You probably know Roger Clemens was a pitcher with the Yankees who was forced to testify two years ago about whether he took performance enhancing drugs. He told the U.S. Senate he never had, and later test results and sworn testimony contradicted his claim. So it’s pretty clear he lied to the government.
So what? The government lies to us all the time, and about a lot more important things than whether some sports star took drugs that aren’t even illegal in order to improve his ability to play a game. It pains me that President Bush put himself on the front lines with this in the State of the Union speech, no less, but the witch hunts were driven by Democrats who wanted to destroy wealthy athletes and score cheap political points with the middle-class male sports fan who they otherwise have nothing in common with. There’s no way they did it for the integrity of the game or whatnot – they might be fans or even purists, but big deal, now quit lying to me about how you’re paying for Social Security!!
Roger Clemens will probably get about a year in prison and have to pay a $1 million dollar fine – to the government – for lying under oath. That’s quite a bit more serious than what Bill Clinton got, and of course Bara Bama will never get taken to task for all his lies and the fiscal destruction he has wrought on this country. What’s the penalty for treason these days? Probably a statue on the front lawn, or maybe they’ll paint the Washington Monument with a more diverse color palette.
I don’t feel bad for Clemens – he’s an ass and a liar, but no private citizen should have to be dragged in front of that idiot firing squad full of pompous pricks who’ve done far, far worse in their lives, and then have to answer questions about something that has nothing to do with the government and be taken to the woodshed for his answers. Where’s the frickin’ ACLU on this one? Oh right, Clemens is white. Nevermind.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Jon Stewart Is An Ass Clown
There’s a bit of infuriating banter from last week about FoxNews contributing $1 million to the Republican Governors Association. This is apparently proof that only Republicans receive endless money from evil corporations, and even more proof that FoxNews is anything but “fair and balanced,” and is in fact a front for the Republican Party. We know this because no less of a credible investigative authority than Jon Stewart made a huge deal out of it, and he is as unbiased as they come.
And Barack Obama is a moderate. Yeah, right.
So it took just five minutes of digging to find that Rupert Murdoch/FoxNews also gave $1.02 million to Democrats. During the 2008 election cycle he gave $400,000 directly to Obama, but only $80,000 to McCain. I agree with Stewart that indicates bias, but it isn’t the way he spins it.
And what about NBC and MSNBC, supposedly FN’s cable rival? In years past parent company GE has given millions to Democrats! Hey Jonny Stew – when are you going to start complaining about that egregious flushing of dollars into Democrat campaign coffers? Stewart is a first-rate ass clown, which is why he hangs on to the only gig that will have him on Comedy Central. It’s telling that he keeps winning Emmy awards, isn’t it? Let’s see, Hollywood, where are your campaign contributions going? I can tell you it ain’t to Republicans.
I’ll say it again. Thank God for FoxNews. At least somebody is sending money to Republicans.
And Barack Obama is a moderate. Yeah, right.
So it took just five minutes of digging to find that Rupert Murdoch/FoxNews also gave $1.02 million to Democrats. During the 2008 election cycle he gave $400,000 directly to Obama, but only $80,000 to McCain. I agree with Stewart that indicates bias, but it isn’t the way he spins it.
And what about NBC and MSNBC, supposedly FN’s cable rival? In years past parent company GE has given millions to Democrats! Hey Jonny Stew – when are you going to start complaining about that egregious flushing of dollars into Democrat campaign coffers? Stewart is a first-rate ass clown, which is why he hangs on to the only gig that will have him on Comedy Central. It’s telling that he keeps winning Emmy awards, isn’t it? Let’s see, Hollywood, where are your campaign contributions going? I can tell you it ain’t to Republicans.
I’ll say it again. Thank God for FoxNews. At least somebody is sending money to Republicans.
Friday, August 20, 2010
Lying With Numbers
My freshman year in college I did a report on the Drake Equation, which can be used to determine the probability that intelligent life exists elsewhere in our galaxy.
The Drake equation states that:
where:
N = the number of civilizations in our galaxy with which communication might be possible;
and
R* = the average rate of star formation per year in our galaxy
fp = the fraction of those stars that have planets
ne = the average number of planets that can potentially support life per star that has planets
fℓ = the fraction of the above that actually go on to develop life at some point
fi = the fraction of the above that actually go on to develop intelligent life
fc = the fraction of civilizations that develop a technology that releases detectable signs of their existence into space
L = the length of time such civilizations release detectable signals into space.
So that’s all pretty interesting but I’m sure you can see with just a quick read that almost none of the variable values in the equation is known with any great deal of certainty. It’s the sort of thing that makes for good sci-fi but bad science. My result was something like 100 such civilizations, but I could have easily said zero or 1,000,000 – the equation has little actual value beyond its novelty.
The same is exactly true anytime a Democrat says any number. Any number at all. Whenever a Democrat says a number it is meaningless, because no number they ever say is in any way associated with fact.
Take the EduJobs bill that passed last week. We were told this would absolutely save “300,000 teacher’s jobs.” Bara Bama himself cited that number, and he’s already added the tally to his total of 150 bazillion jobs “created or saved.” But where did the 300,000 come from? If you haven’t visited, there’s an outstanding education blog here: http://www.eiaonline.com/communique.htm
This guy is first rate at unwrapping all the veiled lies of the teacher’s unions and their cohorts in the Democrat party, and he does several articles on EduJobs. To summarize, the numbers for EduJobs are a fabrication. “300,000” originally started as “100,000”, and “teacher’s jobs” was originally just any “education job.”
No less than the U.S. Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, vastly distorts whatever the facts are to make the case for this kickback to education professionals with this gem: “We always said between 100,000 and 300,000. We had a broad range there… because this was a moving target.” He then followed up with this: "So, I think the reality… is the vast majority of districts around the country have literally been cutting for five, six, seven years in a row. And, many of them you know are through you know fat, through flesh, and into bone.” I don’t know what planet Arne Duncan lives on, but it isn’t Earth and it’s definitely not one of the other hundred or so “intelligent” civilizations out there.
The facts are that over the past seven years he’s referring to total student enrollment K-12 in the U.S. has increased only 1.6%, while total number of teachers has increased by 4% and the amount spent annually per pupil on salaries for educators has increased an astounding 26.4%! And this is US Census Bureau data, so Duncan knows it too well, but chooses to lie and distort the facts to pad the coffers of the teacher’s unions and education professionals, who overwhelmingly vote Democrat.
The blog cites the State of Alaska, which has budget surpluses almost every year because of the oil there, as being specifically told by the NEA that teacher layoffs were imminent, despite the fact that Alaska continues to increase school funding and leads the nation in percentage increase of teacher’s pay. They were never going to lay off anyone, but they still get $23.5 million from EduJobs.
WTF?? This is the kind of flagrant disregard for taxpayer money that is exactly the reason Democrats have zero credibility on the economy. More than that, I believe it is obvious quid pro quo, as Democrats have clearly just given their a powerful voter pool a $10 billion kickback. What I wouldn’t give to see some of these state’s Attorney’s General go after them in court! Maybe I should send this to Van Hollen…
The Drake equation states that:
where:
N = the number of civilizations in our galaxy with which communication might be possible;
and
R* = the average rate of star formation per year in our galaxy
fp = the fraction of those stars that have planets
ne = the average number of planets that can potentially support life per star that has planets
fℓ = the fraction of the above that actually go on to develop life at some point
fi = the fraction of the above that actually go on to develop intelligent life
fc = the fraction of civilizations that develop a technology that releases detectable signs of their existence into space
L = the length of time such civilizations release detectable signals into space.
So that’s all pretty interesting but I’m sure you can see with just a quick read that almost none of the variable values in the equation is known with any great deal of certainty. It’s the sort of thing that makes for good sci-fi but bad science. My result was something like 100 such civilizations, but I could have easily said zero or 1,000,000 – the equation has little actual value beyond its novelty.
The same is exactly true anytime a Democrat says any number. Any number at all. Whenever a Democrat says a number it is meaningless, because no number they ever say is in any way associated with fact.
Take the EduJobs bill that passed last week. We were told this would absolutely save “300,000 teacher’s jobs.” Bara Bama himself cited that number, and he’s already added the tally to his total of 150 bazillion jobs “created or saved.” But where did the 300,000 come from? If you haven’t visited, there’s an outstanding education blog here: http://www.eiaonline.com/communique.htm
This guy is first rate at unwrapping all the veiled lies of the teacher’s unions and their cohorts in the Democrat party, and he does several articles on EduJobs. To summarize, the numbers for EduJobs are a fabrication. “300,000” originally started as “100,000”, and “teacher’s jobs” was originally just any “education job.”
No less than the U.S. Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, vastly distorts whatever the facts are to make the case for this kickback to education professionals with this gem: “We always said between 100,000 and 300,000. We had a broad range there… because this was a moving target.” He then followed up with this: "So, I think the reality… is the vast majority of districts around the country have literally been cutting for five, six, seven years in a row. And, many of them you know are through you know fat, through flesh, and into bone.” I don’t know what planet Arne Duncan lives on, but it isn’t Earth and it’s definitely not one of the other hundred or so “intelligent” civilizations out there.
The facts are that over the past seven years he’s referring to total student enrollment K-12 in the U.S. has increased only 1.6%, while total number of teachers has increased by 4% and the amount spent annually per pupil on salaries for educators has increased an astounding 26.4%! And this is US Census Bureau data, so Duncan knows it too well, but chooses to lie and distort the facts to pad the coffers of the teacher’s unions and education professionals, who overwhelmingly vote Democrat.
The blog cites the State of Alaska, which has budget surpluses almost every year because of the oil there, as being specifically told by the NEA that teacher layoffs were imminent, despite the fact that Alaska continues to increase school funding and leads the nation in percentage increase of teacher’s pay. They were never going to lay off anyone, but they still get $23.5 million from EduJobs.
WTF?? This is the kind of flagrant disregard for taxpayer money that is exactly the reason Democrats have zero credibility on the economy. More than that, I believe it is obvious quid pro quo, as Democrats have clearly just given their a powerful voter pool a $10 billion kickback. What I wouldn’t give to see some of these state’s Attorney’s General go after them in court! Maybe I should send this to Van Hollen…
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Pay Go Away
So the Democrats last week attached $16 billion in emergency funding for Medicare to fill states budget gaps. Umm, didn't Bama partially fund Obamacare by taking $500 billion out of Medicare? Is there a single rational person on the planet who actually believes one dime will be cut from Medicare?
Democrats will continue to stuff these "emergency" measures into bill after bill after bill until they have covered the $500 billion and then some.
It is laughable that Democrats think they can run on fiscal responsibility. It is no stretch to say they have shown nothing but contempt for the very concept.
Democrats will continue to stuff these "emergency" measures into bill after bill after bill until they have covered the $500 billion and then some.
It is laughable that Democrats think they can run on fiscal responsibility. It is no stretch to say they have shown nothing but contempt for the very concept.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Health Insurers: Comply Or Die!
This is the time of year when private sector companies allocate benefits for the next calendar year, and with that has come the first evidence of the true impact of Obamacare. Primary attention will be given to the nationwide epidemic of insurance premium hikes, and the incredulity from politicians as to why it’s happening, and their equally incredulous response to a situation they themselves created.
I heard the first reports on the radio just yesterday, including one baffling account from an “Insurance agent who could not understand why his company’s premiums were going up by 25%.” That agent is an absolute moron, and he’s not alone.
One of the stipulations of Obamacare is a requirement that 85% of revenues (80% for “small businesses”) be spent on benefit payouts. In the industry this is called the “Medical Loss Ratio (MLR).” 85% is about the high-water mark for the industry, with the average about 10-15 points lower. This arbitrary requirement was installed to appease the extremist single-payer crowd. You might ask, “Well how does this affect single-payer?” Included in the law is creation of a review agency to identify private insurance companies who are increasing premiums, at which point the government has given itself the authority to essentially put that company out of business. Do that often enough and the private insurance industry will collapse and voila! Single-Payer.
Here’s how it works. Let’s say your insurance company currently has revenues of $150 million. In the insurance biz this makes you a small fry, but you’re doing your best to grow your customer base and expand your business while delivering for your employees and shareholders. Of that $150 million, you currently spend $100 million on benefit payouts, $40 million on the costs of doing business, and you’ve managed a profit of $10 million. That sounds like a lot, but it’s only 6.67% of total revenues, which is about the industry average or maybe a little higher. Unfortunately your MLR is at the lower end of the industry average at 66.67%, and now Obama and his anti-capitalist progressives are gunning to put your greedy butt out of business. The message is simple: Comply or die.
But you’ve got big problems. The costs of doing business are what they are. You need a building and an IT infrastructure and an Internet presence and Marketing and claims processors and agents and administrative staff and Legal then you also need a small army of accountants and another building full of people whose job it is just to make sure you’re business complies with all those government regulations, new and existing, at all levels from Federal to Municipal. You may be able to make a few cuts to payroll and find some savings in IT by outsourcing everything that isn’t already outsourced, but the reality is that, as a small insurance company, your customer base is not large enough to balance those bare minimum fixed costs of doing business and achieve an 85% MLR.
Luckily, you’ve been a good taxpayer and friend of the community, and have been liberal with campaign contributions – which also add to your costs – so you can call your Congressman and be deemed small enough to hit the 80% MLR slot. Ok, but you still have a long way to go to meet the Federal standard and stay in business.
As a small company, you have relied on ingenuity in your product offerings to maximize profits. You currently offer a wide array of services in the region of preventative care, such as encouraging customers to exercise and eat healthy, including incentives such as discounted memberships to fitness clubs and details about local CSA’s and recommending healthy lifestyle choices, etc., and you’re also working directly with physicians to help your customers make well-informed choices about care. As a result you’ve managed to keep premiums relatively low, but now because of the Federal MLR mandate you need to make some difficult choices.
Now keep in mind that benefit payout is largely beyond your control, but you have a solid algorithm for predicting total payout costs annually based on customer base and several well-understood industry specific variables. The bottom line: unless you take on more customers and higher risk, the $100 million will not significantly change.
So you’re stuck with two choices: find a way to reduce non-benefit costs or sell the company. You decide to try to make it work. So the first thing you do is eliminate all the services for preventative care, which allows you to scale back your IT presence and fire several hundred people who comprised your Preventative Care division, including dozens of on staff nurses, nurse practitioners, and those expensive consulting fees charged by physicians and other health-care industry types. You freeze all pay – no raises for the foreseeable future. You also sacrifice the future for the present, and eliminate half your Marketing team. You fire an entire tier of middle-management and reorganize the corporate reports structure. You have transformed into a flatter but less versatile company with the single objective of filling claims and surviving into the next fiscal year.
Congratulations! You’ve saved the company. You had to fire a third of your workforce and discontinue all value-added services, and as a result your customer base is less healthy overall, but you’ve met the federal mandate. Obamacare works!
But wait, now that your customer base is less healthy your seeing more claims, and your benefit payout spikes to $125 million. You had cash on hand to cover this event, but you need to plan for it for next year, and since you’re operating at a razor thin profit margin as it is, the only option is to increase premiums.
This time you can’t escape – you need to raise premiums by at least 20%, but that will inversely affect MLR because a hike in premiums is revenue! You decide to do it anyway, but 6 months later the Federal auditors deliver their papers and you are forced out of business.
Companies that cannot reduce costs must raise premiums while taking on additional risk. It is a fine line and a game in which the deck is intentionally stacked against the industry. The government wants insurance companies to fail. That’s the whole point. If insurance companies are forced to raise premiums, Democrats can score cheap political points by vilifying the private sector while taking steps toward Single-payer! Obama and Democrats have purposefully created a system to destroy American companies and cause the loss of millions more jobs, just so they can then implement a system under which they control every aspect of your health and lifestyle.
You think this won’t happen? Wake up, America, it’s happening already!
I heard the first reports on the radio just yesterday, including one baffling account from an “Insurance agent who could not understand why his company’s premiums were going up by 25%.” That agent is an absolute moron, and he’s not alone.
One of the stipulations of Obamacare is a requirement that 85% of revenues (80% for “small businesses”) be spent on benefit payouts. In the industry this is called the “Medical Loss Ratio (MLR).” 85% is about the high-water mark for the industry, with the average about 10-15 points lower. This arbitrary requirement was installed to appease the extremist single-payer crowd. You might ask, “Well how does this affect single-payer?” Included in the law is creation of a review agency to identify private insurance companies who are increasing premiums, at which point the government has given itself the authority to essentially put that company out of business. Do that often enough and the private insurance industry will collapse and voila! Single-Payer.
Here’s how it works. Let’s say your insurance company currently has revenues of $150 million. In the insurance biz this makes you a small fry, but you’re doing your best to grow your customer base and expand your business while delivering for your employees and shareholders. Of that $150 million, you currently spend $100 million on benefit payouts, $40 million on the costs of doing business, and you’ve managed a profit of $10 million. That sounds like a lot, but it’s only 6.67% of total revenues, which is about the industry average or maybe a little higher. Unfortunately your MLR is at the lower end of the industry average at 66.67%, and now Obama and his anti-capitalist progressives are gunning to put your greedy butt out of business. The message is simple: Comply or die.
But you’ve got big problems. The costs of doing business are what they are. You need a building and an IT infrastructure and an Internet presence and Marketing and claims processors and agents and administrative staff and Legal then you also need a small army of accountants and another building full of people whose job it is just to make sure you’re business complies with all those government regulations, new and existing, at all levels from Federal to Municipal. You may be able to make a few cuts to payroll and find some savings in IT by outsourcing everything that isn’t already outsourced, but the reality is that, as a small insurance company, your customer base is not large enough to balance those bare minimum fixed costs of doing business and achieve an 85% MLR.
Luckily, you’ve been a good taxpayer and friend of the community, and have been liberal with campaign contributions – which also add to your costs – so you can call your Congressman and be deemed small enough to hit the 80% MLR slot. Ok, but you still have a long way to go to meet the Federal standard and stay in business.
As a small company, you have relied on ingenuity in your product offerings to maximize profits. You currently offer a wide array of services in the region of preventative care, such as encouraging customers to exercise and eat healthy, including incentives such as discounted memberships to fitness clubs and details about local CSA’s and recommending healthy lifestyle choices, etc., and you’re also working directly with physicians to help your customers make well-informed choices about care. As a result you’ve managed to keep premiums relatively low, but now because of the Federal MLR mandate you need to make some difficult choices.
Now keep in mind that benefit payout is largely beyond your control, but you have a solid algorithm for predicting total payout costs annually based on customer base and several well-understood industry specific variables. The bottom line: unless you take on more customers and higher risk, the $100 million will not significantly change.
So you’re stuck with two choices: find a way to reduce non-benefit costs or sell the company. You decide to try to make it work. So the first thing you do is eliminate all the services for preventative care, which allows you to scale back your IT presence and fire several hundred people who comprised your Preventative Care division, including dozens of on staff nurses, nurse practitioners, and those expensive consulting fees charged by physicians and other health-care industry types. You freeze all pay – no raises for the foreseeable future. You also sacrifice the future for the present, and eliminate half your Marketing team. You fire an entire tier of middle-management and reorganize the corporate reports structure. You have transformed into a flatter but less versatile company with the single objective of filling claims and surviving into the next fiscal year.
Congratulations! You’ve saved the company. You had to fire a third of your workforce and discontinue all value-added services, and as a result your customer base is less healthy overall, but you’ve met the federal mandate. Obamacare works!
But wait, now that your customer base is less healthy your seeing more claims, and your benefit payout spikes to $125 million. You had cash on hand to cover this event, but you need to plan for it for next year, and since you’re operating at a razor thin profit margin as it is, the only option is to increase premiums.
This time you can’t escape – you need to raise premiums by at least 20%, but that will inversely affect MLR because a hike in premiums is revenue! You decide to do it anyway, but 6 months later the Federal auditors deliver their papers and you are forced out of business.
Companies that cannot reduce costs must raise premiums while taking on additional risk. It is a fine line and a game in which the deck is intentionally stacked against the industry. The government wants insurance companies to fail. That’s the whole point. If insurance companies are forced to raise premiums, Democrats can score cheap political points by vilifying the private sector while taking steps toward Single-payer! Obama and Democrats have purposefully created a system to destroy American companies and cause the loss of millions more jobs, just so they can then implement a system under which they control every aspect of your health and lifestyle.
You think this won’t happen? Wake up, America, it’s happening already!
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
The Messiah Returns (At Last)
I almost forgot the funniest part of Bama's speech on Monday. He said that he, "Will call for a doubling of exports in the next 5 years."
Good, that's done then.
Just today there's a report that the trade gap is the widest it's ever been - nearly $50 Billion every month, or about the same level as when Bama took office. Now there's change you can believe in!
Meanwhile, the Feds have announced another $3 Billion in giveaways to people who exercised their Democrat-given right to own a house regardless of their ability to pay for it. The newest bailout includes interest-free loans of up to $50,000!
And in the same vein a riot broke out in Atlanta today when thousands of people waited up to 2 days in the heat just to get an application for a rent subsidy. That's right - they weren't waiting for the money, they were waiting for the application for the money. And yes, there were signs saying that everyone who was in line by this afternoon would get an application. No money, just an application. Two days in line, in the heat. For an application. Yeah, some people are really, really stupid. What I'm wondering is why someone from the office didn't say anything to the assembled mob like, "You don't have to stay here for two days. We have plenty of applications and can always print more if needed." Or maybe someone did but the mob said, "It's ok, I got nuthin' better to do with my life." That's sad, but not surprising that it turned violent. If you look online for the pictures you'll see the whole story, and know that 99% of those people voted for Bama.
Good, that's done then.
Just today there's a report that the trade gap is the widest it's ever been - nearly $50 Billion every month, or about the same level as when Bama took office. Now there's change you can believe in!
Meanwhile, the Feds have announced another $3 Billion in giveaways to people who exercised their Democrat-given right to own a house regardless of their ability to pay for it. The newest bailout includes interest-free loans of up to $50,000!
And in the same vein a riot broke out in Atlanta today when thousands of people waited up to 2 days in the heat just to get an application for a rent subsidy. That's right - they weren't waiting for the money, they were waiting for the application for the money. And yes, there were signs saying that everyone who was in line by this afternoon would get an application. No money, just an application. Two days in line, in the heat. For an application. Yeah, some people are really, really stupid. What I'm wondering is why someone from the office didn't say anything to the assembled mob like, "You don't have to stay here for two days. We have plenty of applications and can always print more if needed." Or maybe someone did but the mob said, "It's ok, I got nuthin' better to do with my life." That's sad, but not surprising that it turned violent. If you look online for the pictures you'll see the whole story, and know that 99% of those people voted for Bama.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Diff'rent Strokes
Bama gave another stump speech in Austin yesterday and again spent the majority of his time on education. This is the sort of topic Dems love to trot out for election cycles – it’s a bread and butter issue for them because the volume of their good intentions is rivaled only by their track record of spectacular failure. Concurrent with the campaigning from Bama is the big House vote to approve $26 Billion in emergency dollars to save “Hundreds of thousands” of teacher’s jobs. Bama is very specific about this: this money will prevent hundreds of thousands of teachers from being fired before the new school year. He couldn’t be any more clear. And yet it’s a bunch of BS. Some portion of $10 Billion will go to the general funds of the states with the soft mandate that it should be used to plug holes in education spending. The obvious problem is that states make state budgets, not the US Congress, so if there are budget holes then the states have irresponsibly appropriated their own funding. The more likely scenario is that this money will get used for any number of pet projects within states that invariably have nothing to do with education.
Oh wait, what about the other $16 Billion? No surprise, the majority of this spending will go to plug other holes in state budgets. We actually have 2 RINO’s to blame – those “Republican” senators from Maine are always messing things up. This time they sold their votes for $70 million to plug a hole in Medicaid spending, so naturally if they got it every other state wanted it, too. Where the hell is the leadership in that body?
Real Republicans have opposed all these spending blitzes on the grounds that enough is enough – pay for it like you said you would! What happened to “Pay-Go?” Did anyone believe a Democrat could really stick to paying for anything? Democrats are saying they have paid for this by “Curbing corporate tax loopholes” and also with the expected reduction in foodstamp usage, starting in 2014, because the economy will be so great by then. Wait a minute – 2014?? Tax loopholes??? How can you pay for something today with money from the future? And why didn’t you close those loopholes 18 months ago, the first chance you got after Bama took the throne? This reminds me of that Popeye character who’d say, “I’ll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today.” (Just searched online – Wimpy’s famous line is a well-established tool for illustrating just this sort of fiscal dishonesty.)
Because they’re bullshitting America, that’s why. They haven’t paid one dime for this, and they never intend to. They don’t feel the need to pay for anything as long as they control the press and the people who run it are unionized.
The bottom line is that there’s absolutely no justification for Bama’s outrageous claims to save jobs and there’s no actual money to pay for this scam. It’s a political stunt and a small bailout for states who follow the federal paradigm and spend what they don’t have because they figure – correctly – that Democrats will always come around to hand out cash as long as they can make a campaign stop out of it. This teachers-jobs crisis is a total election stunt to try to save what should obviously be a lost cause.
Now on to the speech itself. Remember just 10 days ago when Bama was talking to the Urban League and he told them that he doesn’t only talk about parenting to “black folks?” Well, he talked about education for 20 minutes and never said a single word about parents to these “white folks.” What’s more, his message to the Urban League seemed to place College as this lofty aspiration, an almost unreachable thing, and his primary focus was just getting “black folks” kids though high school or even just grade school. Well, no such problems in Austin – he never mentions high school. This speech was all about college. I think his message is pretty clear – he expects a lot less of “black folks” kids, and that’s too bad, but that’s the Democrat Party today – quietly as racist as they ever were, regardless of who the President is.
And it occurs to me that "Race to the Top" can never work – with its rigorous application process and merit requirements – as long as Democrats are all too eager to undercut the program by throwing cash at every school where a teacher’s job may be on the line. Shouldn’t this be obvious? Does anyone in Washington ever think before they act? It’s all a scam!
Oh wait, what about the other $16 Billion? No surprise, the majority of this spending will go to plug other holes in state budgets. We actually have 2 RINO’s to blame – those “Republican” senators from Maine are always messing things up. This time they sold their votes for $70 million to plug a hole in Medicaid spending, so naturally if they got it every other state wanted it, too. Where the hell is the leadership in that body?
Real Republicans have opposed all these spending blitzes on the grounds that enough is enough – pay for it like you said you would! What happened to “Pay-Go?” Did anyone believe a Democrat could really stick to paying for anything? Democrats are saying they have paid for this by “Curbing corporate tax loopholes” and also with the expected reduction in foodstamp usage, starting in 2014, because the economy will be so great by then. Wait a minute – 2014?? Tax loopholes??? How can you pay for something today with money from the future? And why didn’t you close those loopholes 18 months ago, the first chance you got after Bama took the throne? This reminds me of that Popeye character who’d say, “I’ll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today.” (Just searched online – Wimpy’s famous line is a well-established tool for illustrating just this sort of fiscal dishonesty.)
Because they’re bullshitting America, that’s why. They haven’t paid one dime for this, and they never intend to. They don’t feel the need to pay for anything as long as they control the press and the people who run it are unionized.
The bottom line is that there’s absolutely no justification for Bama’s outrageous claims to save jobs and there’s no actual money to pay for this scam. It’s a political stunt and a small bailout for states who follow the federal paradigm and spend what they don’t have because they figure – correctly – that Democrats will always come around to hand out cash as long as they can make a campaign stop out of it. This teachers-jobs crisis is a total election stunt to try to save what should obviously be a lost cause.
Now on to the speech itself. Remember just 10 days ago when Bama was talking to the Urban League and he told them that he doesn’t only talk about parenting to “black folks?” Well, he talked about education for 20 minutes and never said a single word about parents to these “white folks.” What’s more, his message to the Urban League seemed to place College as this lofty aspiration, an almost unreachable thing, and his primary focus was just getting “black folks” kids though high school or even just grade school. Well, no such problems in Austin – he never mentions high school. This speech was all about college. I think his message is pretty clear – he expects a lot less of “black folks” kids, and that’s too bad, but that’s the Democrat Party today – quietly as racist as they ever were, regardless of who the President is.
And it occurs to me that "Race to the Top" can never work – with its rigorous application process and merit requirements – as long as Democrats are all too eager to undercut the program by throwing cash at every school where a teacher’s job may be on the line. Shouldn’t this be obvious? Does anyone in Washington ever think before they act? It’s all a scam!
Monday, August 2, 2010
Race To The Top, or, Why Earn When You Can Just Want?
Bama gave a speech to the National Urban League Thursday of last week. The NUL is non-partisan by charter, but it’s about as ideologically and racially diverse as the NAACP, so that makes it the perfect venue for Bama to spout his lies. I actually watched this on CNN – it was one of only a handful of English-speaking channels in my Montreal hotel room – and what struck me was the amazing divide between what Bama and “black folks” want, and how they intend to achieve what they want. I make a simple distinction here between want and earn.
The speech began with Bama’s customary litany of lies and exaggerations regarding his accomplishments to date – among other things he now claims to have “saved 8 million jobs.” Whatever. Oh, and he talks about the Shirley Sherrod mess and mostly blames the media, because its well-known that Fox News has the power to fire high-ranking federal employees. But don’t worry, black America, Bama not only reprimanded Fox News but he also hired Shirley back for more pay. What he actually says in the speech is, “Rather than jump to conclusions and point fingers, and play some of the games that are played on cable TV…” Oh no he didn’t just point his finger at Fox News!
Another issue close to “black folks” hearts, Bama “helped right a longstanding wrong” by reducing prison sentences for crack-cocaine users. Thank goodness we’ll finally get more those drug users back on the streets where they belong.
The meat of the speech had to do with his education bill, which he calls, “Race to the Top.” The “top” of what is never explained, but by the sound of it, he means, the top of the bottom. Unbelievably, after five decades of liberalism in education, “black folks” still don’t do as good as whites when it comes to school test scores or graduation rates or college participation rates or employment rates, or seemingly anything else that contributes to a self-sustaining way of life in America. In fact, things just keep getting worse.
Bama claims that, “Education is an economic issue – if not ‘the’ economic issue of our time.” This is a statement everyone should be able to get behind. Now if only we could come up with some good ideas on how to improve education… I know, let’s let Teddy Kennedy write an education bill called “No Child Left Behind”, which encourages low standards because we don’t want to be politically incorrect and elevate smart kids above dumb kids. Ok, that didn’t work, now all the smart kids are bored and playing with their iPhones instead of learning the mundane splatter that is intentionally watered down. And the schools with all the dumb kids are getting their funding cut, and as any Democrat can tell you, the solution to every problem is always more money.
In that vein get ready - here comes Race To The Top (of the bottom)!
First things first, lubricate the gears of racism, I mean, pledge billions of taxpayer dollars to Historically Black Colleges and Universities, which, in case you’re wondering, are not only historically black but also presently black. Next, let’s take the private sector out of the business of issuing college tuition loans. God forbid students are indebted to anyone but the Federal Government for their education.
But he’s getting ahead of himself. We need to go back before the start and deprive children of their childhood by saturating their “formative years” with more government-controlled “early learning options.” Options. Yeah, right. Of course all this costs money. Lots and lots of money. So Bama is starting out with $4 Billion in “grants” to states which change their curriculum to meet Bama’s new educational standards. This should allow inner city schools to get more money to build better buildings and hire and keep better teachers, because it’s always worked out that way in the past. (sarcasm) Also, Bama is not opposed to all Charter schools, but don’t worry, teachers unions, if he judges a Charter school to not be up to his standards he won’t hesitate to “shut it down.” Yeah, he actually said that – no double-standard there. He only supports “good Charter schools,” but he supports all failing inner city schools because that’s where the “black folks’” kids go, and he can’t offend the teachers unions or the Urban League by suggesting “black folks’” kids should go somewhere else, like to a better school where there might be “white folks’” kids who are probably racists. Am I reading too much into his remarks? I really don’t think so. I’m sure you get the idea. Absolutely no specifics on how any of this will get done except that $4 Billion is earmarked for it. As long as states change curriculum, they get the money.
But here’s where Bama’s philosophy of life begins to shine – when he merely “wants” something. For Bama, “want” is pretty much the same as “hope”. To any rational and likely conservative thinking person, these are empty words which epitomize the old adage, The path to Hell is paved with good intentions. It’s the Democrats oldest trick – to talk a good game but do nothing.
From the speech, here is Bama’s list of wants:
He wants to remind us of what things were like in 2008.
He wants to put a college degree in reach for anyone who wants it. (Sound familiar, home owners?)
He wants the USA to be number 1 instead of number 12.
He wants better early learning options.
He wants to address civil rights as part of Race to the Top.
He wants teachers to be the single most important factor.
He wants teachers to have high salaries.
He wants teachers to have more support.
He wants teachers to be trained like professionals.
He wants to give teachers a career ladder.
He wants teachers to have a fulfilling and supporting work environment.
He wants teachers to have the resources to help them succeed.
He wants to build a culture where we idolize teachers.
He wants teachers featured on MTV.
He wants to know who Snooki is.
He wants to commend teachers unions.
He wants to give schools the chance to try new things.
He wants young people to be able to read their diplomas.
In all, Bama says “want” 27 times during this speech, but he only says “earn” once, when he says, interestingly, that teachers should earn financial security (doesn’t the government already control that???)
In Democrats’ minds it is good enough to want something, or to hope for something, and completely unnecessary to have to work hard or earn that wanted thing. In this speech it is never incumbent on students to work hard for their education, or earn the privilege – not the right – to go to college. If they want it, they should have it.
All of the really obvious problems with society, and specifically “black folks”, are overlooked – the majority single-parent households, high crime rate, gangs, and overall cultures of entitlement and fear which have destroyed the black community for going on 3 generations – these are the real issues plaguing black and inner-city Americans, and all of this affects children well before they ever step foot in a kindergarten classroom or dare to dream to be something more than what they started with. What Democrats and Bama refuse to acknowledge is that it takes hard work to turn problems into opportunities into successes, and not just put money in government coffers.
What was surely intended as the highpoint of the speech is when Bama claimed that in convincing states to change their standards he “leveraged change.” Now he must have been talking to some of those dumb kids that came from No Child Left Behind, because change is what happens when you leverage something else. You don’t leverage change, unless he means he leveraged his slogan. What he really leveraged was money. So we know that for Bama, change and money are synonymous. (For those in the Urban League, synonymous means they are essentially the same.) Furthermore, money replaces the need to achieve by hard work. This seems to be the key tenet of the Obama administration: Change = Money. Your money and mine, presumably to give to teachers, from what he says in this speech.
Whether he can translate money into results is the real question, and if history is a guide then Race to the Top will likely end further down the hill from where it began.
The speech began with Bama’s customary litany of lies and exaggerations regarding his accomplishments to date – among other things he now claims to have “saved 8 million jobs.” Whatever. Oh, and he talks about the Shirley Sherrod mess and mostly blames the media, because its well-known that Fox News has the power to fire high-ranking federal employees. But don’t worry, black America, Bama not only reprimanded Fox News but he also hired Shirley back for more pay. What he actually says in the speech is, “Rather than jump to conclusions and point fingers, and play some of the games that are played on cable TV…” Oh no he didn’t just point his finger at Fox News!
Another issue close to “black folks” hearts, Bama “helped right a longstanding wrong” by reducing prison sentences for crack-cocaine users. Thank goodness we’ll finally get more those drug users back on the streets where they belong.
The meat of the speech had to do with his education bill, which he calls, “Race to the Top.” The “top” of what is never explained, but by the sound of it, he means, the top of the bottom. Unbelievably, after five decades of liberalism in education, “black folks” still don’t do as good as whites when it comes to school test scores or graduation rates or college participation rates or employment rates, or seemingly anything else that contributes to a self-sustaining way of life in America. In fact, things just keep getting worse.
Bama claims that, “Education is an economic issue – if not ‘the’ economic issue of our time.” This is a statement everyone should be able to get behind. Now if only we could come up with some good ideas on how to improve education… I know, let’s let Teddy Kennedy write an education bill called “No Child Left Behind”, which encourages low standards because we don’t want to be politically incorrect and elevate smart kids above dumb kids. Ok, that didn’t work, now all the smart kids are bored and playing with their iPhones instead of learning the mundane splatter that is intentionally watered down. And the schools with all the dumb kids are getting their funding cut, and as any Democrat can tell you, the solution to every problem is always more money.
In that vein get ready - here comes Race To The Top (of the bottom)!
First things first, lubricate the gears of racism, I mean, pledge billions of taxpayer dollars to Historically Black Colleges and Universities, which, in case you’re wondering, are not only historically black but also presently black. Next, let’s take the private sector out of the business of issuing college tuition loans. God forbid students are indebted to anyone but the Federal Government for their education.
But he’s getting ahead of himself. We need to go back before the start and deprive children of their childhood by saturating their “formative years” with more government-controlled “early learning options.” Options. Yeah, right. Of course all this costs money. Lots and lots of money. So Bama is starting out with $4 Billion in “grants” to states which change their curriculum to meet Bama’s new educational standards. This should allow inner city schools to get more money to build better buildings and hire and keep better teachers, because it’s always worked out that way in the past. (sarcasm) Also, Bama is not opposed to all Charter schools, but don’t worry, teachers unions, if he judges a Charter school to not be up to his standards he won’t hesitate to “shut it down.” Yeah, he actually said that – no double-standard there. He only supports “good Charter schools,” but he supports all failing inner city schools because that’s where the “black folks’” kids go, and he can’t offend the teachers unions or the Urban League by suggesting “black folks’” kids should go somewhere else, like to a better school where there might be “white folks’” kids who are probably racists. Am I reading too much into his remarks? I really don’t think so. I’m sure you get the idea. Absolutely no specifics on how any of this will get done except that $4 Billion is earmarked for it. As long as states change curriculum, they get the money.
But here’s where Bama’s philosophy of life begins to shine – when he merely “wants” something. For Bama, “want” is pretty much the same as “hope”. To any rational and likely conservative thinking person, these are empty words which epitomize the old adage, The path to Hell is paved with good intentions. It’s the Democrats oldest trick – to talk a good game but do nothing.
From the speech, here is Bama’s list of wants:
He wants to remind us of what things were like in 2008.
He wants to put a college degree in reach for anyone who wants it. (Sound familiar, home owners?)
He wants the USA to be number 1 instead of number 12.
He wants better early learning options.
He wants to address civil rights as part of Race to the Top.
He wants teachers to be the single most important factor.
He wants teachers to have high salaries.
He wants teachers to have more support.
He wants teachers to be trained like professionals.
He wants to give teachers a career ladder.
He wants teachers to have a fulfilling and supporting work environment.
He wants teachers to have the resources to help them succeed.
He wants to build a culture where we idolize teachers.
He wants teachers featured on MTV.
He wants to know who Snooki is.
He wants to commend teachers unions.
He wants to give schools the chance to try new things.
He wants young people to be able to read their diplomas.
In all, Bama says “want” 27 times during this speech, but he only says “earn” once, when he says, interestingly, that teachers should earn financial security (doesn’t the government already control that???)
In Democrats’ minds it is good enough to want something, or to hope for something, and completely unnecessary to have to work hard or earn that wanted thing. In this speech it is never incumbent on students to work hard for their education, or earn the privilege – not the right – to go to college. If they want it, they should have it.
All of the really obvious problems with society, and specifically “black folks”, are overlooked – the majority single-parent households, high crime rate, gangs, and overall cultures of entitlement and fear which have destroyed the black community for going on 3 generations – these are the real issues plaguing black and inner-city Americans, and all of this affects children well before they ever step foot in a kindergarten classroom or dare to dream to be something more than what they started with. What Democrats and Bama refuse to acknowledge is that it takes hard work to turn problems into opportunities into successes, and not just put money in government coffers.
What was surely intended as the highpoint of the speech is when Bama claimed that in convincing states to change their standards he “leveraged change.” Now he must have been talking to some of those dumb kids that came from No Child Left Behind, because change is what happens when you leverage something else. You don’t leverage change, unless he means he leveraged his slogan. What he really leveraged was money. So we know that for Bama, change and money are synonymous. (For those in the Urban League, synonymous means they are essentially the same.) Furthermore, money replaces the need to achieve by hard work. This seems to be the key tenet of the Obama administration: Change = Money. Your money and mine, presumably to give to teachers, from what he says in this speech.
Whether he can translate money into results is the real question, and if history is a guide then Race to the Top will likely end further down the hill from where it began.
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