MacBigot Cached Glances

Now, we completely acknowledge that there are some Democrats who are above average; and should add that we are personally aware of more than a handful of Republicrats that think they will continue to get away with fooling Conservatives into believing they are represented in Washington D.C. — much the same way that most minority and low-income voters are continually courted into believing the Democrat Party is A Good Thing (and that their adversary, the Republican Party, hates anyone without a Platinum card).

“The poor have been voting democrat for 50 years and they’re still poor.” -Charles Barkley

I wonder what happened to the people in Congress who used to believe our actual enemy was tyranny, famine, pestilence, and foreign invaders? Must no longer be ‘cool’ to think that any more.

I have had dozens of conversations in the last year in which my Left-leaning friends are SHOCKED to learn that we Conservatives don’t want orphans to starve, immigrants to drown on their way here, and oil barons to rule the world with an iron money clip.

And those conversations make me angry — not just because these caricatures are baseless; but because I have a higher expectation of my fellow man than to believe the average American can consider divisive people like Katie Couric and Keith Olberman to be moral arbitors.

Can the country really be so weak-minded? I keep hearing Republicans call Glenn Beck a liar (apparently he is too much Conservative and too little — if at all — Republican); yet from the dozens of his shows I have caught, I have never once heard him say anything that I could not independently verify.

So everyone seems to prefer to sell lies for votes, and mistrust for allegiance. Impressive.

I will say to both political parties the same thing that I said to the Dems when John Kerry was running against Bush: ‘Is this truly the best you (we) can do?’ And to the Republicans, now: McCain? Really?

Finally, here is one writer’s take on the dichotomy of the Liberal mind (h/t to IOWAHAWK for sharing), and the reason I am thinking today about cranial misfires:

Why I Am A Democrat

I sometimes hear the question, “Why are you a Democrat?” and frankly, I have to laugh. Laugh and laugh, because perhaps this person may tire of my laughing, and he will eventually wander off. Sometimes I ponder seriously when I hear this question, because I’ll look around and around and there’s nobody there asking the question. Why am I a Democrat?

I am a Democrat because I believe everyone deserves a chance. And if necessary, a second chance. And if, by the eighth or ninth chance, this guy needs another chance, I mean, come on. This guy is due.

I am a Democrat because I believe in helping those in need. All of us, you and I, have an obligation to those less fortunate. You go first, okay? I’m a little short this week.

I am a Democrat because I believe in the equality of all people, regardless of their race. That is why I think we should give free medical degrees to minorities because, well, duh. Like any of those types are going to make it through medical school.

I am a Democrat because I fervently believe in tolerance. Tolerance is critical in our diverse society, and if you have a problem with that, mister, then I will inform the authorities and I bet that after a few hours in their “special room” you too will agree that tolerance is critical.

I am a Democrat because I believe that we should take our noses out of other people’s bedrooms. I say we move the noses to their banks and storage sheds and scout troops, and so forth.

I am a Democrat because I hold sacred freedom of the press, as well as freedom of the TV and freedom of the movie. Where I draw the line is freedom of the talk radio, and don’t even get me started about that damn Internet business.

I am a Democrat because I recognize that education is important. Very, very, extremely very important. We must increase spending on education and enact important education reforms, such as eliminating standardized tests. Because we can never hope to measure this beautiful, elusive, important thing we call education.

I am a Democrat because I believe in the separation of church and state. We must stop the religious extremists who want school-sanctioned prayers. Now, you tell me – with all that chanting and praying and incense-burning going on, how can our kids concentrate on the big condom-and-banana midterm?

I am a Democrat because I believe in the rights of women, be they lawyers or housewives or skanky interns. For too long women have been the victims of discrimination, and we must target programs to help these women, and also the various people who have descended from women.

I am a Democrat because I believe in women’s right to choose. I mean, not a church school or a tax shelter, or something like that, obviously. Let’s be reasonable.

I am a Democrat because I believe in the rule of law. Or, at least, lawyers. Because hey, according to my attorney, I could have been on the Number 7 bus when it crashed yesterday. As far as you know.

I am a Democrat because I believe a healthy economy depends on good jobs at good wages. So fork ‘em over, you fat b@stard boss man.

I am a Democrat because I believe the government should step in to create good jobs when that fat b@stard boss man moves my good job to Mexico. Hey, I know! Maybe we can take all the money that boss man spends on non-job-creating stuff, like solid gold yachts and mink spats, and use that money to create jobs.

I am a Democrat because I fear the power of giant unrestrained monopolies, such as Microsoft, Nike, Parker Brothers, Univac and the Erie Canal Company. The government must wage an unrelenting, all-out war to crush these scary monopolies to a pulp before they get too powerful.

I am a Democrat because I believe in a strong military. Strong, yes, but caring and thoughtful too, and ready to face new challenges. A military that enjoys long strolls on the beach, cuddling in front of a warm fire, unafraid to show its vulnerable side. Must be NS/DDF.

I am a Democrat because I believe there is too much violence in society, especially in our schools. To avoid another Columbine tragedy, we should have mellow “rap” sessions with at-risk teens, such as the Goths. The violence will only end after the teen Goths see that we adults really care, and are “hip” to their groovy teen Goth scene.

I am a Democrat because I believe in campaign finance reform. Sadly, our politics are dominated by advertisements, paid for by the contributions of giant corporations. All too often, these drown out legitimate grassroots opinions, like the kind heard on TimeWarner-AOL-CNN, TimesCorp, or Disney-ABC.

I am a Democrat because I believe in public support of the arts. By “the arts,” I of course mean those things made by, or excreted by, an artist of some sort. It is especially important that art be provocative and take controversial stances, like opposing Jesse Helms, and so on.

I am a Democrat because I believe in the environment and conservation. For instance, we must raise the price of gasoline, like they do in Europe, to increase conservation. If we don’t, there will soon be a big gas shortage, and this will mean higher gasoline prices for you and me.

I am a Democrat because I detest greed. Especially the sickening greed of those who struck it rich in the 1980s, and greedily refuse to give me any of their stuff.

I am a Democrat because I… hey look! A new episode of Survivor! Geez, I hope they don’t vote off Jenna, she’s my favorite.

This year, please do some homework before you vote. If you are one of the many who are disparaging Fox News — because you think they are being unfair — perhaps you yourself can let up on the countless hours of inhaling the fumes at Huffington Post?

Another gem from the mailbag…

The ANT AND THE GRASSHOPPER (OLD VERSION)

The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.

The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away.

Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed.

The grasshopper has no food or shelter, so he dies out in the cold.

MORAL OF THE (OLD) STORY: Be responsible for yourself!

———-

The ANT AND THE GRASSHOPPER (MODERN VERSION)

The ant works hard in the withering heat and the rain all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.

The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away.

Come winter, the shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while he is cold and starving.

CBS, NBC , PBS, CNN, And ABC show up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper next to a video of the ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food.

America is stunned by the sharp contrast.

How can this be, that in a country of such wealth, this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?

Kermit the Frog appears on Oprah with the grasshopper, and everybody cries when they sing, ‘It’s Not Easy Being Green…’

ACORN stages a demonstration in front of the ant’s house where the news stations film the group singing, “We shall overcome.”

Then Rev. Jeremiah Wright has the group kneel down to pray for the grasshopper’s sake, and whimpers, “Gawd DANG the hill-makers!”

President Obama points out that it’s clear the ant ‘acted stupidly’ and blames President Bush, President Reagan, Christopher Columbus, and the Pope for the grasshopper’s plight.

Nancy Pelosi & Harry Reid exclaim in an interview with Larry King that the ant has gotten rich off the back of the Grasshopper, and both call for an immediate tax hike on the ant to make him pay his fair share.

Janeane Garofalo appears in half a dozen YouTube videos, ranting about ‘Green Hate’ being the only reason the ant has no moral barriers to being an Oppressor.

The ant is fined for failing to hire a proportionate number of non-ants and, having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, his home is confiscated by the ‘Green Czar’ and redistributed to the grasshopper.

The story ends as we see the grasshopper and his free-loading friends finishing up the last bits of the ant’s food while the government house he is in, which, as you recall, just happens to be the ant’s old house crumbles around them because the grasshopper doesn’t maintain it.

The ant has disappeared in the snow, never to be seen again.

The grasshopper is later found dead and in possession of some bad grass — and the house, now abandoned, is taken over by a gang of spiders who terrorize the ramshackle, once prosperous and peaceful, neighborhood.

The entire neighborhood collapses, then the city, then the county, then finally the state takes notice and steps in to restore order — but the Federal Government intercedes to inform the State that Congress has finally disposed of the rest of the Constitution and the State no longer has the right to police itself. The country falls to chaos, bringing the rest of the free world with it. The only survivors are half of Congress, most of Hollywood, and the major news networks (from this point on, there is never a lack for bad news to report).

MORAL OF THE (NEW) STORY: Be careful how you vote in 2010.

Another from the mailbag:

THIS IS HOW YOU FIX CONGRESS!!!!!
A friend sent this along to me. I can’t think of a reason to disagree.

I am sending this to virtually everybody on my e-mail list and that includes conservatives, liberals, and everybody in between. Even though we disagree on a number of issues, I count all of you as friends. My friend and neighbor wants to promote a “Congressional Reform Act of 2010″. It would contain eight provisions, all of which would probably be strongly endorsed by those who drafted the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, and would be violently opposed by virtually if not all of our incumbent Senators and Representatives.

I know many of you will say, “this is impossible”. Let me remind you, Congress has the lowest approval of any entity in Government, now is the time when Americans will join together to reform Congress – the entity that represents us, and were ‘hired’ by us.

We need to find a Senator with enough integrity and intestinal fortitude to introduce this bill in the US Senate and a similarly disposed Representative to introduce a similar bill in the US House. These people will become American hero’s..

Thanks,

A Fellow American

***********************************
Congressional Reform Act of 2010

1. Term Limits: 12 years only, one of the possible options below.

A. Two Six year Senate terms
B. Six Two year House terms
C. One Six year Senate term and three Two Year House terms

Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, serve your term(s), then go home and back to work.

2. No Tenure / No Pension:

A congressman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they are out of office.

Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, serve your term(s), then go home and back to work.

3. Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social Security:

All funds in the Congressional retirement fund moves to the Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social Security system, Congress participates with the American people.

Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, serve your term(s), then go home and back to work.

4. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan just as all Americans.

Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, serve your term(s), then go home and back to work.

5. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.

Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, serve your term(s), then go home and back to work.

6. Congress loses their current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the American people.

Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, serve your term(s), then go home and back to work.

7. Congress must equally abide in all laws they impose on the American people.

Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, serve your term(s), then go home and back to work.

8. All contracts with past and present congressmen are void effective 1/1/11.

The American people did not make this contract with congressmen, congressmen made all these contracts for themselves.

Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, serve your term(s), then go home and back to work.

The following was written in response to a responsible, well-worded apology from the President of the NAACP for certain choices and previous statements regarding the recently-outed video of Shirley Sherrod. If this letter is truly representative of the ideals of the NAACP’s membership (rather than the behavior on the video), then we hope to see this light shine more often in the future. Unfortunately, the surprise that many are expressing over it indicates that they have kept this light under a bushel basket for far too long…

—–
While having a race-based association mete out moral judgments might sound like a good idea to some, it never has been — and the fact that they can come out with this ‘apology’ and try to sound authoritative and humane makes no difference to the reality that the NAAWP was not around to comment on everything that self-serving jerks like Sharpton and Jackson show up to soil with ‘their good names’ (they are not about any issue; these men are only about Sharpton and Jackson).

The Black Panther folks, as one example, are to the Black culture what the terrorists are to Islam — they remove doubt in those who wonder whether to fear another race or culture. The NAACP itself has done nothing but make this worse for the people it supposes to serve, by not loudly correcting, in public, the notion that all Black people stand together to support prejudice against those who don’t look the part.

Maybe I’m just not paying close enough attention, but I have never heard the leadership of an American mosque come to CNN and repeatedly share not only that the actions and the hate of the terrorists are not representative of their faith — but explain to non-Muslims what Islam is really about and why they believe so strongly what they practice. All we hear are the terrorists. All that reaches the microphones and cameras are those separatists preaching blame, hate and death.

All we hear from the ‘Black Community’ is Sharpton, Malik Shabazz, et al.

Imagine if everyone in a house was murdered, and the Capulets had a Montague arrested. It was proven, by evidence and witness accounts, that it would have been impossible for that Montague to have committed the crime — and in fact, it was a Capulet who had in a rage, killed his own kin. But instead of exonerating the man and clearing his name in as much a public manner as his was soiled, the arrested, his accusers, and the Leader of the Land all got together for a beer summit to discuss and agree that ‘this kind of family-on-family murder happens all the time’. Where is the NAACP now? Where is the Advancement? Where is the leadership they profess?

If the NAACP came out with letters like this one every time a public individual acted as selfishly, egotistically, and hatefully as Shirley Sherrod, America might start to think that we are to be judged only by the content of our character.

But just as it takes longer to ‘unring a bell’ than to ring it, those angerly shaking their fist in the air must be left to whine on their own, unsupported, for the damage to begin to unravel. You can’t buy progress with a single letter any more than you can purchase justice with three beers.

My Lefty friends maintain that our last President thinks he’s better than us — explaining (what they believe was) his primary failing. Our current President likes to stir up hatred for ‘Elitists’ that are the supposed ‘Enemy from the Right’ and heroes of Capitalism. Perhaps from opposite sides of the aisle, either man could be considered an Elitist. But regardless of your like/dislike of George W. Bush (he had his shortcomings), I have to wonder:

From the mailbag:

If George W. Bush had been the first President to religiously use a teleprompter, would you have laughed and said this is more proof of how inept he is on his own and is really controlled by smarter men behind the scenes?

If George W. Bush had spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to take Laura Bush to a play in NYC, would you have approved?

If George W. Bush had reduced your retirement plan’s holdings of GM stock by 90% and given the unions a majority stake in GM, would you have approved?

If George W. Bush had made a joke at the expense of the Special Olympics, would you have approved?

If George W. Bush had given Gordon Brown a set of inexpensive and incorrectly formatted DVDs, when Gordon Brown had given him a thoughtful and historically significant gift, would you have approved?

If George W. Bush had given the Queen of England an iPod containing videos of his speeches, would you have thought this embarrassingly narcissistic and tacky?

If George W. Bush had bowed to every national leader sporting a ribbon, crown, or turban (besides the Burger King), would you have approved?

If George W. Bush had visited Austria and made reference to the non-existent “Austrian language,” would you have brushed it off as a minor slip?

If George W. Bush had filled his cabinet and circle of advisers with people who cannot seem to keep current in their income taxes, would you have approved?

If George W. Bush had been so Spanish illiterate as to refer to “Cinco de Cuatro” in front of the Mexican ambassador when it was the 5th of May (Cinco de Mayo), and continued to flub it when he tried again, would you have winced in embarrassment?

If George W. Bush had mis-spelled the word “advice” would you have hammered him for it for years, like Dan Quayle and potatoe, as proof of what a dunce he is?

If George W. Bush had burned 9,000 gallons of jet fuel to go plant a single tree on Earth Day, would you have concluded he’s a hypocrite?

If George W. Bush’s administration had okayed Air Force One flying low over millions of people followed by a jet fighter in downtown Manhattan causing widespread panic, would you have wondered whether they actually get what happened on 9-11?

If George W. Bush had failed to send relief aid to flood victims throughout the Midwest with more people killed or made homeless than in New Orleans , would you want it made into a major ongoing political issue with claims of racism and incompetence?

If George W. Bush had created the position of 32 or more Czars who report directly to him, bypassing the House and Senate on much of what is happening in America, would you have approved?

If George W. Bush had ordered the firing of the CEO of a major corporation, even though he had no constitutional authority to do so, would you have approved?

If George W. Bush had proposed to double the national debt, which had taken more than two centuries to accumulate, in one year, would you have approved?

If George W. Bush had then proposed to double the debt again within 10 years, would you have approved?

If George W. Bush had spent more than all the Presidents combined since George Washington, would you have approved?

So, tell me again, what is it about Obama that makes him so brilliant and impressive? Can’t think of anything? Don’t worry. He did all of this in his first 10 months — so you’ll have several more years to come up with an answer.

I grew up believing in Spock. Not the Doctor Spock who literally wrote the controversial book (several, actually) on child rearing, but the character from the classic Star Trek television series, who, despite his fallibility as a living being, could always fall back on logic whenever the universe turned to tribble poo. I believed that things would, could, and should make sense.

As an adult, I have come to understand that this belief in and love of logic is not common. Instead, belief systems or ideals of hate and closed-mindedness rule the earth.

I’m gonna bet that this post will prompt several to come out of the woodwork to ‘explain’ to us that civil rights, education, and equality are all Lefty ideas that have only progressed under, and because of, their watch… but then, that would only prove the point.

What follows (quoted below) is a bit of a joke, pitting the Right and the Left against each others as an estranged married couple, hoping to resolve their differences by parting ways permanently.

Unfortunately, this thing that is presently a country of diverse views is an all-or-nothing proposition; we stand or fail — together. When a Conservative talk show host commented that he hoped Barack Obama’s plan to unhinge the country would fail, he was lambasted by the Media as saying that he hoped the country would fail. For many Americans, this Lefty media lie was accepted as fact; for others, it’s obvious that someone who is destroying American strengths and growing new national weaknesses cannot truthfully be equated to America herself — Barack Obama is not America; he is only an American. Indeed, if he meets his stated objectives and follows the ideals that he and his history of friends have espoused, America will surely be lesser for it — and if he fails, America just might survive.

There are some people living here who grasp what things are unique to American culture — and alternately, which are the reasons people from all over the world strive to come here. An opposing school of thought, driven by charismatic words extolling the virtues of lifestyles and ideals that have driven those societies who do not have what America does — well, they cannot see what they already have in America, because they are being deluded by slick talkers to work toward the same mentality that has driven every great civilization before us into the footnotes of history.

From the mailbag:

SUBJECT: Divorce Proposal
TO: American liberals, leftists, social progressives, socialists, Marxists and Obama supporters, et al:

We have stuck together since the late 1950′s, but the whole of this latest election process has made me realize that I want a divorce. I know we tolerated each other for many years for the sake of future generations, but sadly, this relationship has run its course.

Our two ideological sides of America cannot and will not ever agree on what is right so let’s just end it on friendly terms. We can smile and chalk it up to irreconcilable differences and go our own way.

Here is a model separation agreement:

Our two groups can equitably divide up the country by landmass each taking a portion. That will be the difficult part, but I am sure our two sides can come to a friendly agreement. After that, it should be relatively easy! Our respective representatives can effortlessly divide other assets since both sides have such distinct and disparate tastes.

We don’t like redistributive taxes so you can keep them. You are welcome to the liberal judges and the ACLU. Since you hate guns and war, we’ll take our firearms, the cops, the NRA and the military.

You can keep Oprah, Michael Moore and Rosie O’Donnell (You are, however, responsible for finding a bio-diesel vehicle big enough to move all three of them). We also won’t quibble over your having Ted Turner, Sean Penn, Martin Sheen, Barbara Streisand, & Jane Fonda.

We’ll keep the capitalism, greedy corporations, pharmaceutical companies, WalMart and Wall Street. You can have your beloved homeless, homeboys, hippies and illegal aliens. We’ll keep the hot Alaskan hockey moms, greedy CEO’s and rednecks. We’ll keep the Bibles and give you NBC and Hollywood .

You can make nice with Iran and Palestine and we’ll retain the right to invade and hammer places that threaten us. You can have the peaceniks and war protesters. When our allies or our way of life are under assault, we’ll help provide them security.

We’ll keep our Judeo-Christian values. You are welcome to Islam, Scientology, Humanism and Shirley McClain. You can also have the U.N. But we will no longer be paying the bill.

We’ll keep the SUVs, pickup trucks and oversized luxury cars. You can take every Subaru station wagon you can find.

You can give everyone healthcare if you can find any practicing doctors. We’ll continue to believe healthcare is a luxury and not a right. We’ll keep The Battle Hymn of the Republic and the National Anthem. I’m sure you’ll be happy to substitute Imagine, I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing, Kum Ba Ya or We Are the World.

We’ll practice trickle down economics and you can give trickle up poverty your best shot. Since it often so offends you, we’ll keep our history, our name and our flag.

Would you agree to this? If so, please pass it along to other like minded liberal and conservative patriots and if you do not agree, just hit delete. In the spirit of friendly parting, I’ll bet you answer which one of us will need whose help in 15 years.

Sincerely,
John J. Wall
Law Student and an American

The nice folks at TaxFoundation.org have a well-tooled explanation posted about what they call Tax Freedom Day [PDF] on their site; but the short version is this: If you were to add up all the tax responsibilities of the average American, and plot the number of days on a calendar that it would take you to fulfill those responsibilities, ‘Tax Freedom Day’ is the first day on the calendar you are getting to keep some (any) of the money you earn.

Having said that, knowing now that roughly half of Americans pay no tax to the Federal government at all means it’s likely a bit later in the year for me, since Tax Freedom Day for non-contributors is January 1st. For clarity, that means for every person who does not contribute to Americans’ tax burden, someone else is paying — and for every voter who supports the idiotic claims that ‘the rich aren’t carrying their fair share’, I remind you of our previous story: “How Taxes Work — or, ‘How to Pay for Beer’“, appearing again below for your convenience.

From the mailbag:

“How Taxes Work — or, ‘How to Pay for Beer,

Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to $100.

If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:

The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.
The fifth would pay $1.
The sixth would pay $3.
The seventh would pay $7.
The eighth would pay $12.
The ninth would pay $18.
The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.

So, that’s what they decided to do.

The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve. ‘Since you are all such good customers,’ he said, ‘I’m going to reduce the cost of your daily beer by $20.’ Drinks for the ten now cost just $80.

The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes so the first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free. But what about the other six men – the paying customers? How could they divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his ‘fair share?’

They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody’s share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his beer.

So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man’s bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay. And so:

The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings).
The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33%savings).
The seventh now pay $5 instead of $7 (28%savings).
The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).
The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings).
The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).

Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to drink for free.

But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings.

‘I only got a dollar out of the $20′ declared the sixth man. Then he pointed at the tenth man, ‘but he got $10!’

‘Yeah, that’s right,’ exclaimed the fifth man. ‘I only saved a dollar, too. It’s unfair that he got ten times more than I!’

‘That’s true!!’ shouted the seventh man. ‘Why should he get $10 back when I got only two? The wealthy get all the breaks!’

‘Wait a minute,’ yelled the first four men in unison. ‘We didn’t get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!’

The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.

The next night the tenth man didn’t show up for drinks, so the nine sat down and had beers without him.

But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They didn’t have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill!

And that, journalists and college professors, is how our tax system works.

The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction.

Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore.

In fact, they might start drinking overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.

-David R. Kamerschen, Ph.D. Professor of Economics University of Georgia”

First, a program note: Though I am human, and am weak at times, I strive to never call people names, or belittle them, or turn a philosophical difference into a personal attack. I do tend to take the gloves off when commenting on people in power who are ‘thinking for us’, and making decisions and taking action against the will of those they claim to represent. But to lambast a fellow constituent, because I disagree with them? You will never hear the kind of foul language that I’ve been overhearing all day today, as people comment to each other ‘how stupid’ people are who “don’t understand that this is made especially to benefit them” (note the condescending ‘White-Man’s Burden’ to save the ‘po folk’ who are apparently the only people who are protesting at the Tea Party rallies. The implication is that anyone against the Healthcare Takeover must be Ignorant Trailer Trash, who need to be saved from themselves.

Second, there is an ongoing meme, supported by the Mainstream Media just as adherently as the Democrat party-line, that the ‘crimes’ committed by the health & medical insurance industry (who take less than 2% profits from the service we pay them for) will somehow not be committed by the government — as if the Federal Hegemony will be more pure, more trustworthy, more transparent. I repeat: We are not looking for a savior. Those of us clinging to our guns and religion already have one of those — what we want from the government is to stop adding to the controls they have over every aspect of our lives.

“At the heart of this debate is the question of whether we’re going to accept a system that works better for the insurance companies than it does for the American people — (applause) — because if this vote fails, the insurance industry will continue to run amok. They will continue to deny people coverage. They will continue to deny people care. They will continue to jack up premiums 40 or 50 or 60 percent as they have in the last few weeks without any accountability whatsoever.” President Obama, March 19, 2010.

Source: HHS, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services [PDF]

Democrat Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz Admits Executive Order Can’t Change Law (YouTube.com h/t FoxNews.com)

(The following charts h/t Eight Health Care Charts That Depict the Utter Cruelty of DemCare – DirectorBlue)

About Those ‘Racial Slurs:’ Real News or Media Propaganda? (BigJournalism.com)

An ongoing tactic of belittling and personal attacks has been the acceptable, even expected, amoral code for the Left for decades. This decade, the cry of ‘Racism!’ is by far the favorite — so much so that anyone daring to side with Conservative thought are instantly branded, and any minority with Conservative views is an ‘Uncle Tom’.

Since the following video was first posted, John Lewis and the Congressional Black Caucus have claimed they were called racial slurs by Tea Party members opposed to Obamacare. As you can see in the video, there is no evidence of the so-called “N-word” or any other slur being used (or the Representatives ducking or flinching from being spat upon), despite the claims of the CBC and their lapdogs at CNN, NBC, MSNBC, CBS.

As several commentators have noted, the absence of video evidence does not prove that their reports are invalid; however with dozens of cameras rolling, it becomes less believable when these Representatives are on their way to screw the American people, and their children’s children’s children. Their credibility is simply zero — and that has nothing at all to do with race; but instead is this one blogger’s estimation of the content of their character.

From the Power Line Blog:

Any number of people, including news organizations, were covering the protest and House Democrats’ actions yesterday. If the Democrats’ charge is true, evidence of it should exist. Clyburn et al. should either produce video that confirms their allegation, or else apologize to the anti-Obamacare demonstrators. And the AP should investigate before it reports charges as facts.

I am upset over those in the media (whether ‘fair and balanced’ or ‘mainstream left’) who choose to call the opponents of this Statist takeover of the healthcare industry as ‘against healthcare reform’. I am not surprised that those selling the idea use this terminology — in fact, I expect it from them. But for the media to pretend that they are impartial, and to still promulgate this turn of phrase — that is, in journalistic terms at least, no less than criminal. To be clear, no one is against healthcare reform; not even the healthcare industry that the Democrats intend to dismantle, destroy, fold, spindle and mutilate.

On top of this, our Esteemed Pile of Change continually hammers the idea that the Republican Party has refused to come to the table with any ideas. In fact, he went out of his way to claim (not imply) that the G.O.P. had even refused to sit down to discuss what was already slung across the table by his own band of merry men. On both points, (as was once pointed out by Joe Wilson) He Lied. To catch you (those of you who do not know how to use Google) up:

Healthcare.GOP.gov
Healthcare.CATO.org
Center for Health Transformation

Thirdly, Obama likes to talk about how the Federal government is going to whisk the cover of darkness away, and make the legislative process a ‘transparent’ one. In fact, Nancy Pelosi has called this “the most transparent and ethical Congress”:

It should go without saying that anyone paying attention will have the same disdainful view on the ‘bipartisan’ efforts of this President, and his puppetmasters Pelosi and Reid, while disappearing into back-rooms where C-SPAN cameras and any Republican with an idea to shake in the air can’t find them.

The last thing that torques my panties is the idea, accepted by everyone from Chris Matthews on down the line, that Barack is somehow absolved from the responsibility of error because of the treacherously impossible condition that the country was left in by his predecessor, George W. Bush.

Mr. Bush was, by many measures, a decent President — but I can understand why people of differing opinions might dislike what a man, not themselves, has done. I can even understand the tendency to bad-mouth that person for all eternity. What I can’t understand, though, is that despite the data, the media is happy to keep the Obamanut as their god by parroting everything he says as the gospel truth.

“By any measure, my administration has inherited a fiscal disaster.” -President Barack ‘The-Buck-Stops-Here’ Obama

But it’s not a surprise for anyone who chooses to pay attention — Obama has used Bush in comparative fashion even before he was elected to lie to the American people:

One thing is sure: Obama himself is the only sure winner here, as his name will be forevermore written as the Father of American Healthcare. Whether he will ever realize what that means to us as a nation depends on how much older and wiser he lives to be, and whether his ego will ever pale in significance to the success of us all as a country.

And you folks who think it’s appropriate to crank up the potty hole to belittle and bully people who don’t see things the same way you do…

You kiss your mother with that mouth?

—–
LinkLove:

(The psychology behind a…) Manufactured Healthcare Crisis (TruthAndCons)

Links to All Manufactured Crisis Articles (ObamaCrisis)

House roll call on healthcare bill: 34 Dems vote against (TheHill.com)

FINAL VOTE RESULTS FOR ROLL CALL 165 (Clerk.House.gov)

20 Ways ObamaCare Will Take Away Our Freedoms (Investors.com)

The Real Arithmetic of Health Care Reform (NYTimes.com)

It’s NOT a Health Bill, NOT a Medicare Tax and It Can’t Possibly Cost Only $940 Billion (CATO-at-Liberty.org)

Health Cost Projections to 2019: The Doc Fix Trick Again (CATO-at-Liberty.org)

Former CBO Director: ObamaCare Would Add $562 Billion to Federal Deficits (CATO-at-Liberty.org)

The Truth about Health Insurance Premiums and Profits (CATO.org)

Don’t Confuse Health Care Reform with Public Health (CATO.org)

Tyler Cowen’s Uneasy Case for Managed Care (CATO.org)

Health Care Reform: It’s Time to Decide, and 54% of Voters Oppose the Health Care Plan (RasmussenReports.com)

Caterpillar: Health care bill would cost it $100M (ChicagoBreakingBusiness.com)

Stahl: I Can’t Tell If ObamaCare Raises Taxes, But Worth It For Something ‘Really Important’ (NewsBusters.org)

If You Like Your Insurance… (JammieWearingFool)

Al Sharpton: ‘The American Public Overwhelmingly Voted for Socialism When They Elected President Obama’ (NewsBusters.org)

Health bills could expand IRS role (USAToday.com)

‘Courage’ hailed by prez really just assisted suicide (NYPost.com)

Washington Post Describes Tea Party as a ‘Hideous Display’ on the Front Page (NewsBusters.org)

EDITORIAL: Boyd’s fiscal fantasy (NewsHerald.com)

Obamacare Means 159 New Gov’t Agencies (NewsMax.com)

Sen. Durbin says HC bill will keep people out of emergency rooms (AmericanThinker.com)

Is Obamacare Smoot-Hawley II? (AmericanThinker.com)

America’s Day of Wreckoning — the Socialist Putsch Comes to Washington (BigJournalism.com)

H.R. 4872, THE HEALTH CARE & EDUCATION AFFORDABILITY RECONCILIATION ACT of 2010 IMPLEMENTATION TIMELINE (PDF from BradMiller.House.gov)

So, Obasocialist Care Passed. What Next? (RightWingNews.com)

Silver Linings (PowerLineBlog.com)

Repeal ObamaCare? Don’t Count On It Republicans (BelowTheBeltway.com)

Entitlements Are Never Repealed (AmConMag.com)

Repeal Health Care Reform? Unlikely. (OutsideTheBeltway.com)

The Day America’s Healthcare Died (Moonbattery.com)

You Know Your Enemies And They Stand Before You (RedState.com)

New Health-Care Taxes Help Obama ‘Spread the Wealth’ [PDF]

The Tax Policy Briefing Book: A Citizens’ Guide for the 2008 Election, and Beyond (PDF from TaxPolicyCenter.org)

Just who have the Democrats ‘defeated’ by passing Obamacare?”> (AmericanThinker.com)

A Three-Pronged War Against Statism (RightSideNews.com)

How the Left fakes the hate: A primer (MichelleMalkin.com)

LinkLove about the ‘Freedom of Choice in Health Care Act’

ALEC’s Freedom of Choice in Health Care Act: How Your State Can Protect Patients’ Rights (ALEC.org)

38 States Poised to Sue Federal Government Over Mandatory Health Care Insurance Requirement (MedicalJustice.com)
Lawsuits Planned by 38 States If Health Reform Passes (RedState.com)
38 States Consider Suing Federal Government Over Healthcare (OnesObservations.blogspot.com)
In support of State-level nulification of healthcare (ResistNet.com)
States Launching ‘Civil Disobedience’ to National Health Care (MichiganCapitolConfidential.com)
YouTube: “Freedom of Choice in Health Care Act” (YouTube.com)
Health Care Legislation: Here Come the Lawsuits (CNSNews.com)
Special Editorial: Repeal (A one-word agenda for Republicans) (WeeklyStandard.com)
Hugh Hewitt: What the NRCC needs to do now (WashingtonExaminer.com)
Attorneys general launch lawsuit backlash against Demcare”> (MichelleMalkin.com)

“I have no plan to order the lives of the 40 million uninsured. I have no plans for how you should run your life, what insurance you should have, or where you should spend you money; and frankly I find it a little creepy that you have a plan for ordering my private life. And let’s face it, you don’t plan to insure 40 million Americans, you plan to force the other 250 million Americans to do it.”

This, and further clarity on the subject, opined by Cory Genelin over at AmericanThinker.com.

But then, you would have to have the Audacity to Hope that the Lefty Lemming you’re conversing with has the ability to discuss and consider — rather than prejudging your ideas based on whatever Obama, Chris Matthews, and Saul Alinsky have taught them about you and your inability to cogitate.

H/T to MichelleMalkin.com: Kate Zernike of the New York (fishwrap) Times claims that Mattera used a ‘Chris Rock voice’ to mock principles that she (and unbiased reporter) holds near and dear.

Here, Mattera responds to this hack’s evaluation and accusations:(video on UStream.tv).

(TRANSCRIPT BELOW)

Yuri Bezmenov

(What kind of ‘useful idiots’ could Yuri be referring to? Many are outing themselves readily; others may have been elected by our very own votes…)

OpenYourEyes
KGB Officer Explains Russian/NWO Agenda For “Amerika”

Transcript of interview [video]:

ED GRIFFIN:

(introduces Mr. Bezmenov)

Our conversation is with Yuri Alexandrovic Bezmenov. Mr. Bezmenov was born in 1939 in a suburb of Moscow. He was the son of a high ranking Soviet Army officer. He was educated in the elite schools inside the Soviet Union; and became an expert in Indian culture and Indian languages.

He had an outstanding career with Novosti, which was, and still is, I should say, the press arm or press agency of the Soviet Union; it turns out this is also a front, for the KGB.

He escaped to the West in 1970 after becoming totally disgusted with the Soviet system; and he did this at great risk to his life. He certainly is one of the worlds outstanding experts on the subject of Soviet propaganda; and disinformation and active measures.

ED GRIFFIN:

Well, you spoke before about “ideological subversion” and that’s a phrase that I’m afraid some Americans don’t understand. When the Soviets use the phrase “ideological subversion” what do they mean by it?

YURI BEZMENOV:

1. Ideological subversion is the process which is [a] legitimate, old word, and open. You can see it with your own eyes. All American mass media has to do is to “unplug bananas” from their ears, open up their eyes, and they can see it. There is no mystery.

It has nothing to do with espionage. I know that espionage intelligence gathering looks more romantic. It sells more deodorants through the advertising.

That’s probably why your Hollywood producers are so crazy about James Bond types of films. But in reality the main emphasis of the KGB is NOT in the area of intelligence at all.

According to my opinion, and the opinions of many defectors of my caliber, only about 15% of time, money, and manpower is spent on espionage as such.

The other 85% is a slow process which we call either ideological subversion, active measures, or psychological warfare. What it basically means is: to change the perception of reality of every American that despite of the abundance of information no one is able to come to sensible conclusions in the interest of defending themselves, their families, their community, and their country.

It’s a great brainwashing process which goes very slow and is divided into four basic stages.

The first stage being “demoralization”. It takes from 15 to 20 years to demoralize a nation.

Why that many years? Because this is the minimum number of years required to educate one generation of students in the country of your enemy exposed to the ideology of [their] enemy.

In other words, Marxism-Leninism ideology is being pumped into the soft heads of at least 3 generation of American students without being challenged or counterbalanced by the basic values of Americanism; American patriotism.

Most of the activity of the department [KGB] was to compile huge amount / volume of information, on individuals who were instrumental in creating public opinion.

Publishers, editors, journalists, uh actors, educationalists, professors of political science. Members of parliament, representatives of business circles.

Most of these people were divided roughly into two groups: those who would tow the Soviet foreign policy, they would be promoted to positions of power through media and public manipulation; [and] those who refuse the Soviet influence in their own country would be character assassinated OR executed physically, come Revolution.

Same way as in a small town of Hua in South Vietnam; several thousands of Vietnamese were executed in one night when the city was captured by [the] Viet Cong for only two days; and American CIA could never figure out – how could [the communists] possibly know each Individual, where he lives, where to get him; and [in order that they] would be arrested in one night basically in four hours before dawn, put on a van, driven out of the city limits and shot.

The answer is very simple. Long before communists occupy the city, there was extensive network of informers; local Vietnamese citizens who knew absolutely everything about people who are instrumental in public opinion – including Barbers and Taxi Drivers.

Everyone who was sympathetic to United States was executed. Same thing was done under the guidance of the Soviet Embassy in Hanoi, and same thing I was doing in New Delhi.

To my horror, I discovered that in the files were people who were doomed to execution. There were names of pro-Soviet Journalists, with whom I was personally friendly.

ED GRIFFIN:

Pro Soviet?

YURI BEZMENOV:

Yes, absolutely. They were idealistically minded leftist communists who had made several visits to the USSR; and yet the KGB decided, that come Revolution, or drastic changes in political structure of India – they will have to go. ED GRIFFIN: Why is that?

YURI BEZMENOV:

Because they know too much. Simply, because, you see the USEFUL IDIOTS; the leftists who are idealistically believing in the beauty of Soviet or Communist or Socialist or whatever system; when they get disillusioned, they become the worst enemies.

That’s why my KGB instructors specifically made the point, “never bother with leftists, forget about these political prostitutes – aim higher” this was my instruction.

Try to get into, uh, large circulation, established conservative media. Reach filthy rich movie makers, intellectuals in so-called academic circles. Cynical, ego-centric people who can look into your eyes with angelic expression and tell you a lie. This are the most recruitable people; people who lack moral principals – who are either too greedy or too, uh, suffer from self-importance, uh, they feel that they matter a lot. Uh, these are the people who KGB wanted very much to recruit.

ED GRIFFIN:

But to eliminate the others; to execute the others, don’t they serve some purpose – wouldn’t they be the one’s to rely on?

YURI BEZMENOV:

No they serve purpose only [up] to the stage of destabilization of a nation. For example, your leftists in [the] United States; all these professors and all these beautiful civil rights defenders.

They are instrumental in the process of the subversion; only to destabilize a nation.

When the job is completed, they are not needed anymore. They know too much.

Some of them, when they get disillusioned – when they see that Marxist-Leninist come to power. Obviously they get offended; they think that THEY will come to power.

That will never happen, of course; they will be lined up against the wall and shot.

But they may turn into the most bitter enemies of Marxist-Leninists when they come to power; and that’s what happened in Nicaragua.

You remember most of these former Marxist-Leninists were either put to prison or one of them split and now he’s working against the Sandinistas

It happened in Grenada when Maurice Bishop, he was already a Marxist – he was executed by the new Marxists who was more Marxist than this Marxist.

Same happened in Afghanistan, when, uh, first there was Taraki he was killed by Amin, then Amin was killed by Karmal with the help of KGB.

Same happened in Bangladesh where Mujibur Rahman, very pro-soviet leftist; was assassinated by his own Marxist-Leninist military comrades.

It’s the same pattern everywhere. The moment they serve their purpose, all the useful idiots are either executed entirely; all the idealistically minded Marxists.

Or exiled, or put in prisons like in Cuba many former Marxists are in Cuba, and in prison.

So basically America is stuck, with demoralization; and unless, even if you start right now this minute; you start educating new generation of Americans – it will still take you 15 to 20 years to turn the tide of uh, ideological perception of reality; uh back to normalcy and patriotism.

The result? The result you can see — most of the people who graduated in the 60′s, dropouts or half-baked intellectuals, are now occupying the positions of power in the government, civil service, business, mass media, and educational systems. You are stuck with them.

You can’t get rid of to them. They are contaminated. They are programmed to think and react to certain stimuli in a certain pattern [alluding to Pavlov]. You can not change their mind even if you expose them to authentic information.

Even if you prove that white is white and black is black, you still can not change the basic perception and the logic of behavior.

In other words [for] these people the process of demoralization is complete and irreversible. To rid society of these people you need another 15 or 20 years to educate a new generation of patriotically minded and common sense people who would be acting in favor and in the interests of United States society.

ED GRIFFIN:

And yet these people who have been programmed and as you say [are] in place and who are favorable to an opening with the Soviet concept [meaning NEW WORLD ORDER]- these are the very people who would be marked for extermination in this country?

YURI BEZMENOV:

Most of them, yes. Simply because the psychological shock when they will see in [the] future what the beautiful society of EQUALITY and social justice means in practice, obviously they will revolt.

They will be very unhappy [and] frustrated people, and Marxist Leninist regime does not tolerate these people. Obviously they will join the [ranks] of dissenters; dissidents.

Unlike the present [1984] United States there will be no place for dissent in future Marxist-Leninist America.

[Now] you can get popular like Daniel Ellsberg and filthy rich like Jane Fonda for being a dissident [and] for criticizing your Pentagon.

In [the] future these people will simply be [he makes a squishy noise] squashed like cockroaches for criticizing the government.

Nobody is going to pay them nothing for their beautiful [and] noble ideas of EQUALITY. This they don’t understand and it will be the greatest shock for them, of course.

The demoralization process in the United States is basically completed already for the last 25 years.

Actually, it’s over fulfilled because demoralization now reaches such areas where not even Comrade Andropov and all his experts would even dream of such tremendous success.

Most of it is done by Americans to Americans thanks to lack of moral standards. As I mentioned before, exposure to true information does not matter anymore.

A person who was demoralized is unable to assess true information. The facts tell nothing to him, even if I shower him with information, with authentic proof, with documents and pictures.

Even if I take him by force to the Soviet Union and show him the concentration camps…he will refuse to believe it…. until he is going to receive a kick in his fat bottom.

When the military boot crashes – then he will understand. But not before that. That’s the tragedy of the situation of demoralization.

2. The next stage is destabilization….

this time, subverter does not care about your ideas and the patterns of your consumption. Whether you eat junk food and get fat and flabby doesn’t matter any more.

It only takes 2 to 5 years to destabilize a nation. This time what matters is essentials; economy, foreign relations, [and] defense systems.

And you can see it quite clearly that in some… sensitive areas such as defense and [the] economy, the influence of Marxist-Leninist ideas in the United States is absolutely fantastic.

I could never believe it 14 years ago when I landed in this part of the world that the process will go that fast.

3. The next stage of course is crisis, which may take only up to 6 weeks to bring a country to the verge of crisis. You can see it in Central America now; and after crisis, with the violent change of power structure and economy, you have the period of so called “normalization” [which] it may last indefinitely.

Normalization is a cynical expression, borrower from Soviet Propaganda. When the Soviet tanks moved into Czechoslovakia in 1968, comrade Brezhnev said “Now the situation in brotherly Czechoslovakia is normalized”. This is what will happen in [the] United States if you allow all the shmucks to bring the country to crisis.

To promise people all kinds of goodies, and the paradise on Earth. Uh to destabilize your economy to eliminate the principal of free market competition; and to put a big brother government in Washington D.C.; with benevolent dictators like [1984] Walter Mondale [2008 Obama] who will promise lots of things – Never mind whether the promises are fulfilled or not.

He [the dictator] will go to Moscow to kiss the bottoms of a new generation of Soviet Assassins. Never mind [nothing to see here, move along], he will create false illusions that the situation is under control.

Situation is NOT under control. Situation is disgustingly out of control.

Most of the American politicians, media, and educational system train another generation of people who think they are living at the peacetime. False.

United States is in a state of war; undeclared, total war against the basic principles and foundations of this system. And the initiator of this war is not Comrade Andropov of course – it’s the system. However, ridiculous it may sound, [it is] the world Communist system, or the world Communist conspiracy. Whether I scare some people or not, I don’t give a hoot.

If you’re not scared by now, nothing can scare you. You don’t have to be paranoid about it. What actually happens now; that unlike myself, you have literally several years to live on unless United States wake up. The time bomb is ticking.

With every second the disaster is coming closer. Unlike myself, you will have nowhere to defect to, unless you want to live in Antarctica with penguins.

This is it, this is the last country with freedom and possibility.

ED GRIFFIN:

Okay, so what do we do? What is your recommendation to the American people?

YURI BEZMENOV:

Well, the immediate thing that comes to mind is, of course, there must be a very strong national effort to educate people in the spirit of REAL patriotism, number one. Number two, to explain [to] them the real danger of socialist, communist, welfare state, Big Brother government. If people fail to grasp the impending danger; nothing ever will help the United States. You may kiss goodbye your freedoms, including [sending] homosexuals to prison inmate. All this freedom will vanish in 5 seconds – including your precious lives.

The moment at least part of [the] United States population is convinced that the danger is real, they have to FORCE their government, and I’m not talking about sending letters, signing petitions, and all this beautiful, noble activity, I’m talking about FORCING [the] United States government to stop aiding Communism….

Think the Presidential ‘Book of Secrets’ depicted in the movie ‘National Treasure II‘ was too far-fetched? Perhaps the movie just didn’t go far enough to explain that in addition to alien abductions and the answers to half the conspiracy theories ever concocted — there are personal secrets of our Presidents that are protected by the same legal barriers.

The Presidential Records Act (PRA) of 1978…

…was further defined by Executive Order 12667, by Ronald Reagan, on January 18, 1989.

…which was revoked and replaced by Executive Order 13233, by President George Walker Bush, on November 1, 2001.

…which was revoked and replaced by Executive Order 13489, by President Barack Hussein Obama, on January 21, 2009. (He was inaugurated the day before, on January 20, 2009).

Never mind all the campaign speeches in which he told throngs of Believers that on his first day in office, he would do their bidding before anything else. Instead, the Icon of Change first did what every politician since the beginning of time has done — he covered his own ass.

 

 

Okaaaaay, once more for the kids in the back row (who were too busy carefully forming spitwads to pay attention in History or Math class to realize that they might need this stuff to be able to VOTE effectively as adults):

From WashingtonPost.com:

“Projected Deficit
In the first independent analysis, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office concluded that President Obama’s budget would rack up massive deficits even after the economy recovers, forcing the nation to borrow nearly $9.3 trillion over the next decade.”

“WELL, AT LEAST WE AREN’T GIVING THE SAME TAX BREAKS TO THE RICH THAT BUSH WAS, RIGHT?”

That’s correct, we won’t be — nor will YOU be getting the same tax breaks. Oh, you didn’t know that YOU benefited as much as ‘those evil rich folks’ from Bush’s growth-incentive tax plan? Here’s what you gleefully gave up when you elected The One as your ‘Tax Savior’ (we’ll post another chart with a third column after Obama’s fourth year):

Think I’m making this up? Here’s just the beginning: “Backdoor taxes to hit middle class” (news.yahoo.com) [PDF archive]

For a clearer picture of why the Progressives hope American voters are too stupid, ignorant, and uninformed to do the math, take a moment to read the illuminating post from last year: How Taxes Work — or, ‘How to Pay for Beer’.

There are ‘media professionals’ who we used to rely on to be objective, that now are firmly in the camp of more government, less individual freedoms — purely on the basis of their own philosophical wants (and completely aside from any evidence that such a utopia can be engineered despite the thousands of years of human history that says otherwise). Those media people, like Chris Matthews, who act as the mouthpiece of some imagined Moral Majority use tactics like ridicule, defamation, and sheer volume to shout down anyone who dares ask the right questions.

Think the government is taking too much and representing you too little? You’re a TeaBagger (some may consider this link NSFW).

Wonder out loud if the government has a right to change the rules or business and finance ‘just to even out the playing field’? Your professionalism, work ethic, and personal life are now targets for the Leftist media to drag through the streets like the entrails of a half-dead dog.

Find it odd that our President has no paper trail, no historical archive of college term papers, no certifiable birth certificate? You’re a kook, and as crazy as the ‘Moon Truthers’.

Want Congressional ‘transparency’ to stop being an ongoing campaign slogan, and to actually occur while it might still do some good? Your elected representatives are just acting in an obstructionist fashion by demanding to sit at the table, and asking C-SPAN to be let into the room.

Do you find it easier to find Socialist similarities between what is happening now under Obama’s watch, with the Left-heavy Congress patting each other on the back behind closed doors — and Hitler’s rise to power — despite all the ‘BusHitler’ name-calling of the last 8 years? You’re a Racist.

So the real question here is, “Are the Progressives/Liberals who run our three branches of government CORRECT — Are You Stupid?“

“This isn’t the Democratic party of our fathers and grandfathers. This is the party of Woodstock hippies. I was at Woodstock — I built the stage. And when everything fell apart, and people were fighting for peanut-butter sandwiches, it was the National Guard who came in and saved the same people who were protesting them. So when Hillary Clinton a few years ago wanted to build a Woodstock memorial, I said it should be a statue of a National Guardsman feeding a crying hippie.”

- John Ratzenberger at a rally for Massachusetts Republican Senate candidate Scott Brown

Voter fraud watch:
Phony Calls Tell Massachusetts Residents Pro-Life Group Opposes Scott Brown (LifeNews.com)
Massachusetts Senate Race Voter Fraud Watch (MichelleMalkin.com)
Scott Brown’s abortion problem (ThePhoenix.com)
RCP.Com: All Polls (But Kos) Now Favor Scott Brown (ConstitutionClub.org)
Scott Brown’s Misguided Response to Mike Capuano’s MTA Endorsement (BlueMassGroup.com)