Posted on March 21, 2010 | Leave a comment

From Paul Ryan
President Obama said in December: “If we don’t pass [this health care legislation]…the federal government will go bankrupt, because Medicare and Medicaid are on a trajectory that are (sic) unsustainable….” On first hearing, this argument sounds ludicrous: We must stop the nation from going broke by enacting a program costing $800 billion or more in the first decade alone? On the other hand, if the president means what he says, there is only one way to achieve his stated goal under the new program: through deep and comprehensive rationing of health care.”

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ACORN, ALINSKY and OBAMA

Posted on March 20, 2010 | Leave a comment

ACORN is The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. It is the embodiment of the teachings of Saul Alinsky. A review of Alinsky’s book Rules for Radicalswill be published here at Random Thots early next week. In the video here, Barack Obama, once a community organizer himself, assures members of ACORN that his agenda as President will be shaped by their input.

The Obama Campaign Fund gave $800,000 to ACORN. This is money that came from a broad spectrum of contributors specifically to support the election of Barack Obama. A portion of these funds were then redistributed to the activist group ACORN. So spread-the-wealth actually started before the election.

Bob B

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Posted in Audio/Visual, Political polemics

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Posted on March 19, 2010 | Leave a comment

How to earn over $50,000 and pay no income tax

Get married and have two kids. Just one more thing, be typical. That is all you have to do.

More than one third of all income tax filers paid no federal income tax for the year 2008. When the returns for 2009 come in, the number will surely be higher. We are not talking about no additional tax with the return, we are talking about no tax, period. That means if tax was withheld from your pay check, either you got it all back in a refund or you did not make the list.

A typical family of four making less than $51,000 paid no tax at all for 2009 according to a report by The Tax Foundation. Furthermore, some of those non-payers got a “rebate” ( see my post on propagandic). In other words, some of your money, if you pay taxes, was given directly to someone who paid no taxes. This kind of rebate occurs only in the government sector. You cannot get a rebate on an automobile purchase unless you purchase an automobile.

It has been said that Democracy will continue to exist only until the majority of voters realize they can vote largesse for themselves from the government. Aristotle warned “If the majority distributes among itself the things of a minority, it is evident that it will destroy the city.” We are witnessing Democracy at the crossroads.

Bob B

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Posted in Political philosophy, Political polemics

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DINO’s – DEMOCRATS IN NAME ONLY

Posted on March 19, 2010 | Leave a comment

Voting on a pig in a poke, with emphasis on the pig

A Rasmussen poll finds just 20% of likely voters believe most of our Representatives will understand what is in Pelosi’s health care bill before they sign it. How could they know?!  The crafty crafters are not releasing the contents. Even Obama revealed to Bret Baier that he does not know what is in the bill.

The Washington Times says “The Democrats are assaulting the very pillars of our democracy”. They are correct.

Obama promised to heal the divide. His “Change” has transformed the divide into a Grand Chasm not seen since the civil war.

Pelosi promised to clean the swamp of Republicans. Under her leadership we no longer have a swamp of Republicans. We have a cesspool of Democrats.

What we have are DINO’s, Socialists who are Democrats In Name Only.

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DISCOVERY – CAPITALISM CAUSES INSANITY

Posted on March 19, 2010 | Leave a comment

The New York Times Online has a regular feature called “The Idea of the Day”. The idea for Feb 17th was that capitalism causes neuroticism. The idea was centered on a study printed in a publication by the name of “Eurozine”, based in Germany. Here are some excerpts.

“There is good reason to assert the existence, […] of a new type of capitalism, neuro-capitalism”

“…what links capitalism with neuroscience is not so much strict regulation as a complex system of systemic flaws. Repressive late nineteenth-century capitalism, with its exploitive moral dictates, proscriptions and social injustices, was a breeding ground for the neurosis diagnosed by scientists in the early twentieth century as a spiritual epidemic.

The article is long and your time is valuable, so I will spare you from the rest of it, except the conclusion. It is too entertaining to miss.

“The psychologically relevant question of how the self will relate to a mood-enhanced, more capable version of itself is rendered irrelevant by the fact that the requirements of the new capitalist reality make an individual improvement of this kind appear a highly desirable option. Indeed, as a consumer and commodity value appropriate to capitalism, it has already been in currency for some time. Alongside globalisation – the capitalist rationalisation of space and time – we are witnessing the epistemic and technical rationalisation of the neural foundations of the self, or what Walker Percy called the abstraction of the self from itself”

Now, dear reader, if you consider yourself a capitalist, and if you understand what the authors have just said in this their summary and conclusion, then I must consider their premise may be valid after all.

Or perhaps you think our nations leading newspaper is just putting us on. It’s true, the item is ridiculous to the point of being funny, but I am afraid they are serious. Lest you doubt me I offer this, another sample from the “Idea of the Day” feature. It was submitted by a reader and published immediately following Obama’s election.

The free market did I embrace,
Derivations and hedges took place,
Now I’m short on my cash
I’m feeling the crash,
The redness, it shows on my face.

— Thank God America is now Socialist.

We have a tough row to hoe to reclaim America. I am writing a blog. It is not much, but it is my best. What are you doing?

Bob B

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Posted on March 19, 2010 | Leave a comment

An envoy for Israel

A new mid-east envoy is being chosen to promote peace and agreement between Israel and the Palestinian people. The position calls for someone with international experience, and as a negotiator, to have the appearance of  neutrality. The claim to neutrality is paramount. Certainly he must not be seen as favoring Israel or of simply acting in America’s best interests. I suggest Jimmy Carter. I can think of no other who would be better equipped to carry out the Obama agenda.

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Posted on March 18, 2010 | Leave a comment

From The Hill, Online

The co-chairwoman of the Blue Dog Coalition says that using a controversial “deem and pass” mechanism to pass health care reform would be “poison.”

In a conference call with reporters today, Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (D-S.D.), who is a “firm no” on the bill itself, said the process Democrats are considering would spell disaster for the climate in Congress.

Neither “reconciliation” nor “deem and pass” have ever before been used by Republicans or Democrats for forcing the passage of controversial bills. These tools were handshakes of agreement on substance with discretion given for minor details in the interest of bureaucratic efficiency.

To Stephanie I say, we already have a spell of disaster in the climate in Congress. There are too few Democrats left in Washington who are as principled as you appear to be.

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KILLING BIN LADEN

Posted on March 18, 2010 | Leave a comment

Can an Osama assassination by drone save the Obama presidency? It looks like this is Obama’s ace in the hole. It might work. Even the far left would probably forgive him for it.

He has lost support from the left for keeping prisoners in Guantanamo and support from the middle for extending rights to live terrorists, rights never intended for combatants in war. A policy of take no prisoners would solve both of those problems. There would be no live terrorists to try and you cannot capture enemy combatants with a drone.

Bin Laden’s personal fortune is long depleted. His capability as an organizer of a force so decentralized as Al Qaeda is severely limited. His inspirational value would undoubtedly rise if America bestowed upon him the coveted qualification of a martyr. In addition to the passel of brown-eyed virgins, Jihadists could look forward to an early meeting with Bin Laden himself.

It would afford some satisfaction to see Osama killed but it would not make us any safer. Particularly not if it were to determine the results of the 2012 election.

Bob B

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HILL and BILL

Posted on March 17, 2010 | Leave a comment

We see less of Bill these days, but when we do, it’s the same old Bill with his ever present half smile half grin. He seems to be a man who takes nothing so seriously to heart that it would interfere with the fun of the game. When he spins his lies it is with a devil may care, what’s the difference anyhow attitude. Monica claims he told her he does not distinguish between truth and fiction. That could be true.

Hillary is the serious one and she is suffering the strains that come with the demeanor. You can see it in her face and sense it in her deliberations. She is ambitious, dedicated and young enough to still hold aspirations for the presidency. I suspect she does not share her boss’s full agenda and she is smart enough to see what a mess he is making of foreign policy. If Obama does not recover from his current slide, do you suppose she might try to challenge Obama for the Democratic nomination for 2012?

Bob B

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Posted on March 17, 2010 | Leave a comment

Forced into silence

Random Thots was silenced for 5 days, prevented by external forces from publishing anything of a controversial nature, or of any nature, for that matter. We were victimized by a great storm of wind and rain that brought destruction to Democrats and Republicans alike. Even Independents were not spared by the mighty force of the Almighty.

Our town services people performed admirably but they were overwhelmed by the extent of the damage. Citizens, including this one, got out their chain saws and cut passages through fallen trees to give neighbors access to the outside world .  Still, we went 4 days without power, central heat, water or internet. Two nearby neighbors lost part of their homes as monstrous oak trees came crashing through the house, propelled to destruction by swirling winds of hurricane force . Elsewhere a woman was killed by a falling tree as she walked with her husband. Another died instantly while driving when a falling tree caught her car.

We tell you this not to complain, for as disasters go this does not even qualify. It is simply to explain why we have been absent. We are back. Tell your friends to check us out. We are Bob B and a lazy cat named Loosey.

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