your own. We are a far cry from that freedom and self-reliance when an oppressive government puts entire towns and an entire population on the dependent list. As I read about all of the money coming into Gastonia, I thought about every town in America being usurped by a Federal Government gone amok. First the Federal Government and the States created policies which have undermined the free enterprise of this country through heavy regulations, taxation, illegal immigration, disallowing energy independence, and generally wrecking any semblance of sanity and common sense when it comes to fiscal policies. Then, to make sure every citizen gets the point of it, congress keeps passing more inane laws in order to create more dependence on the government and whip Americans into line. And the local politicians, wanting to get on the bandwagon, do more of the same. They grab the power by legislating your dependence and your unwilling cooperation.
So now we have $2.1 million dollars of Federal money to "redevelop" a building downtown, create condominiums, and redevelop other neglected properties. We have over $2 million of Federal money to purchase new hybrid buses. Federal money to buy police cars. Federal money for landscaping along the insane "Thread Trail," which is some conjured up way to pretend we are celebrating a textile industry that the government has near annihilated. People in Wyoming are paying for Gastonia's wish list. People in Gastonia are paying for some other city in some other state's wish list. In short, no city, county, or state is apparently immune from becoming the beggar to the all, omnipresent Federal Government.
And this has nothing to do with real need. It has everything to do with need created by government officials. It has everything to do with political power over our lives. This is the very antithesis that the Fourth of July is supposed to celebrate as a marker of our freedoms. Freedoms which have been thrown out of the window because some greedy politician or city manager wants to tell you they took money from the Federal coffers to landscape your downtown. And that is supposed to make you happy? We have "Movies on Main." We have "Rock the Avenue." What we really have is circuses and games to keep Gastonians distracted while politicians are busy taking away your economic liberty. Note: in this Sunday's Gazette that 5 businesses within a block on Union Road are all going under. More unemployment results while we are "enjoying" that Federal money.
Dependence used to be either a sign of extreme disability or carried the shame of laziness. Self-reliance was a banner of pride and with it came the safety and confidence to know you are not depending on a totalitarian to run your life. Today, our city is waving an American flag proudly proclaiming its dependence, not its independence. This is a sad turn for Americans. It is no badge of courage to find yourself dependent on the Federal Government or the State for anything. The very same government oppression from King George has reared its ugly head in the form of American government wearing a costume and mask of a benevolent dictator. And believe me, there is no such thing as a "benevolent dictator." Blood spilled, lives given in the quest for liberty, independence won, but all given up for some Federal, State, and local programs you don't need, while your jobs and economic freedom have been forcefully taken from you.
So enjoy that new landscaping, downtown development, and the buses. The price you have paid is higher than you think. Happy Dependence Day, Gastonia!
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Thumbs Up to Down Under
A friend of mine has shared an Associated Press article that will give you some insight to how other countries are dealing with the insanity of the Cap and Trade crowd. It's really worth the read. (Below) After you read it, please please please email or call or write your senators and tell them NO...not just NO, but HELL NO on Cap and Trade.
Associated Press:
Steve Fielding recently asked the Obama administration to reassure him on the science of man-made global warming. When the administration proved unhelpful, Mr. Fielding decided to vote against climate-change legislation.
If you haven't heard of this politician, it's because he's a member of the Australian Senate. As the U.S. House of Representatives prepares to pass a climate-change bill, the Australian Parliament is preparing to kill its own country's carbon-emissions scheme. Why? A growing number of Australian politicians, scientists and citizens once again doubt the science of human-caused global warming.
Among the many reasons President Barack Obama and the Democratic majority are so intent on quickly jamming a cap-and-trade system through Congress is because the global warming tide is again shifting. It turns out Al Gore and the United Nations (with an assist from the media), did a little too vociferous a job smearing anyone who disagreed with them as "deniers." The backlash has brought the scientific debate roaring back to life in Australia, Europe, Japan and even, if less reported, the U.S.
In April, the Polish Academy of Sciences published a document challenging man-made global warming. In the Czech Republic, where President Vaclav Klaus remains a leading skeptic, today only 11% of the population believes humans play a role. In France, President Nicolas Sarkozy wants to tap Claude Allegre to lead the country's new ministry of industry and innovation. Twenty years ago Mr. Allegre was among the first to trill about man-made global warming, but the geochemist has since recanted. New Zealand last year elected a new government, which immediately suspended the country's weeks-old cap-and-trade program.
The number of skeptics, far from shrinking, is swelling. Oklahoma Sen. Jim Inhofe now counts more than 700 scientists who disagree with the U.N. -- 13 times the number who authored the U.N.'s 2007 climate summary for policymakers. Joanne Simpson, the world's first woman to receive a Ph.D. in meteorology, expressed relief upon her retirement last year that she was finally free to speak "frankly" of her nonbelief. Dr. Kiminori Itoh, a Japanese environmental physical chemist who contributed to a U.N. climate report, dubs man-made warming "the worst scientific scandal in history." Norway's Ivar Giaever, Nobel Prize winner for physics, decries it as the "new religion." A group of 54 noted physicists, led by Princeton's Will Happer, is demanding the American Physical Society revise its position that the science is settled. (Both Nature and Science magazines have refused to run the physicists' open letter.)
The collapse of the "consensus" has been driven by reality. The inconvenient truth is that the earth's temperatures have flat-lined since 2001, despite growing concentrations of C02. Peer-reviewed research has debunked doomsday scenarios about the polar ice caps, hurricanes, malaria, extinctions, rising oceans. A global financial crisis has politicians taking a harder look at the science that would require them to hamstring their economies to rein in carbon.
Credit for Australia's own era of renewed enlightenment goes to Dr. Ian Plimer, a well-known Australian geologist. Earlier this year he published "Heaven and Earth," a damning critique of the "evidence" underpinning man-made global warming. The book is already in its fifth printing. So compelling is it that Paul Sheehan, a noted Australian columnist -- and ardent global warming believer -- in April humbly pronounced it "an evidence-based attack on conformity and orthodoxy, including my own, and a reminder to respect informed dissent and beware of ideology subverting evidence." Australian polls have shown a sharp uptick in public skepticism; the press is back to questioning scientific dogma; blogs are having a field day.
The rise in skepticism also came as Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, elected like Mr. Obama on promises to combat global warming, was attempting his own emissions-reduction scheme. His administration was forced to delay the implementation of the program until at least 2011, just to get the legislation through Australia's House. The Senate was not so easily swayed.
Mr. Fielding, a crucial vote on the bill, was so alarmed by the renewed science debate that he made a fact-finding trip to the U.S., attending the Heartland Institute's annual conference for climate skeptics. He also visited with Joseph Aldy, Mr. Obama's special assistant on energy and the environment, where he challenged the Obama team to address his doubts. They apparently didn't.
This week Mr. Fielding issued a statement: He would not be voting for the bill. He would not risk job losses on "unconvincing green science." The bill is set to founder as the Australian parliament breaks for the winter.
Republicans in the U.S. have, in recent years, turned ever more to the cost arguments against climate legislation. That's made sense in light of the economic crisis. If Speaker Nancy Pelosi fails to push through her bill, it will be because rural and Blue Dog Democrats fret about the economic ramifications. Yet if the rest of the world is any indication, now might be the time for U.S. politicians to re-engage on the science. One thing for sure: They won't be alone.
Associated Press:
Steve Fielding recently asked the Obama administration to reassure him on the science of man-made global warming. When the administration proved unhelpful, Mr. Fielding decided to vote against climate-change legislation.
If you haven't heard of this politician, it's because he's a member of the Australian Senate. As the U.S. House of Representatives prepares to pass a climate-change bill, the Australian Parliament is preparing to kill its own country's carbon-emissions scheme. Why? A growing number of Australian politicians, scientists and citizens once again doubt the science of human-caused global warming.
Among the many reasons President Barack Obama and the Democratic majority are so intent on quickly jamming a cap-and-trade system through Congress is because the global warming tide is again shifting. It turns out Al Gore and the United Nations (with an assist from the media), did a little too vociferous a job smearing anyone who disagreed with them as "deniers." The backlash has brought the scientific debate roaring back to life in Australia, Europe, Japan and even, if less reported, the U.S.
In April, the Polish Academy of Sciences published a document challenging man-made global warming. In the Czech Republic, where President Vaclav Klaus remains a leading skeptic, today only 11% of the population believes humans play a role. In France, President Nicolas Sarkozy wants to tap Claude Allegre to lead the country's new ministry of industry and innovation. Twenty years ago Mr. Allegre was among the first to trill about man-made global warming, but the geochemist has since recanted. New Zealand last year elected a new government, which immediately suspended the country's weeks-old cap-and-trade program.
The number of skeptics, far from shrinking, is swelling. Oklahoma Sen. Jim Inhofe now counts more than 700 scientists who disagree with the U.N. -- 13 times the number who authored the U.N.'s 2007 climate summary for policymakers. Joanne Simpson, the world's first woman to receive a Ph.D. in meteorology, expressed relief upon her retirement last year that she was finally free to speak "frankly" of her nonbelief. Dr. Kiminori Itoh, a Japanese environmental physical chemist who contributed to a U.N. climate report, dubs man-made warming "the worst scientific scandal in history." Norway's Ivar Giaever, Nobel Prize winner for physics, decries it as the "new religion." A group of 54 noted physicists, led by Princeton's Will Happer, is demanding the American Physical Society revise its position that the science is settled. (Both Nature and Science magazines have refused to run the physicists' open letter.)
The collapse of the "consensus" has been driven by reality. The inconvenient truth is that the earth's temperatures have flat-lined since 2001, despite growing concentrations of C02. Peer-reviewed research has debunked doomsday scenarios about the polar ice caps, hurricanes, malaria, extinctions, rising oceans. A global financial crisis has politicians taking a harder look at the science that would require them to hamstring their economies to rein in carbon.
Credit for Australia's own era of renewed enlightenment goes to Dr. Ian Plimer, a well-known Australian geologist. Earlier this year he published "Heaven and Earth," a damning critique of the "evidence" underpinning man-made global warming. The book is already in its fifth printing. So compelling is it that Paul Sheehan, a noted Australian columnist -- and ardent global warming believer -- in April humbly pronounced it "an evidence-based attack on conformity and orthodoxy, including my own, and a reminder to respect informed dissent and beware of ideology subverting evidence." Australian polls have shown a sharp uptick in public skepticism; the press is back to questioning scientific dogma; blogs are having a field day.
The rise in skepticism also came as Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, elected like Mr. Obama on promises to combat global warming, was attempting his own emissions-reduction scheme. His administration was forced to delay the implementation of the program until at least 2011, just to get the legislation through Australia's House. The Senate was not so easily swayed.
Mr. Fielding, a crucial vote on the bill, was so alarmed by the renewed science debate that he made a fact-finding trip to the U.S., attending the Heartland Institute's annual conference for climate skeptics. He also visited with Joseph Aldy, Mr. Obama's special assistant on energy and the environment, where he challenged the Obama team to address his doubts. They apparently didn't.
This week Mr. Fielding issued a statement: He would not be voting for the bill. He would not risk job losses on "unconvincing green science." The bill is set to founder as the Australian parliament breaks for the winter.
Republicans in the U.S. have, in recent years, turned ever more to the cost arguments against climate legislation. That's made sense in light of the economic crisis. If Speaker Nancy Pelosi fails to push through her bill, it will be because rural and Blue Dog Democrats fret about the economic ramifications. Yet if the rest of the world is any indication, now might be the time for U.S. politicians to re-engage on the science. One thing for sure: They won't be alone.
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Obama's Pay More Get Less Health Care Plan
My husband is a salesman. And I used to own a business that had 50 sales reps across the country. I cannot remember any circumstance in which either my husband or my business was successful at selling a "Pay More, Get Less" sales pitch. People don't generally like to pay more to get less....it's a rule. It isn't even an 'unwritten' rule. It is a rule. "More value for your money" is generally what people are desiring with their purchasing power. It usually is the successful sales pitch to tell people they will get more for their money. "Pay Less, Get More."
Enter Obama, the Magician's Puppet. He's one helluva salesman, I have to say. He's telling us right off the bat that you are going to pay more in taxes to get health care. He's telling us flat out that we are going to pay more for energy and get less energy. He's telling us he is borrowing on our behalf so we (and our grandchildren's children) can pay more taxes and interest on the debt. And all we see happening see is a bloated expanding government. He told us we had to spend trillions to, uh, well, maybe save some car companies from bankruptcy. How'd that work out, folks? Trillions more to save jobs? Hmmmmmm...haven't seen a lot of improvement in unemployment figures lately.
Socialists have the most uncanny skill of looking at a problem and coming up with the exact opposite of a viable solution and at the same time telling the public they are doing it "for your own good." Reminds me of the mother giving Castor Oil to her child and saying, "There, there, dear, it's for your own good." Obama gets my award for being the all time champion at this. But socialists always do this...it is nothing new. What is new is that many in the public have become so dumb that he gets away with it. And the media is so complicit that the public is getting nothing more than lies. If you don't believe me on that one, check out the media sales blitz on Government run health care going on this week with ABC, CBS, NBC, and PBS.
The Government Health Care pushed by Socialists is all about a false premise, i.e. that there are tens of thousands of people being refused health care in America. That is blatantly false. No one in America is denied health care. Get that? No one. Not only that, but we have the best health care available to our people than any country in the world. Our health care system was not broken, but is being broken by socialists who set up Medicare, Medicaid, and the Medicare Prescription Drug Plan. This reminds me of the admonition, "You break it, you own it." They broke it and now they want to own it. In fact, they broke it on purpose so they could own it. Just like they broke the housing mortgage industry with their socialist programs, just like they broke the car industry with socialist unions and regulations, just like they are breaking the energy industry with socialist / totalitarian policies...they are now in the process of breaking the health care industry which is 1/5th of the United States economy.
In short...socialists are totalitarians who want government to own it all while you pay for it. In implementing this strategy, they, in effect, own you. Your person, your ability to live, your doctor, your ability to travel, your ability to work, etc. They are trying to convince you it will be "cheaper" in the long run. Cheaper? For whom? Like Medicare? Cheaper like the little roller skate car you will be driving while you pay higher and higher taxes? Cheaper like the energy bills that, if Obama has his way, will be over $3,000.00 a year more for the average family? Cheaper like the cost of your health insurance, which will be called taxes instead of health insurance premiums and will be a bigger chunk out of your paycheck? Swiss cheese has fewer holes than this ridiculous argument.
In fact, Obama tries to have it all ways. He tells you his health care plan is "cheaper" for the country while it will cost you more in taxes. And, with a straight face, he tries to tell you your health care quality will not go down. If this weren't such a serious lie, I'd be on the floor laughing uncontrollably. And did you know that in his plan the UAW is exempt from being taxed on their health care plans? So while you pay more, the unions don't. Socialists love unions. Unions elect socialists. Pay back is hell, no? Who is this guy kidding? You?
I think I need a big swig of Ipecac about now.
Enter Obama, the Magician's Puppet. He's one helluva salesman, I have to say. He's telling us right off the bat that you are going to pay more in taxes to get health care. He's telling us flat out that we are going to pay more for energy and get less energy. He's telling us he is borrowing on our behalf so we (and our grandchildren's children) can pay more taxes and interest on the debt. And all we see happening see is a bloated expanding government. He told us we had to spend trillions to, uh, well, maybe save some car companies from bankruptcy. How'd that work out, folks? Trillions more to save jobs? Hmmmmmm...haven't seen a lot of improvement in unemployment figures lately.
Socialists have the most uncanny skill of looking at a problem and coming up with the exact opposite of a viable solution and at the same time telling the public they are doing it "for your own good." Reminds me of the mother giving Castor Oil to her child and saying, "There, there, dear, it's for your own good." Obama gets my award for being the all time champion at this. But socialists always do this...it is nothing new. What is new is that many in the public have become so dumb that he gets away with it. And the media is so complicit that the public is getting nothing more than lies. If you don't believe me on that one, check out the media sales blitz on Government run health care going on this week with ABC, CBS, NBC, and PBS.
The Government Health Care pushed by Socialists is all about a false premise, i.e. that there are tens of thousands of people being refused health care in America. That is blatantly false. No one in America is denied health care. Get that? No one. Not only that, but we have the best health care available to our people than any country in the world. Our health care system was not broken, but is being broken by socialists who set up Medicare, Medicaid, and the Medicare Prescription Drug Plan. This reminds me of the admonition, "You break it, you own it." They broke it and now they want to own it. In fact, they broke it on purpose so they could own it. Just like they broke the housing mortgage industry with their socialist programs, just like they broke the car industry with socialist unions and regulations, just like they are breaking the energy industry with socialist / totalitarian policies...they are now in the process of breaking the health care industry which is 1/5th of the United States economy.
In short...socialists are totalitarians who want government to own it all while you pay for it. In implementing this strategy, they, in effect, own you. Your person, your ability to live, your doctor, your ability to travel, your ability to work, etc. They are trying to convince you it will be "cheaper" in the long run. Cheaper? For whom? Like Medicare? Cheaper like the little roller skate car you will be driving while you pay higher and higher taxes? Cheaper like the energy bills that, if Obama has his way, will be over $3,000.00 a year more for the average family? Cheaper like the cost of your health insurance, which will be called taxes instead of health insurance premiums and will be a bigger chunk out of your paycheck? Swiss cheese has fewer holes than this ridiculous argument.
In fact, Obama tries to have it all ways. He tells you his health care plan is "cheaper" for the country while it will cost you more in taxes. And, with a straight face, he tries to tell you your health care quality will not go down. If this weren't such a serious lie, I'd be on the floor laughing uncontrollably. And did you know that in his plan the UAW is exempt from being taxed on their health care plans? So while you pay more, the unions don't. Socialists love unions. Unions elect socialists. Pay back is hell, no? Who is this guy kidding? You?
I think I need a big swig of Ipecac about now.
One Vision of Government Run Healthcare
Personal experience #1.
I have a pair of prescription sunglasses that I use for driving. I've had them since 2005, 4 yrs. ago. Because these glasses get thrown around in and out of my purse a million times, they have developed some superficial scratches on the lens....otherwise, they work fine. The sight part of the prescription is fine. I easily passed my driver's license test with this prescription. Nonetheless, I decided I need to go get these lenses replaced, just to get rid of the scratches. Just buying lenses in no cheap affair. So I hustled over to Lenscrafters with my prescription in my hands to get this done....and lo and behold.....oh, no, they won't replace these lenses unless I go get a new prescription. I said, "What?" "All I want to do is get new lenses!" They said, "NO, you can't." I asked, "Who is in charge of my purchasing new lenses for my sunglasses?" The guy said, "The State of North Carolina is in charge." Evidently, unbeknownst to me, the prescription must be less than two years old according to some bureaucrat.
Whoa, folks. There you have it.
Now you need to know the rest of the story, as Paul Harvey says. There is a former N.C. State legislator who is now sitting in jail for taking bribes. His downfall was colluding with chiropractors to manipulate the law. His name is, appropriately, Jim Black, an optometrist by trade. I think this is the same Jim Black who is responsible for pushing a law requiring every kindergartener to have an optometry exam before entering school. In other words, the State of North Carolina decides when your child needs to go to the Optometrist...not the parents. Hmmmmm.....I wonder who that benefits? Gee, let me guess. I don't know who in the North Carolina legislature got greased to require time limits on eye prescriptions, but I do know someone got greased.
All I know at this point is that in North Carolina I cannot get new lenses for my sunglasses unless I pay some optometrist for the privilege. And that dear friends is how this is going to go....with the government in charge of your health instead of you. There will be so much unnecessary butt grabbing that you are going to think you are a melon at the produce stand. This is just one tiny miniscule example of who is going to tell you what you can and cannot do with regard to your health. Multiply that out for every American...and what you have are some few very powerful bureaucrats telling you how to sneeze.
Speaking of butt grabbing, I used to laugh at the colonoscopy nonsense. Imagine you are a gastroenterologist and you have political connections. What would be the fastest way to get rich? First scare everyone to death that they are next in line to get colon cancer. Then have some congressional edict require that everyone in the country march straight over to the nearest out-patient center and suffer through the colonoscopy routine.....the 'drinking death liquid' they force you to drink, the entire day off work and dependent on relatives who also have to take the day off work, the anesthesia, etc. Result....a lot of very wealthy gastroenterologists. Nice work if you can get it, eh??
Further, imagine the psychology of this. You have managed to get an entire population to succumb to your greedy plan, and they followed along like sheep to the slaughter. Insurance companies play the game with you, i.e. upping the premiums to cover everyone's butts. (pun intended) You get hit in the wallet and the butt. But....the gastroenterologists of the world just made everyone scared to death (whether or not you have any history of intestinal problems) and forced everyone to take it in the rear!!
Wow....what a scheme.
For me today, it was the optometry association. I took one in the eye.
Good luck with that "Hope and Change" stuff. It's getting worse by the minute.
I have a pair of prescription sunglasses that I use for driving. I've had them since 2005, 4 yrs. ago. Because these glasses get thrown around in and out of my purse a million times, they have developed some superficial scratches on the lens....otherwise, they work fine. The sight part of the prescription is fine. I easily passed my driver's license test with this prescription. Nonetheless, I decided I need to go get these lenses replaced, just to get rid of the scratches. Just buying lenses in no cheap affair. So I hustled over to Lenscrafters with my prescription in my hands to get this done....and lo and behold.....oh, no, they won't replace these lenses unless I go get a new prescription. I said, "What?" "All I want to do is get new lenses!" They said, "NO, you can't." I asked, "Who is in charge of my purchasing new lenses for my sunglasses?" The guy said, "The State of North Carolina is in charge." Evidently, unbeknownst to me, the prescription must be less than two years old according to some bureaucrat.
Whoa, folks. There you have it.
Now you need to know the rest of the story, as Paul Harvey says. There is a former N.C. State legislator who is now sitting in jail for taking bribes. His downfall was colluding with chiropractors to manipulate the law. His name is, appropriately, Jim Black, an optometrist by trade. I think this is the same Jim Black who is responsible for pushing a law requiring every kindergartener to have an optometry exam before entering school. In other words, the State of North Carolina decides when your child needs to go to the Optometrist...not the parents. Hmmmmm.....I wonder who that benefits? Gee, let me guess. I don't know who in the North Carolina legislature got greased to require time limits on eye prescriptions, but I do know someone got greased.
All I know at this point is that in North Carolina I cannot get new lenses for my sunglasses unless I pay some optometrist for the privilege. And that dear friends is how this is going to go....with the government in charge of your health instead of you. There will be so much unnecessary butt grabbing that you are going to think you are a melon at the produce stand. This is just one tiny miniscule example of who is going to tell you what you can and cannot do with regard to your health. Multiply that out for every American...and what you have are some few very powerful bureaucrats telling you how to sneeze.
Speaking of butt grabbing, I used to laugh at the colonoscopy nonsense. Imagine you are a gastroenterologist and you have political connections. What would be the fastest way to get rich? First scare everyone to death that they are next in line to get colon cancer. Then have some congressional edict require that everyone in the country march straight over to the nearest out-patient center and suffer through the colonoscopy routine.....the 'drinking death liquid' they force you to drink, the entire day off work and dependent on relatives who also have to take the day off work, the anesthesia, etc. Result....a lot of very wealthy gastroenterologists. Nice work if you can get it, eh??
Further, imagine the psychology of this. You have managed to get an entire population to succumb to your greedy plan, and they followed along like sheep to the slaughter. Insurance companies play the game with you, i.e. upping the premiums to cover everyone's butts. (pun intended) You get hit in the wallet and the butt. But....the gastroenterologists of the world just made everyone scared to death (whether or not you have any history of intestinal problems) and forced everyone to take it in the rear!!
Wow....what a scheme.
For me today, it was the optometry association. I took one in the eye.
Good luck with that "Hope and Change" stuff. It's getting worse by the minute.
Friday, June 5, 2009
How General Electric Outens the Lights
Time was when General Electric was known as the company who made lives easier and lit up the country. They sponsored Mr. Wizard on TV. They were a huge success story and America benefited greatly from their innovations. When I was growing up there was a GE plant in my home town in Ohio. Some of my friends' parents worked there. One was a Research Engineer who was sent to Columbia to head up a research division and wound up murdered with his wife and two girls fleeing for their lives back to America. They were told by the police in Columbia to get the heck out of there fast. They never got answers to the mysterious murder and suffered from trauma from that event ever after. I was young and his daughters were my friends. We were all in shock. The family never saw saw the body. It was all very like an international spy novel or one of those movies that sends chills up your spine. One of the daughters, who was my closest friend at the time, had lasting emotional pain for years and years. To this day, there is no resolution to the event.
Those were my first impressions of GE. Sinister describes the image I have of GE today, in more ways than one. An American success story gone bad.
In case you are not aware of it, GE owns NBC and MSNBC. And in case you were locked in a closet all this past election season, those two news organizations were pushing Obama like ice cream on a hot summer's day. Every newscast was fawning all over Obama's supposed unmatched virtues. You would have thought that Obama was the Second Coming of Christ if you watched and listened to those channels. This continues today. Did you ever ask yourself why?
Timothy P. Carney reported in the Washington Post in March a revealing connection between Obama and GE. He wrote the following:
"GE — a member of the U.S. Climate Action Partnership, which advocates cap and trade — leads the push for greenhouse gas restrictions.
Reviewing their lobbying filings, you might think you were looking at Al Gore’s agenda. GE’s specific lobbying issues included the “Climate Stewardship Act,” “Electric Utility Cap and Trade Act,” “Global Warming Reduction Act,” “Federal Government Greenhouse Gas Registry Act,” “Low Carbon Economy Act,” and “Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act.”
This isn’t altruism or public relations. GE has started a joint venture called Greenhouse Gas Services, which invests in — and hopes to manage the trade in — greenhouse gas credits. But these investments and this trading floor are of basically no use and nearly no value without government restrictions on greenhouse gases.
Hence the lobbying, buttressed by generous campaign contributions: Employees and executives gave $1.35 million to politicians in the past election while GE’s political action committee shelled out $1.55 million. About 64 percent of this $2.9 million went to Democrats, with Obama easily the top recipient of GE money.
Those were my first impressions of GE. Sinister describes the image I have of GE today, in more ways than one. An American success story gone bad.
In case you are not aware of it, GE owns NBC and MSNBC. And in case you were locked in a closet all this past election season, those two news organizations were pushing Obama like ice cream on a hot summer's day. Every newscast was fawning all over Obama's supposed unmatched virtues. You would have thought that Obama was the Second Coming of Christ if you watched and listened to those channels. This continues today. Did you ever ask yourself why?
Timothy P. Carney reported in the Washington Post in March a revealing connection between Obama and GE. He wrote the following:
"GE — a member of the U.S. Climate Action Partnership, which advocates cap and trade — leads the push for greenhouse gas restrictions.
Reviewing their lobbying filings, you might think you were looking at Al Gore’s agenda. GE’s specific lobbying issues included the “Climate Stewardship Act,” “Electric Utility Cap and Trade Act,” “Global Warming Reduction Act,” “Federal Government Greenhouse Gas Registry Act,” “Low Carbon Economy Act,” and “Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act.”
This isn’t altruism or public relations. GE has started a joint venture called Greenhouse Gas Services, which invests in — and hopes to manage the trade in — greenhouse gas credits. But these investments and this trading floor are of basically no use and nearly no value without government restrictions on greenhouse gases.
Hence the lobbying, buttressed by generous campaign contributions: Employees and executives gave $1.35 million to politicians in the past election while GE’s political action committee shelled out $1.55 million. About 64 percent of this $2.9 million went to Democrats, with Obama easily the top recipient of GE money.
Obama’s budget includes the payoff, promising to start a multibillion-dollar greenhouse gas industry by 2012. In a letter this week, GE’S Immelt told shareholders that current events present an “opportunity of a lifetime,” because “capitalism will be ‘reset.’ ”
Immelt, GE CEO, wrote: “The interaction between government and business will change forever. In a reset economy, the government will be a regulator; and also an industry policy champion, a financier, and a key partner.”
In short, GE plans to get rich by being one of the government’s closest partners — which it has always been, thanks to its unmatched lobbying efforts.
When the lobbying fingerprints of GE and other well-connected firms are considered, it’s not hard to conclude that the policy that will finally emerge won’t be the one that is best for the planet and least bad for the economy, but the one that is best for General Electric."
It's interesting to me that the general public expressed a desire in this past election to "throw the bums out" and begin with a new slate of Presidential material which was supposed to be "Change" from the old special interest politics, but what got voted into office was the old special interest politics on steroids. In the case of GE, the company has positioned itself to rake in billions from soaking the public with not only tax dollars, carbon rebates, but also increases in energy prices bound to be through the roof. GE created a propaganda campaign on its own news media in order to convince you to vote for the guy promising to enrich GE. The planet is not going to notice the difference, but you and I will...to our detriment. GE has no sincere interest in caring for the environment. GE has caught the winds of a trend, bought and paid for government favors, and is already putting up windmills in China using our money while figuring out how to use our government to enslave you and enrich itself. American voters keep trading one corrupt political base for another. Like a circular argument, it just keeps going around and around. The only thing that changes is the crowd that reaps the whirlwind.
Now you know why MSNBC was in the tank for Obama. Do you care? Do you feel snookered? You should.
Monday, June 1, 2009
Pride Goeth Before the Fall
America has made one huge mistake. And it's going to cost trillions of dollars, cause much worse poverty than you have seen in our lifetimes, and our children are going to be paying a terrible price. It's hard for most people to admit they have made a terrible mistake. First, they don't like to think they are wrong, so pride gets in the way. Second, they like to think they can figure things out, so it doesn't compute that they missed a big clue. If you look just at Bernie Madoff and several others like him, you can see that many supposedly erudite individuals got taken. Notice, they don't go around saying they got taken....that would be admitting that they were schmoozed, hornswoggled, and just as dumb as the next guy. Pride is a seriously difficult thing to overcome. So what is the mistake, you ask? One Big Addlebrained Mistake America. Frankly, I can't think of much difference between Obama and Madoff. One is just as adept as the other in making people lose their purses. One is just as adept as the other at convincing the victims of how confident and able they are at handling other people's money. The Ponzi scheme of today is being played out on a grand national stage with none other than someone posing as President of the United States doing the deeds. How many trillions were you voting to throw down the toilet, America? How many rights and freedoms were you voting to surrender, America? How much indoctrination are you paying for, America? How stupid are you, America?
The great skill Obama has is being able to calmly look at you through the teleprompter's plexiglass and flat out state obvious lies and ridiculous presumptions so cleverly that you don't even know he is doing it. He will tell you he really doesn't want to do X,Y, and Z, but, gee, the situation is so dire you must agree that he just has to take you to the cleaners and take over all of the hard decisions for you. Don't you worry your pretty little head, he's got it covered. Nevermind that he says one thing and does another. Nevermind that he has stripped America of any chance of economic recovery for the next twenty years. Nevermind that he has quadrupled the national debt within a short four months and spent more than all Presidents combined in the history of our nation. Nevermind that, when he takes over health care, you won't be able to call your Doctor of Choice and actually get an appointment within a reasonable time. Nevermind that your new car will be made of flimsy material and can't go more than 30 miles without plugging into a grid which will be rationed. Nevermind that you can't adjust your thermostat because he will do that for you. Nevermind that your local farmer can't sell to you because government regulations will not permit it without taxing cow flatulence. Nevermind that he said he would save jobs while 600,000 plus every month are losing them. Nevermind that your children are being turned into little robots with no real ability to think for themselves. Nevermind that he said he would defend the country while, at the same time, he cuts military spending and missle defense. Nevermind that he said he would defend Israel while he kisses up to the Arabs who want to destroy Israel. And, by all means, don't worry about North Korea getting those darn, pesky, little nuclear weapons. Obams can fix that, too, by just saying a few kind words to the Chinese. Oh, and that Supreme Court Justice? She's just full of empathy instead of judicial ethics. That's O.K. Don't you worry your sweet little heads, Obama's got it all figured out.
You're so happy. He's so appealing. He's so adroit. He's so capable. So smooth. What a great husband. He takes his wife to the theatre. What a great Dad. He buys his kids a dog. He must be so wonderful because he is such a great family man. And we all want a Daddy to do it all for us, now don't we?
Well, I have to admit that Obama is better looking than Madoff. I guess that's how he can dupe and entire country and not just a few wealthy investors. But I wonder how long it will be before the prideful and clueless Americans will begin to see what mistake they have made. "Pride Goeth Before the Fall." I wonder if that means by October America will be dining on crow. Oops, nope, that's the wrong "Fall." And we can't shoot the crows because of gun controls he will be sure to enact. So no dining on crows, either. I know some prideful Americans will never admit their mistake. It's just too hard to accept it when you have been swept up in a cult of personality. You can take your pride to bed with you now, knowing Obama's got you covered. For ever and ever, amen. He sure does.
The great skill Obama has is being able to calmly look at you through the teleprompter's plexiglass and flat out state obvious lies and ridiculous presumptions so cleverly that you don't even know he is doing it. He will tell you he really doesn't want to do X,Y, and Z, but, gee, the situation is so dire you must agree that he just has to take you to the cleaners and take over all of the hard decisions for you. Don't you worry your pretty little head, he's got it covered. Nevermind that he says one thing and does another. Nevermind that he has stripped America of any chance of economic recovery for the next twenty years. Nevermind that he has quadrupled the national debt within a short four months and spent more than all Presidents combined in the history of our nation. Nevermind that, when he takes over health care, you won't be able to call your Doctor of Choice and actually get an appointment within a reasonable time. Nevermind that your new car will be made of flimsy material and can't go more than 30 miles without plugging into a grid which will be rationed. Nevermind that you can't adjust your thermostat because he will do that for you. Nevermind that your local farmer can't sell to you because government regulations will not permit it without taxing cow flatulence. Nevermind that he said he would save jobs while 600,000 plus every month are losing them. Nevermind that your children are being turned into little robots with no real ability to think for themselves. Nevermind that he said he would defend the country while, at the same time, he cuts military spending and missle defense. Nevermind that he said he would defend Israel while he kisses up to the Arabs who want to destroy Israel. And, by all means, don't worry about North Korea getting those darn, pesky, little nuclear weapons. Obams can fix that, too, by just saying a few kind words to the Chinese. Oh, and that Supreme Court Justice? She's just full of empathy instead of judicial ethics. That's O.K. Don't you worry your sweet little heads, Obama's got it all figured out.
You're so happy. He's so appealing. He's so adroit. He's so capable. So smooth. What a great husband. He takes his wife to the theatre. What a great Dad. He buys his kids a dog. He must be so wonderful because he is such a great family man. And we all want a Daddy to do it all for us, now don't we?
Well, I have to admit that Obama is better looking than Madoff. I guess that's how he can dupe and entire country and not just a few wealthy investors. But I wonder how long it will be before the prideful and clueless Americans will begin to see what mistake they have made. "Pride Goeth Before the Fall." I wonder if that means by October America will be dining on crow. Oops, nope, that's the wrong "Fall." And we can't shoot the crows because of gun controls he will be sure to enact. So no dining on crows, either. I know some prideful Americans will never admit their mistake. It's just too hard to accept it when you have been swept up in a cult of personality. You can take your pride to bed with you now, knowing Obama's got you covered. For ever and ever, amen. He sure does.
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