Showing posts with label Socialism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Socialism. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Saturday, May 12, 2012
Saturday, February 11, 2012
Obama's Work is Done
"Socialism is a philosophy of failure,
the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy,
its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery.."
-- Winston Churchill
These are possibly the 5 best sentences you'll ever read: Unfortunately, most voters don't know this.
1. You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity, by legislating the wealth out of prosperity.
2. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving.
3. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else.
4. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it.
5. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them; and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work, because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that is the beginning of the end of any nation.
Can you think of any reason for not sharing this?
Neither could I.
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Dee Perez-Scott: Kelly O'Connell Guest Writer
Did you happen to catch Obama’s recent budget speech where he advised the little man to step aside to allow the “experts”—that is, the professional politicians—to address the nation’s most serious problems? If you didn’t swoon after that miracle of delusion, you may want to go get tested for terminal cognitive dissonance. Here is what Barack said when asked why the vast majority of Americans did not support a higher debt ceiling:
Let me distinguish between professional politicians and the public at large. You know, the public is not paying close attention…
Shockingly, despite all the warning signs of misadventure—from staggering joblessness, cratered budgets, perpetual trillion-dollar deficits, shrinking military, and government program downsizes, Obama still believes he’s captaining America’s ship to unsurpassed achievement. Instead, Barack has America sailing full-speed into an economic tsunami, as unconcerned as a blind man stumbling across a minefield, drunk and barefoot.
This essay plumbs the remarkable obduracy of Liberals who condescendingly mistake their elitist attitude for competence to lead.
I. What is Liberalism?
Question: Is it not a fundamental assumption of leftism that modern liberalism is transparently true by definition; whereas Conservative ideas are embarrassingly stupid and utterly false? Further, don’t liberals naturally assume that the elite class—aka Ivy League grads and leftist politicical Brahmans—are simply smarter and more efficient by light years than the average person? Were this self-satisfied assumption correct would we be in the desperate straights we find ourselves today? Currently, mendacious politicians savagely battle to waste borrowed money like bubonic rats tearing each other limb-from-limb over government cheese.
Liberalism, as the term is used today, is shorthand for socialism. This must be differentiated from the worldview of the Founders, who used the same word for their ideas. But the colonist’s theories must now be referred to as “Classical Liberalism,” to contrast. So when speaking between the two ideologies, leftism of today should be called “Modern Liberalism”; and that of the American Revolutionaries as “Classical Liberalism.”
Classical Liberalism is by far the most influential and successful political theory in world history. It consists of these elements, according to American Conservatism: An Encyclopedia:
“Classical liberalism” designates the ideology advocating private property, an unhampered market economy, the rule of law, constitutional guarantees of freedom of religion and press, and international peace based on free trade. Until 1900, this ideology was simply known as liberalism. The qualifying “classical” is now necessary because liberalism has become associated with socialism—interference with private property and the market on behalf of egalitarian goals.
But at the core of our political struggles we are still battling over the vision of left versus right regarding theories of the nature of mankind.
II. The Elite Vision: Are Politicians Really Masters of the Universe?
One of the fascinating developments in political history is the advent of socialist and Marxist ideology which made politicians default geniuses of the world. One does not have to look far to find how Marxist leaders inevitably mistook ruthless rule for competence. Consider Mao’s agrarian debacle the Great Leap Forward, murdering 40 million Chinese by sheer stupidity and ignorance. Each Marxist master has similar dumb, uneducated and murderous mistakes which prove dispositively that Marxism and socialism are horribly false and misbegotten belief systems. Consider Lenin’s claim, “Any cook should be able to run the country” when pondering how leftism combines the very worst of illiterate, simplistic thinking combined with arrogant overconfidence.
And yet, America is currently trapped in the miasma of Obama’s reign of unlettered incompetence. We stand at the edge of the precipice of economic Armageddon while the Con Artist in Chief beams his happy, dysfunctional smile across a land laid waste. Every single major decision by Obama has either been a precipitous failure or a hypocritical, hornswoggling continuation of his officially damned predecessor’s policies.
So what drives such relentless failure, done with such remarkable hubris?
A. Conflict of Visions: Liberalism as a Condescending, Simplistic Ideology
Thomas Sowell has written extensively upon the conceits and failures of modern liberalism, and leftist political hacks like Barack Obama. He calls progressive ideology “Vision” politics, and describes how the enthusiasts of this theory lord over others their high-minded, but impotent ideals. He describes the tragic results of the Liberal tendency to see themselves as a special elite force, who are the only persons fit to tackle humanity’s challenges and crises—just as Barack so condescendingly claimed about the budget debate.
In A Conflict of Visions: Ideological Origins of Political Struggles, Sowell maps out the essential difference between progressive and conservative ideas. Beliefs and policies of the left and the right hinge upon their respective views of human nature. In general, Leftists believe individuals are no more than the sum of their influences, such as family, neighborhood or society. He calls this the “Unconstrained Vision,” and such progressives are the “self anointed” people—being those with a liberal, or socialist political view. This group relieves individuals of their responsibility when they fall short, because they believe when one person fails we all fail, and the society is responsible for raising them up again.
But the Conservative vision is one of individual responsibility, where people make it or fail upon their own initiative, willpower, and character. He calls this the “Constrained Vision,” which is opposed to utopian systems, and socialist schemes meant to perfect all people. The constrained vision relies on a modified belief in the goodness of human nature, allowing the free market, rule of law, and constitutional government to help remind people the differences between good and bad behavior.
Sowell writes,
The constrained (Conservative) vision puts little faith in deliberately designed social processes, since it has little faith that decision-makers could effectively cope with the enormous complexities of designing a blueprint for an economic system, a legal system, or a system of morality or politics. The constrained vision relies, instead, on historically derived traditions.
B. Vision of the Anointed: Liberalism as a Holy Caste of Enlightened Saviors
Sowell then maps out a further point in Vision of the Anointed. Self-Congratulation as a Basis for Social Policy. Modern liberals are elitist who have a very strong, almost religious vision about themselves and their purpose on earth. Liberals believe they are a sacred and holy order, a group “anointed” to help the poor, weak, ignorant—the social, legal, and moral misfits. He writes of those verbally talented, but intellectually bankrupt liberals, like Barack:
This vision so permeates the media and academia, and has made such major inroads into the religious community, that many grow into adulthood unaware that there is any other way of looking at things. Many of these “thinking people” could more accurately be characterized as articulate people, as people whose verbal nimbleness can elude both evidence and logic. This can be a fatal talent, when it supplies the crucial insulation from reality behind many historic catastrophes.
These anointed, like Obama, are convinced they exist in an ethereal state, above all mankind whom they must help with their great genius. Writes Sowell:
The anointed make much of their “compassion” for the less fortunate, their “concern” for the environment, and being “anti-war,” etc. One reason for the preservation and insulation of a vision is that it becomes inextricably intertwined with the egos of those who believe it. Despite Hamlet’s warning against self-flattery, the vision of the anointed is not simply a vision of the world but is also a vision of themselves and their moral role in that world. It is not a vision of the tragedy of the human condition: Problems exist because others are not as wise or as virtuous as the anointed.
III. Apocalypse Now?
We stand at the precipice of utter world currency instability and collapse. Some even talk about a return to the Gold Standard because of the failure of fiat “paper” money. Currently, Europe teeters on the edge of the abyss as Italy and Spain join Ireland and Greece on the way to insolvency. Meanwhile, Obama is pouring trillions of dollars down the drain on pie-in-the-sky “stimulus” projects; and “quantitative easing,” while the dollar plummets and hyperinflation crouches in the shadows, waiting to destroy.
Directing the collapsing global fiscal order, Barack sits like Major King Kong in Dr Strangelove, riding the “recovery” down to doomsday like a bull-rider clinging to a plummeting atom bomb. But does it have to end this way—with the blind leading the blind into an economic abyss?
Conclusion
Thomas Sowell also wrote,
Whether Barack Obama is simply incompetent as president or has some hidden agenda to undermine this country, at home and abroad, he has nearly everything he needs to ruin America, including a fool for a vice president.
Barack’s arrogant claim that “only the politicians can solve our crisis” was simply a reconfirmation of what we already knew: He is a leftist blinded by ideology into thinking his anointing will save us all. But the fact Barack is utterly unaware of his own epic failure, seeing spectacular success where others only detect decay, carnage, bones and fresh graves of the economy means he either must be stripped of power or permanently removed from office before America enters permanent decline.
Let me distinguish between professional politicians and the public at large. You know, the public is not paying close attention…
Shockingly, despite all the warning signs of misadventure—from staggering joblessness, cratered budgets, perpetual trillion-dollar deficits, shrinking military, and government program downsizes, Obama still believes he’s captaining America’s ship to unsurpassed achievement. Instead, Barack has America sailing full-speed into an economic tsunami, as unconcerned as a blind man stumbling across a minefield, drunk and barefoot.
This essay plumbs the remarkable obduracy of Liberals who condescendingly mistake their elitist attitude for competence to lead.
I. What is Liberalism?
Question: Is it not a fundamental assumption of leftism that modern liberalism is transparently true by definition; whereas Conservative ideas are embarrassingly stupid and utterly false? Further, don’t liberals naturally assume that the elite class—aka Ivy League grads and leftist politicical Brahmans—are simply smarter and more efficient by light years than the average person? Were this self-satisfied assumption correct would we be in the desperate straights we find ourselves today? Currently, mendacious politicians savagely battle to waste borrowed money like bubonic rats tearing each other limb-from-limb over government cheese.
Liberalism, as the term is used today, is shorthand for socialism. This must be differentiated from the worldview of the Founders, who used the same word for their ideas. But the colonist’s theories must now be referred to as “Classical Liberalism,” to contrast. So when speaking between the two ideologies, leftism of today should be called “Modern Liberalism”; and that of the American Revolutionaries as “Classical Liberalism.”
Classical Liberalism is by far the most influential and successful political theory in world history. It consists of these elements, according to American Conservatism: An Encyclopedia:
“Classical liberalism” designates the ideology advocating private property, an unhampered market economy, the rule of law, constitutional guarantees of freedom of religion and press, and international peace based on free trade. Until 1900, this ideology was simply known as liberalism. The qualifying “classical” is now necessary because liberalism has become associated with socialism—interference with private property and the market on behalf of egalitarian goals.
But at the core of our political struggles we are still battling over the vision of left versus right regarding theories of the nature of mankind.
II. The Elite Vision: Are Politicians Really Masters of the Universe?
One of the fascinating developments in political history is the advent of socialist and Marxist ideology which made politicians default geniuses of the world. One does not have to look far to find how Marxist leaders inevitably mistook ruthless rule for competence. Consider Mao’s agrarian debacle the Great Leap Forward, murdering 40 million Chinese by sheer stupidity and ignorance. Each Marxist master has similar dumb, uneducated and murderous mistakes which prove dispositively that Marxism and socialism are horribly false and misbegotten belief systems. Consider Lenin’s claim, “Any cook should be able to run the country” when pondering how leftism combines the very worst of illiterate, simplistic thinking combined with arrogant overconfidence.
And yet, America is currently trapped in the miasma of Obama’s reign of unlettered incompetence. We stand at the edge of the precipice of economic Armageddon while the Con Artist in Chief beams his happy, dysfunctional smile across a land laid waste. Every single major decision by Obama has either been a precipitous failure or a hypocritical, hornswoggling continuation of his officially damned predecessor’s policies.
So what drives such relentless failure, done with such remarkable hubris?
A. Conflict of Visions: Liberalism as a Condescending, Simplistic Ideology
Thomas Sowell has written extensively upon the conceits and failures of modern liberalism, and leftist political hacks like Barack Obama. He calls progressive ideology “Vision” politics, and describes how the enthusiasts of this theory lord over others their high-minded, but impotent ideals. He describes the tragic results of the Liberal tendency to see themselves as a special elite force, who are the only persons fit to tackle humanity’s challenges and crises—just as Barack so condescendingly claimed about the budget debate.
In A Conflict of Visions: Ideological Origins of Political Struggles, Sowell maps out the essential difference between progressive and conservative ideas. Beliefs and policies of the left and the right hinge upon their respective views of human nature. In general, Leftists believe individuals are no more than the sum of their influences, such as family, neighborhood or society. He calls this the “Unconstrained Vision,” and such progressives are the “self anointed” people—being those with a liberal, or socialist political view. This group relieves individuals of their responsibility when they fall short, because they believe when one person fails we all fail, and the society is responsible for raising them up again.
But the Conservative vision is one of individual responsibility, where people make it or fail upon their own initiative, willpower, and character. He calls this the “Constrained Vision,” which is opposed to utopian systems, and socialist schemes meant to perfect all people. The constrained vision relies on a modified belief in the goodness of human nature, allowing the free market, rule of law, and constitutional government to help remind people the differences between good and bad behavior.
Sowell writes,
The constrained (Conservative) vision puts little faith in deliberately designed social processes, since it has little faith that decision-makers could effectively cope with the enormous complexities of designing a blueprint for an economic system, a legal system, or a system of morality or politics. The constrained vision relies, instead, on historically derived traditions.
B. Vision of the Anointed: Liberalism as a Holy Caste of Enlightened Saviors
Sowell then maps out a further point in Vision of the Anointed. Self-Congratulation as a Basis for Social Policy. Modern liberals are elitist who have a very strong, almost religious vision about themselves and their purpose on earth. Liberals believe they are a sacred and holy order, a group “anointed” to help the poor, weak, ignorant—the social, legal, and moral misfits. He writes of those verbally talented, but intellectually bankrupt liberals, like Barack:
This vision so permeates the media and academia, and has made such major inroads into the religious community, that many grow into adulthood unaware that there is any other way of looking at things. Many of these “thinking people” could more accurately be characterized as articulate people, as people whose verbal nimbleness can elude both evidence and logic. This can be a fatal talent, when it supplies the crucial insulation from reality behind many historic catastrophes.
These anointed, like Obama, are convinced they exist in an ethereal state, above all mankind whom they must help with their great genius. Writes Sowell:
The anointed make much of their “compassion” for the less fortunate, their “concern” for the environment, and being “anti-war,” etc. One reason for the preservation and insulation of a vision is that it becomes inextricably intertwined with the egos of those who believe it. Despite Hamlet’s warning against self-flattery, the vision of the anointed is not simply a vision of the world but is also a vision of themselves and their moral role in that world. It is not a vision of the tragedy of the human condition: Problems exist because others are not as wise or as virtuous as the anointed.
III. Apocalypse Now?
We stand at the precipice of utter world currency instability and collapse. Some even talk about a return to the Gold Standard because of the failure of fiat “paper” money. Currently, Europe teeters on the edge of the abyss as Italy and Spain join Ireland and Greece on the way to insolvency. Meanwhile, Obama is pouring trillions of dollars down the drain on pie-in-the-sky “stimulus” projects; and “quantitative easing,” while the dollar plummets and hyperinflation crouches in the shadows, waiting to destroy.
Directing the collapsing global fiscal order, Barack sits like Major King Kong in Dr Strangelove, riding the “recovery” down to doomsday like a bull-rider clinging to a plummeting atom bomb. But does it have to end this way—with the blind leading the blind into an economic abyss?
Conclusion
Thomas Sowell also wrote,
Whether Barack Obama is simply incompetent as president or has some hidden agenda to undermine this country, at home and abroad, he has nearly everything he needs to ruin America, including a fool for a vice president.
Barack’s arrogant claim that “only the politicians can solve our crisis” was simply a reconfirmation of what we already knew: He is a leftist blinded by ideology into thinking his anointing will save us all. But the fact Barack is utterly unaware of his own epic failure, seeing spectacular success where others only detect decay, carnage, bones and fresh graves of the economy means he either must be stripped of power or permanently removed from office before America enters permanent decline.
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Dee Perez-Scott: We are fed up with you!
'Am I the only guy in this country who's fed up with what's happening? Where the hell is our outrage with this so called president? We should be screaming bloody murder! We've got a gang of tax cheating clueless leftists trying to steer our ship of state right over a cliff, we've got corporate gangsters stealing us blind, and we can't even run a ridiculous cash-for-clunkers program without losing $26 billion of the taxpayers' money, much less build a hybrid car. But instead of getting mad, everyone sits around and nods their heads when the politicians say, 'trust me, the economy is getting better..' Better? You've got to be kidding. This is America , not the damned 'Titanic'. I'll give you a sound bite: 'Throw all the Democrats out, along with Obama!'
You might think I'm getting senile, that I've gone off my rocker, and maybe I have. But someone has to speak up. I hardly recognize this country anymore..
The most famous business leaders are not the innovators but the guys in handcuffs.. While we're fiddling in Afghanistan , Iran is completing their nuclear bombs and missiles and nobody seems to know what to do. And the liberal press is waving 'pom-poms' instead of asking hard questions. That's not the promise of the ' America ' my parents and yours traveled across the ocean for. I've had enough. How about you?
I'll go a step further. You can't call yourself a patriot if you're not outraged. This is a fight I'm ready and willing to have. The Biggest 'C' is Crisis! (Iacocca elaborates on nine C's of leadership, with crisis being the first.)
Leaders are made, not born. Leadership is forged in times of crisis. It's easy to sit there with thumb up your butt and talk theory. Or send someone else's kids off to war when you've never seen a battlefield yourself. It's another thing to lead when your world comes tumbling down.
On September 11, 2001, we needed a strong leader more than any other time in our history. We needed a steady hand to guide us out of the ashes. A hell of a mess, so here's where we stand.
We're immersed in a bloody war now with no plan for winning and no plan for leaving.. But our soldiers are dying daily.
We're running the biggest deficit in the history of the world, and it's getting worse every day!
We've lost the manufacturing edge to Asia , while our once-great companies are getting slaughtered by health care costs.
Gas prices are going to skyrock again, and nobody in power has a lucid plan to open drilling to solve the problem. This country has the largest oil reserves in the WORLD, and we cannot drill for it because the politicians have been bought by the flea-hugging environmentalists.
Our schools are in a complete disaster because of the teachers' union.
Our borders are like sieves and they want to give all illegal's amnesty and free healthcare.
The middle class is being squeezed to death every day.
These are times that cry out for leadership.
But when you look around, you've got to ask: 'Where have all the leaders gone?' Where are the curious, creative communicators? Where are the people of character, courage, conviction, omnipotence, and common sense? I may be a sucker for alliteration, but I think you get the point..
Name me a leader who has a better idea for homeland security than making us take off our shoes in airports and throw away our shampoo?
We've spent billions of dollars building a huge new bureaucracy, and all we know how to do is react to things that have already happened.
Everyone's hunkering down, fingers crossed, hoping the government will make it better for them. Now, that's just crazy.. Deal with life.
Name me an industry leader who is thinking creatively about how we can restore our competitive edge in manufacturing. Who would have believed that there could ever be a time when 'The Big Three' referred to Japanese car companies? How did this happen, and more important, look what Obama did about it!
Name me a government leader who can articulate a plan for paying down the debt, or solving the energy crisis, or managing the health care problem. The silence is deafening. But these are the crises that are eating away at our country and milking the middle class dry.
I have news for the Chicago gangsters in Congress. We didn't elect you to turn this country into a losing European Socialist state. What is everybody so afraid of? That some bonehead on NBC or CNN news will call them a name? Give me a break. Why don't you guys show some spine for a change?
Had Enough? Hey, I'm not trying to be the voice of gloom and doom here. I'm trying to light a fire. I'm speaking out because I have hope - I believe in America . In my lifetime, I've had the privilege of living through some of America 's greatest moments. I've also experienced some of our worst crises: The 'Great Depression,' 'World War II,' the 'Korean War,' the 'Kennedy Assassination,' the 'Vietnam War,' the 1970's oil crisis, and the struggles of recent years since 9/11.
Lee Iacocca
You might think I'm getting senile, that I've gone off my rocker, and maybe I have. But someone has to speak up. I hardly recognize this country anymore..
The most famous business leaders are not the innovators but the guys in handcuffs.. While we're fiddling in Afghanistan , Iran is completing their nuclear bombs and missiles and nobody seems to know what to do. And the liberal press is waving 'pom-poms' instead of asking hard questions. That's not the promise of the ' America ' my parents and yours traveled across the ocean for. I've had enough. How about you?
I'll go a step further. You can't call yourself a patriot if you're not outraged. This is a fight I'm ready and willing to have. The Biggest 'C' is Crisis! (Iacocca elaborates on nine C's of leadership, with crisis being the first.)
Leaders are made, not born. Leadership is forged in times of crisis. It's easy to sit there with thumb up your butt and talk theory. Or send someone else's kids off to war when you've never seen a battlefield yourself. It's another thing to lead when your world comes tumbling down.
On September 11, 2001, we needed a strong leader more than any other time in our history. We needed a steady hand to guide us out of the ashes. A hell of a mess, so here's where we stand.
We're immersed in a bloody war now with no plan for winning and no plan for leaving.. But our soldiers are dying daily.
We're running the biggest deficit in the history of the world, and it's getting worse every day!
We've lost the manufacturing edge to Asia , while our once-great companies are getting slaughtered by health care costs.
Gas prices are going to skyrock again, and nobody in power has a lucid plan to open drilling to solve the problem. This country has the largest oil reserves in the WORLD, and we cannot drill for it because the politicians have been bought by the flea-hugging environmentalists.
Our schools are in a complete disaster because of the teachers' union.
Our borders are like sieves and they want to give all illegal's amnesty and free healthcare.
The middle class is being squeezed to death every day.
These are times that cry out for leadership.
But when you look around, you've got to ask: 'Where have all the leaders gone?' Where are the curious, creative communicators? Where are the people of character, courage, conviction, omnipotence, and common sense? I may be a sucker for alliteration, but I think you get the point..
Name me a leader who has a better idea for homeland security than making us take off our shoes in airports and throw away our shampoo?
We've spent billions of dollars building a huge new bureaucracy, and all we know how to do is react to things that have already happened.
Everyone's hunkering down, fingers crossed, hoping the government will make it better for them. Now, that's just crazy.. Deal with life.
Name me an industry leader who is thinking creatively about how we can restore our competitive edge in manufacturing. Who would have believed that there could ever be a time when 'The Big Three' referred to Japanese car companies? How did this happen, and more important, look what Obama did about it!
Name me a government leader who can articulate a plan for paying down the debt, or solving the energy crisis, or managing the health care problem. The silence is deafening. But these are the crises that are eating away at our country and milking the middle class dry.
I have news for the Chicago gangsters in Congress. We didn't elect you to turn this country into a losing European Socialist state. What is everybody so afraid of? That some bonehead on NBC or CNN news will call them a name? Give me a break. Why don't you guys show some spine for a change?
Had Enough? Hey, I'm not trying to be the voice of gloom and doom here. I'm trying to light a fire. I'm speaking out because I have hope - I believe in America . In my lifetime, I've had the privilege of living through some of America 's greatest moments. I've also experienced some of our worst crises: The 'Great Depression,' 'World War II,' the 'Korean War,' the 'Kennedy Assassination,' the 'Vietnam War,' the 1970's oil crisis, and the struggles of recent years since 9/11.
Lee Iacocca
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Dee Perez-Scott: Obama's Socialism = Confiscatory Taxes
Socialism is being pushed as "The Change". Look at the realities where socialism already exists.
Current European tax rates:
United Kingdom
Income Tax: 50%
VAT: 17.5% TOTAL: 67.5%
France
Income Tax: 40%
VAT: 19.6% TOTAL: 59.6%
Greece
Income Tax: 40%
VAT: 25% TOTAL: 65%
Spain
Income Tax: 45%
VAT: 16% TOTAL: 61%
Portugal
Income Tax: 42%
VAT: 20% TOTAL: 62%
Sweden
Income Tax: 55%
VAT: 25% TOTAL: 80%
Norway
Income Tax: 54.3%
VAT: 25% TOTAL: 79.3%
Netherlands
Income Tax: 52%
VAT: 19% TOTAL: 71%
Denmark
Income Tax: 58%
VAT: 25% TOTAL: 83%
Finland
Income Tax: 53%
VAT: 22% TOTAL: 75%
If you've started to wonder what the real costs of socialism are going to be, once the full program in these United States hits your wallet, take a look at the table. As you digest these mind-boggling figures, keep in mind that in spite of these astronomical tax rates, these countries are still not financing their social welfare programs exclusively from tax revenues! They are deeply mired in public debt of gargantuan proportions. Greece has reached the point where its debt is so huge it is in imminent danger of defaulting. That is the reason the European economic community has intervened to bail them out. If your following the financial news, you know Spain and Portugal are right behind Greece .
The United States is now heading right down the same path. The VAT tax in the table is the national sales tax that Europeans pay. Stay tuned because that is exactly what you can expect to see the administration proposing after the fall elections. The initial percentage in the United States isn't going to be anywhere near the outrageous numbers you now see in Europe . Guess what, the current outrageous numbers in Europe didn't start out as outrageous either. They started out as miniscule right around the 1% or 2% where they will start out in the United States . Magically however, they ran up over the years to where they are now. Expect the same thing here.
It is the notion that with hard work and perseverance, anybody can get ahead economically here. Do you think that can ever happen with tax rates between 60% and 80%? Think again. With the government taking that percentage of your money, your life will be exactly like life in Europe . You will never be able to buy a home. You will never buy a car. You will never send your children to college. Lets not shuffle the battle cry of the socialists under the rug either. Its always the same cry. Equalize income. Spread the wealth to the poor (whoever they are). Level the economic playing field. Accomplish that and everything will be rosy.
Its time to take a really hard look at reality. Greece is a perfect example. Despite the socialism system that has ruled this country for decades, with a 65% tax rate, they are drowning in public debt, would have defaulted without hundreds of billions in bailout money, and still. .. 20% of their population lives in poverty. What has all that socialism money bought, besides ultimate power for the politicians running the show? Do you think these people are "free"? They're not. They are slaves to their economic "system."
Current European tax rates:
United Kingdom
Income Tax: 50%
VAT: 17.5% TOTAL: 67.5%
France
Income Tax: 40%
VAT: 19.6% TOTAL: 59.6%
Greece
Income Tax: 40%
VAT: 25% TOTAL: 65%
Spain
Income Tax: 45%
VAT: 16% TOTAL: 61%
Portugal
Income Tax: 42%
VAT: 20% TOTAL: 62%
Sweden
Income Tax: 55%
VAT: 25% TOTAL: 80%
Norway
Income Tax: 54.3%
VAT: 25% TOTAL: 79.3%
Netherlands
Income Tax: 52%
VAT: 19% TOTAL: 71%
Denmark
Income Tax: 58%
VAT: 25% TOTAL: 83%
Finland
Income Tax: 53%
VAT: 22% TOTAL: 75%
If you've started to wonder what the real costs of socialism are going to be, once the full program in these United States hits your wallet, take a look at the table. As you digest these mind-boggling figures, keep in mind that in spite of these astronomical tax rates, these countries are still not financing their social welfare programs exclusively from tax revenues! They are deeply mired in public debt of gargantuan proportions. Greece has reached the point where its debt is so huge it is in imminent danger of defaulting. That is the reason the European economic community has intervened to bail them out. If your following the financial news, you know Spain and Portugal are right behind Greece .
The United States is now heading right down the same path. The VAT tax in the table is the national sales tax that Europeans pay. Stay tuned because that is exactly what you can expect to see the administration proposing after the fall elections. The initial percentage in the United States isn't going to be anywhere near the outrageous numbers you now see in Europe . Guess what, the current outrageous numbers in Europe didn't start out as outrageous either. They started out as miniscule right around the 1% or 2% where they will start out in the United States . Magically however, they ran up over the years to where they are now. Expect the same thing here.
It is the notion that with hard work and perseverance, anybody can get ahead economically here. Do you think that can ever happen with tax rates between 60% and 80%? Think again. With the government taking that percentage of your money, your life will be exactly like life in Europe . You will never be able to buy a home. You will never buy a car. You will never send your children to college. Lets not shuffle the battle cry of the socialists under the rug either. Its always the same cry. Equalize income. Spread the wealth to the poor (whoever they are). Level the economic playing field. Accomplish that and everything will be rosy.
Its time to take a really hard look at reality. Greece is a perfect example. Despite the socialism system that has ruled this country for decades, with a 65% tax rate, they are drowning in public debt, would have defaulted without hundreds of billions in bailout money, and still. .. 20% of their population lives in poverty. What has all that socialism money bought, besides ultimate power for the politicians running the show? Do you think these people are "free"? They're not. They are slaves to their economic "system."
Friday, October 8, 2010
BACKLASH HAS BEGUN IN CHICAGO
IN CHICAGO
~~~ the Backlash has started!
Chicago on Thursday, just as B. Obama was arriving and got into a terrible traffic jam.
This wasn't aired on the nightly news on any of the networks.
Right in Obama's back yard!!
Not seen on ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, MSNBC
Did you see it?
Wonder why not...
Those who have visited Chicago will recognize the downtown area.
~~~ the Backlash has started!
Chicago on Thursday, just as B. Obama was arriving and got into a terrible traffic jam.
This wasn't aired on the nightly news on any of the networks.
Right in Obama's back yard!!
Not seen on ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, MSNBC
Did you see it?
Wonder why not...
Those who have visited Chicago will recognize the downtown area.
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Reason #23 Why We Should Impeach or NOT Re-elect Obama
Obama is following the plan of Cloward & Piven, two professors at Columbia University. They outlined a plan to socialize America by overwhelming the system with government spending and entitlement demands. Add up the clues below.
Taken individually they're alarming. Taken as a whole, it is a brilliant, Machiavellian game plan to turn the United States into a socialist/Marxist state with a permanent majority that desperately needs government for survival ... And can be counted on to always vote for bigger government. Why not? They have no responsibility to pay for it.
(1) Universal health care. The health care bill had very little to do with health care. It had everything to do with unionizing millions of hospital and health care workers, as well as adding 15,000 to 20,000 new IRS agents (who will join government employee unions). Obama doesn't care that giving free health care to 30 million Americans will add trillions to the national debt. What he does care about is that it cements the dependence of those 30 million voters to Democrats and big government. Who but a socialist revolutionary would pass this reckless spending bill in the middle of a depression?
(2) Cap and trade. Like health care legislation having nothing to do with health care, cap and trade has nothing to do with global warming. It has everything to do with redistribution of income, government control of the economy and a criminal payoff to Obama's biggest contributors. Those powerful and wealthy unions and contributors (like GE, which owns NBC, MSNBC and CNBC) can then be counted on to support everything Obama wants. They will kick-back hundreds of millions of dollars in contributions to Obama and the Democratic Party to keep them in power. The bonus is that all the new taxes on Americans with bigger cars, bigger homes and businesses helps Obama "spread the wealth around."
(3) Make Puerto Rico a state. Why? Who's asking for a 51st state? Who's asking for millions of new welfare recipients and government entitlement addicts in the middle of a depression? Certainly not American taxpayers. But this has been Obama's plan all along. His goal is to add two new Democrat senators, five Democrat congressman and a million loyal Democratic voters who are dependent on big government.
(4) Legalize 12 million illegal immigrants. Just giving these 12 million potential new citizens free health care alone could overwhelm the system and bankrupt America. But it adds 12 million reliable new Democrat voters who can be counted on to support big government. Add another few trillion dollars in welfare, aid to dependent children, food stamps, free medical, education, tax credits for the poor, and eventually Social Security.
(5) Stimulus and bailouts. Where did all that money go? It went to Democrat contributors, organizations (ACORN), and unions -- including billions of dollars to save or create jobs of government employees across the country. It went to save GM and Chrysler so that their employees could keep paying union dues. It went to AIG so that Goldman Sachs could be bailed out (after giving Obama almost $1 million in contributions). A staggering $125 billion went to teachers (thereby protecting their union dues). All those public employees will vote loyally Democrat to protect their bloated salaries and pensions that are bankrupting America. The country goes broke, future generations face a bleak future, but Obama, the Democrat Party, government, and the unions grow more powerful. The ends justify the means.
(6) Raise taxes on small business owners, high-income earners, and job creators. Put the entire burden on only the top 20 percent of taxpayers, redistribute the income, punish success, and reward those who did nothing to deserve it (except vote for Obama). Reagan wanted to dramatically cut taxes in order to starve the government. Obama wants to dramatically raise taxes to starve his political opposition.
With the acts outlined above, Obama and his regime have created a vast and rapidly expanding constituency of voters dependent on big government; a vast privileged class of public employees who work for big government; and a government dedicated to destroying capitalism and installing themselves as socialist rulers by overwhelming the system.
Add it up and you've got the perfect Marxist scheme
Taken individually they're alarming. Taken as a whole, it is a brilliant, Machiavellian game plan to turn the United States into a socialist/Marxist state with a permanent majority that desperately needs government for survival ... And can be counted on to always vote for bigger government. Why not? They have no responsibility to pay for it.
(1) Universal health care. The health care bill had very little to do with health care. It had everything to do with unionizing millions of hospital and health care workers, as well as adding 15,000 to 20,000 new IRS agents (who will join government employee unions). Obama doesn't care that giving free health care to 30 million Americans will add trillions to the national debt. What he does care about is that it cements the dependence of those 30 million voters to Democrats and big government. Who but a socialist revolutionary would pass this reckless spending bill in the middle of a depression?
(2) Cap and trade. Like health care legislation having nothing to do with health care, cap and trade has nothing to do with global warming. It has everything to do with redistribution of income, government control of the economy and a criminal payoff to Obama's biggest contributors. Those powerful and wealthy unions and contributors (like GE, which owns NBC, MSNBC and CNBC) can then be counted on to support everything Obama wants. They will kick-back hundreds of millions of dollars in contributions to Obama and the Democratic Party to keep them in power. The bonus is that all the new taxes on Americans with bigger cars, bigger homes and businesses helps Obama "spread the wealth around."
(3) Make Puerto Rico a state. Why? Who's asking for a 51st state? Who's asking for millions of new welfare recipients and government entitlement addicts in the middle of a depression? Certainly not American taxpayers. But this has been Obama's plan all along. His goal is to add two new Democrat senators, five Democrat congressman and a million loyal Democratic voters who are dependent on big government.
(4) Legalize 12 million illegal immigrants. Just giving these 12 million potential new citizens free health care alone could overwhelm the system and bankrupt America. But it adds 12 million reliable new Democrat voters who can be counted on to support big government. Add another few trillion dollars in welfare, aid to dependent children, food stamps, free medical, education, tax credits for the poor, and eventually Social Security.
(5) Stimulus and bailouts. Where did all that money go? It went to Democrat contributors, organizations (ACORN), and unions -- including billions of dollars to save or create jobs of government employees across the country. It went to save GM and Chrysler so that their employees could keep paying union dues. It went to AIG so that Goldman Sachs could be bailed out (after giving Obama almost $1 million in contributions). A staggering $125 billion went to teachers (thereby protecting their union dues). All those public employees will vote loyally Democrat to protect their bloated salaries and pensions that are bankrupting America. The country goes broke, future generations face a bleak future, but Obama, the Democrat Party, government, and the unions grow more powerful. The ends justify the means.
(6) Raise taxes on small business owners, high-income earners, and job creators. Put the entire burden on only the top 20 percent of taxpayers, redistribute the income, punish success, and reward those who did nothing to deserve it (except vote for Obama). Reagan wanted to dramatically cut taxes in order to starve the government. Obama wants to dramatically raise taxes to starve his political opposition.
With the acts outlined above, Obama and his regime have created a vast and rapidly expanding constituency of voters dependent on big government; a vast privileged class of public employees who work for big government; and a government dedicated to destroying capitalism and installing themselves as socialist rulers by overwhelming the system.
Add it up and you've got the perfect Marxist scheme
Reason #20 Why Obama Should be Impeached or NOT Re-elected
Obama laid the groundwork for failure much earlier, during his 2008 election campaign. As a candidate, he promised Hope, Change and as few specifics as reasonably possible. This was the political path of least resistance, and President George W. Bush's unpopularity virtually guaranteed its success. The mainstream media, enrapt by the candidate's tingle-inspiring rhetoric and transformative post-partisanship, did as little as possible to reveal Obama's true policy intentions and left-leaning ideological origins.
This played to Obama's strong suit. David Mendell of the Chicago Tribune wrote in his 2007 biography, "Obama: From Promise to Power," of the senator’s "ingenious lack of specificity. … While talking or writing about a deeply controversial subject, he considers all points of view before cautiously giving his own often risk-averse assessment, an opinion that often appears so universal that people of various viewpoints would consider it their own."
This formula, along with incredible good luck, had been key to Obama’s effortless political rise as a legislator. But when it brought him to executive power, the effect was slightly different. Because he never had to sell his least popular policy reforms, Obama won office without the broad mandate he needed to govern as he wanted. This is the best available explanation for why Americans reacted so negatively to his agenda as soon as it materialized in Congress. They suddenly felt surprised, even deceived, after all the talk of post-partisanship.
--Town Hall Magazine
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Dhimmitude and Sharia Diktat
Muslims get a pass on the First Amendment to the US Constitution - "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof" -
Dhimmitude is the Muslim system of controlling non-Muslim populations conquered through jihad. Specifically, it is the TAXING of non-Muslims in exchange for tolerating their presence AND as a coercive means of converting conquered remnants to Islam.
The ObamaCare bill is the establishment of Dhimmitude and Sharia Muslim diktat in the United States. Muslims are specifically exempted from the government mandate to purchase insurance, and also from the penalty tax for being uninsured. Islam considers insurance to be "gambling", "risk-taking" and "usury" and is thus banned.
Muslims are specifically granted exemption based on this. How convenient. So I, Ann Barnhardt, a Christian, will have crippling IRS liens placed against all of my assets, including real estate, cattle, and even accounts receivables, and will face hard prison time because I refuse to buy insurance or pay the penalty tax.
Meanwhile, Louis Farrakhan will have no such penalty and will have 100% of his health needs paid for by the de-facto government insurance. Non-Muslims will be paying a tax to subsidize Muslims. Period. This is Dhimmitude.
Dhimmitude is the Muslim system of controlling non-Muslim populations conquered through jihad. Specifically, it is the TAXING of non-Muslims in exchange for tolerating their presence AND as a coercive means of converting conquered remnants to Islam.
The ObamaCare bill is the establishment of Dhimmitude and Sharia Muslim diktat in the United States. Muslims are specifically exempted from the government mandate to purchase insurance, and also from the penalty tax for being uninsured. Islam considers insurance to be "gambling", "risk-taking" and "usury" and is thus banned.
Muslims are specifically granted exemption based on this. How convenient. So I, Ann Barnhardt, a Christian, will have crippling IRS liens placed against all of my assets, including real estate, cattle, and even accounts receivables, and will face hard prison time because I refuse to buy insurance or pay the penalty tax.
Meanwhile, Louis Farrakhan will have no such penalty and will have 100% of his health needs paid for by the de-facto government insurance. Non-Muslims will be paying a tax to subsidize Muslims. Period. This is Dhimmitude.
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Obama did not sneak into power
"Obama did not sneak into power. An army of clueless, disconnected, ignorant Americans invited him to bring his Marxist, glaringly anti-American jihad into our lives. This president's overtly destructive, clear-and-present-danger agenda is surpassed in transparency only by his ultra-leftist public voting record and overall lifetime conduct of consorting with the enemy as a child and student of Marxism, socialist and racist community organizer, congregant of the blatant America-hating black-theology- and social-justice-spewing Rev. Jeremiah Wright and close personal friend of convicted communist terrorists like Bill Ayers, and by his unflinching appointment of an array of communist czars, including Van Jones, Cass Sunstein, Anita Dunne, et al." -- Washington Times
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Thursday, July 8, 2010
The Dumbest President...EVER!
July 08, 2010
By Stuart Schwartz
Barack Obama is the dumbest president...EVER.
That is a reasonable conclusion once you've assessed the first nineteen months of his presidency and compared it to the definition of intelligence put together by researchers in the field. Although the mainstream media have spent the last two years proclaiming Obama "super-smart" or, as Newsweek put it, "sort of God" in stature and brilliance, the 44th president of the United States is poised to surpass our 15th president, James Buchanan. Jr., as the White House occupant who has made the dumbest moves while in office. With two years left, he is on the fast track to last.
That takes some doing, for the leadership of the hapless Buchanan prior to the Civil War "has led to his consistent ranking by historians as one of the worst Presidents." This is the president who vetoed a college funding bill because "there were already too many educated people" in the young nation. Buchanan's judgment was so wretched that he thought anti-slavery forces could be convinced to give up their opposition by his personal assurances that slaves were "treated with kindness and humanity" and that poverty could be ended by simply printing more money. Sound familiar?
Barack Obama is dumb. How dumb? Alfred E. Newman dumb, says columnist David Limbaugh, who labeled him "President Alfred E. Obama" because of his blithe disregard of the basics of fiscal responsibility. Alfred E. Newman is the Mad magazine mascot, whose answer to every problem is his signature statement: "What, me worry?"
How dumb? How-many-Obamas-does-it-take-to-screw-in-a-light-bulb dumb. And in the answer lies the answer, the key to his pole position in the race to last: It takes 242. One to hold the light bulb, four to turn the ladder, eighteen to assess conformity to OSHA workplace requirements, four to assess the environmental impact of the burnt-out bulb disposal, twelve to participate in a task force to evaluate green energy solutions for a replacement bulb, eight to script his actions, four to script instructions and work the teleprompter, 23 to work with the justice department to sue the light bulb manufacturer...you get the picture. And, à la Buchanan, Obama never does get that light bulb changed.
That James Buchanan "fiddled while Rome burned" seems to be the consensus of historians. His approach to the raging controversy over slavery in the decade preceding the Civil War was based on ignoring evidence and acting upon events as he wished them to be, not as they were. Fast-forward to the present: Obama responds to the Gulf crisis by trying to move us toward the collapsed centralized green economy of Spain, ignoring the fact that even Spain acknowledges that "every 'green job' created with government money...came at the cost of 2.2 regular jobs, and only one in 10 of the newly created green jobs became a permanent job."
In all areas of his presidency, Obama has demonstrated a striking disregard of facts, lack of good reasoning, and inability to function at an executive level, all at the core of the textbook definition of intelligence derived from more than a half century of research. Intelligence, the experts tell us, comes down to understanding the meaning of the world around us, and then using that understanding to live skillfully and appropriately (i.e., to get stuff done). One survey of more than fifty researchers in the field of intelligence offers the following definition:
A very special mental capability that, among other things, involves the ability to reason, plan, solve problems, think abstractly, comprehend complex ideas, learn quickly and learn from experience. It is not merely book learning, a narrow academic skill, or test-taking smarts. Rather, it reflects a broader and deeper capability for comprehending our surroundings---"catching on", "making sense" of things, or "figuring out" what to do.
Obama is Buchanan-esque in his inability to function as an executive, a key part of intelligence. Even a cursory analysis of history shows that limited government and free markets have produced prosperity; so Obama expands government and takes over private businesses, causing one observer to throw up his hands at another Buchanan moment from Obama and exclaim, "It isn't rocket science, Mr. President!" Hands-on executives and laser focus are business school basics for solving problems; so Obama parties rather than roll up his sleeves, unleashes federal regulators on hapless Gulf state residents rather than cutting through the red tape, and appoints study panels even as the oil washes ashore (e.g., see video timeline). Radical Islamists are waging war against the United States; Obama does a full Buchanan -- or, if you will, an Alfred E. Newman-style "What, me worry?" -- and, denying the existence of Islamic terrorism, asks whom are you going to believe -- me or your lying eyes?
The ability to draw reasonable conclusions from everyday life and then use those conclusions to adapt is fundamental to high intelligence, says cognitive psychologist Robert J. Steinberg, the award-winning Tufts University dean and University of Cambridge fellow. In other words, the scientific community has established good reasoning, learning from past experience, and acting according to those experiences as integral to high intelligence.
It does not include, as David Brooks, tells us, having an exceptional and "perfectly creased pant [leg]" or -- in what Hot Air's Allahpundit calls "a loathsome expression of elitism" -- being able to "talk like us," Brooks, and others of the "smart set." If that were the case, all we would need to increase intelligence in the U.S. Congress is to provide our elected representatives with dry cleaning services. As for the "talk like us" part, it doesn't take intelligence to talk like a self-styled intellectual, a.k.a. a New York Times columnist. Hawkeye Pearce has already shown us the way in the classic "Love Story" episode of television's "Mash." He teaches Radar, the shy Iowa farm boy who has a crush on a nurse who reads the classics and enjoys Bach, to reply with, eyebrows uplifted, "Ahhh...Bach" when she discusses music and throw in the occasional "That's highly significant."
Want to impress David Brooks and others of the media engaging in what Bernard Goldberg calls "a slobbering love affair" with the president? Simple. Reply, as Obama has done, "Ahhh...Burke" to David Brooks, enthralled by a president who expressed appreciation for the "finer points" of political philosophy; or flash your degree to Christopher Buckley, formerly of National Review, awestruck by Obama's "Harvard intellect"; or simply present Marxism and mainline elegance as typical of the academic life, and media academics like Michael Beschloss will gush on mainstream news, "he's probably the smartest guy ever to become President."
But intelligence is as intelligence does, as Forest Gump might remind us. Harvard has produced more than its share of great men and women, but it has also produced the Unabomber, Barney Frank, and Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling...and now, the next James Buchanan.
So the next time Brooks or others in the mainstream media firmament tell you that Barack Obama is a towering intellect, the smartest president ever, just nod your head wisely and say, "Ahhh...pant leg."
Stuart Schwartz, a former retail and media executive, is on the faculty at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia.
By Stuart Schwartz
Barack Obama is the dumbest president...EVER.
That is a reasonable conclusion once you've assessed the first nineteen months of his presidency and compared it to the definition of intelligence put together by researchers in the field. Although the mainstream media have spent the last two years proclaiming Obama "super-smart" or, as Newsweek put it, "sort of God" in stature and brilliance, the 44th president of the United States is poised to surpass our 15th president, James Buchanan. Jr., as the White House occupant who has made the dumbest moves while in office. With two years left, he is on the fast track to last.
That takes some doing, for the leadership of the hapless Buchanan prior to the Civil War "has led to his consistent ranking by historians as one of the worst Presidents." This is the president who vetoed a college funding bill because "there were already too many educated people" in the young nation. Buchanan's judgment was so wretched that he thought anti-slavery forces could be convinced to give up their opposition by his personal assurances that slaves were "treated with kindness and humanity" and that poverty could be ended by simply printing more money. Sound familiar?
Barack Obama is dumb. How dumb? Alfred E. Newman dumb, says columnist David Limbaugh, who labeled him "President Alfred E. Obama" because of his blithe disregard of the basics of fiscal responsibility. Alfred E. Newman is the Mad magazine mascot, whose answer to every problem is his signature statement: "What, me worry?"
How dumb? How-many-Obamas-does-it-take-to-screw-in-a-light-bulb dumb. And in the answer lies the answer, the key to his pole position in the race to last: It takes 242. One to hold the light bulb, four to turn the ladder, eighteen to assess conformity to OSHA workplace requirements, four to assess the environmental impact of the burnt-out bulb disposal, twelve to participate in a task force to evaluate green energy solutions for a replacement bulb, eight to script his actions, four to script instructions and work the teleprompter, 23 to work with the justice department to sue the light bulb manufacturer...you get the picture. And, à la Buchanan, Obama never does get that light bulb changed.
That James Buchanan "fiddled while Rome burned" seems to be the consensus of historians. His approach to the raging controversy over slavery in the decade preceding the Civil War was based on ignoring evidence and acting upon events as he wished them to be, not as they were. Fast-forward to the present: Obama responds to the Gulf crisis by trying to move us toward the collapsed centralized green economy of Spain, ignoring the fact that even Spain acknowledges that "every 'green job' created with government money...came at the cost of 2.2 regular jobs, and only one in 10 of the newly created green jobs became a permanent job."
In all areas of his presidency, Obama has demonstrated a striking disregard of facts, lack of good reasoning, and inability to function at an executive level, all at the core of the textbook definition of intelligence derived from more than a half century of research. Intelligence, the experts tell us, comes down to understanding the meaning of the world around us, and then using that understanding to live skillfully and appropriately (i.e., to get stuff done). One survey of more than fifty researchers in the field of intelligence offers the following definition:
A very special mental capability that, among other things, involves the ability to reason, plan, solve problems, think abstractly, comprehend complex ideas, learn quickly and learn from experience. It is not merely book learning, a narrow academic skill, or test-taking smarts. Rather, it reflects a broader and deeper capability for comprehending our surroundings---"catching on", "making sense" of things, or "figuring out" what to do.
Obama is Buchanan-esque in his inability to function as an executive, a key part of intelligence. Even a cursory analysis of history shows that limited government and free markets have produced prosperity; so Obama expands government and takes over private businesses, causing one observer to throw up his hands at another Buchanan moment from Obama and exclaim, "It isn't rocket science, Mr. President!" Hands-on executives and laser focus are business school basics for solving problems; so Obama parties rather than roll up his sleeves, unleashes federal regulators on hapless Gulf state residents rather than cutting through the red tape, and appoints study panels even as the oil washes ashore (e.g., see video timeline). Radical Islamists are waging war against the United States; Obama does a full Buchanan -- or, if you will, an Alfred E. Newman-style "What, me worry?" -- and, denying the existence of Islamic terrorism, asks whom are you going to believe -- me or your lying eyes?
The ability to draw reasonable conclusions from everyday life and then use those conclusions to adapt is fundamental to high intelligence, says cognitive psychologist Robert J. Steinberg, the award-winning Tufts University dean and University of Cambridge fellow. In other words, the scientific community has established good reasoning, learning from past experience, and acting according to those experiences as integral to high intelligence.
It does not include, as David Brooks, tells us, having an exceptional and "perfectly creased pant [leg]" or -- in what Hot Air's Allahpundit calls "a loathsome expression of elitism" -- being able to "talk like us," Brooks, and others of the "smart set." If that were the case, all we would need to increase intelligence in the U.S. Congress is to provide our elected representatives with dry cleaning services. As for the "talk like us" part, it doesn't take intelligence to talk like a self-styled intellectual, a.k.a. a New York Times columnist. Hawkeye Pearce has already shown us the way in the classic "Love Story" episode of television's "Mash." He teaches Radar, the shy Iowa farm boy who has a crush on a nurse who reads the classics and enjoys Bach, to reply with, eyebrows uplifted, "Ahhh...Bach" when she discusses music and throw in the occasional "That's highly significant."
Want to impress David Brooks and others of the media engaging in what Bernard Goldberg calls "a slobbering love affair" with the president? Simple. Reply, as Obama has done, "Ahhh...Burke" to David Brooks, enthralled by a president who expressed appreciation for the "finer points" of political philosophy; or flash your degree to Christopher Buckley, formerly of National Review, awestruck by Obama's "Harvard intellect"; or simply present Marxism and mainline elegance as typical of the academic life, and media academics like Michael Beschloss will gush on mainstream news, "he's probably the smartest guy ever to become President."
But intelligence is as intelligence does, as Forest Gump might remind us. Harvard has produced more than its share of great men and women, but it has also produced the Unabomber, Barney Frank, and Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling...and now, the next James Buchanan.
So the next time Brooks or others in the mainstream media firmament tell you that Barack Obama is a towering intellect, the smartest president ever, just nod your head wisely and say, "Ahhh...pant leg."
Stuart Schwartz, a former retail and media executive, is on the faculty at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia.
Friday, July 2, 2010
Obama's Plan
BY: WAYNE ALLYN ROOT: Overwhelm the system
Barack Obama is no fool. He is not incompetent. To the contrary, he is brilliant. He knows exactly what he's doing. He is purposely overwhelming the U.S. Economy to create systemic failure, economic crisis and social chaos -- thereby destroying capitalism and our country from within.
Barack Obama is my college classmate (Columbia University, class of '83). As Glenn Beck correctly predicted from day one, Obama is following the plan of Cloward & Piven, two professors at Columbia University. They outlined a plan to socialize America by overwhelming the system with government spending and entitlement demands. Add up the clues below.
Taken individually they're alarming. Taken as a whole, it is a brilliant, Machiavellian game plan to turn the United States into a socialist/Marxist state with a permanent majority that desperately needs government for survival ... And can be counted on to always vote for bigger government. Why not? They have no responsibility to pay for it.
-- Universal health care. The health care bill had very little to do with health care. It had everything to do with unionizing millions of hospital and health care workers, as well as adding 15,000 to 20,000 new IRS agents (who will join government employee unions). Obama doesn't care that giving free health care to 30 million Americans will add trillions to the national debt. What he does care about is that it cements the dependence of those 30 million voters to Democrats and big government. Who but a socialist revolutionary would pass this reckless spending bill in the middle of a depression?
-- Cap and trade. Like health care legislation having nothing to do with health care, cap and trade has nothing to do with global warming. It has everything to do with redistribution of income, government control of the economy and a criminal payoff to Obama's biggest contributors. Those powerful and wealthy unions and contributors (like GE, which owns NBC, MSNBC and CNBC) can then be counted on to support everything Obama wants. They will kick-back hundreds of millions of dollars in contributions to Obama and the Democratic Party to keep them in power. The bonus is that all the new taxes on Americans with bigger cars, bigger homes and businesses helps Obama "spread the wealth around."
-- Make Puerto Rico a state. Why? Who's asking for a 51st state? Who's asking for millions of new welfare recipients and government entitlement addicts in the middle of a depression? Certainly not American taxpayers. But this has been Obama's plan all along. His goal is to add two new Democrat senators, five Democrat congressman and a million loyal Democratic voters who are dependent on big government.
-- Legalize 12 million illegal immigrants. Just giving these 12 million potential new citizens free health care alone could overwhelm the system and bankrupt America. But it adds 12 million reliable new Democrat voters who can be counted on to support big government. Add another few trillion dollars in welfare, aid to dependent children, food stamps, free medical, education, tax credits for the poor, and eventually Social Security.
-- Stimulus and bailouts. Where did all that money go? It went to Democrat contributors, organizations (ACORN), and unions -- including billions of dollars to save or create jobs of government employees across the country. It went to save GM and Chrysler so that their employees could keep paying union dues. It went to AIG so that Goldman Sachs could be bailed out (after giving Obama almost $1 million in contributions). A staggering $125 billion went to teachers (thereby protecting their union dues). All those public employees will vote loyally Democrat to protect their bloated salaries and pensions that are bankrupting America. The country goes broke, future generations face a bleak future, but Obama, the Democrat Party, government, and the unions grow more powerful. The ends justify the means.
-- Raise taxes on small business owners, high-income earners, and job creators. Put the entire burden on only the top 20 percent of taxpayers, redistribute the income, punish success, and reward those who did nothing to deserve it (except vote for Obama). Reagan wanted to dramatically cut taxes in order to starve the government. Obama wants to dramatically raise taxes to starve his political opposition.
With the acts outlined above, Obama and his regime have created a vast and rapidly expanding constituency of voters dependent on big government; a vast privileged class of public employees who work for big government; and a government dedicated to destroying capitalism and installing themselves as socialist rulers by overwhelming the system.
Add it up and you've got the perfect Marxist scheme -- all devised by my Columbia University college classmate Barack Obama using the Cloward and Piven Plan.
Barack Obama is no fool. He is not incompetent. To the contrary, he is brilliant. He knows exactly what he's doing. He is purposely overwhelming the U.S. Economy to create systemic failure, economic crisis and social chaos -- thereby destroying capitalism and our country from within.
Barack Obama is my college classmate (Columbia University, class of '83). As Glenn Beck correctly predicted from day one, Obama is following the plan of Cloward & Piven, two professors at Columbia University. They outlined a plan to socialize America by overwhelming the system with government spending and entitlement demands. Add up the clues below.
Taken individually they're alarming. Taken as a whole, it is a brilliant, Machiavellian game plan to turn the United States into a socialist/Marxist state with a permanent majority that desperately needs government for survival ... And can be counted on to always vote for bigger government. Why not? They have no responsibility to pay for it.
-- Universal health care. The health care bill had very little to do with health care. It had everything to do with unionizing millions of hospital and health care workers, as well as adding 15,000 to 20,000 new IRS agents (who will join government employee unions). Obama doesn't care that giving free health care to 30 million Americans will add trillions to the national debt. What he does care about is that it cements the dependence of those 30 million voters to Democrats and big government. Who but a socialist revolutionary would pass this reckless spending bill in the middle of a depression?
-- Cap and trade. Like health care legislation having nothing to do with health care, cap and trade has nothing to do with global warming. It has everything to do with redistribution of income, government control of the economy and a criminal payoff to Obama's biggest contributors. Those powerful and wealthy unions and contributors (like GE, which owns NBC, MSNBC and CNBC) can then be counted on to support everything Obama wants. They will kick-back hundreds of millions of dollars in contributions to Obama and the Democratic Party to keep them in power. The bonus is that all the new taxes on Americans with bigger cars, bigger homes and businesses helps Obama "spread the wealth around."
-- Make Puerto Rico a state. Why? Who's asking for a 51st state? Who's asking for millions of new welfare recipients and government entitlement addicts in the middle of a depression? Certainly not American taxpayers. But this has been Obama's plan all along. His goal is to add two new Democrat senators, five Democrat congressman and a million loyal Democratic voters who are dependent on big government.
-- Legalize 12 million illegal immigrants. Just giving these 12 million potential new citizens free health care alone could overwhelm the system and bankrupt America. But it adds 12 million reliable new Democrat voters who can be counted on to support big government. Add another few trillion dollars in welfare, aid to dependent children, food stamps, free medical, education, tax credits for the poor, and eventually Social Security.
-- Stimulus and bailouts. Where did all that money go? It went to Democrat contributors, organizations (ACORN), and unions -- including billions of dollars to save or create jobs of government employees across the country. It went to save GM and Chrysler so that their employees could keep paying union dues. It went to AIG so that Goldman Sachs could be bailed out (after giving Obama almost $1 million in contributions). A staggering $125 billion went to teachers (thereby protecting their union dues). All those public employees will vote loyally Democrat to protect their bloated salaries and pensions that are bankrupting America. The country goes broke, future generations face a bleak future, but Obama, the Democrat Party, government, and the unions grow more powerful. The ends justify the means.
-- Raise taxes on small business owners, high-income earners, and job creators. Put the entire burden on only the top 20 percent of taxpayers, redistribute the income, punish success, and reward those who did nothing to deserve it (except vote for Obama). Reagan wanted to dramatically cut taxes in order to starve the government. Obama wants to dramatically raise taxes to starve his political opposition.
With the acts outlined above, Obama and his regime have created a vast and rapidly expanding constituency of voters dependent on big government; a vast privileged class of public employees who work for big government; and a government dedicated to destroying capitalism and installing themselves as socialist rulers by overwhelming the system.
Add it up and you've got the perfect Marxist scheme -- all devised by my Columbia University college classmate Barack Obama using the Cloward and Piven Plan.
Friday, June 11, 2010
A Vast Confederacy of Fools
Some people have the vocabulary to sum up things in a way you can understand them. This quote came from the Czech Republic. Someone over there has it figured out. We have a lot of work to do.
"The danger to America is not Barack Obama but a citizenry capable of entrusting a man like him with the Presidency. It will be far easier to limit and undo the follies of an Obama presidency than to restore the necessary common sense and good judgment to a depraved electorate willing to have such a man for their president."
"The problem is much deeper and far more serious than Mr. Obama, who is a mere symptom of what ails America. Blaming the prince of the fools should not blind anyone to the vast confederacy of fools that made him their prince.
The Republic can survive a Barack Obama, who is, after all, merely a fool.
It is less likely to survive a multitude of fools such as those who made him their president.
"The danger to America is not Barack Obama but a citizenry capable of entrusting a man like him with the Presidency. It will be far easier to limit and undo the follies of an Obama presidency than to restore the necessary common sense and good judgment to a depraved electorate willing to have such a man for their president."
"The problem is much deeper and far more serious than Mr. Obama, who is a mere symptom of what ails America. Blaming the prince of the fools should not blind anyone to the vast confederacy of fools that made him their prince.
The Republic can survive a Barack Obama, who is, after all, merely a fool.
It is less likely to survive a multitude of fools such as those who made him their president.
Thursday, May 13, 2010
A Postmodern Presidency
After reading Victor Davis Hanson’s piece “A Postmodern Presidency” last week, I was furious for two reasons. One, it was one of those columns that I wish I had written. Two, it made me realize exactly who Obama is and how we conservatives have been battling him on all the wrong fronts.
The heart of Hanson’s piece is this: Barack Obama is the first truly “postmodern” President. Having been raised and educated on the deconstructed principles of “relativism and the primacy of language over reality,” Obama is a walking, talking and bowing (more on this later) ambassador of postmodernism.
A brief primer on this “after modernity” ism, quoting Hanson:
“Genres, rules, and protocols in art, music, or in much of anything vanish as the unnecessary obstructions they are deemed to be — constructed by those with privilege to perpetuate their own entrenched received authority and power. . . .
“. . . What we signify and brand as ‘real,’ in essence, is no more valid than another’s “truth,” even if we retreat to specious claims of “evidence”—especially if our aim is to perpetuate the nation state, or the primacy of the white male capitalist Westerner who long ago manufactured norms in his own interests.”
In Hanson’s mind (and I completely agree), everything Obama has done – from “stimulus,” to healthcare reform, to alienating our “allies,” etc. – is for the purpose of removing the centuries-old hegemony enjoyed, by namely, white, Christian men.
Postmodernism exhibits progressive liberal “victimhood” ideology in the sense that everything, literally, is a struggle between class, race and gender. Societal norms and “absolute truth” are outdated modes lacking contextualization. Obama believes all of this. And this is what “hope and change” has always been about.
We can’t expect to win the battle for the soul of our nation (and the stability of the entire world) by battling Obama the way we have. When we question Obama’s numbers on healthcare reform, when that lady at the town hall asked if it’s wise to up the tax burden, when we howl at his narcissism, when we call him naïve, we’ve already lost.
To us, all evidence points to the fact that Obama is naïve, that he really doesn’t understand how the world works. But as Hanson wrote, “[Obama] is offering us another — a postmodern — way of looking at the world.” Obama’s remarks about “Greek exceptionalism” last spring make a little more sense now, don’t they?
He’s like the Joker in the Dark Knight. No matter how insane or random Obama’s policies look to us, they are, as the Joker would say, “all part of the plan.”
Hamstringing our nuclear capabilities? Can’t get more hegemonic than hoarding nuclear warheads. Peace through strength is so modernity.
Bowing to foreign heads of state? America has had more than its fair share of time in the limelight.
Redistribution of wealth? Your capitalistic wealth is homophobic, sexist and probably Islamophobic.
So we cry “Socialist!” And like the Joker when accused of being insane, Obama simply quips, “No, I’m not.”
Being a “socialist” isn’t deep enough, isn’t narrative-changing enough. Attacking health care, foreign policy, cap-and-trade or anything else is fine, but it doesn’t get at the embedded philosophy and life system. We have to realize we’re not even battling against Obama. We’re up against an entire zeitgeist, a paradoxical and chaotic worldview that needs to be dug up by the roots.
As Batman and Joker struggled physically and philosophically over Gotham, the Joker turned to his nemesis and said, “The only sensible way to live in this world is without rules.”
So it is with Obama. There are no rules – just language, that fluid gift of reality construction that eliminates all “traditional” obstacles and norms. It’s no surprise, then, that he loves to speechify, because in postmodernity, if you don’t have language, you don’t have anything. [Since there are no rules, it is useless to prevail upon Obama to enforce the immigration laws or secure the border.]
Trevor Sides, former editor of the Akron News-Reporter, is a Liberty Features Syndicate writer for Americans for Limited Government.
The heart of Hanson’s piece is this: Barack Obama is the first truly “postmodern” President. Having been raised and educated on the deconstructed principles of “relativism and the primacy of language over reality,” Obama is a walking, talking and bowing (more on this later) ambassador of postmodernism.
A brief primer on this “after modernity” ism, quoting Hanson:
“Genres, rules, and protocols in art, music, or in much of anything vanish as the unnecessary obstructions they are deemed to be — constructed by those with privilege to perpetuate their own entrenched received authority and power. . . .
“. . . What we signify and brand as ‘real,’ in essence, is no more valid than another’s “truth,” even if we retreat to specious claims of “evidence”—especially if our aim is to perpetuate the nation state, or the primacy of the white male capitalist Westerner who long ago manufactured norms in his own interests.”
In Hanson’s mind (and I completely agree), everything Obama has done – from “stimulus,” to healthcare reform, to alienating our “allies,” etc. – is for the purpose of removing the centuries-old hegemony enjoyed, by namely, white, Christian men.
Postmodernism exhibits progressive liberal “victimhood” ideology in the sense that everything, literally, is a struggle between class, race and gender. Societal norms and “absolute truth” are outdated modes lacking contextualization. Obama believes all of this. And this is what “hope and change” has always been about.
We can’t expect to win the battle for the soul of our nation (and the stability of the entire world) by battling Obama the way we have. When we question Obama’s numbers on healthcare reform, when that lady at the town hall asked if it’s wise to up the tax burden, when we howl at his narcissism, when we call him naïve, we’ve already lost.
To us, all evidence points to the fact that Obama is naïve, that he really doesn’t understand how the world works. But as Hanson wrote, “[Obama] is offering us another — a postmodern — way of looking at the world.” Obama’s remarks about “Greek exceptionalism” last spring make a little more sense now, don’t they?
He’s like the Joker in the Dark Knight. No matter how insane or random Obama’s policies look to us, they are, as the Joker would say, “all part of the plan.”
Hamstringing our nuclear capabilities? Can’t get more hegemonic than hoarding nuclear warheads. Peace through strength is so modernity.
Bowing to foreign heads of state? America has had more than its fair share of time in the limelight.
Redistribution of wealth? Your capitalistic wealth is homophobic, sexist and probably Islamophobic.
So we cry “Socialist!” And like the Joker when accused of being insane, Obama simply quips, “No, I’m not.”
Being a “socialist” isn’t deep enough, isn’t narrative-changing enough. Attacking health care, foreign policy, cap-and-trade or anything else is fine, but it doesn’t get at the embedded philosophy and life system. We have to realize we’re not even battling against Obama. We’re up against an entire zeitgeist, a paradoxical and chaotic worldview that needs to be dug up by the roots.
As Batman and Joker struggled physically and philosophically over Gotham, the Joker turned to his nemesis and said, “The only sensible way to live in this world is without rules.”
So it is with Obama. There are no rules – just language, that fluid gift of reality construction that eliminates all “traditional” obstacles and norms. It’s no surprise, then, that he loves to speechify, because in postmodernity, if you don’t have language, you don’t have anything. [Since there are no rules, it is useless to prevail upon Obama to enforce the immigration laws or secure the border.]
Trevor Sides, former editor of the Akron News-Reporter, is a Liberty Features Syndicate writer for Americans for Limited Government.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Obama: the Prince of Fools
49% of the people in this country pay no tax. Do you think they care if some of us pay 90%? We are doomed because they are part of the electorate. A Czech writer recently said:
"The problem is much deeper and far more serious than Mr. Obama, who is a mere symptom of what ails America. Blaming the prince of the fools should not blind anyone to the vast confederacy of fools that made him their prince."
"The problem is much deeper and far more serious than Mr. Obama, who is a mere symptom of what ails America. Blaming the prince of the fools should not blind anyone to the vast confederacy of fools that made him their prince."
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