The Obama Dependency Economy

". . . the U.S. economy has now lost a total of 3.8 million jobs since President Barack Obama signed his $862 billion stimulus plan. We are 8.1 million jobs short of the 138.6 million he promised the American people.

It is good to see the American economy finally recovering again. It demonstrates the resilience of the American entrepreneur in the face a punishing job killing agenda from Washington. And don't fall for any White House claims that this belated recovery is due to the stimulus."

Read the entire article here. Find out what the government coulda, shoulda, woulda do if economic recovery instead of more control of our lives were the goal.

And by the way, I'm still waiting to see what the ARRA funds will be doing on the Upper Arlington street just west of us. I drove the distance of the orange barrels, and don't even see a problem, let alone a worker. Meanwhile, the landscape company reworking our condo entrance (which included a Saturday and a brief snow storm) is finished.

I'll return after Easter. Lots to do this week, and I'm starting by going to a movie this afternoon. Precious. My husband turned up his nose, so I'll go alone. Besides, he really wants to watch basketball.

I was watching Kentucky and West Virginia play yesterday. Wow! What super athletes--every last one of them. Several thoughts floated through my mind as I looked up from my book (The Virginian, 1902). Not a single white guy on the floor. No women, either. No fat kids. No Asians. No disabled. Obvious age discrimination. They all had very expensive outfits and shoes (tax payers expense?) that most guys their age can't afford. Some probably had scholarships that others didn't even hear about. Last night those teams were the cream of the crop--and no one even cares that they aren't sharing their place on the team with someone less qualified, less tall, less skillful, less handsome, less melanin, less educated, less willing to work hard, stiffer knees and shorter fingers. Sports are really unfair. When will the President insist that athletes share the wealth?

The federal office that oversees the GSEs Fannie and Fred, right on its website, has diversity of employees as its number one goal. Imagine. The gang that can't shoot straight, that brought us our current recession, are looking for minorities and women and disabled, because they seem to think that's what caused the problem, but college athletic teams aren't. Go figure!

Male Answer Syndrome

When my children were toddlers, Phil Donahue was a local talk show personality in Dayton, Ohio, and I watched him everyday. If my friends came over with their babies, we'd watch him together. One thing I noticed 40 years ago was that no matter how famous the guest or how well-known the celebrity, when it was time for questions, the women in the audience asked questions, and the men expounded their own theories and ideas instead of mining for new information from the expert. Every program. Every guest! Many years later when I used to watch Charlie Rose on public TV, I observed that when he interviewed women authors, his questions were really expository and overly long and boring, often leaving her with nothing to say except, "Yes," or "No," or "I agree, Charlie." With male guests, he allowed them free rein and didn't interrupt them.

Today I was reading an artist's newsletter about Male Answer Syndrome, which led the artist-author to comment on the differeces between male and female artists. Apparently, it has had a name since the early 90s and I missed it.

How ObamaCare Will Affect Your Doctor

Billions for IRS agents to enforce Obamacare, but nothing for doctors. Not a pay raise; not a pat on the back. Not a penny. In fact, it will drive doctors out of business with higher taxes and lower reimbursement while adding more patients to the rolls. That's how he plans to ration care. It's only "fair," you know. Why should you have something you've worked for while others have nothing to reach for?

How ObamaCare Will Affect Your Doctor - WSJ.com

That would mean you have to stop killing jobs

Stop the war on the economy. Stop killing jobs

Cordless phones

When we moved here, the kitchen had what is probably second generation cordless phone--lots of heft, ugly as sin. Probably from the early or mid-90s. But we sort of got used to being able to walk around, or keeping it in the living room in the evenings. So I bought a GE 900 cordless phone for my husband's office about 5 years ago. I had to use the laundry room to dock it since you need a phone outlet and an electric outlet side by side, but that wasn't much of a problem. (I have no idea why the previous owner had both a phone jack and cable connection in the laundry room, but maybe she ironed more than I do.) Lately, it's been dying after an hour or two off the docking station, and he's been keeping the kitchen phone in his office (it no longer rings), and that's not handy or conducive to good marital relations. So today I looked up the cost of buying a new battery, Sanik 3SN-AA60-S-J1. Seems it is about the same cost as the phone was ($14-15.00). So he bought a new phone.

Stimulus evidence one year on

Watching the workers we hired to relandscape the condo grounds (below freezing today, and a Saturday) compared to 2 miles over where ARRA funds are (posted as) being used and nothing is being done, I thought about Barro's article.

The math is a bit over my head, but I can figure out the bottom line. Robert J. Barro says, "Viewed over five years, the fiscal stimulus package is a way to get an extra $600 billion of public spending at the cost of $900 billion in private expenditure."

The stimulus

ATT will take $1B non-cash charge for health care

And now it begins.

"AT&T Inc. will take a $1 billion non-cash accounting charge in the first quarter because of the health care overhaul and may cut benefits it offers to current and retired workers.

The charge is the largest disclosed so far. Earlier this week, AK Steel Corp., Caterpillar Inc., Deere & Co. and Valero Energy announced similar accounting charges, saying the health care law that President Barack Obama signed Tuesday will raise their expenses. On Friday, 3M Co. said it will also take a charge of $85 million to $90 million."

ATT will take $1B non-cash charge for health care

HT Bob who says, "They always say, and for damn good reason, "Hind sight tells the story." "

Obama Moves to worsen the housing mess

Haven't we been this route before? Didn't it lead to the bubble bursting in 2008? Did you know you can still get 100% financing, no money down, home mortgages (check out USDA--the food people--they also throw money at new mortgages). Now today we get the news that "The Obama administration on Friday announced broad new initiatives to help troubled homeowners, potentially refinancing millions of them into fresh government-backed mortgages with lower payments." Duh! 11,000,000 homeowners with property worth less than they owe, and the government continues to provide no-money down, 100% mortgage financing which is a 100% guarantee that the cycle will continue. Administration Moves to Assist Struggling Homeowners - NYTimes.com

Maybe we need a refresher on how our friendly government loan officer and enforcer got us here.

It has never been about health care--you've been conned

Today I was reading something from the American Roman Catholic Bishops about why they supported the health care bill--"the anguish of mothers who are unable to afford prenatal care, of families unable to ensure quality care for their children, and of those who cannot obtain insurance because of preexisting conditions." If that's all this health care bill was about, that could have been taken care of in a hundred pages or so. Isn't it amazing with all the food programs we've had in place since WWII, like SNAP (food stamps), WIC, commodity supplements, school lunch programs, summer feeding programs, after school snacks, school breakfast programs, fresh fruits and vegetables for the low income, TEFAP and food banks, the government only expands its assistance but never succeeds in feeding the poor? And even with all the Medicaid and Medicare, the SSDI, SCHIP plus all the non-profits and the power and wealth of the churches, all these people don't have health care? Whose pockets are being lined, who is taking a giant cut if it isn't getting to the needy? Why are more trillions needed if everything thrown at it since the 1960s isn't working?

And what exactly is a pre-existing condition? Our U.S. Census now reports that one sixth of us--50 million--are disabled. Other websites say that 111,000,000 have eating disorders, and 44,000,000 have mental problems. TV ads tell us that one in ten are autistic. And the stats on obesity and diabetes seem to change with the season. Soon, we will not have a single healthy, well-fed person in the United States! Won't the illegals be disappointed when they sneak in!! They could have been sick at home! These government programs must keep expanding, not because we are less healthy than 1950 or 1900, but because we are. No government program wants to go out of business due to success!

The ObamaCare travesty/takeover was never about better health; it has always been about government control and power. The Bishops should have seen this one coming, and raised a few more red flags, and not just about abortion. Millions of Catholics have lost their lives not just to legal abortion, not just to do-gooder DDT bans, but to democide--death by government. In gulags, in death camps, in reeducation camps, in starvation through collectivization. President Obama is ridiculing his opposition--he, the biggest advocate for abortion in the highest office in the land, in the formerly most powerful country in the world. Why in the world would the Bishops trust him with the rest of our lives?

Only the Word of God stands up to earthly powers. It's time to use it.

Media coverage of the Congressional threats

If you want to know why the news coverage (not the editorial page) of the Wall Street Journal has a reputation for being the most liberal newspaper in the country, just read journalist Naftali Bendavid's account of . . . just about anything political. Today's piece on the charges being thrown back and forth about threats is a good example.

"Democrats seized on the reported violence to portray opponents as irresponsible. Republicans condemning the acts, charged Democrats with trying to make political hay."

I'd say that's true--but words matter. Notice, she doesn't say who the irresponsible opponents are. We're left to conclude they are Republicans, which is exactly what the Democrats have said, with zero proof--some even demanding apologies. Naftali is much smoother than crazy Chris Matthews--after all, she did a puff piece book on Rahm Emanuel and was given access to the insider's view. If you look back at what she wrote in July 2009 about the 52 Democrats opposing Obamacare, you would think they had no power to hold up this bill if not for Republicans.

You have to get to paragraph nine of Naftali's article today to learn that the Democrats have not just charged "opponents," but their Republican collegues specifically and not the progressives, socialists, or Communists who believe they had been betrayed by the Democrats with a weak bill giving concessions to insurance companies and lobbyists.

Democrats and their supporting actors in the press do not put the various crazies we've seen since Obama took office--Amy the Professorial Shooter, Stark the suicide pilot, Hasan the military doctor, or Awlaki the American Muslim cleric in their column of extremists. Oh goodness No. That wouldn't be good journalism. Wouldn't be prudent. But let a white haired, 80 year old, Tea Party participant give them the finger and they rush into the streets screaming "stranger danger" and then spend days rehashing it with Chris Matthews.

The truth is, just in case you are in the information cave called broadcast news, we have well-trained FBI and police to investigate threats of violence. Reporters and Congressmen should not be deciding who threatened whom. A nasty fax, a brick through a window and a shot fired are at opposite ends of the voilence spectrum, and so far, the Republican side of Congress is in more danger.

Movie Fans Study Films for Flaws

And I thought my crabby, nitpicking commenter (180 visits) was bad! These people make a life of finding mistakes in movies. I occasionally see an obvious movie gaff as big as Joe Biden's mouth, but I don't think I'd watch Jaws that often, or Pirates.

Movie Fans Study Films for Flaws - WSJ.com

Three years ago, a joke

Glenn Beck made a joke about the Titanic when he was on CNN. James Cameron has never forgiven him. Cried all the way to the bank. How high school musical.

Where was the outrage?

In February, a CNN analyst and a Huffington Post writer advocated violence against Republicans and his own party (go gangsta i.e., breaking knee caps, etc.) for opposing Obamacare and appointments even though they had no power. Don't think it got much coverage. Imagine if that had been Rush Limbaugh? Perhaps the MSM were too busy trying to blame Tea Partiers for the guy who flew his plane (turns out he was a registered Democrat) into an IRS building and a looney-tunes professor who shot up her department to notice what their side was doing (she was a liberal through and through). Now some deranged idiots at that same level of talent and smarts are either threatening or pretending to threaten members of Congress, and the Washington Post (today's afternoon edition) is only mentioning the Democrats, even though two of the people threatened were Republicans, and they didn't worry a bit when Karl Rove got threats.

It is the left that is notorious for violence in political demonstrations. Look how they tried to stir up trouble among students a few weeks ago about tuition raises. Glenn Beck made a very interesting observation on his show last night. Now that the Weathermen, SDS types and Alinskyites have oozed their way to the top levels of government and are now "The Man," they have to put down the opposition at the grass roots in the same manner as they were treated in the 60s and 70s. However, the tea partiers aren't violent, so they have to stir the pot and work people up--or even fake it.

"What you need to do is collapse it from the inside. You need to get as many people from the welfare rolls onto it and collapse. But remember that there needs to be a framework that it collapses into. What that means is you must have power. It's not enough to be out on the streets. You must be Richard Nixon. You must have radicals at the top. . . Van Jones said. . . I am willing to drop the radical pose for the radical ends."

Some topics for Glenn Beck

We really enjoy sitting down together at 5 p.m. and watching Glenn Beck. Those of you who only get snippets through the George Soros funded Media Matters and other filters (Glenn usually greets their snoops as the "unemployed hippy-dippy dudes sitting in mom's basement" screening and reporting back to the watchdog agency) are missing some great history lessons and reading lists. He's probably done more for libraries and Amazon than any other author/host because he reads so much, and those titles fly to the top of the best seller list, faster than an Oprah Book Club selection. He even suggests going back and reading original sources--marxist, socialist, founding fathers, etc., something dear to this researcher's heart. Beck's film documentaries are stunning. I studied Russian history (19th and 20th century) back in college in the 50s and 60s and saw newsreels of the decimation of the Ukrainian farmers, the forced collectivization and starvation and the millions murdered in China's revolution. Some of the footage in his documentaries certainly ring more true, even with the dramatic voice overs, than watching a Katie Couric or Charlie Rose. That said, there are other topics I'd like to see on his programs.

1. There have been some really fabulous federal government programs that benefited millions of Americans and grew the economy. It would not be a violation of his core values and beliefs to mention

• the national park system
  
  
• the homestead acts and land giveaways
  
  
• the interstate highway system
  
  
• the land giveaways to the railroad barons who opened millions of jobs and opportunities for immigrants and city bound poor
  
  
• various public health advancements like clean water, polio vaccination, meat inspection, flour and milk enrichment, compulsory TB testing
  
  
• the Army Corps of Engineers and flood control
  
  
• mining rights to energy developers which revolutionized our industries
  
  
• compulsory education
  
  
• land grant colleges and universities.

Glenn. Here's a tip from a librarian and history buff. The founders are interesting, but a lot has happened since the American Revolution. Also, you like to talk about your Democrat grandfather. Didn't he tell you not to throw the baby out with the bath water?

2. Glenn has recently stepped on a real hornets nest--he's taken on the liberal church--more specifically the way "liberation theology" has infiltrated the pastors and pulpits, and "social justice" themes have replaced the gospel of Jesus Christ. Glenn is absolutely correct that Jesus not once asked the Roman government to feed the poor or visit the sick or set the slave free. What Glenn is missing in these mini-sermons is that in the United States, the Christian church was at the forefront of social change, long before the federal government got in that game. In fact, the government has usurped and co-opted the churches and made them just another non-profit employee of the government through tax grants for feeding programs, summer camps, pre-schools, prisoner reentry programs and housing renovation in poor neighborhoods while at the same time telling churches they can't preach the gospel or hand out printed material because they are taking government money to do their jobs!

• The great religious awakenings of the 18th and 19th centuries were followed by great fervor for combating sin and a movement toward greater personal responsibility all because of renewed faith in God, not the government
  
  
• Sunday schools were begun by "church ladies" so that children working in factories could get an education--this is the foundation of the public school movement
  
  
• the big three social movements of the 19th century, abolition of slavery, temperance, and woman's rights, were all Christian movements with women doing the heavy lifting; the woman's rights movement of the 19th century was not the feminist movement of today; it was faith-based action
  
  
• the Lyceum and Chautauqua movements of the 18th and 19th centuries were the originators of self-improvement movements and adult education--both were begun and funded by concerned citizens, not the government
  
  
• a less punitive justice system in the form of penitentiaries (penitent) rather than debtor's prison or corporal punishment was pioneered by the Quakers
  
  
• the spread of printed materials to an expanding reading public went viral through church printing presses--Methodists, Lutherans, Baptists, Congregationalists, etc. During war time soldiers were given free reading material and libraries by both the Protestant and Catholic presses
  
  
• medical care for the wounded during the Revolutionary and Civil Wars was led by bands of committed Christian men and women with nuns and priests working all sides of the conflict
  
  
• churches pioneered stewardship of the earth and the humane treatment of animals, long before the government thought to regulate it (19th century agricultural journals--take a look)
  
  
• it was the church groups that met the immigrant ships of their own ethnic groups and helped them resettle and learn the language, customs, and establish businesses
  
  
• after WWII pacifist denominations created a volunteer rebuilding program for Europe, which later the government used as a model for the Peace Corp and Vista.

Glenn. Here's the bigger story--bigger than liberation theology--many church members don't know their own history, let alone the Bible, and they don't realize they were the source, not the result, of these programs.

The Security of Your medical records

Your medical records weren't secure when they were paper; and they are even less so in electronic form. Any shred of privacy disappeared with HIPAA (1996, 2002). I've lost count of the number of times I've sat waiting in an exam room of a specialty clinic with the previous patient's information (including SS#) on the screen, or the name of the customer on the clip board with the number of the prescription at the pharmacy pick-up counter window. Read the small print in those privacy notices--it simply tells you who will see it--and that usually includes just about everyone you don't already know. "The HIPAA Privacy Rule allows a covered health care provider to use or disclose protected health information (other than psychotherapy notes), including family history information, for treatment, payment, and health care operation purposes without obtaining the individual’s written authorization or other agreement." (FAQ, HHS.gov)

President Obama said in his 2009 speech that electronic records for all, "will cut waste, eliminate red tape and reduce the need to repeat expensive medical tests [and] save lives by reducing the deadly but preventable medical errors that pervade our health-care system."

Nice for them. Not so nice for us, says this psychiatrist. And if you've read up on medical errors, you see that a simple 2 minute check list, if followed, can reduce many of them. She suspects (and she's been treating people for 35 years) that once patients understand that a vast audience beyond their doctor can see this at the touch of a keystroke, they'll be less forthright and honest about what to put in the record. Consent, she says, must be built into the electronic records system. Patients should be able to decide who sees their records.

"A 2009 poll conducted for National Public Radio, the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health asked if people were confident their medical records would remain confidential if they were stored electronically and could be shared online. Fifty nine percent responded they were not confident."

Sounds good, but I think that genie popped out of the bottle years ago. Even in the 80s before any of this was possible I read stories of the information that insurance companies kept in databases, and how they traded that information with other companies, therefore a missed DUI or a "forgotten" treatment for depression somehow managed to catch up even after the life or health policy was approved. A "Do not Disclose" request doesn't mean no one sees it. And for those who think having the government in charge of this information means everything will be fair, just, and work on your behalf, I give you the new IRS agents who will be in charge of seeing that it all works on the government's behalf.

Deborah Peel: Your Medical Records Aren't Secure - WSJ.com

That's No Angry Mob, That's My Mom

Haven't read the book, but I love the title. Librarians are 223:1 liberal to conservative--probably won't be in my public library. "A full-throated defense of Tea Partiers and shows just how right conservatives have been on healthcare reform, the stimulus package, cap-and-trade, cash for clunkers, and more."

Book Details - That's No Angry Mob, That's My Mom

$10 billion for 165,000 new IRS agents

The IRS is the "enforcer" of the new health care mandates. It will have the power to

"monitor individuals and businesses’ health insurance statuses through the mandatory reporting the bill requires. Under the law, every individual and most businesses are required to report to the IRS, on their tax returns, whether they have purchased or provided the required level of coverage and disclose to the IRS which months, if any, in which they failed to do so.

Using this information, the IRS would then determine whether an employer or individual falls under the mandate, which contains exceptions for religious conscience, hardship, incarcerated persons, and members of Indian tribes.

If either an individual or a business has failed to comply with this mandate for any month out of the year, they are required to pay a separate tax to the IRS. For individuals this is a maximum of $750 per person (up to $2,250 per household) and $750 per uncovered employee for businesses. Article here.

Ways and means report

Illegal immigrants are exempt from all the taxes and penalties in this law.

Reach deadline at risk

Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemical Substances (Reach).

And after the deadline, then what? I'm assuming that once the chemicals are registered with the required safety information THEN they will be withdrawn because they will be declared unsafe. That might be why some are still not registered. Also, in the EU, not all are using English, so those safety and substance requirements are a bit dicey. Lots of really fun acronyms in this article.

Reach deadline at risk

Americans are in for a big shock

when they see how much "free" government health care is going to cost them. After the band has stopped playing, the balloons have popped, and Obama has moved on to amnesty for illegals and higher taxes on CO2.

We are pensioners--Social Security for my husband and STRS for me (I'm not eligible for SS spousal benefit because of my teacher's pension). Our "health" expenses in 2009--insurance, drugs, dental, medical, etc. (we have vision insurance but neither of us used it) ran to about $11,000. How can that be when we have the premiere government health plan--Medicare? According to the Pelosi-Obama-Reid-Con (PORC) health care will be free for all!

We paid for it through payroll deductions while we were employed; we pay for the plan again quarterly (for me) or through deductions in the SS (for him). Then we each have to buy a supplemental plan (different companies) to cover the things that Medicare doesn't. Then we pay out of pocket for the rest that neither Medicare nor the supplement cover, like vaccinations for shingles or H1N1. Neither one of us was sick or hospitalized in 2009. My husband had a few "preventive" measures like some suspicious skin spots removed. But Obama assures us that prevention is going to save us money, so that's OK (it's never actually been proven because careful people then live longer and pay for more health care down the road). Does anyone think that we'll ever see that $2500-$3000 reduction Obama is promising each household/family? Or will it just keep going up, up and away through higher taxes and higher premiums?