Deep Thoughts

Benghazigate Harms Us All

Two months before Obama’s reelection, an Islamist attack in Libya killed four Americans, including the U.S. ambassador. This truth is just beginning to come out:

• Security preparations were poor. Incompetent.

• Our government refused to send help during the attack. Cowardly.

• Afterwards the Obama administration manufactured misleading stories to save Obama’s reelection. This is a classic cover-up. Criminal conspiracy and impeachable offense.

These are three separate events. Yet they are being mashed together in the media. This makes them more difficult to understand and unravel.

The first two are planning and execution challenges. They can—with some effort—be analyzed and corrected. The last issue is more complex.

Obama won the 2012 election by a popular vote margin of just 3.8%. That means if only 2% of the voters switched their vote, Obama would have lost. So his Administration’s cover-up was the pragmatically correct thing to do. It likely saved Obama’s reelection.

This cover-up is also criminal and hateful to everything we stand for as a free people.

Obama can never be elected again, so who cares? We should because if he gets away with this crime, he will continue to use such tactics to push his agendas, agendas repugnant to most voters. Examples are ObamaCare, failure to constraint resident Islamist terrorists, redistribution of wealth, endless expansion of government and job-killing regulation.

As Congress moves forward with its investigation—Benghazigate, if you will—one is reminded of these satirical project steps:

Step 1: Unlimited enthusiasm 
Step 2: Total disillusionment 
Step 3: Utter chaos 
Step 4: Search for the guilty 
Step 5: Punishment for the innocent 
Step 6: Promotion of nonparticipants 

Let us hope Congress does not fall into this hole. Rather, that they prove this self-serving conspiracy of Obama and his fellow travelers.

Such is vital for the health and security of each of us.

ObamaCare’s Real Purpose

On August 5, 2010 I wrote that ObamaCare is so complicated it can never be implemented. Today that prediction is being proven by the release of ObamaCare application forms.

I have just read all 82 pages. There is no way the average person can complete these.

My conclusion: the entire Affordable Care Act is a sham. In fact it is a Trojan horse, a gift with horrible consequences. Its real purpose is to make us so exhausted and angry we will beg for National Health a la Britain. We will simply give up all control of our medical treatment to Federal bureaucrats.

Don’t believe me? Skim these forms and decide if this will ever work:

Application for Health Insurance – 21 pages

Link to Form 1

Appendix A: List of Questions in the Online Application to Support Eligibility Determinations for Enrollment through the Health Insurance Marketplace and for Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program – 61 pages

Link to Form 2

UPDATE

After reading this one friend sent an AP article Affordable Care Act Benefit Application Forms May Prove Daunting. These lines set off alarm bells:

 "An online government clearinghouse called the Data Services Hub (?) will ping Social Security for birth records, IRS for income data and Homeland Security for immigration status. 'That is a brand new thing in the world,' said Sam Karp, a vice president of the California HealthCare Foundation."

Here in California––like many other states––handling this information has been contracted out to a non-governmental organization, Maximus, based in Reston, Virginia. This company has had problems with their employees improperly accessing beneficiaries’ private data.

Since I have had my identify stolen, once had a 4-figure income tax refund stolen (it took 2 years to fix), and am getting no response from the VA on my disability claim, I think the odds of this working safely in my lifetime are Zero. To say nothing of the fraud this will expose us to.

In the Court of This Crimson King

“Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing."        Red Saunders, UCLA Bruins coach

 

One guy won, one guy lost. Voter fatigue makes us miss the point: elections have been changed forever.

A lifetime ago we read Vance Packard’s The Hidden Persuaders for extra credit. This became the basis for the advertising industry and inspired the TV opus Mad Men. It also bedrocks the success of Obama II.

Never again will we vote our personal values or what is best for the country. Now we are all fully trained to salivate like Pavlov’s storied dog at the clanging bell of personal desires. Do otherwise and we will not be counted.

So next election Republicans will also pander with gusto to demographic niches.

• Want free birth control? You go, girl.

• Amnesty for people who look like you? No problem: all Latinos are home free, regardless of papers. (No right to vote, however.)

• Student loans too high or marijuana illegal? Shazam--problem solved.

These and other marketing techniques will get the Republicans up to Ground Zero with the cradle-to-grave Dems. Of course, social conservatives may all move to Utah and secede. But that didn’t work in 1861 either, did it?

Only then can the true battle be enjoined: our precious freedoms vs. repressive government explosion under troglodyte elites. The City on the Hill vs. “What In It For Me?” led by the Yellow Jester, below.

“I run to grasp divining signs 
To satisfy the hoax. 
The yellow jester does not play 
But gentle pulls the strings 
And smiles as the puppets dance 
In the court of the crimson king.”

Full recording In the Court of The Crimson King

 

 

911 Plus 11

“Let us shut our eyes/ And talk about the weather!”

from The Pirates of Penzance, W.S. Gilbert 1879

 

On the 11^th anniversary of the Muslim Terrorist attack on New York City and the Pentagon, mobs attacked our embassies in Egypt and Libya. Our Ambassador to Libya and three other there were killed.

An initial response: "The Embassy of the United States in Cairo condemns the continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of--as we condemn efforts to offend believers of all religions."

The offense was a YouTube video demeaning the prophet Mohammed. This video is speech protected by the First Amendment.

Furthermore, the vile and subhuman behavior of Islamic terrorists calls into question if Islam is really a religion at all. While it includes religious practices that involve a Higher Power, it also has a history of gruesome violence, medieval repression of women and the goal of subverting civil law with bizarre Sharia controls. 

Since it only succeeds by grinding the human spirit into dust, Islam seems more like Stalinism with minarets.

Meanwhile, a friend wrote that she posted this on her Facebook page:

Her prerogative, of course. But the news from Libya was that the supposedly spontaneous mob that killed our officials was gathered by posts to the rioters’ Facebook pages. Ironic. A regular 911 celebration, wasn’t it?

 

“Maybe we should call the cops

And try to stop the pain

But Monopoly is so much fun

I'd hate to blow the game

“And I'm sure

It wouldn't interest anybody

Outside of a small circle of friends”
Phil Ochs, 1967

2012 Presidential Voting Guide

Once again, it is time for the Presidential Voting Guide. This year we are faced with the greatest difference between candidates in my lifetime.

Incumbent Obama believes in the government fulfilling more and more of our needs. He plans to continue such expansion. This requires ballooning Federal employment and spending more money each year, which we must borrow from China. Obama famously nationalized a failing automaker—General Motors—and saved thousands of jobs.

As a consequence, children are born with a huge debt load on their tiny shoulders. The General Motors bailout cost the bond holders over $25 Billion, so this was de facto redistribution of wealth to the union workers. Business leaders are hesitant to hire in the face of over-zealous regulation and a stalled economy. Some commentators feel that Obama’s activities are damaging America’s exceptionalism and traditional economic success.

Challenger Romney brings both governing and private sector experience, two areas in which Obama is sorely lacking. Romney claims he will eliminate costly complex programs such as ObamaCare, welfare explosion and harmful over-regulation. While Romney understands “business” better than any candidate since World War II, some fear he might “put profit over people” to allow inefficient companies to fail, resulting in occasional job loss in the short term.

Voters Guide

1. If you want the government to take care of and control everyone, vote for Obama.

2. If you want us to have the freedom to be highly successful—based on our own efforts—vote for Romney.

There are many shades of gray here, but that is the basic reality.

Voting Suggestions for Special Groups

Private sector workers. You understand that your career growth depends on a lightly-regulated, strong economy. Romney is your best choice.

Public sector workers. Your high pay, high job security and over-the-top pensions will no longer fly. If you believe the Federal government will bail you out, vote for Obama. If you think an improved economy will help more, vote for Romney.

Retirement income recipients. This includes current retirees and those who hope to retire in the future. All of you are dependent on a growing U.S. economy. 401Ks rise and fall with the stock market. Public employee retirement earnings are often directly connected to the stock market. For example, the California Public Employees' Retirement System—CalPERS—has 58 percent of its funds invested in the U.S. private sector: stocks, bonds and real estate. Any unfunded public benefits come from tax revenue, so you depend on actually having tax revenue! This is doubly true for Social Security recipients. Conclusion: everyone in this group has a huge interest in the most successful U.S. economy possible. For your independence and safety, your only choice is Romney.

The Unemployed and Underemployed. I am sorry for your troubles. Many of you are suffering due to Federal polcies that curtail business and promoted home sales to the uncreditworthy. Also, milliions of you have lost your jobs to Illegal Immigrants. Obama has made all this worse. Romney will likely improve the economy, allowing you and your family to get more and better jobs.

Active duty military. Thank you for protecting us. Please vote for whomever wants the type of America you are fighting for.

Seniors. Your wisdom keeps us afloat and you have the highest voter turnout of any group. You need no advice. Nevertheless, prepare for the coming inflation. After five years of pumping money into the economy, inflation is sure to follow. Select the candidate best equipped to stop inflation in its tracks. You know what to do.

Under 25s. Recent discoveries in brain science show you cannot make good decisions under pressure. Your brains have just not matured yet. Examples: you join the military or burden yourselves with HUGE student loans. Before you vote, read this whole Voters Guide. Then ask for help from a trusted older person, perhaps from the previous group.

Union members. Most of you are in the public sector. Your leaders have been using your hard-earned dues to game the system. Your long-term finances and children’s future will be best served by voting for Romney.

Latinos. You are a wonderful, growing U.S. Demographic. Your hard work proves the American dream. While aiming speeches at you, Obama has really done little. You and yours are best served by a growing economy. Vote Romney.

Illegal Immigrants. Legally, you cannot vote. If you do, you should vote for Obama. Welcome to America!

Africans-Americans. Obama is the first president to come from your ranks. This made you feel good at the time. Unfortunately, his inexperience left him naïve about what he could do. Some of you live in terribly dangerous areas with the worst crime rates in America. As a group your involvement with the criminal justice systems is much higher than whites. Obama has done NOTHING to fix this national disgrace. He has failed you. For your personal safety, vote for Romney.

Unwed Mothers, Welfare recipients, Food stampers. If you plan to continue as wards of the state, vote Obama. Vote Romney if you want a way out and a better life. Good luck either way.

TEA Partiers. The Taxed Enough Already [TEA] Party will go down as the most important populist movement in the 21^st Century. Help the rest of us understand. Never give up. Vote Romney.

Libertarians. Do NOT vote for Ron Paul! This is not the time for a protest vote. Remember how Ross Perot split the Republican vote in 1992 to elect Bill Clinton? But your voice is vital to maintain our freedoms and stop military adventurism. Vote Romney and keep talking.

Environmentalists. Obama has throttled both the petroleum and nuclear power industries, while supporting all manner of failed “green” energy schemes. He is a member of Al Gore’s Global Warming cult. If you are independently wealthy or an anarchist, you would vote for Obama. But you should stay home as a meteoroid could strike your polling place.

Elites: rich actors, limousine Liberals, tenured professors. In a way you are all Artists. I honor your success. Seriously. You want to make the world a better place. You believe the government is the best vehicle for this. Yes, the government is great at taxing and regulating and giving away money to pet groups. Unfortunately, it is extremely bad at nurturing success: the key measure of making the world a better place. Example: the Dept. of Energy has just released a report that Obama’s green energy jobs each cost $9.3 MILLION! If you have advanced training in Economics or Finance, please vote whomever you feel will do best. If you want free publicity, hold fundraisers for Obama. And gosh, most of you sure are good looking.

“Off the Grid” If you are truly off the grid, you do not pay taxes. But be warned: if Obama is re-elected, he will be forced to institute some type of national sales tax. This means you will now be taxed on every purchase. Vote for Romney, early and often.

Addicts. If you are buzzed or use any illegal drugs, you fall into this group. If you want help, I hope you get it. You won’t vote. You do not even know who is running. And by the way, DON’T DRIVE!

There are some single-issue voters (anti-abortion, gay marriage, anti-war, Occupiers) but your passion shields you from rational thought.

So there you have it for 2012. Vaya con Dios until 2016.

"Wagging the Dog” of Gasoline Prices

The President cannot control retail gasoline prices. However, does his behavior affect prices?  Is he The Tail That Wags The Dog of what we pay at the pump?

Let us see how gasoline price is determined, then see if the President is helping or hurting us.
 
The oil business is huge with many moving parts. Gasoline is refined from oil. Most of gasoline’s cost is based on the price of raw oil.
 
Raw oil out of the ground is a commodity. It is traded globally and priced in U. S. dollars.
 
This global trade is both day-by-day—the spot market—and activity for “future delivery—the futures market.
 
The purpose of the futures market is to help producers and consumers of commodities nail down future price uncertainties. These people do this by agreeing to buy or sell the commodity at a future date at a particular price. Since there are often insufficient buyers and sellers, the market is aided by so-called “speculators”—investors who neither take delivery nor make delivery of the commodity. Speculators’ cash makes the futures market work. Occasionally, however, speculators can push the futures market to irrational extremes.
 
Futures prices are also affected by perceived supply and demand. Although economists represent all this mathematically, reaction to perceived supply and demand is highly emotional.
 
Factors that drive these emotions:

• Geopolitical risks–war, depression
• Weather catastrophe risks
• Actions of producing countries, especially OPEC’s price fixing and supply manipulation
• Actions of consuming countries, especially the ”unofficial” U. S. energy policy

OK, so exactly what factors–emotional and otherwise–are affecting gasoline prices now?
 
Geopolitical: Iran’s behavior, risk of war and supply reduction
Producer politics: OPEC, Middle East instability
Politics and policies of the United States:

Weakening US dollar caused by Federal Reserve and our fiscal problems. (Remember, global oil prices are “in US dollars”. So when the dollar looses value, we pay more for oil and gasoline.)
Over-regulated local and seasonal gasoline blends

Lack of adequate refinery capacity in the U.S due to over-regulation. No new refineries in decades.

President Obama behavior and his strange unofficial energy policy:

• Obama’s expressed hatred of fossil fuels
• Obama’s call for tax penalties on oil companies
• Obama’s gross understatement of US oil reserves (Note below)
• Obama’s constraint of Federal drilling permits
• Obama taking credit for increased oil production on private land. (He had nothing to do with this.)
• Obama’s killing the Keystone XL pipeline from Canada
• Obama’s costly aid to failed “Green Energy” schemes
• Obama’s actual expressed desires to raise gasoline prices
• Obama’s “confused” Energy Secretary who cannot decide whether he wants higher or lower gas prices
• Obama’s campaign sloganeering that increasing the oil supply will not lower gasoline prices. (Huh?!)

Conclusion: The President’s every action is driving oil and gasoline prices higher. Obama is hurting most Americans.

Notes

For details, see

“Scarce Oil? U.S. Has 60 Times More Than Obama Claims”

Your Personal Voting Style

My dad taught me that my job as a voter was “to hold your nose and vote” for the least offensive candidate. He implied that all candidates would be offensive at some level.

Now The Electorate is much more sophisticated. This list shows the voting styles  of the 21^st Century voter. Which one are you?

Momentum Style

    “We always vote the Y ticket.”

 Sheep 

“My boss/neighbor/priest/mail carrier said to vote for Candidate X.”  (Baaa.)

 Emotional

“I love Candidate X!” (Chris Mathews’s tingly feeling up the leg. Also why so many females voted for Bill Clinton.)

Similarity

“X is like me on most issues” (Rationalization of the emotional style.)

 Pragmatic

“X is the best person for our specific problems.” (Assumes voter’s knowledge–facts not in evidence.)

Idealistic

“X is best for the country” (Assumes voter’s wisdom–also not in evidence.)

Self-Interest

“Who be given me my check?” (Easiest group to lampoon but probably the smartest, once you get passed the Ebonics.)

Electability

“Given the other party’s candidate, X is the one most likely to win for us.”  (This is what happens when you watch too many polls on CNN. It is also the most “realistic” approach to the election process.)

Game Theory

“If we vote for Ron Paul, it would split the Republican vote and Obama will get elected again.” (Game over.)

Fatalistic Game Theory

“If we do not vote for Ron Paul, he will run anyway. That would split the Republican vote and Obama will get elected again.” (Game over.)

Utopian

“Then we will enter the Dark Ages. Welfare recipients will run loose in the land. Eventually–100 years or so–a new age will dawn. Then we will all do the right thing, all of the time. Government as we know it will become unnecessary and cease to exist.”  (Of course this is Heaven, meaning we are all dead.)

A Modest Proposal to Save America

Americans badly need jobs. Indeed, the current Wall Street Sit-In & Cannabis Faire shows the frustration among our educated yet unemployed citizens.

The government has spent heavily on job creation and failed miserably. The few jobs created have been quite expensive—between $200,000 and $1 million each.

Instead, how about creating 7 million new jobs that cost only $74,000 apiece? This will happen if we pay working illegal immigrants to leave.

And they will leave if we pay them enough. I propose paying each working Illegal $100,000 to leave and never come back. They would be required to take their spouses and children with them.

How many would leave? Say 90 percent took the money and left. That would leave 10 percent, who would be either highly successful or criminals. For the successful, let them buy a path to citizenship, say at $200,000 each. For the criminals, locate and deport them.

These wonderful benefits would occur:

> 7 million jobs would open overnight

> Our economy would grow faster. Americans who took over the jobs would not be sending money to Mexico. More earnings would be recycled into our economy.

> Local government service costs would be reduced. California alone is spending over $10 billion a year on Illegal immigrants.

> This huge cash influx into Mexico will raise their living standards and quash the drug cartels.

> Heroin availability in the US would dry up.

Here is how the numbers shake out. All number in billions

$630 cost to pay 90% to leave

    less 70  - citizenship purchases by successful Illegals

    less   7  - reduced costs of Illegals’ criminality

    less 10  - 50% reduction in Heroin use

    less 25  - reduced state & local support costs for Illegals

$518 net cost of program or $74,000 per newly employed US citizen.

Of course, the border must be sealed. The US military will need to be repurposed from foreign adventurism to guarding our border. Also, we would need a meaningful guest worker program: short term, no families, etc.

Result: America would be back on track for the best possible 21^st Century!

Effect on unemployment rate. An estimated 7 million workers in the US are here illegally. Our current 9.1% unemployment rate is based on 14 million out of work. Replacing the illegals with US citizens would lower the unemployment rate to 4.55%.

Ideal GOP candidate

Are the Republicans diverse or what?  We got a black guy, a Texan, two Mormons, one and a half women, and a slightly addled older fellow.

How do we turn these candidates into a perfect President. Let us pick and chose the best of each.

Attention-grabbing piercing voice and friskiness: Sarah Palin

Hair: Donald Trump.  (Larry King proves it is not a rug.)

Strong jaw for handling illegal immigrants: Rick Perry

Simplifier of our horrible tax system: Herman Cain

Unstoppable force against public employees: Chris Christie

Professor of how the US actually works: Newt Gingrich

Jaundiced eye on the Federal Reserve: Ron Paul

Ability to stay on message: Michelle Bachmann

Face man for all public appearances: Jon Huntsman

(This guy looks like a movie star. And he speaks Chinese.)

Actual ability to do the hardest managerial job in the world:

Mitt Romney

Impeach Incompetence

Does our President have the skill set necessary to lead us? Does the President have the understanding and wisdom–gained through years of experience and stored knowledge–to “make the right calls”? Is he competent?

We have had no Federal budget since he took office. His government has caused problems in housing, over-regulated the environment and wasted our time with a healthcare bill that will be repealed. We are saddled with a tax system as mystifying as The Da Vinci Code.

§ Unemployment is over 9 percent.

§ Meanwhile, many newly hired bureaucrats smother businesses and citizens with nonsensical regulations.

§ His healthcare bill is an incomprehensible mess. Many analysts feel it can never be implemented due to its complexity. Businesses of all size are delaying hiring until this is resolved.

§ His energy policy is “don’t produce any”.

§ Over 1/6th of our families are on food stamps.

§ The President wants the most successful of us to pay even more taxes. Meanwhile the bottom half of all earners pay no income taxes at all!

The President has no solutions for any of this. He is, by definition, incompetent to do his job. Under a Parliamentary system–as in Britain–the government would have collapsed and Obama would be gone.

But not here. We must wait until January 2013 until corrections can be even started.

This is 18 months, folks–far too long for us to suffer under today’s global economy.

The only solution is to stipulate that incompetence is also a High Crime and Misdemeanor. And impeach the president.

To those of you who say this would be unfair, what about the unemployed and the foreclosed? How about the elderly who are about to get their “entitlements” cut? [Entitlements being a new name for insurance programs into which Americans have paid their whole lives.] Worst of all, what of the unborn generations who are already saddled with insurmountable debt?

We cannot afford our current president. Obama is a self-exposed Know Nothing. Lacking competence, all he can do is waste our time with endless speeches on the wrong issues that throttle American commerce and growth.

To impeach the House needs only “a simple majority of those present and voting”.

Let’s get to it.