Daily Archives: October 10, 2013

10/10/13

Want a Free House?

Hat Tip: Roger and Susan Doxaras

The People’s Cube

I was in my neighborhood restaurant this morning and was seated behind a group of jubilant individuals celebrating the coming implementation of the health care bill. I could not finish my breakfast. This is what ensued: They were a diverse group of several races and both sexes. I heard a young man exclaim, “Isn’t Obama like Jesus Christ? I mean, after all, he is healing the sick.”

A young woman enthusiastically proclaimed, “Yeah, and he does it for free. I cannot believe anyone would think that a free market wouldn’t work for health care.”

Another said, “The stupid Republicans want us all to starve to death so they can inherit all of the power. Obama should be made a Saint for what he did for those of us less fortunate.”

At this, I had more than enough. I arose from my seat, mustering all the restraint I could find, and approached their table. “Please excuse me; may I impose upon you for one moment?”

They smiled and welcomed me to the conversation. I stood at the end of their table, smiled as best I could and began an experiment.

“I would like to give one of you my house. It will cost you no money and I will pay all of the expenses and taxes for as long as you live there. Anyone interested?”

They looked at each other in astonishment. “Why would you do something like that?” asked a young man, “There isn’t anything for free in this world.” They began to laugh at me, as they did not realize this man had just made my point.

“I am serious, I will give you my house for free, no money whatsoever. Anyone interested?”

In unison, a resounding “Yeah” fills the room.

“Since there are too many of you, I will have to make a choice as to who receives this money-free bargain.”

I noticed an elderly couple was paying attention to the spectacle unfolding before their eyes, the old man shaking his head in apparent disgust.

“I tell you what; I will give it to the one of you most willing to obey my rules.”

Again, they looked at one another, an expression of bewilderment on their faces.

The perky young woman asked, “What are the rules?”

I smiled and said, “I don’t know. I have not yet defined them. However, it is a free home that I offer you.”

They giggled amongst themselves, the youngest of which said, “What an old coot. He must be crazy to give away his home. Go take your meds, old man.”

I smiled and leaned into the table a bit further. “I am serious, this is a legitimate offer.”

They gaped at me for a moment.

“I’ll take it you old fool. Where are the keys?” boasted the youngest among them.

“Then I presume you accept ALL of my terms then?” I asked.

The elderly couple seemed amused and entertained as they watched from the privacy of their table. “Oh yeah! Where do I sign up?”

I took a napkin and wrote, “I give this man my home, without the burden of financial obligation, so long as he accepts and abides by the terms that I shall set forth upon consummation of this transaction.”

I signed it and handed it to the young man who eagerly scratched out his signature.

“Where are the keys to my new house?” he asked in a mocking tone of voice.

All eyes were upon us as I stepped back from the table, pulling the keys from pocket and dangling them before the excited new homeowner.

“Now that we have entered into this binding contract, witnessed by all of your friends, I have decided upon the conditions you are obligated to adhere to from this point forward. You may only live in the house for one hour a day. You will not use anything inside of the home. You will obey me without question or resistance. I expect complete loyalty and admiration for this gift I bestow upon you. You will accept my commands and wishes with enthusiasm, no matter the nature. Your morals and principles shall be as mine. You will vote as I do, think as I do and do it with blind faith. These are my terms. Here are your keys.” I reached the keys forward and the young man looked at me dumbfounded.

“Are you out of your mind? Who would ever agree to those ridiculous terms?” the young man appeared irritated.

“You did when you signed this contract before reading it, understanding it and with the full knowledge that I would provide my conditions only after you committed to the agreement.”

The elderly man chuckled as his wife tried to restrain him. I was looking at a now silenced and bewildered group of people.

“You can shove that stupid deal up your a** old man. I want no part of it!” exclaimed the now infuriated young man.

‘You have committed to the contract, as witnessed by all of your friends. You cannot get out of the deal unless I agree to it. I do not intend to let you free now that I have you ensnared. I am the power you agreed to. I am the one you blindly and without thought chose to enslave yourself to. In short, I am your Master.”

At this, the table of celebrating individuals became a unified group against the unfairness of the deal.

After a few moments of unrepeatable comments and slurs, I revealed my true intent.

“What I did to you is what this administration and congress did to you with the health care legislation. I easily suckered you in and then revealed the real cost of the bargain. Your folly was in the belief that you can have something you did not earn, and for that which you
did not earn, you willingly allowed someone else to think for you. Your failure to research, study and inform yourself permitted reason to escape you. You have entered into a trap from which you cannot flee. Your only chance of freedom is if your new Master gives it to you. A freedom that is given can also be taken away. Therefore, it is not freedom at all.”

With that, I tore up the napkin and placed it before the astonished young man. “This is the nature of your new health care legislation.”

I turned away to leave these few in thought and contemplation — and was surprised by applause.

The elderly gentleman, who was clearly entertained, shook my hand enthusiastically and said, “Thank you, Sir. These kids don’t understand Liberty .”

He refused to allow me to pay my bill as he said, “You earned this one. It is an honor to pick up the tab.”

I shook his hand in thanks, leaving the restaurant somewhat humbled and sensing a glimmer of hope for my beloved country.

10/10/13

Hotel Obamacare – You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave!

By: Terresa Monroe-Hamilton
Cross-Posted at Right Wing News

ROTFL… This is rich! Best title yet: We paid $634 million for the Obamacare sites and all we got was this lousy 404. Obama had three years, $634M and countless programmers to simply find out: what do you get when you put garbage in? Garbage out. Not tested, spaghetti code, incompetence and people who basically lined their pockets and just didn’t give a flying crap whether it worked or not. In other words, Socialism.

My husband is a Software Engineer. I’m a Management Information Specialist. I guarantee you, that for a fraction of the cost, the site would have worked — even if only in a limited sense. This site cost more than Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or Instagram. All of which, by the way, work.

From Digital Trends:

It’s been one full week since the flagship technology portion of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) went live. And since that time, the befuddled beast that is Healthcare.gov has shutdown, crapped out, stalled, and mis-loaded so consistently that its track record for failure is challenged only by Congress.

The site itself, which apparently underwent major code renovations over the weekend, still rejects user logins, fails to load drop-down menus and other crucial components for users that successfully gain entrance, and otherwise prevents uninsured Americans in the 36 states it serves from purchasing healthcare at competitive rates – Healthcare.gov’s primary purpose. The site is so busted that, as of a couple days ago, the number of people that successfully purchased healthcare through it was in the “single digits,” according to the Washington Post.

The reason for this nationwide headache apparently stems from poorly written code, which buckled under the heavy influx of traffic that its engineers and administrators should have seen coming. But the fact that Healthcare.gov can’t do the one job it was built to do isn’t the most infuriating part of this debacle – it’s that we, the taxpayers, seem to have forked up more than $634 million of the federal purse to build the digital equivalent of a rock.

The exact cost to build Healthcare.gov, according to U.S. government records, appears to have been $634,320,919, which we paid to a company you probably never heard of: CGI Federal. The company originally won the contract back in 2011, but at that time, the cost was expected to run “up to” $93.7 million – still a chunk of change, but nothing near where it ended up.

Over half a billion for a pet rock. Outstanding. More Cloward and Piven — it was never meant to work. The White House knew the site was not ready — let them eat code. And you can’t blame this on out-dated technology. That’s horse manure.

Even better… The healthcare site is Hotel Obamacare – you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave. Once you get into the site, exiting stage right is not intuitive:

Once you finally make it into HealthCare.gov, it’s not clear how you get out.

For those who’ve busted through glitches on the federal Obamacare insurance website to create an account, there’s no clear, obvious way for consumers to delete the accounts if they choose — at least not in the current incarnation.

A POLITICO reporter used HealthCare.gov’s customer support chat to request that an account be removed, but the support agent said the request would have to be referred to an “advanced” customer service system.

The option to delete account information has become a staple of online services, from Facebook to Amazon. But HealthCare.gov isn’t a private-sector business transaction. And on the federal health insurance portal, people for at least the next few weeks will have to create a basic account even to browse health plan options. That doesn’t require all the personal and financial information that would be added to actually enroll in a health plan or seek government subsidies.

And if you think they EVER get rid of your info., better think again:

But information privacy consultant Bob Gellman said government retention standards likely come into play. And the standards for health record keeping is different from those in other sectors.

“At the highest level of generality, I agree that it’d be nice to delete your record at an appropriate point, but it’s messy and you gotta figure out when and how,” Gellman said.

Gellman said there are legitimate legal reasons why the government would have to retain the record. Consumers do see a privacy notice before creating an account.

“It doesn’t sound sinister to me,” he said. “It sounds bureaucratic and that no one’s thought about that yet.”

Pam Dixon, executive director of the World Privacy Forum, said HealthCare.gov appears to fall under the umbrella of the National Archives and Records Administration, which gives agencies leeway on record-keeping for administrative, legal, audit or other operational purposes. She said many health care providers keep records for seven years but if the exchange policy is to keep them forever that would be “disconcerting for a number of reasons.”

Disconcerting? That’s the understatement of the century. Not only will the records be kept forever (mark my words on that one), the info will be used as a weapon and a deterrent.

Let’s face it. Everything about Obamacare sucks. Everything from their lame site that was written in a ‘before-that-do’ incompetent style, to the crushing taxes and regulations it clobbers us with. Next time we decide to have our government do something that takes brains, talent and money like build a behemoth web site that has all of our lives in its digital sites, just slap us. Save us from ourselves before the whole nation turns into one big 404 occurrence.

10/10/13

Socialist Leader: Obamacare Will Fail – “Single Payer” Comes Next

By: Trevor Loudon
New Zeal

A senior member of Democratic Socialists of America, the US’ largest Marxist group and the driving force behind Obamacare and the “single payer/socialized healthcare movement,” predicts that Obamacare will fail and will be replaced by a fully socialist system.

Gerald Friedman

Gerald Friedman

Gerald Friedman was a Professor of Economics at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He writes on economic history, labor history and alternative economic theories.

Writing in DSA’s Democratic Left, October 2013, “A Century and Counting: The Campaign for National Health Insurance,” Friedman claimed that the Affordable Care Act/Obamacare, was doomed, but would pave the way for what was planned all along – “single payer” socialized healthcare.

After a century of struggle, the ACA commits the United States to providing universal access to health care. This is a great achievement, one to be treasured and nurtured. Now the real fight begins, to turn this commitment into a reality that the ACA itself cannot produce. Barack Obama was right the first time: only a single-payer program can provide universal coverage, and only a single-payer program can control costs. The ACA may be the last bad idea that Americans try; after it fails, we will finally do the right thing: single-payer health insurance.

Obamacare was brought to you by DSAers such as John McDonough and Quentin Young and by Young’s protege, Barack Obama.

DSA’s next step is to deliver you fully socialized healthcare out of the wreckage of Obamacare.

10/10/13

Who is Matt Bevin and Why Should You Care? (Hints: Senate, Kentucky)

By: Susan Knowles
Gulag Bound

Cross-posted at Stand for the Truth

Blevin-Matt

Matt Bevin is a Republican and businessman, who is running in the primaries against five-term incumbent Mitch McConnell, senior United States Republican Senator (House) from Kentucky, who was elected in 1985 and currently serves as Minority Leader of the Senate (since 2007).

The question on everyone’s mind who is interested in this race is will Matt Bevin be just another person that the Republicans cast a vote for, not because they believe in his viewpoint, but because there is no better candidate to run against Mitch McConnell?

This may be a similar situation in which many republicans found themselves in during the 2008 elections, when John McCain was tapped as the candidate who would run against then Senator Barrack Obama. We all know how that ended and it didn’t conclude well for the republicans.

So who is Matt Bevin, the person and the politician?

Matt grew up in a rural town in New Hampshire, one of six children, who lived in a small farmhouse, with no central heat and one bathroom. His family was able to send him to a private high school, nonetheless, where he graduated and with a ROTC scholarship, he attended Washington and Lee University. Matt graduated with a degree in East Asian Studies. He is married and a father of nine, with four of his children being adopted from Ethiopia.

Matt also served four years in the military and reached the rank of captain. He left to work in the financial industry and moved to Kentucky in 1999, when he was offered a position in a company there. He owed and sold another business before becoming President of a manufacturing company and a partner at an investment management firm. He has also been involved in building infrastructure in both India and Africa. Matt and his wife, Glenna lost a daughter to a car accident when she was just 17 years old.

His political beliefs are that of a conservative who believes in strong fiscal policies. He has been touted by the Madison Project, an organization that raises monies for conservatives through a network of grassroots conservatives, as the “dictionary definition of the GOP establishment”. This title may not serve him well since it is the very GOP establishment that many republicans and libertarians, including Tea Party Conservatives are trying to unseat.

In fact, Bevin recently came under scrutiny, when he declared during an interview earlier this year with MSNBC that “I’m not a Tea Party guy”. He continued on to say that “I’ve never been a member of a Tea Party. I never went to any Tea Party meetings, although I am fiscally very much in like mind, and grateful for and appreciative of the support of anybody no matter what group they might be part of”. To be fair, these statements were made after the MSNBC reporter asked Mr. Bevin if he was part of the “anti-government Tea Party”. While the question was a mischaracterization of the Tea Party’s position, Matt rather than correcting this, appeared to want to distance himself from the Tea Party in his response.

mcconnell_live_s160x112

Bevin declares that he is running against Mitch McConnell, in part, due to McConnell’s stance as being against the Affordable Care Act (ACA) while at the same time being “the master of voting in ways that look good on scorecards but then working behind the scenes”.

He also indicated in September of this year, that McConnell is “the number one antagonist to Mike Lee and Ted Cruz” in their attempts to defund the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Glenn Beck supported this allegation yesterday on his popular radio program, The Glenn Beck Program, on TheBlazeTV network, when he announced that Mitch McConnell had recently held a private meeting with the Republican Senators specifically targeting both Senators Lee and Cruz as “traitors” or a word to that effect.

Bevin has also reported that he is not for a government shutdown but is in support of Mike Lee’s solution of funding all parts of the government with the exception of the ACA, believes in restoring gun ownership rights and voting rights for convicted felons who have completed their sentences, and opposes military action in Syria.

Mitch McConnell has begun his legendary smear ads early against Matt Bevin declaring him the “Bailout Bevin” and criticizing him for taking money from the state of Connecticut after his family business burned to the ground. Accepting a “bailout” would appear to be a contradiction to this conservative republican’s viewpoint and more in line with the current sitting president.

However, Bevin has explained that the difference is the “people” of Connecticut asked for the rebuilding of his business whereas a bailout by the current administration is not a proposal asked for or voted on by the people. Bevin also points out that the “bailout” was actually a matching grant for which he is personally liable.

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At times, Bevin seems to also be in lockstep with the maximum freedom, minimum government stance of libertarians. However, Republican Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky and self-proclaimed “constitutional conservative and libertarian”, currently appears to be in support of Mitch McConnell’s bid for re-election and not Matt Bevin. Bevin writes-off the “Mitch-Rand love narrative” as being a case of politics making strange bedfellows and cites Paul’s political aspirations as a factor for supporting McConnell.

Will Matt Bevin be the candidate that the republicans can win with against Mitch McConnell? It is hard to say. While Matt Bevin is a prominent businessman in Kentucky, Mitch McConnell has made a career of acquiring the financing he needs to win elections. McConnell also has a history of running smear campaigns to defeat his opponents and has already brought out the heavy artillery to attempt that again in his bid for a sixth term, even though the primaries are many months away.

Finally, with the political air today, it would seem wise for Mr. Bevin, to align himself with the Tea Party who appears to be making a strong comeback after recent developments in the Obama administration, which looks to be striping Americans of their constitutional rights on a daily basis.

Only time will tell if Mr. Bevin is who he says he is and if that will be enough to win a primary election, which currently is an uphill battle for any challenger, against this GOP establishment’s golden boy, Mitch McConnell.

————-

Susan Knowles is a Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist, former Family Law Attorney, and author of a political fiction, “Freedom’s Fight: A Call To Remember” available at Amazon. Her website is www.susanknowles.com.

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Bevin
http://tv.msnbc.com/2013/09/05/matt-bevin-im-not-a-tea-party-guy
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/power-players-abc-news/gop-senate-candidate-matt-bevin-nobody-buying-mitch-110220470.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/30/matt-bevin-felons-rights_n_4016877.html
http://www.politico.com/story/2013/07/mitch-mcconnell-matt-bevin-senate-election-94661.html#ixzz2hBbUlbJe

Photos and video:

http://www.washingtontimes.com/topics/matt-bevin
http://video.msnbc.msn.com/daily-rundown/52926189#52926189
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/aug/26/conservative-group-dings-sen-mitch-mcconnells-reco
https://www.google.com/#q=rand+paul+free+photos

10/10/13

Obama: It’s time for Americans to embrace my Dictatorship and their own slavery…or else

By: Sher Zieve
Gulag Bound

Obama & Chavez at Trinidad Summit, 2009, source unknown, possibly AP

Obama & Chavez at Trinidad Summit, 2009, source unknown, possibly AP

Acting more and more like a cheap version of Josef Stalin or even Hugo Chavez and, increasingly, drunk on his personally perceived absolute power over US citizens, Obama is now openly attacking we Americans and all of our institutions. His partial shutdown of the US government (aka “ObamaGov”) has allowed him to affect all manner of dark mischief against us and he is laughing even more voraciously at us, while he pretends to put on his ’serious face’. As one angry Park Ranger put it: “It’s a cheap way to deal with the situation. We’ve been told to make life as difficult for people as we can. It’s disgusting!”

Catholic Military priests–ever since the Catholic Church went against Dictator-in-Chief Obama over his abortion demands in ObamaCare he has held a vendetta against it–have been told by Obama syndicate members that they will actually be arrested by his Gestapo if they attempt to minister to soldiers during the partial ObamaGov shutdown.

Veterans’ Memorials have been shut down by Obama and his syndicate, while elderly Vets have been threatened with arrest if they do not comply with the dictator’s commands. Access to other public sites has been banned…including Mt Rushmore where cones were placed in the streets to disallow American citizens to even stop and take pictures. In NYC, Vets were arrested because they visited the Viet Nam Memorial. The ObamaGov does not own these, folks…We-the-People do! We PAY the federal government to maintain them. Maybe it’s time that our States begin taking them back and paid themselves to maintain their own national treasures and parks.

Residents are being forced out of their homes and, in one case, over 70 families were ordered to vacate their homes (built on federally maintained land) by armed Park Rangers. By the way, the residents PAY the government for use of the land…which is actually OUR land in the first place. No matter. If the people did not move–many of them elderly–they were, also, threatened with arrest by the Obama Gestapo members who had the guns and ammo in hand.

Then, there is the incident where heavily armed Park Rangers forced a bus full of foreign senior citizen tourists to leave Yellowstone national park…at gunpoint. Note: For those of you on the Left do you now see why the Second Amendment is so important? Probably not but, I thought I’d ask anyway.

In another of many incidents, one couple was forced to leave their vacation spot in Big Bend National Park. From The Blaze: “When the couple was ousted from their vacation spot Oct. 1, a park official told them they could relocate to the neighboring Big Bend Ranch State Park if they wanted to continue their visit. The official provided them with a map. “It’s a bigger park and it’s a more rugged park,” parks department spokesman Mike Cox said. “The map they received was small-scale. They needed one with more detail.” The couple is familiar with the national park — but the state park is a little trickier, registering more accidents and fatalities per year, Cox said.

“The couple on Oct. 2 made their way to the state park, set up camp, then biked to the Puerte Chilicote Trail to go for a hike. That’s when things took a turn for the worse.

“While they had a map of the area, it wasn’t very detailed and they weren’t familiar with the terrain, as Cox noted. They soon ran out of water and became tired, forcing them to spend the first night lost at a scenic overlook near Mexicano Falls, according to the Houston Chronicle.” Due to the ObamaGov’s draconian measures, the couple had to be rescued by the Presidio County Sheriff’s Office, the volunteer Texas Search and Rescue Team, Texas game wardens and state park police. All of this due to Dictator Obama’s orders to his minions to “make life as difficult for people as we can!”

These are but a handful of the myriad horror stories that have developed due to Obama’s belief that he calls the shots on and for everyone in the USA…all of them. There are no more 3 co-equal branches of government. Everything–per Obama–belongs to him. This is what a dictatorship looks, smell, sounds and tastes like. This is what the USA has become.

All of this is about Obama and his–as yet–unquenchable thirst for power over us all. His is a dictator and each day his commands become more despotic. The criminal beings now occupying our White house believe they now control us and–at their whim–mandate us to do anything and everything they say. They, also, believe they have proved it by ramming ObamaCare–which is not healthcare at all–down our throats. We did not revolt…then.

BraveheartPatriots

But, perhaps, something has finally begun to stir in the hearts and minds of the American people.

Recently, WWII Veterans and Republican Congress people–to their credit–removed the Obama barricades to the WWII Memorial so that Vets could visit it. Many of our nation’s truckers are planning a truckers’ strike/demonstration in Washington D.C. beginning 11 October and US citizens are now beginning to remove the barriers to our national monuments. They belong to us…NOT to the now absolutely abusive Obama federal government. Veterans are also planning their own Million Vets March on D.C. beginning 13 October beginning 9:00 a.m. at the WWII Memorial.

In 1773, the original Boston Tea Party was “held” for the Brits. This began the movement that would–in 1775–become the first American Revolution. It appears that more and more of my fellow citizens at last recognize that it is time for a second. Bravo, patriots…and keep your powder handy and dry! I pray we see more of these.

The people can not be all, and always, well informed. The part which is wrong will be discontented in proportion to the importance of the facts they misconceive. If they remain quiet under such misconceptions it is a lethargy, the forerunner of death to the public liberty. We have had 13. states independant [sic] 11. years. There has been one rebellion. That comes to one rebellion in a century and a half for each state. What country ever existed a century and a half without a rebellion?

And what country can preserve it’s liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is it’s natural manure…

Thomas Jefferson to William Stephens Smith, 13 Nov. 1787

Priests threatened with arrest if they minister to military during shutdown:
at dailycaller.com

Police Arrest Vietnam Veterans at NYC Memorial:
at theatlanticwire.com

Obama’s Abuse of Power During the Shutdown Is Pathetic (Rangers told to “make it hurt!”):
at independentsentinel.com

Park Ranger: “We’ve been told to make life as difficult for people as we can”:
at townhall.com

Lake Mead property owners forced out until shutdown ends:
at ktnv.com

Gestapo Tactics Meet Senior Citizens at Yellowstone:
at newburyportnews.com

Officials Advise as National Park Shuts-down Nearly Kills Vacationing Arkansas Couple:
at theblaze.com

Veterans Defy Shutdown & ‘Break’ Into WWII Memorial — Can You Guess Who Helped Them?:
at theblaze.com

Revolution!!!!!! Americans Revolt Over Obama Shutdown (Videos):
at wwwwakeupamericans-spree.blogspot.com

‘Truckers Ride For The Constitution’ Plans Beltway Demonstration To Protest Government Shutdown:
at huffingtonpost.com

A million vets are coming to DC to demand their monuments be opened:
at communities.washingtontimes.com