Sunday, September 29, 2013

A mixed bag of trouble

      So much has been happening so fast that it is hard to keep up.  As I predicted years ago,  Obamacare ( the Affordable Care Act) was going to be a huge problem for America.  My take is that it is designed to destroy the American economy and allow Obama to pick up the pieces and fundamentally change America, as he has often so stated, turning it into a socialist or communist country.  A carefully designed plan to significantly reduce the quality of healthcare will take over, not only with the death panels controlled by political appointees and not physicians, already in place, but by taking over the student loan program, he can offer amnesty or mandate four years of working in a government sponsored clinic for very modest pay.  Imagine a cardiac surgeon with four years of college, four years of medical school, and seven years of residency and internship, being told he has to work for practically nothing, before he can go into practice and then make an income limited to what the government wants to pay him for his work.  The number of quality candidates will shrink.  Medical school standards will shrink and everyone's healthcare will suffer.  Obamacare was  certainly not written by Obama or Harry Reid.  As you recall, Reid locked everyone out of his office while he was "writing the bill". In fact, his fax machine was turned on so he could download the bill sent by the antiAmerica communist organization, Center for American Progress, funded by George Soros. Nancy Pelosi, who commonly makes dumb remarks, should have her lips sewn shut after telling everyone to pass the bill before you read it.  Naturally, she and the rest of Congress have exempted themselves and the rest of government from the bill as it will not accomplish anything the President promised it would do.  Instead it has slowed economic recovery, cost jobs, and put the average working man and business owner in a state of panic.  It was moronic to assume that people who work hard would want to have their quality of the healthcare reduced and the cost markedly increased in order to provide health insurance to a bunch of addicts and slackers who won't get off their asses and stop using dope, stop having babies, and get a job.  That is why 69% of American oppose Obamacare.  Liberal logic states that Congress should do something about gun control because the majority of American are for it (they're not).  On the other hand the majority of American are opposed to Obamacare and so Congress is trying to do something about it, not fund it, and Obama should favor this, he won't.  Though it looks like this is at a impasse with the house not funding it and the Democratic run Senate in favor of restoring funding, there is a subtle but very effective strategy that could work.  Congress does not need to fund the government with one bill.  Instead the Republicans in the House of Representatives should pass a series of bill each funding a different part of the government.  It would be difficult for the Senate to vote against funding each of these bills, Reid could pass all but one and attach funding to it and send it back to the House.  This would only shut down one branch of the government , hopefully the criminal and corrupt IRS.  We will see how this plays out.
      Speaking of the IRS, Lois Lerner has finally resigned from the IRS.  Although she was suspended or placed on leave, she was still drawing a paycheck.  Hopefully this will not end the probe into the criminal activity of the IRS and Lerner and those involved up to and including the White House attorney go to prison.  Because of the crime she has allegedly committed Lerner should be denied a pension.  Hopefully the threats of a long prison term and loss of pension will loosen her tongue.  After the budget battle, look for this to begin to be an issue again. A special prosecutor should have been appointed months ago, but as usual the regime is deathly opposed to special prosecutors as the truth may get out.  Instead we have the buttlicking Attorney General Eric Holder preventing a real investigation of any and all of the regime's misadventures and Constitutional violations, hoping for them to go away.
      Speaking of Obama scandals that won't go away, Benghazi is also going to be a problem for Obama and especially Hillary Clinton for quite awhile.  Look for Obama to eventually throw Hillary under the bus, unless she, like all good Clintons, knows where some of the bodies are buried.  I still don't think that she will run for President. She will be 70 years old and a long grueling  primary and then presidential campaign would be very difficult for her.  She looks terrible after her four years of running all over the world accomplishing nothing as secretary of state.  Whether Obama disses her or not, she is going to wear the shame of Benghazi and her hateful remarks about it for a long time.  The only way for it to go away is for to announce that she isn't running for president.  Who will take her place? Not an idiot like Joe Biden, he'd be better off replacing Jay Leno.  There are not many other prominent Democrats who have not been tarnished by Obama or their own scandals.  My dark horse is the dark horse Moochelle Obama. She loves flying on my dime on the government jets almost as much as her husband and sleeping for free in the White House.  The real reason why the White House tours were eliminated is not the sequestration, but her desire for more privacy.  She did not like the unwashed masses trudging around where she lives, invading her and her mother's privacy.  (Since this terrible policy went into effect, 344 lobbyist visits have taken place.  This is 344 more than is needed for a president who stated that he would not see lobbyists,) Her slogan would be " if you don't want to work, you don't have to. If you like your EBT card, you can keep it.  If you like your six Obamaphones, you can keep them too.  Plus I promise Obamacars (Chevy Volts) and Obamafood (veggies grown from my own garden for anyone who wants them)."   "Eight more years, so we can finish the job (of destroying America)."  The media already loves this ugly woman and she has recently started fund raising.  She had the major food providers in for a closed door meeting where she was by all published accounts telling them not too advertise so effectively to children.  The "if you don't" was not reported and it threatened them with all of the illegal tactics and increased regulations that the Obama regime is willing to burden their businesses,  There was also the real or implied request for money to avoid government sanctions.
      Obama continues to repeat the mistake of the past, as if history doesn't exist.  This is especially true of his energy policy or lack of it.  In 1979 Jimmy Carter imposed sanction on Iran and refused accepting Iranian oil imports due to the hostage situation. Price restrictions on the price of oil were gradually eliminated and so the price of oil soared from $6 a barrel to almost $40.  The price of gasoline soared as well.  This not only gave OPEC record profits, but also the USSR who became a world supplier of oil and their main source of hard currency.  Reagan removed all the Carter restrictions and the price of oil dropped quickly and the USSR eventually went broke, thus ending the Cold War, as the USSR could no longer keep up with our defense modernization and advances.  The price of oil and gasoline has risen to and remained at record levels despite a glut of oil within the United States.  We are rapidly becoming the largest producer of oil and natural gas in the world.  Through regulation and delay, the regime has continued to stall and bottleneck what could be a tremendous economic windfall for our country.  Obama has strangled production, by not permitting pipelines to be built, the Keystone for one, to get the oil and gas from where it found to where it can be refined and utilized.  Building pipelines  would create a huge number of jobs, not only in building and maintaining the pipeline itself, but also in the manufacturing of the pipes and parts. Congress would need to its part in reversing the law that does not allow us to ship unrefined oil to other countries or in non US flagged ships from one US port to another.  Permits need to be awarded to build and increase capacity at existing refineries as well as building new ones.  For now, if oil could be shipped overseas, it could be refined in several Caribbean refineries and then shipped back to the US.  Not only would the price of oil drop significantly, but jobs and government  tax income would be created.  There are 20 applications pending in Washington to build facilities for shipping natural gas abroad.  In the United States natural gas sells for $3.60 a million cubic feet, in Japan, China,  and Europe for as much as $16.00.  Unable to ship natural gas to other countries also stifles economic growth.  We have so much natural gas and no place to store it and the inability to ship it, has  caused it to be burned off, wasting an economic opportunity.  Green energy is a hoax, green is the new red.  It is the communism of our time (re Obama's former Green Commissar Van Jones who now works for the Center for American Progress).  The "flat Earthers" are really the uniformed, who have been coerced into believing that anthropogenic global warming actually exists by those interested in destroying America.  (A  recent report states that there is more than a million square miles of new antarctic ice.  This counters the recent unsubstantiated and fudged UN report.  I'm certain that you are aware that the UN is an antiAmerica and anti capitalist organization.  Basically it is a place where privileged people from third world countries can escape the misery they have created in their own countries and receive high pay for doing nothing.)  The world is in a cooling phase now.  The earth's temperature has more to do with its relationship to the sun than just about anything else.
      Basic economics demonstrates that taking advantage of our oil and gas boom would have massive economic benefits.  It would foster an industrial renaissance that would create millions of well paying jobs,  shift the balance of trade greatly in our favor, and boost the economy so massively that we significantly pay down the national debt and prevent the ruination of our country that Obama and his ilk are so desperately trying to produce.  Despite the lies and rhetoric, not a single one of his programs is a success, and now his only real political success, Obamacare, is poised to put the nail in the coffin for our country.  Obama is an accomplished liar and hypocrite. His speech this week on how his regime has reduced the deficit more than any other president is a joke.  That some idiots actual believe him is sad indeed.  Ironically, those uninformed have suffered and will continue to suffer the most. He benefits the most by keeping them uninformed and dependent, his version of pre Civil War slavery.
      If you enjoy my blogs, please pass them on to your friends, both liberal and conservative.  Maybe I can convert a few lost souls.  Thanks for your support.

Friday, September 6, 2013

Syria, Obamacare, Oil and Gas

      President Obama belongs in the category of inept and corrupt leaders that I've alluded to in other posts.  As you recall inept and or corrupt leaders never will admit their failures, instead they deny and blame.  Narcissist that he is, Obama can never admit to ever doing anything wrong and even lies about what he has said or done in the past.  Yesterday he denied the "red line" remark was his.  Instead he clearly put the blame on the "world" and Congress, so that if his Syrian misadventure is approved, any problems will fall on Congress, and when Obama blames Congress, he is only referring to Republicans (he'll take all the credit if it succeeds, just as with Bin Ladin).  After all the Republicans control the House, the Senate doesn't matter.   Most members of the Congressional Black Caucus has said that they will support the attack on Syria in order to not embarrass the President. It is more important to put American lives on the line than embarrass Obama.  I guess they hold our military in the same regard as the President.  You may not be aware that after he and Moochelle flew up to Martha's Vineyard in separate jets, they realized that Bo was home alone, and so they had him flown up in a Marine Osprey vertical takeoff aircraft. (I'm sure it was Bo and Moochelle's mother) When on vacation, I suppose that carbon footprints don't really matter.  Now Bo has a carbon footprint and our marines are now used as pet transporters  a good reason to pull them out of Iraq and Afghanistan).  He talks about Anthropogenic Global Warming, we all know is a Nazi hoax, that  scientifically cannot be proven to exist and, hypocrite that he is, has one of the largest carbon footprints in the world, along with wife Moochelle.  If Syria goes wrong he will blame Bush and the Republicans, just as he and Hilary blamed them for Benghazi even after they blamed an obscure stupid You Tube video.
      His plan to destroy American is made even worse by his incompetence.  As I have said before, arrogance and incompetence are a dangerous combination.  I suppose Liberals will deem me a racists because I disagree with Obama's agenda of anti capitalism, crony capitalism, cap and trade, crony bail outs, government stimulus, Obamacare, and card check. He is not only trying to fundamentally change American, he is trying to destroy it.  The amazing thing is that Obama's policies are racists in that the group that have suffered the most are the poor and black Americans.  Trying to buy them off with Obama phones and EBT cards is a ploy that can't and won't last.  Liberalism has done more to destroy the lives of black Americans than the KKK.  Liberals have created generations of dependency, low expectations, and hopelessness, but of course blame conservatives for the welfare disasters. Liberals War on Poverty of the 60's and 70's turned out to be more of a war on, not for, poor people. Detroit is a great example of what can happen to a great American city when liberal are in control.  Many other cities are sadly headed in this direction as is the whole state of California.  Wealth is sifting from NewYork and California to Florida and Texas primarily do to low taxes and a more positive attitude toward business.  It is no coincidence that Florida and Texas have had mostly Republican legislatures and governors.

      Regretfully, we had to pass Obamacare before we could know what's it in and as we learn, it is becoming more and more apparent of what a disaster this will be for America.  Nearly every group that was for it, is now against it, including the labor unions.  Some are even considering breaking away from the AFL, because of Trumpka's pro Obamacare stand.  Obamacare taxes so called Cadillac health insurance plans (yes, another tax and there are some many new taxes in Obamacare that maybe it ought to be called Obamatax or the Unaffordable Tax Act).  These are plans that cost over a certain amount.  Lesser costing plans would either provide fewer benefits or have higher deductible or both.  As it turns out the ceiling is so low that most union plans would be taxed up to 40%.  In fact, my own insurance plan of 2010, a typical HMO plan would have been taxed.  What Obamacare wanst to accomplish is to give everyone equal access to equally affordable healthcare.  Unfortunately this is equally bad healthcare.
     To a doctor, as with any small businessman, time is money, and a provision that is consuming much of your physician's time is the Hospital EHR, electronic health records.  Ths is another idea that sounds good on paper, but in practice is a disaster.  My hospital group switched to EHR and required all the doctors to take an 8 or 9 hour EHR course.  The program that my hospital chose was terrible.  It places nearly all the liability for the hospital's errors, clearly on the physician even when hospital personnel were clearly at fault.  The program was not at all intuitive and required reviewing minute details in order to proceed.  I did the medical records on three different types of surgical cases in four hours.  That's longer than it would take me to do the surgery, thus limiting my productivity and income.  Seeing the handwriting on the wall, I closed my practice and treat only out patients and non insurance  cases out side of the hospital.
      Our labor force is rapidly becoming part time, as Obamacare does not apply to anyone working less than 30 hours per week.  So not only are workers earning less, they are now forced to pay for their own healthcare or pay a penalty tax if they refuse to purchase health insurance.  The college students who supported Obama in 2008 or rapidly approaching their 26th birthday, so they will no longer be covered by their parent's insurance and suddenly have to get their own or pay a penalty.  For many, that becomes a real burden, as they may still be out of work since graduating and living at home.  Could it be that the age of twenty six was chosen so none of his student supporters would have to worry about this until after the 2012 election?   Do you think Obama knew and even planned on his policies failing in order to punish America?  Of course he did or else he was the stupidest man ever.  You decide.

      If you filled up your car recently, you are probably asking yourself, why is the price of gas so high especially if we are producing more.  The USA is on course to become the world's largest producer of oil and gas by 2015.  Massive deposits of shale oil and gas in all parts of the country have destroyed the myth that all the deposits of oil have already been discovered and that we will be out of it in America very soon.  Currently supplies are at their highest levels since the 1980's. Because of a pipeline shortage, it is necessary to ship crude oil by train, truck and even barge or boat as so much is being recovered.  Potentially, oil and gas could turn our economy around and lower the debt.  Unfortunately Obama and other liberals want to continue to destroy America and realize that oil and gas will destroy their goals.  Why do you think he keeps harping on Global Warming.  Currently, it doesn't even exist, as we have been going through a gradual cooling stage world wide for the past decade. (Please see my previous blogs on the Global Warming Hoax.) By doing the following our economy could be turned around.  First approve the  Keystone Pipeline.  Not only would it create good paying jobs constructing it, but also good paying jobs using and maintaining it.  Approve the 20 or so applications to build natural gas export facilities.  Currently we are burning off excess natural gas as we have not enough places to store it or ship it overseas.  The price of natural gas is around $4 for a million cubic feet is the USA, but can be sold for $12-$16 in China and Japan and $8-$10 in Europe.  Shipping natural gas is easier and safer if it is converted to a liquid and we lack the facilities to do this. This would tip the balance of trade in our favor very quickly and provide the government income from export licenses, workers' income taxes and corporate taxes.  Many major companies, such as Walmart, UPS, and Waste Management are converting their vehicles to use natural gas because it is cheaper, readily available, and burns cleaner than gasoline, if that is important to the flat Earthers who believe in Global Warming. Finally, repeal the Jones Act that prevents crude oil from being shipped overseas and in vessels that do not fly an American Flag.  Right now we do not have the refining capacity to handle all of our crude oil.  Although new refineries ought to be approved,  there are refineries in the Caribbean that could be utilized. This would release the bottle neck and lower the price of oil and gas, having a dramatic effect in improving our economy. Oil would be another export that would improve the economy.  The main resistance to this is from the far left who is out to destroy America.  There is absolutely no other reason for not doing this, especially since the effect it would have on our economy who be so positive.

      Just a little humor and horror:  I spent two weeks in Europe this summer and visited an old girl friend who lives in Malmo, Sweden across the bridge from Copenhagen where I attended a heavy metal two day festival, Copenhell 2013.  She sends her two young daughters to pre school and in addition to Swedish they are taught English and Arabic.  A huge number of Muslims live in Sweden and will take over the country in the next fifty years. Still the government doesn't see the threat and just yesterday offered to accept any refugees from Syria who wanted to live there.  At least they have to learn Swedish in order to work and get government benefits.  That will change as Swedes will eventually be forced to learn Arabic and accept Sharia Law.  You just can't make this stuff up.
      Upon my return from Europe I had to go through TSA to board my plane to Ft. Lauderdale.  TSA, being politically correct, stopped me after I cleared the metal detector for a routine check for explosive residue.  My carryon was also rechecked and I glanced over to watch, I was shocked to see that the woman viewing the scan was wearing a hajib.  That certainly gave me confidence in the system, yeah right. As I was putting my shoes and belt on again, I notice that the next victim of a routine check was an old man at least eighty years old, who appeared somewhat feeble and could barely walk.  You just can't make this stuff up.
      It is amazing how much regime officials are willing to lie.  I suppose they realize that their jobs and bun uses require it.  The Commerce Secretary commented today on CNBC how wonderful Obamacare is going to be.  He said it is increasing jobs (for the IRS), lowering the cost of health insurance, and increasing healthcare benefits.  What planet has this ass licker been living on.  The CNBC crew appeared shocked.  You just can't make this stuff up.

      Unbelievable,  two blogs in three days.  I guess I've got my Muse back.  Please comment and pass my blog on to your friends,especially your liberal ones if you what to piss them off.  They will make up all sorts of excuses and try to shift the argument, typical liberal tricks, but in the end they know I'm right.

   
   
     
     

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

My take on Syria.

      Once again the Obama regime has shown its ineptitude at foreign policy.  Every initiative, if you can call them that, has been a total failure with the exception of the killing of Osama bin Ladin, a moral victory rather than anything else.  Obama, his advisors, and handlers, including the two inept Secretaries of State Clinton and Kerry, have virtually no understanding of history and military tactics, much like the Carter regime (not knowing, ignoring, or not understanding history is why Obama has a failed presidency).  First Obama pissed off our two best allies, England and Israel.  Then he went to Cairo and promised a kinder gentler US in respect to the Arab world. culminating in his bowing down to King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia.  Arabs understand strength and laugh at weakness, its the primitive nature of Islam.   N. Koreas and Iran openly mock him, the Russians ignore him, despite his suspension of the missile defense system for Eastern Europe. The Chinese have been of little help, as well, and oppose our goals, if we actually have any in Syria.  Naturally for being such a total failure at peace, he has a Nobel Prize for being the most inept at bringing peace to the world.
      History tells us that Islam is very diverse and has many denominations and the various countries and regions where Islam is prominent has a diversity of ethnic groups.  Many of both the religious denominations and ethnic groups hate each other and want to kill each other.  There are few if any democratically elected leaders who represent all of religious and ethnic groups fairly.  Instead, as in Syria, Assad represents a Shiite and Alowite minority repressing Sunnis and the huge number of other ethnic and religious groups. Syria is also the home of almost two million Christains who represent several different denominations. He is the first civilian dictator in a long line of military dictators since Syria became independent of France after WWII.
      Islam is for the most part stuck in the 11th century, especially those who want Sharia Law to reign supreme. Sharia Law requires the demeaning and subjugation of women and the murder of homosexuals and non believers.  As a result, violence is a very important part of Islam culminating in a constant state of Jihad.  How Obama expects to make friends with those countries dominated by Sharia law is incomprehensible. The so called Arab Spring turned out to be one group of bad guys replacing another.  Our State Department's failure to recognize or ignore this is the main reason for out polcy failure.
      In addition corrupt and ineffectual administrations have plagued nearly all Muslim countries. Foreign aid usually winds up in the bank accounts of the leaders rather than the people.  There is little if any trickle down, so poverty remains the biggest problem and drives everything else, sometimes to the advantage of the leadership.  Inept and corrupt leaders tend to blame others for their failures.  (One need look no further than our own inept leader.) In the Middle East, it is Israel and the United States that are blamed for all of the failures, encouraging Jihad and sacrifice i.e. suicide bombers.  In Africa, it is often other tribes and religious groups, traditional enemies, that blame each other for poverty and failure,.  The only Middle East countries that show any success are those with a nearly uniform religious and ethnic groups, and a leadership willing to share its wealth with the people.  Leaders of some oils rich countries have recognized this in order to retain power.
     Not recognizing or ignoring the above has doomed the Obama regime's foreign policy to total failure.  Denying that radical Islam and a war on terrorism exists is a dangerous policy.  Prisoners at Guantanamo should never be tried or released until the war on terror is over.  This is not the 18th century where prisoners of war are furloughed and sit out the war back home.  During WWII nearly 500,000 POWs were housed in the US.  None were tried and none were released back to their own countries until the war was over and treaties signed. In Egypt we supported a mob against a violent and corrupt president who was a nominal ally.  The mob elected a repressive corrupt  president.  In Libya we supported a mob against an unfriendly, but inactive anti American dictator.  His replacement was so weak that violent mobs including Al Qaida roam the country killing four Americans, including our ambassador with no consequence.
      Now in Syria we have the Free Syrian Army fighting a brutal dictator who is supported by Iran, Russia and Hezbollah.  Iran has made Syria its surrogate against Israel as a way to get arms to Hesballah.  The Russians maintain a large naval base on the Syrian coast.  The Chinese and Europe get Syrian oil exports, that have declines significantly due to the civil war. The make up of the Free Syrian Army is very diverse and the CIA has given up its attempt to determine if there are any good guys who we could arm.  Basically its bad guys fighting bad guys. The only group that we could probably count on are the Kurds.  Kurds are a Muslim and ethnic sect that occupy portions of northern Iraq, northeaster Syria, and eastern Turkey.  Recall that these are the people that Sadam gassed.  They helped us during the Second Gulf War.  The Kurds want their own country, Kurdistan, but the main stumbling block is Turkey, a NATO member and nominal ally.  If the UN gets involved, once Assad is gone, they could designate northeastern Syria a separate  new country for the Kurds.
      As usual Obama continues to make statements that he has trouble backing up.  He has drawn a "red line" in Syria and it has been crossed.  He has painted himself into a corner. Both Bush 41 and 43 obtained a consensus before the Gulf Wars.  Having pissed off the British, they will not join us.  Both China and Russia will veto any UN involvement.  Without the British, NATO with possibly the exception of the French, who are wavering, shows no inclination in joining us. Therefore, we must go it alone.  Obama believes he will have a "consensus" by getting Congressional approval.  Even that is not a sure thing, though I believe he will get it.  If not he will blame Congress for what is clearly his problem.
      Obama continues to show his ignorance of tactics.  Rule number one of warfare, never tell the enemy when, where, or how and with what much you are going to attack.  Assad has had time to shift and conceal his military assets through out a country, the is the size of Washington state.  What I think he should do is degrade the air force and heavy long range artillery and destroy poison gas supplies.  Anything less would only encourage Assad to gas civilians again. Doing nothing would be far better than a meaningless token attack by a few hundred cruise missiles.  That never seems to work.  My recommendation would make the fight more even and allow the bad guys to continue killing bad guys. We should give material aid and encourage the UN to aid  the millions of refuges that have left Syria for safety, especially if they are in countries that are friendly to us.  Once both sides have degraded each other to the point of severe weakness, the UN should then step in, broker a peace that eliminates Assad, permits real elections, and make certain that any new regime is not repressive before leaving.  The Kurds should get serious consideration as well.  The new regime should be encourage to make peace with Israel and stay out of Lebanon and eliminate all support of Hezbollah.
      There you have it.  My view of the complex issue of Syria, based on history.  Sorry for not producing any blogs for a while.  I know its time for at least another "you just can't make this stuff up." Your comments are always welcome.