The Presidential Limbo

Remember when Obama bowed to the Saudi king? The White House said “Oh, Obama was just leaning over since he’s so much taller than the king.” The conservatives were incensed that our president would bow — a sign of subservience and apology — before anyone, and got ridiculed by their liberal counterparts for blowing it out of proportion. “It was just protocol” they said, despite the fact no other president nor U.S. official had ever bowed before any head of state of any other country…. ever.

Well, he’s done it again.

On a visit to Japan, Obama bent full at the waist before Japan’s Emperor Akihito a full bow from the waist. The significance of the bow is not lost on us. In the Japanese culture, the deeper the bow, the deeper the apology. Mr. President: Please stop apologizing for us. Seriously.

Oh, and for those people who say “it’s just protocol,” sit down and watch this video. Forty-six handshakes with Emperor Akihito, and only one bow. Guess from who.

If you can’t beat them…

Conservative writers are topping the NY Times Bestseller charts. Liberals, rather than writing something that people actually want to read, instead suggest that the NY Times create a separate listing for conservative books. They’re all upset because Glenn Beck has 4 books topping the bestseller charts, and Sarah Palin’s book immediately shot to Number 1, and no one is buying Keith Olberman’s drivel. They’re so upset that the AP has devoted 11 writers to “fact check” Palin’s 432-page book, despite the fact that no one fact-checked either of Barack Obama’s books, Joe Biden’s book, or the late Ted Kennedy’s book.

We’d like to see the AP devote just 1 writer to fact check everything that comes out of Nancy Pelosi’s mouth, but we won’t hold our breath waiting for that.

Maybe the Government should learn how to use an abacus

No sooner had the “jobs created or saved” report came out from the White House, it began getting scrutinized in every detail. Faced with reports like “Jobs Saved or Created in Congressional Districts That Don’t Exist”, the White House had to revise its BS numbers, slashing 60,000 from the number of “saved or created” jobs, but their math is still wrong. According to The Washington Examiner, there were 75,343 bogus jobs “created or saved”.

While the White House tries to paint the economic picture as rosy or at least getting better, the fact is that the $800 billion stimulus package has actually shrunk the economy. It’s triggered a trade war with Canada and Mexico that has already cost us at least 40,000 jobs, and in the New York Daily News, noted global economist Nouriel Roubini says that “Conditions in the U.S. labor markets are awful and worsening.“ And just think: if Obama’s proposed tax increases go through, producing another $1.9 trillion in tax increases, we’re looking at a long, deep depression. According to an article written by Martin Feldstein (Harvard University Professor of Economics and advisor on the Obama’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board), “The barrage of tax increases proposed in President Barack Obama’s budget could, if enacted by Congress, kill any chance of an early and sustained recovery. Historians and economists who’ve studied the 1930s conclude that the tax increases passed during that decade derailed the recovery and slowed the decline in unemployment.” Talk about taking a bad situation and making it worse.

Which reminds us: Medicare and Medicaid is already the leading source of $98 billion in “improper payments” (also known as “fraud”). And they want us to believe that adding more government will help limit the amount of fraud? Right. Know what will eliminate fraudulent Medicare and Medicaid claims? Total elimination of Medicare and Medicaid. Our inability to manage these costs has even caught the attention of the US’ bankers, the Chinese, who are now questioning the proposed costs of the proposed healthcare plan and our ability to pay back our debts to them.

In the meantime, Obama stated that too much debt could lead to a double digit recession. Current US debt: $12,031,299,186,290.07. Estimated 10-year cost of passing healthcare “reform”: $894,000,000,000. Projected spending increase for 2009: 22% (the largest since the Korean War.) Budget deficit increase since Obama’s inauguration: $400,000,000,000.

Of course, the government thinks the answer is to “tax the rich.” Okay. Let’s see how well that can work: If you taxed the income of all the Fortune 500 companies in the country at 100%, it would take 145 years just to pay off our existing debt.

US Government to We the People: just die, already.

And speaking of government healthcare… the government is already laying the groundwork, even before the bill is voted on in the Senate. One of the issues with government-run healthcare is limiting costs. The only two ways of controlling costs are to 1) limit the number of times someone may receive the service, or 2) limit the number of people getting the provided service. The first is known as “rationing”, and it means doing things like reducing the number of preventative screenings people can get. After all, everyone is sharing the same resources, so everyone can’t have everything as often as they want it, right? Too much money after all.

The second — limiting the number of people needing healthcare — can only be accomplished by controlling the population, either by enacting a limit on the number of children people can have, or by having so-called “death panels” that determine when you’re too old to receive treatment and instead, pass on so that they’re no longer a drain on the system.

Imagine our surprise when we saw this headline: “New U.S. guidelines: Routine mammograms start at 50 instead of 40“. Also, the government is “recommending” mammograms stop at age 75, and “The guidelines also say there is not enough evidence to prove that women benefit from self breast exams.” Seriously. We’re not making this up. Dr. Daniel Kopans, professor of radiology at Harvard Medical School in Massachusetts, was interviewed for the article. He said, quite accurately, ”If you look at their guidelines, they are saying, ‘Don’t examine yourself, don’t let anyone else examine you, and don’t get a mammogram.’ Where does that leave you? It leaves you waiting to have a big cancer that you can’t ignore any more.” Now, the American Cancer Society will disregard the guidelines, but what happens when they’re no longer government guidelines? What happens when they are government mandates? Still want that government healthcare?

Speaking of Harvard, the dean of Harvard Medical School recently chimed in on ObamaCare: “In discussions with dozens of health-care leaders and economists, I find near unanimity of opinion that, whatever its shape, the final legislation that will emerge from Congress will markedly accelerate national health-care spending rather than restrain it. Likewise, nearly all agree that the legislation would do little or nothing to improve quality or change health-care’s dysfunctional delivery system.” He continues, “currently proposed federal legislation would undermine any potential for real innovation in insurance and the provision of care. It would do so by overregulating the health-care system in the service of special interests such as insurance companies, hospitals, professional organizations and pharmaceutical companies, rather than the patients who should be our primary concern.”

From bad to worse

No HSAs. No FSAs. $50,000 excise tax on charitable hospitals.

Want some syrup with that waffle?

We’re glad to hear that President Obama is “very close” to a decision on what he’s going to do in Afghanistan and should be making an announcement “in the next several weeks”. Well thanks for being so quick in making up your mind, Mr. President. General McChrystal asked for more troops back on September 1st. Since then, 111 brave US troops have perished in the war you called “a war of necessity” when you were on the campaign trail just a year ago. Now, you can’t seem to make up your mind to figure out if it’s worth sending more troops or not.

This is a very simple decision, Mr. President: you either send more troops and commit to winning the war, or declare defeat and bring them home. Your indecisiveness is costing American lives.

Ft. Hood follow-up

Some more headlines from the tragedy at Ft. Hood. What the hell is going on?

• White House hiding info on Fort Hood
• Obama urges Congress to put off Fort Hood probe