Resolute

It's the beginning of a shiny new year, filled with unanticipated disappointments and your old familiar regrets. I know many people make resolutions to do something, anything, to improve their life situation. I, on the other hand, am pretty damn wonderful the way I am and don't need to change except to possibly get more betterer. Anyhow, in the spirit of change and hope that permeates the very fabric of America, (smells like bullshit, incidentally), I have some suggestions for New Year's resolutions because frankly, some of y'all need to tighten the hell up, mmkay? These are ideal if you've already blown off the resolutions you made while drunk and/or hungover earlier this year. 

• Eat more beets. 
• Work less, procrastinate more. (I may have this one backwards. Check with a reputable advice columnist.) 
• Keep a dream diary to realize how disturbed your subconscious really is. 
• Stop feeding Ex Lax to toddlers, especially the ones that aren't yours. 
• Finish things, preferably with a cool Mortal Kombat style finishing move. 
• Quit accidentally stapling yourself to things. The company can't afford the staples. 
• Drink more or less caffeine, depending on how much you vibrate while at rest. 
• Stop selling used underwear on eBay to finance your buying-used-underwear habit. It's a vicious cycle that benefits no one. 
• Soap is not optional this year, bathdodger. 
• While you've probably given up on it already this year, lose some weight, lardo. 
• Practice a skill. Masturbation, by the way, is not a skill, despite what some of you seem to think. 
• Stop commenting on YouTube. 
• Get more tattoos. 
• Only be rude to people who deserve it.
• Quit shouting "Hey, cocksucker!" to get people's attention. While often accurate, it's still somewhat gauche. 
• Stay out of the left hand lane if you're not exceeding the speed limit.
• Don't refer to your genitalia in the third person. It's creepy and off-putting. 
• Pay your liquor store bill. Distillers and brewers have families, too, you know. 

While I am pretty near perfect, I admit I am planning on a few of these for the year. Which ones, I leave it up you to decipher.

 As long as we're on the subject, you might find this article from Cracked of some use if you really want to change for the better.

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." 

Incoherence Run Amuck

I haven’t blogged much about the Health Crae debate currently raging in the halls of government and elsewhere. Much of the debate is muddled and incoherent at best, and downright mendacious at worst. I have noticed a couple of things that I feel compelled to point out.

You have no right to medical care. Sorry, we don’t accept the notion of positive rights around here. Sooner or later positive rights run smack into the more traditional negative rights. At the point of collision, positive rights must lose, or else we are all servants of the state. If the positive rights inevitably lose, they’re not really rights.

The debate is not about health care, as such. The debate is more properly about who is supposed to pay for health care. Seeing as how health care is a rivalrous, excludable good I’m forced to conclude it is not, in any traditional sense, a public good. Pay for your healthcare yourself.

The socialists and progressives in America have spent decades promoting government interference into health care. When the resulting goat screw produces less than optimal results, what answer do they have? As always, the answer is more government! This strikes me as akin to looking at a house on fire and saying “I know! Let’s add gasoline!” What I find perpetually depressing is the vast number of people that buy off on this bullshit.

I have a quaint and archaic notion about legislators. I feel they should read the laws they vote on, consider the merits, and render a judgment via their vote. If they are unwilling to do so, I consider it prima facie evidence of malfeasance and they should be removed from office. There’s a collection of people who should be getting removed from office any day now under my rules.

Ultimately, the health care debate comes down to one core concept. Do you want the government to take care of you or do you think you can take care of yourself?

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.

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.

SCOTUS blocks the Auto-Rama

My initial thought: it is about time. Ruthie's going to get her 4 justices, and I hope it is the precise 4 that Teh Barackulous and his merry band of socialist flying monkeys doesn't want. I am feeling optimistic that there are 4 members of the high court who may jump on board just for the opportunity to strike down this, maybe TARP...and potentially all of this unconstitutional government intervention. Hey, maybe there's some hope & change for me after all.

One can only try to look for a bright spot, right? Needless to say, there are so many potential outcomes and ramifications here...and the Supreme Court could just be the ones to save us all.

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.