February 08, 2010
The Palin Speech
I not a particular fan of former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. I am not a major critic either. She's a politician and I regard her with the same respect I have for most other politicians. Most people I give the benefit of the doubt. They are innocent until proven guilty or stupid. Politicians are an exception. I generally assume they are venal until they prove me wrong. Which really doesn't happen all that often.
I watched the Palin red meat feast at the Tea Party Convention and she did little to elevate herself - with the exception of one line. One line that was startlingly refreshing to hear from a major national political figure.
"All power is inherent in the people."
A politician who will say that will get my attention.
A politician who will say that, understand that and mean that would be worthy of something beyond distrust and disdain.
Is Sarah Palin that politician?
That remains to be seen.
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January 28, 2010
I Don't Want This Job
One of the rules I have in the quest to GET A JOB is that if I can't understand what the job is after reading the description three times, I don't bother applying. There's a corollary rule that if reading the job description gives me a headache I probably don't want the job.
This job description triggers both rules. In addition it contains more corporate jargon in a few paragraphs than I ever thought possible. The name of company has been redacted in case they ever post a job description in English.
PURPOSE:
The established North American base of packaging development and graphics commercialization continues to evolve and incorporate cross-functional and global participation rather than sole proprietorship and will require a robust technical vision, resulting in a more refined and intuitive deliverable.
DECISION MAKING:
This role shall represent Supply Technical’s graphic commercialization view and provide direction to project teams. Key decisions in this role shall evolve around building leadership strategies for the graphics packaging/print commercialization group that drive and deliver: optimal efficiencies and functionalities, people development, commercially viable graphics technology advancements, and a visionary goal to have the group globally recognized and benchmarked against other CPG leaders as a highly creative world-class graphics commercialization.
FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITY:
This role shall execute graphic commercialization programs from innovative concept to commercialization, whilst providing financial guidance and delivering required cost and growth targets and guaranteed quality standards utilizing the [redacted] process. In addition, this role shall fiscally manage the graphic commercialization group’s expenses against budget. Manage and develop key third party strategic pre-press vendor(s) to improve [redacted] capabilities and optimize costs against the annual spend.
MANAGEMENT RESPONSIBILITY:
The Director provides leadership and direction to direct reports, external reports and counsel the organization at large.
COMPLEXITY OF ROLE:
The role operates within the America’s market and reports into the Brand Change leadership team. This role will work with a diversity of internal and external stakeholder groups across [redacted's] Supply and Demand organizations to ensure alignment and execution excellence. Other complexities include the capability to drive and deliver: (1) Strong depth and knowledge of the graphic commercialization /pre-press process in order to rapidly search and spin opportunities to enhance the graphic commercialization pace and quality execution, (2) balancing the needs of the business against other timing, financial and sustainability targets, (3) ability to put people components in place and develop a high performing team
KEY OUTPUTS/DELIVERABLES:
Accountable and responsible for the development and visionary optimization of the end-to-end print packaging process for [redacted] Americas with an influence globally. As a leader, key accountability as the leader of the graphic commercialization team to develop a vision, robust strategy and planning guidance to meet the needs of the America’s business. In addition, a key deliverable of this role is to refine, build and develop the commercialization team into a globally recognized high performance team. This role shall provide the leadership and guidance needed to build graphic commercialization capability locally and globally. Consult, guide, and support the CSM, innovation, trade-marketing and packaging development teams on the graphics requirement for all design concepts to ensure alignment of the brand strategy. Manage and develop key third party strategic pre-press vendor(s) to improve Diageo capabilities and drive costs out. Significant contributor on cross-functional teams aimed at delivering strategic objectives
EXPERIENCE:
Minimum 12-15 years packaging / printing development knowledge and experience and recognition as a subject matter expert on print commercialization and prepress. Excellent package design through package printing knowledge - Outstanding customer / consumer focus- Proven track record of senior management capabilities
Diageo is an Equal Opportunity Employer committed to equal, fair, and non-discriminatory treatment of all employees as well as candidates for employment. Our benefits include, but are not limited to: paid holidays, competitive compensation packages; health insurance; and 401K
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State of The One
I watched about 10 minutes of the State of the Union Address last night. I have a really hard time listening to The One for two reasons. One I don't like his collectivist/statist politics and two I find the cadence of his speech incredibly annoying.
I turned the speech on when it was in progress just in time to hear The One go after the Big Banks and talk about his special BIG Bank Tax to get back "every dime" of TARP money. Even if that means getting some more back from people banks that already paid back their TARP money with interest.
If anything, the Big Bank Tax should teach bankers that you never play a game with the guy who makes the rules. Whether or not you think TARP was a good idea (I don't) there were terms to the deal. The government gives you money (regardless of whether you want or need it) then after you get through the crisis you pay it back with interest.
Apparently some banks did that. They got themselves to a place where they could pay the money back with interest. Hurray TATP worked. The banks are solid and making money. The banks are happy to be in the black again so they did what they always do when they are happy and profitable - they paid bonuses.
That does not sit will with The One. So he's going to change the rules and tax them some more.
All that aside, there was about five minutes of other stuff that I can't remember between the Big Bank Tax part of the speech and the part of the speech dealing with financial regulatory reform which he opened by saying "I don't want to punish banks."
That's when I turned it off.
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January 25, 2010
The One Disses Bill and Hillary
The one apparently tried to convince another red state Democrat not to resign and in doing so slapped a serious diss on the Clintons.
Berry recounted meetings with White House officials, reminiscent of some during the Clinton days, where he and others urged them not to force Blue Dogs “off into that swamp” of supporting bills that would be unpopular with voters back home.
“I’ve been doing that with this White House, and they just don’t seem to give it any credibility at all,” Berry said. “They just kept telling us how good it was going to be. The president himself, when that was brought up in one group, said, ‘Well, the big difference here and in ’94 was you’ve got me.’ We’re going to see how much difference that makes now.” [snip]
“I began to preach last January that we had already seen this movie and we didn’t want to see it again because we know how it comes out,” said Arkansas’ 1st District congressman, who worked in the Clinton administration before being elected to the House in 1996... "I just began to have flashbacks to 1993 and ’94. No one that was here in ’94, or at the day after the election felt like. It certainly wasn’t a good feeling.”
I imagine there were a few more expletives than usual in the Clinton household.
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January 24, 2010
More Global Warming Fraud
As a kid watching the exploits of Chief Jay Strongbow and Captain Lou Albano I knew on some level that the WWF was fake.
As an adult when the World Wrestling Federation was forced to change it's name to World Wrestling Entertainment I still had a sense about the WWF.
The claim that Himalayan glaciers are set to disappear by 2035 rests on two 1999 magazine interviews with glaciologist Syed Hasnain, which were then recycled without any further investigation in a 2005 report by the environmental campaign group WWF.
It would seem that the claim in the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's Nobel Prize wining report that Himalayan glaciers will be melted by 2035 is a complete fiction. Utter Bullshit. Crap that some guy just made up.
Are you exhibiting the same lack of surprise at this news that I am?
What's more, the man responsible for including this fiction in the IPCC report, Dr, Murari Lai the coordinating author of the Asia section of the report, acknowledges that is was done for political reasons.
In an interview with The Mail on Sunday, Dr Lal, the co-ordinating lead author of the report’s chapter on Asia, said: ‘It related to several countries in this region and their water sources. We thought that if we can highlight it, it will impact policy-makers and politicians and encourage them to take some concrete action.
‘It had importance for the region, so we thought we should put it in.’
I guess this kind of gives the lie claim that Global Warming is about "settled science" and not about advancing global socialism under the guise of environmentalism.
But Wait... There's More!
It seems that the Chairman of the IPCC, Rajendra Pachauri, has effectively use the vanishing Himalayan glacier lie as an effective fundraising tool.
The latest disclosure: Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the UN's (formerly) prestigious Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (known as the IPCC), may have raised millions of dollars for his New Delhi institute on the basis of the totally bogus 'glaciergate' claim by the IPCC that the Himalayan glaciers would melt by 2035.
According the the London Times, Pachauri's institute got money from the European Union and the US-based Carnegie Corporation to investigate a prediction that never had any scientific backing whatever, and one which all serious glacier scientists instantly recognized as impossible. The bogus claim was frequently repeated in the fundraising efforts -- and reiterated as recently as January 15 when the IPCC was already under intense pressure to admit it had blundered.
I think it would be interesting if the justice department launched a RICO investigation of the United Nations. I know there's probably some diplomatic immunity built into it's charter, but outside of the U.S. Congress is there any more corrupt organization on the planet?
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January 23, 2010
Parental Guidance Recommended
I have always believed that it is the responsibility of parents to monitor what their children watch on television. To me this meant that my nine-year-old son wasn't watching late night movies on Cinemax or catching a showing of Pulp Fiction. Shield him from sex and violence. That was my job.
I was wrong. There's more to it than that and what follows is offered so that other parents can avoid the mistake I made.
It happened during a recent trip to Maine to visit my mother. On night, after the crowd of cousins brothers, sisters nieces, nephews uncle and aunts left we found ourselves relaxing in front of the television. I don't know who was controlling the remote or if it was just chance, but we were watching Food Network. Specifically their cooking contest ala American Idol called Chopped.
The premise of the show is that four chefs are given a basket of ingredients and 20 minutes to make them into an appetizer. Their creations are judged and one chef is chopped. Repeat the process with new ingredients and 30 minutes to create an entrée. Another chef is chopped and the remaining two get new ingredients to make a desert. The winner gets $10,000.
If it sounds rather blah consider that in one recent episode the basket contained, carrot juice, beats, hominy and white chocolate chips. These were the ingredients for desert!
I think we saw three episodes that night until there was episode of Iron Chef America.
Life has never been the same since.
Tonight I asked the boy what he wanted to have for dinner and he said he wanted some of the left over pepperoni pizza from last night. "But do like Iron chef and add a little pizzaz."
There I was in my own kitchen stadium faced with the challenge of Iron Chef left over pizza.
I should point out that the judge in this case if a particularly picky eater, with a particularly narrow palette. When I asked what he meant bi pizzaz the only thing I was told was "just don't put hot sauce on it."
Here is what I created.
Take two slices of pizza out of the fridge and microwave them for about 30-45 seconds to warm them up and loosen up the oils in the crust.
Add some extra cheese to one slice then put the two slices together - toppings in the middle.
Put this assembly into a hot non stick frying pan. It shouldn't require and additional oil beyond what is in the pizza but if you added a little flavored olive oil or even a little butter it probably wouldn't do any harm!
By the time the first side had heated through, the crust will be nice and crisp, flip it over and do the other side. By the time the second side is heated through and the crust is nice and crisp the cheese will be all nice and meted and gooey.
Pour a glass of the beverage of your choice and enjoy a fried pizza sandwich.
I've been informed my next challenge is "Iron Chef Cheetos."
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January 22, 2010
A New Hope. A New T-shirt? UPDATED
There has been enough change lately, that there is now almost cause for hope. The news this week has been filled the failures of progressives in their attempts to diminish our liberty.
What insignificant amount of climate accord that was reached in Copenhagen has crumbled.
Air America has officially shut down and declared a financial bankruptcy to match its intellectual and moral bankruptcies.
The voters in Massachusetts elected a republican to replace a Kennedy ending the Democrat's 60 vote supermajority in the Senate.
The health care takeover, though not quite dead has reached the state of the Terminator at the end of the first movie. A head and an arm futilely dragging itself toward a goal it can never reach.
The Supreme Court restored some meaning to the Constitution and the First Amendment by decimating the McCain/Fiengold incumbent protection act.
It's a fairly safe bet that with the Massachusetts election, Cap and Tax is dead.
If the news keeps going like this, I might just have to scrap my entire collection of Socialism Sucks t-shirts and replace them with "Socialism Lost."
UPDATE: It just keeps getting better! Scripps and Cabelvision have come to some sort of agreement and Food TV is back on the air
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January 20, 2010
The Politics of Projection
First, Congratulations to Scott Brown for his victory in the Massachusetts special election. And to the people of Massachusetts, thank you for electing the 41st vote against socialized medicine.
The headline on this story should be "Obama Lost. Again."
And I think I understand part of why he lost, and why his poll numbers have sunk so incredibly fast, and why so many are so disappointed with his presidency.
I have seen many write-ups on the content of his speech on behalf of massachusetts Democrat Martha Coakley. The elitist condescension of his repeated barbs at Scott Brown's truck while well received in the elitist crowd he was delivering them to, were probably seen as insulting by a good portion of the electorate. Outside of the Boston area elites there are probably a lot of truck owners in Mass.
But what really struck me was his pathetic attempt to blame his failure on George Bush.
Appearing at a rally at Northeastern University here, President Obama said out-of-power Republicans had taken advantage of the economic crisis to make Democrats the political fall guy during difficult times.
"We’re going to let them make the tough choices, and let them rescue the economy, and then we’re going to tap into that anger and frustration," was how Obama described the GOP strategy -- deeming it a "sleight of hand...."
"There were going to be some who stood on the sidelines, who were protectors of the big banks, protectors of the big insurance companies, protectors of the big drug companies who were going to say, 'You know what, we can take advantage of this crisis,'" [Obama] told the crowd.
Let's take a closer look at that last statement.
"There were going to be some who stood on the sidelines..." Who exactly was it who stood on the sidelines and allowed congress to create "his" economic stimulus package and turn it into cesspool of pork barrel spending? Who was it who stood on the sidelines and let congress create multiple irreconcilable versions of healthcare reform? Whose presidency can be most accurately described as making speeches from the sidelines instead of leading?
"who were protectors of the big banks..." Whose Tax Cheat of the Treasury used the AIG bailout to funnel money to big banks? Who is it that repeatedly points to having stabilized the banking industry as an example of his success? Which administration made a Christmas Eve announcement that it was going to provide unlimited financial support to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac?
"protectors of the big insurance companies..." Who was it that was supporting legislation mandating that EVERYONE buy health insurance from big insurance companies? Who is it trying to make it illegal to deny someone their mandatory insurance due to a pre-existing condition resulting in higher premium costs for everyone?
"protectors of the big drug companies..." Remind me who it was that negotiated a deal with the pharmaceutical industry promising not to have medicare and the public option "negotiate" lower drug prices in exchange for industry support for health care reform?
"who were going to say, 'You know what, we can take advantage of this crisis'..." I agree it is deplorable and disgusting politics for a member of any presidential administration to say something like "You never want a serious crisis to go to waste."
When I heard him give that part of his speech, I had to wonder if someone from the Brown campaign had hacked into his teleprompter. Did he really think is would work to lay the blame for everything wrong with his administration on his opposition? Did he really think that people are stupid enough to believe that?
There was a brief glimmer of hope when The One accepted responsibility for the security failures that lead to the failed Undie Bomber attack. But given how he wants to assign the failures of his administration to anyone else it seems that moment was more like the kid dragged back to the store to return the candy bar he lifted. Contrite because he had to be. The lesson clearly not learned.
Epic Fail.
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January 18, 2010
Where's the Mayo?
OK so what little has been posted here has been mostly fluff. Long gone is the pretense of offering insightful analysis of the days events. When I started there were two basic categories for my posts, "this amuses me" and "this pisses me off." Lately it's been kind of "whatever."
Sorry.
Project "GET A JOB" takes up a lot of time as well as mental and emotional energy. I wish I had some great news to report on that subject. There are a couple of possibilities on the table but nothing concrete enough to talk about. I am excited that a couple of them don't involve moving.
I've managed to do a few projects to keep busy and have a couple of good possible projects in the maybe stage. It also seems that regardless of what I want, if I want to keep earning money I'm going to have to get better at web work. Of the projects I've done, two were videos, one was a flash piece for someone's web site, two were web pages. The three projects that may happen soon are all web sites.
Did I mention that I really don't want to do web sites for a living?
I did have fun doing this site for a candy shoppe: http://sweetteezlarchmont.com/. I built that one from scratch.
I have also been seriously considering the idea of possibly dabbling in fiction. I haven't done any fiction writing in about 15 years. I decided to seriously consider thinking about possibly trying after watching Lemonade. It made me think about what it was I wanted to do when I was young and invincible.
I haven't stopped paying attention to the world. I'm keeping an eye on the
latest shameless power grabs in Washington and how they are slowly taking away the last of our liberty.
Looking forward to the special election in Massachusetts tomorrow. I really hope Scott Brown can pull it off. Because when hear the expression Teddy Kennedy's seat the only thing I can think of is his passenger seat. If they manage to pass their healthcare takeover that's where we'll all be sitting.
I'm really annoyed by the tenor and volume of the right wing blogs' endless blather about the movie Avatar. I haven't seen the movie and until it's on cable some night when I can't sleep I probably won't. The thing is, so many bloggers are so worked up over the movies left wing message. So what. It's a movie. Go. Have overpriced popcorn. Enjoy the fantasy for a couple of hours.
Get. Over. Yourselves.
If you want there to be more conservative themed movies, make one. Finance one. Do something other than whine that the Hollywood left doesn't agree with you. You're a conservative. The Hollywood left is never going to agree with you. Deal with it.
Every day seems to bring some new evidence that the entire foundation of the Climate Change movement is a pile of stinking excrement. I'll file that under "this amuses me."
You know what? This was fun. I may have to do this more often.
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January 06, 2010
Another One Bites The Dust
The best news out of the Senate in a very long time:
Chris Dodd (D-Countrywide) will not seek re-election.
This does of course raise the specter that Connecticut will do something really stupid like send Attorney General Richard Blumenthal to the Senate, but at least the GOP will not have to deal with a corrupt incumbent.
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January 04, 2010
I am Beyond Hope
CNBC is showing the documentary Welcome to Macintosh.
Yes. I'm watching it.
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December 20, 2009
Never Do The Math
There are some things it is better to not know. For instance:
My driveway as approximately 23' x 38'.
The average depth of Global Warming on my driveway was one foot.
Giving me roughly 874 cubic feet of Global Warming.
According to WikiAnswers a cubic foot of snow weighs from 7 to 10 pounds (unless it is that really dense wet heavy snow.) Today's snow was fairly light and fluffy but not pure powder.
Using an estimated 8 pounds per cubic foot, the snow that WAS on my driveway weighed 6, 992 pounds.
Not counting the deck, stairs and path I offset three and half tons of Global Warming.
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December 19, 2009
The Climate Change Has Started -- UPDATED
The forecast for my little corner of the world is for a 60% chance of Climate Change today with Global Warming accumulations of one to two inches.
Overnight there is a forecast 100% chance of Climate Change with expected accumulations of Global Warming of seven to eleven inches.
The Climate Change forecast for Sunday is and 80% chance of an additional one to two inches of Global Warming.
The Inconvenient Truth is that I am going to spend tomorrow afternoon shoveling nine to fifteen inches of Global Warming off my driveway.
UPDATE: There has been a revision to the Climate change forecast. The afternoon on to two inches of Global Warming never materialized. I think this is because the Climate Change is moving slower than expected. This is probably why the overnight Climate change has been revised to a predicted 10 to 16 inches of Global Warming.
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December 16, 2009
More Chili Cheese Fries for Me
As a resident of Connecticut, this headline from Michelle Malkin may be be best news to come out of the healthcare debate yet:
Beclowned: Michael Moore threatens to boycott Connecticut over Lieberman
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December 12, 2009
Left vs Left Partisanship
My friend Jack forwarded me an email that provides a slight glimmer of hope that we just be able to avoid the nightmare of a government takeover of healthcare.
Thanks Jack.
The email came to him from MoveOn.org. It seems they are not at all happy with the direction of healthcare reform in the Senate. They are insistent that the legislation contain a "public option." The inclusion of which will mean that the bill will never make it out of the senate.
I don't suppose there is any point in arguing with Reich and company that if they wanted competition what they should be doing is combing through current laws and regulations and removing barriers to competition among private enterprises. The left has made the argument that part of the problem is that the insurance industry in some states is dominated by one or two major players. They never acknowledge the role of government regulation and market distortion in creating that situation. Their solution is more government. More government control of the economy. And in the end more government control of individual lives.
Given that a bill with a public option will more than likely fail a cloture vote in the Senate, by all means my socialist friends petition your fellow travelers in the Senate to insist that it be included. While your at it, be sure to threaten them with electoral challenges if their efforts on this issue are not sufficiently "progressive." The insertion of a "poison pill" into a piece legislation to insure its defeat is a time honored practice. When the majority does you the favor of insisting on including a poison pill in their own legislation it kind of makes you smile!
Click here to add your name:
http://pol.moveon.org/gift/?id=18245-15519988-ADjCAYx&t=3
This is a rather amusing admission. "We have know idea what this compromise is but we oppose it because it is not exactly what we demand. And we are going to hold our breath until we get what we want."
Reich's understanding of the market is that is that companies see it in their best interest to price their product so high that only a few can afford to purchase it. It doesn't work that way. I'm sure if they were free of massive regulation that limits their access to markets and mandates of what coverage must be included, the insurance companies would love the opportunity to innovate and compete with each other.
Here's how it works. Monte Blanc sells a roller ballpen for $180. Not everyone can afford to spend $180 for a pen nor do a vast majority of consumers want to spend $180 for a pen. Are those people left without options for writing? Absolutely not. You can buy a dozen Papermate Write Brothers pens for $5. Why does it work this way? Because there is no government regulation that requires that all pens have "stainless steel tip; Precious resin; Removable Cap; Platinum-plated rings with embossed logo; Platinum-plated clip." There is no government regulation prohibiting selling pens across state lines.
And Papermate is not the consumer's only choice - BIC sells a 10-pack of competing pens for $2.00. Staples, Walmart, OfficeMax and many other retailers all sell a competing private label product. And there are many offerings in between. (The Monte Blanc example is far from the extreme high-end it was just the first one that showed up on my Amazon search. Want to spend a couple of thousand on a pen - they've got that covered for you.)
Could insurance companies offer innovative policies if they were free to do so? Absolutely. Here's one idea I'll give them for free - since they probably can't do it under current regulations anyway.
This is policy designed to be sold to a younger consumer. Offer a fixed amount of Major medical coverage say $30,000 and $3,000 for minor medical for a year. (Want higher amounts pay a higher premium. Want a lower premium by less coverage.) At the end of the year a percentage of the balance of your major medical limit gets added to the next year's coverage and the entire balance of the minor medical gets rolled over. At certain benchmark points (say every time your coverage doubles) your premium would be adjusted to reflect the increase in coverage. If at any time you suffer a major medical expense that exceeds your coverage for the year you can access the minor medical funds to pay down those costs. If you use the entire balance of either account in a year they will reset to the last premium adjustment point for the next year. If your premium adjusted when your coverage reached $60,000 that would be the minimum you would start with for any year.
If you stay healthy until you reach your senior years you would have a substantial amount of insurance "in the bank." If you carefully manage your minor medical expenses and don't run to the doctor every time you sneeze you'll have nice chunk of minor medical coverage built up too.
I'm sure if Blue Cross were offering this plan nationwide, the folks at Aetna would be having many brainstorming sessions to come up with something better.
There is midterm election next year. It represents a chance for the citizens to reform the government. I think Washington meeds to be sent a message that the idea of "reform" should always mean less government intrusion into our lives. And if Robert Reich and MoveOn succeed in killing the federal healthcare takeover by insisting on having it their way, those of us who value our freedom will owe them a thank you.
Thanks Jack.
The email came to him from MoveOn.org. It seems they are not at all happy with the direction of healthcare reform in the Senate. They are insistent that the legislation contain a "public option." The inclusion of which will mean that the bill will never make it out of the senate.
Dear MoveOn member,
Hi. I'm Robert Reich, former Secretary of Labor under President Clinton and currently a professor at the University of California.
You've probably heard about a possible "deal" in the Senate to do away with the public option.
I'm here to tell you that this is no deal: it's a gift to Big Insurance, plain and simple.
The details are sketchy. The only thing that's really clear is the deal would drop the public option from the bill. With no public option, there's no guarantee of real competition. And without real competition, health care costs will continue to be out of control.
Hi. I'm Robert Reich, former Secretary of Labor under President Clinton and currently a professor at the University of California.
You've probably heard about a possible "deal" in the Senate to do away with the public option.
I'm here to tell you that this is no deal: it's a gift to Big Insurance, plain and simple.
The details are sketchy. The only thing that's really clear is the deal would drop the public option from the bill. With no public option, there's no guarantee of real competition. And without real competition, health care costs will continue to be out of control.
I don't suppose there is any point in arguing with Reich and company that if they wanted competition what they should be doing is combing through current laws and regulations and removing barriers to competition among private enterprises. The left has made the argument that part of the problem is that the insurance industry in some states is dominated by one or two major players. They never acknowledge the role of government regulation and market distortion in creating that situation. Their solution is more government. More government control of the economy. And in the end more government control of individual lives.
But the deal is far from done. If voters generate a massive outcry around this and progressive leaders in Congress fight back, we can fix it.
Can you sign a petition to leaders in Congress and the White House right away?
Can you sign a petition to leaders in Congress and the White House right away?
Given that a bill with a public option will more than likely fail a cloture vote in the Senate, by all means my socialist friends petition your fellow travelers in the Senate to insist that it be included. While your at it, be sure to threaten them with electoral challenges if their efforts on this issue are not sufficiently "progressive." The insertion of a "poison pill" into a piece legislation to insure its defeat is a time honored practice. When the majority does you the favor of insisting on including a poison pill in their own legislation it kind of makes you smile!
Click here to add your name:
http://pol.moveon.org/gift/?id=18245-15519988-ADjCAYx&t=3
The petition says: "You must make sure health care reform includes a real public option—it's what the majority of Americans want. Anything less is a gift to Big Insurance."
With no public option, the Senate "deal" is a giveaway to Big Insurance—and industry insiders admit it! One recently wrote "We WIN," in an email about the "deal."
With no public option, the Senate "deal" is a giveaway to Big Insurance—and industry insiders admit it! One recently wrote "We WIN," in an email about the "deal."
What's in this "deal"? Like I said, almost no one knows the details. That means that progressives who embrace it right now may be giving away the store without getting anything in return.
This is a rather amusing admission. "We have know idea what this compromise is but we oppose it because it is not exactly what we demand. And we are going to hold our breath until we get what we want."
But here's what we do know: First, it might allow some 55-64 year-olds to buy into Medicare. Second, it might allow those without employer health insurance to buy private insurance the way federal employees do.2
So what's the problem here? A system of only private insurers simply will not control costs. Without competition from a public option, insurance companies have no incentive to compete—just like now.3
Enlarging Medicare is no answer. The Senate bill slows Medicare's costs only if they're rising faster than total health spending. But with private insurers running the show, total health spending will still be out of control.4 Plus, we have no idea how many people might be allowed to buy into Medicare, or if it will be even close to affordable for them.
So what's the problem here? A system of only private insurers simply will not control costs. Without competition from a public option, insurance companies have no incentive to compete—just like now.3
Enlarging Medicare is no answer. The Senate bill slows Medicare's costs only if they're rising faster than total health spending. But with private insurers running the show, total health spending will still be out of control.4 Plus, we have no idea how many people might be allowed to buy into Medicare, or if it will be even close to affordable for them.
Reich's understanding of the market is that is that companies see it in their best interest to price their product so high that only a few can afford to purchase it. It doesn't work that way. I'm sure if they were free of massive regulation that limits their access to markets and mandates of what coverage must be included, the insurance companies would love the opportunity to innovate and compete with each other.
Here's how it works. Monte Blanc sells a roller ballpen for $180. Not everyone can afford to spend $180 for a pen nor do a vast majority of consumers want to spend $180 for a pen. Are those people left without options for writing? Absolutely not. You can buy a dozen Papermate Write Brothers pens for $5. Why does it work this way? Because there is no government regulation that requires that all pens have "stainless steel tip; Precious resin; Removable Cap; Platinum-plated rings with embossed logo; Platinum-plated clip." There is no government regulation prohibiting selling pens across state lines.
And Papermate is not the consumer's only choice - BIC sells a 10-pack of competing pens for $2.00. Staples, Walmart, OfficeMax and many other retailers all sell a competing private label product. And there are many offerings in between. (The Monte Blanc example is far from the extreme high-end it was just the first one that showed up on my Amazon search. Want to spend a couple of thousand on a pen - they've got that covered for you.)
Could insurance companies offer innovative policies if they were free to do so? Absolutely. Here's one idea I'll give them for free - since they probably can't do it under current regulations anyway.
This is policy designed to be sold to a younger consumer. Offer a fixed amount of Major medical coverage say $30,000 and $3,000 for minor medical for a year. (Want higher amounts pay a higher premium. Want a lower premium by less coverage.) At the end of the year a percentage of the balance of your major medical limit gets added to the next year's coverage and the entire balance of the minor medical gets rolled over. At certain benchmark points (say every time your coverage doubles) your premium would be adjusted to reflect the increase in coverage. If at any time you suffer a major medical expense that exceeds your coverage for the year you can access the minor medical funds to pay down those costs. If you use the entire balance of either account in a year they will reset to the last premium adjustment point for the next year. If your premium adjusted when your coverage reached $60,000 that would be the minimum you would start with for any year.
If you stay healthy until you reach your senior years you would have a substantial amount of insurance "in the bank." If you carefully manage your minor medical expenses and don't run to the doctor every time you sneeze you'll have nice chunk of minor medical coverage built up too.
I'm sure if Blue Cross were offering this plan nationwide, the folks at Aetna would be having many brainstorming sessions to come up with something better.
Health care reform must include a strong public option. It's key to controlling costs, expanding coverage, and forcing Big Insurance to compete. Without it, we'll end up with a national health care system controlled by a handful of very large corporations accountable neither to American voters nor to the market. And that is not even close to real health care reform.
Please sign the petition to House and Senate leadership and the White House today. The deal is still up in the air. If congressional progressives hold strong—and public demand for a public option is clear—then White House and congressional leaders will have to do what they haven't: put pressure on the few conservative Democrats to get on board and help pass real health care reform with a public option.
Click here to sign your name:
http://pol.moveon.org/gift/?id=18245-15519988-ADjCAYx&t=9
Thank you for all you do.
–Robert Reich
Please sign the petition to House and Senate leadership and the White House today. The deal is still up in the air. If congressional progressives hold strong—and public demand for a public option is clear—then White House and congressional leaders will have to do what they haven't: put pressure on the few conservative Democrats to get on board and help pass real health care reform with a public option.
Click here to sign your name:
http://pol.moveon.org/gift/?id=18245-15519988-ADjCAYx&t=9
Thank you for all you do.
–Robert Reich
There is midterm election next year. It represents a chance for the citizens to reform the government. I think Washington meeds to be sent a message that the idea of "reform" should always mean less government intrusion into our lives. And if Robert Reich and MoveOn succeed in killing the federal healthcare takeover by insisting on having it their way, those of us who value our freedom will owe them a thank you.
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December 02, 2009
Global Warming Falls Apart
Unless Hold the Mayo is your primary source of news you are aware of the recent revelations regarding the Holy Church of Global Warming. If not here'e the news.
THE SECOND COMING
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: a waste of desert sand;
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Wind shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?
William Butler Yeats
But before I get to that I have a slight rant I need to get off my chest. The most annoying legacy of any president in my lifetime has to be that of Richard Nixon. Because of him, any time any public official does something even slightly untoward, the resulting scandal is named with the suffix "gate." If only Nixon had campaigned honestly, if only the Democrats had chosen to work out of the Mariot. But no, history is what it is so we are stuck with "Climategate."
And now back to the news.
Someone (and no one is sure if was a hacker or insider leak) published a large collection of emails, files and data from a server of the Climate Research Unit of the East Anglia University in England. This is a significant development.
If you view "Global Warming" as a religion, the CRU is the Vatican. The work done by the CRU is the foundation of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports on the impending doom of the planet known as Anthropogenic Global Warming (AGW).
The revealed emails and documents highlight efforts by select High Priests of the Church of Global Warming to manipulate data to insure that the results show man-made warming. That they actively worked to block peer reviewed publication of papers that questioned the idea of AGW. That they conspired to withhold information covered under freedom of information requests.
The CRU has subsequently acknowledged that they discarded the raw data on which they based their climate models and predictions to save space when they moved. The result of which is that it is now impossible for any scientist to independently verify their work.
I have always maintained that the entire AGW movement was not based on science. Like any long con, AGW is about the transfer of wealth. It is not a vast warming conspiracy, buy rather a web of independent yet intertwined efforts to redistribute wealth.
First there are the warm mongers themselves who, through their urgent alarms of eminent disaster and suffering polar bears, seek to ensure the transfer of wealth from various governments to themselves.
Then their are the profiteers who through scams such as "Green Energy" and "Carbon Credits" seek to transfer wealth from the general public to themselves. Yes, I'm talking about al Gore.
Then their are the governments who want to use AGW to justify all sorts of taxes and regulations to transfer wealth from their people to themselves.
And finally, as is the focus of the upcoming Church of GLobal Warming Pilgrimage to Copenhagen, there are the internationalist egalitarians. These are the folks who believe it to be their duty and their right to take wealth from nations that have produced it and hand it over to those who have not. These "developing" nations love the idea of transferring vast amounts of the world's wealth to themselves.
But the whole thing is falling apart at the seams. It is house of cards built on a foundation of lies and bogus data.
I doubt the Warmists will go down without a fight though. It should be fun to watch.
One more thing.
I told you so.
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November 23, 2009
Take a Bow
I had a thought regarding The One's recent deep bow to the Japanese Emperor. I think it was done on purpose. I think it was cover.
When The One bowed to the Saudi King I think it was instinct. I think he bowed from the heart.
That action certainly got enough coverage, and was debated enough that The One and his people had to be aware of the fact that the American President does not bow to royalty. Anywhere. Ever. They had to have learned that the while the President not bowing is not a sign of disrespect to the royalty the President bowing is a sign of disrespect toward his office and the American people.
So why did he do it again? Why did he bow so deeply to the Japanese Emperor?
Because now the issue is The One bowing, not The One bowing to the Saudi King.
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November 22, 2009
Declare Yourself
I created a new shirt for my store at zazzle.com/nomayo.
The shirt displays the full text of the Declaration of Independence. The idea behind the shirt is that before you wear it, you sign it. While you're wearing it carry a marker in your pocket so others can sign it as well.
Here is how the shirt looks with my John Hancock. Send me a photo of yours and I'll post it and make you (im)famous!
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November 19, 2009
Clue - UPDATED
Because of all the time I have been spending on the whole GET A JOB thing, I haven't been writing much lately, though I have been trying to keep up with my reading. In addition to news and politics blogs, I have a whole list of design related blogs I read regularly. Sometimes the two merge. One of the news and politics bloggers will write something about design. It is often interesting and amusing to read about one's profession from someone who knows nothing about it.
Sometimes one of the design blogs dips a toe into politics. This is usually less fun as the design world is by and large just to the left of Hollywood. To the point where I sometimes wonder if I should copy Andrew Breitbart and set up a site for conservative designers to vent. Big Design.
There are designer's out there who do not dance in the fever swamps of the far left.
One of the designers who gets it is Andy Rutledge of Design view. Not only does he get it. He gets it with passion. Today Andy did more than dip a toe into politics and culture he dove in.
Risk is too much maligned in western culture these days and that has begun to seriously piss me off. It wasn’t always so. The west, the US in particular, used to be a place where risktaking was understood to be a fundamental component of life; successful life especially.
A life free from risk is a life bereft of liberty, a life of bondage, and it kills the human spirit. This fact has never and will never change, but the definition of liberty is being redefined and the culture restructured in my country in a foolish effort to remove risk. The foundation of what built this nation is crumbling in the process.
As they say "read the whole thing." And be sure to check out the desktop wallpapers Andy made to accompany the post. I've got mine.
UPDATE:
C. Edmund Wright at American Thinker echo's Andy's sentiment:
With the threat of this administration and congress, what is the possible motivation for anyone with ideas and capital to invest his time, talent, and money into a risky endeavor? There appears to be none. In fact, there appear to be powerful incentives not to invest any time or treasure -- thus an economy with almost zero creative inertia.
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November 16, 2009
Stimulus Success
I have prove that the $867 Billion pork infested "stimulus" package is working. It has certainly stimulated a lot of internet activity in Connecticut.
The Department of Labor's Web site is currently experiencing extremely high usage, restricting your ability to file a claim.
For your convenience, you may want to file your weekly claim Tuesday through Friday. Due to the high volume experienced on Sundays and Mondays, please avoid filing on those two days if possible.
That's the message on my screen when I tried to file my continued claim for unemployment this morning.
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