The 2012 "October Surprise" Has Already Arrived...

...and it's not good for Barack Obama.

I know you may be thinking "what the hell are you talking about"?  I'll bet that you haven't heard anything about it via the so-called traditional news outlets, and haven't read anything on your regular Internet news feeds either.  I know that I read a lot of news on a daily basis (much more than I write obviously), and I've seen nothing about it.  But guess what, boys and girls?  The much ballyhooed "October surprise" is here, and for those of us still employed and who have employer provided/subsidized insurance, we know exactly what it is.

It's our health benefits annual enrollment. 

For those of you who work part-time, as contractors, or who don't work for employers who provide benefits, I'll provide a bit of a primer.  Every year about this time, most of us who have the more traditional, employer provided health insurance and other benefits plans (FSA, HSA, etc.) receive a notice from our employer which instructs us to advise our HR departments how much in deductions we want to allow for our FSA/HSA plans next year.  It also informs us of any changes in our health insurance plans.

We're all learning, right now, first hand, how much Obamacare is going to screw us.  Surprise!

While "the media" is sitting around speculating what will be the great "October Surprise", those of us who are still blessed enough to have jobs are seeing the increases in premiums, decreases in coverage, and/or the reductions in our prescription coverage...all thanks to President Obama and the Democrat party.  Also, FSA limits are now capped at $2,500 (for the individual and $5,000 for dependents), and people looking at stocking up on over the counter drugs, so they won't lose what's left of their 2012 FSA, will learn that their FSA doesn't cover any of that anymore, so they may lose their money.  As a further note, many people use their FSA (or HSA) as a tax-deterrent means to pay for out of pocket costs for regular medication and/or for expensive out-of-pocket costs for special needs children.

Surprise!  Not as much anymore, chumps.  No more slight discount on that special program for your autistic kid, you "top 1%er" who makes $50K a year.  Obama and his enormous soul eating leviathan government needs your money to "build that" food stamp program for your neighbor's 27 year old "child", Jaeyden.  You've met him a couple of times, he's the one who with the $125K in student loans for his "Wymyns' Studies" degree who just moved back in with his parents.  He's sitting on his ass playing X-Box all day while claiming for Mom and Dad's benefit to be "starting his business" selling artisanal suburban organic wasabi honey mayonnaise on Etsy.

So, while 30 year old "law student activists" are screaming at you about trying to kill them because you're cruel enough to actually believe that if they can afford things like 9 years of Georgetown Law School, business managers, iPhone plans, and flights across country to "rally" 10 other unemployed morons, certainly they can find $9 somewhere to buy themselves some birth control pills...you're being denied a tax benefit for the the ability to use more of your own money to pay for your own actual health care and/or the health care of your family.  And while you're paying more for gas, groceries, and everything else, you're about to get absolutely gored on your health insurance.  I hate to ask, but how long ago was your last pay raise?

So enjoy your October surprise, workers of America, and go on out there and vote for the party of  the high cost of everything (except your paycheck) and especially, "universal healthcare." 

QOTD

"The President does not have power under the Constitution to unilaterally authorize a military attack in a situation that does not involve stopping an actual or imminent threat to the nation."

--Senator Barack Obama

Better On Nothing

If you, like me, are not a partisan of either donk or efenant, occasionally some well-meaning rabid supporter will attempt to convince you the proper place for you is on their side. This is usually a tough sell for many, many reasons, but even more so in the current political climate. My sympathies lie slightly towards the efenant side, since they seem a wee tad bit more determined to let me keep my guns and more of my money. Given the rest of my political sympathies, this sometimes baffles the donks I know. After all, I'm for gay marriage, drug legalization, less militarization of the police, criminal justice system reform, and a whole host of other issues that liberals and progressives supposedly support.

Here's the issue, and it applies to the R as well as the D. I can't go by what the boot-licking sycophants tell me some politician would do or would like to do. I have to go by what the honorable Random Weasel actually does. On that note, both of y'all's parties suck. But since the donks are currently in the Whitehouse, let's pick on them.

So, let me ask about a few issues supposedly important to you liberal and progressive types. Did the DEA stop cracking down on medical marijuana? Made any progress on slowing down the Drug War either? Hey, did your shiny hopey changey President get Gitmo closed? How about that PATRIOT Act that was gonna get revised? We stop bailing out huge corporations with taxpayer money yet? How's the whole increased transparency coming along? Damn, the answer to all that is still no?

And finally, the issue that started this post: warrantless wiretaps. The Obama declared he was gonna put an end to that nonsense. Oh, wait. Maybe not. Let's expand it, instead.

So, somebody on the left clue me in. On what rational basis do you claim your side is better on any issue I give a damn about? Either make some progress on liberty or admit your half of the donkelphant is just as awful as the other half. In the meantime, don't seriously expect me to believe I belong with either side.

Intentions Are Key

So, the n00b won the Nobel Peace Prize for... for... wait, what the fuck? According to the Swedes, it's

for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples

Seriously? Are you people on crack? He hasn't accomplished a bloody thing. Oh, wait, he didn't have to according to the committee. He got a Nobel for effort. When I was but a lower-case t, the prize for effort meant you were completely useless, but tried real hard. Are they going to apply this standard to the other prizes? Because, really, won't that make the prize way more inclusive? Maybe Pons and Fleischmann can get a Physics prize now, since they tried really, really hard to make cold fusion work. And they tried even harder to make people think they had. Surely that level of effort deserves some kind of reward.

For most of us, 1994 marks the nadir of the Nobel Peace Prize. When you hand out a prize for peace to a guy simply because he agrees, in theory but not in practice, to stop slaughtering people to achieve his goals, you've pretty much rendered it meaningless. I could also point out 1981 as a fail point, when they handed it to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. One could make the argument the completely ineffectual work the UNHCR has done with regards to the Palestinians has done more to prolong conflict in the Middle East than any other single organization.

Seriously, aside from the fact they give out big cash, why does anyone care about this award anymore? It's a sick joke.

UPDATE: I am allied with the GOP and terrorists! Or so says the head donk:

"The Republican Party has thrown in its lot with the terrorists - the Taliban and Hamas this morning - in criticizing the President for receiving the Nobel Peace prize,"

The jokes write themselves. Or run political parties. Whichever.

Justice Isn't Blind

Well, in a historic ground-breaking moment of something or other, Sonia Sotomayor was confirmed as the first Hispanic on the Supreme Court. Me, I just wish they would have confirmed someone who understands the concept of a limited federal government. Alas, as always, I don't get what I want out of the political process. You'd think a minority of Americans shared my political views or something.

Actually, I think it's because I'm being oppressed. Or will be soon, if things keep going the way they are. Anyhow, enjoy the newer, more Hispanic SCOTUS - now with extra added empathy and wisdom. The n00b thinks it's a "wonderful day for America", but what does he know? Judging by the policies he keeps pushing, not a whole hell of a lot.

Meet The New Boss

So, for some reason strains of The Who have been floating though my head a lot lately, along with Kafka's classic quote about every revolution leaving behind the slime of a new bureaucracy. I bring this up today because of a lovely little item I read over at the LA Times after being pointed that way from Hit & Run.

So, his n00bness is doing exactly what Cheney was roundly excoriated for doing. I eagerly await the legion of left-wing and progressive commentators who will jump up and proclaim how this is bad.

I'd like to ask anybody who voted for Obama on the theory that he would be different from Bush in his policies: how's that working out for you? As near as I can tell, he's continued every Bush policy and added some new crappy ones of his own. I'm hoping you aren't too disappointed that he's done nothing you elected him to do, unless you were hoping he'd increase the deficit by unimaginable numbers and spend an astronomical sum of money for no appreciable benefit. In which case, you got what you asked for and I hope you choke on it.

Slight Mistake

So, apparently Sonia Sotomayor doesn't quite understand the whole Constitutional law thingie we've got going on. Well, that's what Randy Barnett thinks, anyway. Key quote from the good professor:

This is both a grossly incorrect (and empty) understanding of the doctrine governing the protection of fundamental rights and an inaccurate statement of the precedents concerning the incorporation of the right to keep and bear arms into the Due Process Clause of the Constitution.

Hmm. So, refresh my memory. Why is she qualified to be on the Supreme Court? If her understanding is as limited as Professor Barnett thinks, why'd she get nominated?

Of course, I hold to the view, first articulated by others, that she is the least worst nominee we're going to get from the n00b. Any other SCOTUS nominee will be worse by an order of magnitude. As evidence, I point to the plethora of czarlets the new administration has created. None of them are subject to vetting, and the results are interesting. As an example, I give you the Science Czar.

A Little Light Lunchtime Reading...

Apparently, Teh Barackulous' transition rejected a proposal from the Bush folks to publicly join forces in setting tough conditions on GM and Chrysler in return for money to "survive". Not that I agree with or endorse any of this mess, but it should put to rest the kvetching by his majesty's minions that they unknowingly inherited this mess.

Kwame Kilpatrick, former mayor of Detroit and convicted felon, is getting some new and improved subsidized housing. What I want to know is how do these guys find people who are willing to give them these high paying lucrative jobs and pay for their housing without providing sexual favors or anything else in return? I am in the wrong business.

Thomas Sowell discusses the varieties and ramifications of doing nothing. Kind of an interesting analysis.

Apparently there's a firestorm surrounding some ignunt filming drunk kids doing what they do: shooting off at the mouth. This time they’re in Jerusalem and they're talking about Obama. I think the biggest problem here is that journalists are pissed that these kids are talking trash about their holy messiah.

Little Bits of News That I've Heard Today to Add to My Generally Pissy Mood...

Henry Waxman is trying to hold to his promise to pass this cap and trade Carbon Tax disaster by the end of day today and the Democrats are so desperate that they've maybe topped themselves. The Wall Street Journal reports that, due to the possibility that Republicans will require a formal reading of the 1,000+ page bill to slow its progress, the Democrats have a speed-reader waiting. So, now, apparently Evelyn Wood is now the most powerful force in government.

Our friends the Donks have also rejected an amendment that would stop the cap and trade tax if unemployment rises to 15% or gas reaches $5/gallon. I'm guessing that because there are still some of us left who haven't elected socialists to office to devastate our state economies, Congress has to make sure we're all equally punished and destroyed. One ring to rule them all and all that dreck.

I also heard a clip today where the infallible teleprompter of the Barackulous informed him that his Secretary of Defense is William Gates. Um, Mr. TOTUS, I think the man's name is Robert. William Gates would be one of the founders of Microsoft. Hmmm...maybe that was intentional after all.

Buttmonkey

The search begins for the next member of the Supreme Court. Right off the bat, I can assure you someone who is willing to uphold the Constitution as the supreme law of the land is not really high on the priority list. I find this out from none other than David Axelrod.

"Fidelity to the Constitution is paramount, but..."

I could give you the rest of the sentence. I see no need. Once you've got the ever-popular buttmonkey in the phrase, the first half doesn't really matter.

So, given that the administration feels other issues are more important than the Constitution, let's have fun with it. I think we should make the selection of the next justice the subject of a reality TV show, with audience participation. If we're going to continue on the downhole slide away from the rule of law, let's grease that fucker and make it a race to the bottom.

Stupidity Resurgent

The level of dumb going around right now is just staggering, and hopefully not contagious. I catch a case of the retard like so many others in our body politic and it's on. I'll start believing whacko conspiracy theories and take a more direct approach to politics.

However, the stupid is just everywhere. So last week, the n00b decided taking over student loans was the next brilliant idea. While his codependent enablers in Congress haven't bought off on it yet, I have no doubt they will. I mean, why wouldn't they? They already helped take over the auto industry and the banking industry. Why not get back into student loans?

So what does this week bring? Some jackass using these examples to suggest the government get into credit cards! Seriously, are all you people retarded? Please tell me this is a joke and we're all not that goddamned dumb. Otherwise, I'm going to have to to step up my plans for world domination just to keep all y'all ignuts in line.

Another Day, Another Disaster

Seriously, who here thinks the possibility of a law named after everybody's favorite tumor-ridden drunk being actually worthwhile or constitutional is greater than zero? Anybody?

Well, good to see we're not teaching the slow class today. I refer, of course, to the recently signed and enacted Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act. The act authorizes the spending of 5.7 billion dollars to train bartenders in the proper mixing of a scotch and soda. Oh, wait, I am apparently mistaken on the meaning of serve in this context. Given the association with Teddy, it was a natural mistake on my part. It has nothing to do with alcohol and everything to do with encouraging volunteerism by handing out oodles of federal money. Personally, I think training bartenders might be more useful. In any event, Nick Gillespie has far more to say about the crapulence than me, and is a wee tad bit more eloquent besides.

The news comes out about the same time as the shocking... wait, that's not right. Need a little more emphasis here. The SHOCKING! news states are not actually able to track the stimulus money being thrown around so casually by the n00b and his enablers in Congress. So the obvious solution is more money. That's right, MORE MONEY! As much as I disliked Matthew Lesko and everything that led to his scam, he's definitely a small time carny fleecing the rubes in Flyover Country compared to this lot. My hero has the best take on it all.

GM Bankruptcy

The n00b has finally figured out that GM may require bankruptcy, but some super-special different kind of bankruptcy rather than the normal, stodgy, old-fashioned kind.

Let's quickly review some pertinent numbers and basic accounting, shall we? GM's most recent balance sheet is here. GM has negative equity, a fairly impressive achievement in and of itself for a company with $91 Billion in assets. However, this pales in comparison to GM's liabilities of $177 Billion.

So, in simple terms, GM owes $177 Billion on $91 Billion worth of stuff. You would have to have a 200% loan-to-value ratio on your house to be this far upside down. That's okay, though. You can have a balance sheet this fundmentally lopsided, even in your personal life, if you've got enough income to cover the notes and maybe pay off some principal.

So, what's GM's income look like? GM had a gross profit last year of -$332 Million. Plus, they're bring in 35% less money now than they were last year. GM doesn't have the income to do anything about the catastrophe that is their balance sheet. The numbers may have varied slightly in the details over the past several months while everybody dithered about what to do.

Short answer: GM is losing money every minute, and owes twice what the company is worth. There is no restructuring plan on earth that can save them that does not involve bankruptcy court. Pouring more tax money into GM cannot fix the numbers above, unless you just want the feds to write a check for $177 Billion so GM can be debt-free.

It's taken this long for the chattering imbeciles in DC to figure this out. Smart people we have serving in Congress and the Executive.

This sucks, too, because I really did want a new car this year.

Many Call It Conspiracy

The CFR comes and goes as a conspiratorial organization. Yesterday, Timmy the Tax Cheat was speaking to them and apparently endorsed a one world currency approach. Oh noes! The Obamanauts will sell us out to the UN! Novus Ordo Seclorum! FEMA Takeover! Internment Camps! National Sovereignty loss in 3... 2... 1...

Well, maybe not so much. Here's the transcript. As an aside, it's hard to be conspiratorial when you're posting transcripts on the web. As I read this, somebody is asking a question about the Chinese central bank's proposal for... something. I lack the background to know exactly WTF is being discussed. Geithner, not wanting to piss off the guy who's holding the largest amount of US debt, says there may be something useful in the proposal, but I haven't read it. Strangely, this statement triggered the buttons of the paranoids. Nobody seems to give a damn about his multiple statements that the government is going to do whatever it takes for however long it takes to get us out of this crisis. Which one worries you more? The thought that the Chinese may have some thoughts on the current crisis which may contain some utility, or the thought that the government is going to fix this crisis by any means necessary?

I know which one disturbs me more, and the Chinese are by far not my biggest concern.

For another take on the effectiveness of the bailout, try here.

Lunacy, with Bonuses!

So, the n00b woke up and realized that he looked like a fool and decided to speechify and remove all doubt.

Let me sum up the current AIG mess in my own inimitable fashion. We have here a collection of ignuts who managed to take one of the largest insurance companies in the world and drive it into the ground like a fucking tent peg. The head ignut was swapped out twice within the past year because of said contact with the earth. In an attempt to forestall the cascade of poo that would have resulted from AIG going tits up, your federal government handed them a staggering amount of money. Because the Congress (of whom the n00b was a member at the time) didn't want to engage in some sober, considered reflection on how to disburse $150 billion dollars, they basically gave it to the ignuts and said "Don't go broke again!" Strangely, this did not result in the kind of results Congress expected. Instead, the ignuts in charge of AIG handed out bonuses. Congress, in a valiant and so-far successful attempt to distract the public from their complicity in the bonus payments, pitched a wobbler.

Now, I neither know or care whether these guys deserve their bonuses. I do know it is not the business of the Congress to intervene in my relationship with my employer because a bunch of ignuts in DC do not like my pay structure. By extension, they shouldn't be doing it to AIG. Some on the idiot side of the debate have been squalling and screaming that it's the taxpayer's money and shouldn't be going to bonuses. News flash: once AIG took the money, it ain't the taxpayer's anymore. Here's another news flash: the time to extract conditions on the use of the money is before you hand it over, not after. Third news flash: when you enable poor behavior, you like like a hypocritical, sanctimonious imbecile for complaining about the very behavior you enabled. Given that trifecta of newsiness, Congress, Timmy the Tax Cheat, and the n00b all need to STFU about the issue. But I'm betting they won't

I am informed the Congress will be holding hearings on why the Tooth Fairy has failed in her obligation to prop up the economy next. It'll be at least as useful as anything they're currently doing. I also feel compelled to point out the proper solution for all this was to let AIG go bankrupt, cascade of poo notwithstanding. However, your elected representatives did not agree with me, which comes as a great surprise to us all, doesn't it?

Not Yours?

So, I'm given to understand the n00b wants to sign the omnibus spending bill while refusing to take any blame for it. Hmm. Interesting.

Here's how it works in my professional world. I'm an engineer. At the end of the day, when I sign the documents, they're mine. It doesn't matter if I sign a purchase request, a drawing, a work order, or a calculation. If I sign the bottom of the document next to "Approved By", I own it forever. Nobody cares if I didn't do the math, prepare the drawing, or pull the part numbers from the catalog. I signed it, so it's my problem. I am the guy who is going to take the heat for whatever is on the piece of paper. Generally, this means I double check what's on the paper and make sure it's right.

Now, keep in mind, I'm just a project engineer in a manufacturing plant. I didn't sign up to be the leader of the richest, most powerful nation to ever exist on planet Earth. You wanted the job, fucktard, sack up and take the responsibility that goes with it. Don't pawn it off on the last guy. He ain't around anymore, and your signature is going on the bottom of the page. This means you are the guy, n00b, and nobody else but you. You can't point fingers at 60 of your colleagues and say "They voted for it too!" You're the man now, and if you can't even own the decisions you make, you aren't fit to be in the chair.

Expensive Speech

So, read it and find something substantive. I found a bunch of empty-headed blather. I'd go through and pull out choice tidbits, but I haven't the time today. Perhaps later this evening.

Also, enjoy this lovely bit of Lovecraftian snark.

I Think My Brain Just Broke

So, the n00b is gonna cut the deficit in half by the end of his first term. I just want to point out two things in the article.

Calling for fiscal restraint

his $787 billion economic stimulus package

So, can anyone tell me how that works? The same guy that just signed a spending bill for all the moneys now says we have to exercise fiscal restraint? Is this another one of these "do as i say, not as I do" deals? Because from where I'm sitting, it sure looks that way.

What really infuriates me more than anything else is that we have taken the problem and pushed it off on the younger generation yet again. God forbid somebody tell the boomers and the rest of us adults the cold, ugly truth. The money for all the stuff we got promised just ain't fucking there. So you know what that means? We don't get the stuff. Big Daddy Gubmint got a pay cut down at the mill and there's no more money to keep handing out candy to the kids, so shut up and eat your vegetables.

But we, collectively, just won't let that happen. Apparently, we think it isn't fair that somebody's not going to get something they were promised by an organization going bankrupt! You know what? It's also not fair to screw some kid that just turned 18, or 12, or was just born, into paying for stuff for somebody else. But that's exactly what we're doing. All you people with young kids should be screaming bloody murder, because Congress and the President just raped their future while you stood around with your thumb up your ass. Unless, of course, you voted for the donks in the last election cycle. Then you actively contributed to the destruction of your children's future. Well done, you.

Quick Question

Been a busy week at work, so I'm behind on the blogging. Here's my tally so far: Geithner, Daschle, Killefer, Solis. How many more of the n00b's nominees have tax problems? I'm also amused they manage to find and correct these mistakes, just by coincidence, right before or after they get nominated to serve.

Hippitty-Hopeity-Changeity.

Confusticated and Bewildereded

So, can somebody refresh my memory? Part of why we’re in the current economic situation is because one group of greedy morons loaned money to another group of greedy morons and no one bothered to look at the asset values or the income streams to see if all the numbers made sense. The n00b has a great idea for fixing the mess!

“We’ll help lower mortgage costs and extend loans to small businesses so they can create jobs,”

So, more mortgages is gonna fix the economy! What do “incompetent” mean? What do “baffled” mean? More of the same thing which caused the problem is rarely a solution worth pursuing. We’re back to the first rule of holes and all that. On that note, spending even more money than the last guy won’t fix it either. If you’ll note how Bush the Younger spent money the government didn’t have, it sure didn’t seem to help keep the economy going. So spending even more money the government doesn’t have is going to make things better! I mean, think of how much worse things would have been if Bush hadn’t done all the deficit spending! I mean seriously, folks. The response so far has been nothing more than ignorant magical thinking of the finest kind. Look, the volcano god economy is angry with us! We must throw a virgin down the well engage in deficit spending ! Oh no! The anger is still strong! Quickly, throw some more virgins spend more! The logic is about as compelling, and the solution likely to be about as effective.

Anyhow, one of the guys who helped create the conditions which led to the current crisis is now saying the problem is “the complete absence of regulation in the financial area”. His statement would be what those of us in the real world would call a “lie”. When a guy who has been on the House Financial Services Committee as long as Barney Frank (D-emagogue) says the financial area is unregulated, he’s lying and knows he’s lying. You can’t operate any kind of financial institution without coming under the purview of an incredible number of federal regulations. Dishonesty about the causes of the problem sure as hell won’t lead us to a fix. It should concern all of us when the guy who oversees any potential legislation to fix the banking industry lies that boldly.

Yay! We’re going to subsidize poor decision-making yet again! Or else force people to make the decisions the fed wants! I’m thrilled at the change and hopeful it doesn’t last very long. But I ain’t optimistic.