HOW TO HANDLE WIKI-LEAKS
Julian Assange, the Wiki-Leaks founder is now wanted for questioning, not for releasing top secret documents that have cost the lives of innocent victims and endangered countless others, rather for charges of rape and molestation.
Like any free thinking adult, I guess I have to question the timing of the new charges by the Sweedish government and Assange himself is posting on Wiki-Leaks saying these charges are lies and the timing jsut too convenient. Really? Like there needed to be some trumped up charge to make this guy any more “wanted for questioning”?
This guy is dangerous to the lives of American soldiers and innocent Afghani civilians. He must be stopped. My suggestion is pick this guy up and drop him off at a NASCAR race. Tell the P.A. announcer to let everybody know who he is and where he’s sitting. Problem solved. And he will then understand the meaning of molestation.
AN AMERICAN HERO
Adapted from an email I recently recieved.
It’s November 11th, 1967. You’re a 19 year old kid. critically wounded and dying in the jungle somewhere in the Central Highlands of Viet Nam. Your unit is vastly outnumbered and the enemy fire, coming from a mere 100 yards away, is so intense that your commanding officer has ordered the MedEvac helicopters to stop coming in.
As you lie there, listening to enemy machine gun fire strike all around you, the realization starts to sink in that this is where you are going to die. Your family is half way around the world and you’ll never see them again. The world starts to fade in and out and you accept that this is the day.
Then….over the machine gun fire, you hear the faint sound of a helicopter in the distance. You look up to see a Huey coming in. You’re a little confused because there are no MedEvac markings are on it.
Captain Ed Freeman doesn’t fly MedEvac. He heard the call to cancel all incoming flights because of the enemy fire, but decided he would come for you anyway. Even after the MedEvacs were ordered not to come. He came anyway.
He drops into the LZ and sits there as enemy machine gun fire slams into his bird. You and 2 others get loaded and Captain Freeman lifts off to deliver you to the doctors and nurses waiting to save you and your buddies at the MASH unit.
Then he goes back. Thirteen times in all. Each time picking up wounded, as many as he could get, and delivering them to the MASH unit, saving their lives. It wasn’t until all the wounded were delivered to safety that the doctors turned their healing hands to Captain Freeman. He had been shot in the legs by enemy fire four times and once in the left arm.
Captain Freeman took 29 of you and your buddies out that day. Some would never have made it without him. They would never have gone home, seen their loved ones, got married, had kids and grandkids and lived productive lives. had it not been for Captain Ed Freeman.
Medal of Honor Recipient, Captain Ed Freeman,United States Air Force died last Wednesday at the age of 70, in Boise, Idaho .
May God Bless and Rest His Soul.
OBAMA-VS-TIGER
My friend Carl sent me this. What a commentary on not only the press, but on us as well.
I THINK IT IS REMARKABLE THAT WITHIN A WEEK OF TIGER WOODS’ CRASHING HIS ESCALADE, THE PRESS FOUND EVERY WOMAN WITH WHOM TIGER HAS HAD AN AFFAIR IN THE LAST FEW YEARS, WITH PHOTOS, TEXT MESSAGES, RECORDED PHONE CALLS, ETC.
AND, THEY NOT ONLY KNOW THE CAUSE OF THE FAMILY FIGHT, BUT THEY EVEN KNOW IT WAS A WEDGE FROM HIS GOLF BAG THAT HIS WIFE USED TO BREAK OUT THE WINDOWS IN THE ESCALADE. NOT ONLY THAT, THEY KNOW WHICH WEDGE! AND EACH AND EVERY DAY, THEY GIVE AMERICA MORE UPDATES ON HIS SEX-REHAB STAY,
HIS WIFE’S PLANS FOR DIVORCE, AND HIS PLANS TO RETURN TO THE PRO-GOLF CIRCUIT.
OBAMA HAS BEEN IN OFFICE FOR OVER A YEAR NOW, AND THIS SAME PRESS STILL CANNOT LOCATE OBAMA’S OFFICIAL BIRTH CERTIFICATE, OR ANY OF HIS PAPERS WHILE IN COLLEGE, OR HOW HE PAID FOR A HARVARD EDUCATION, OR WHICH COUNTRY ISSUED HIS VISA TO TRAVEL TO PAKISTAN IN THE 1980′S AS BARRY SOETORO AND
EVEN MICHELLE OBAMA’S PRINCETON THESIS ON RACISM. IT JUST CAN’T BE FOUND? YET THE PUBLIC STILL TRUSTS THAT SAME PRESS TO GIVE THEM THE WHOLE TRUTH . . . TRULY REMARKABLE!
The Democrats’ Hypocrisy Is Staggering
A story written by John Lott and posted at FoxNews.com demonstrates even more “special favors” that the authors of the Health Care reform bill have given themselves. Below is a key excerpt.
While everyone else in the United States — from the top corporate executives to the grocery store checkout clerk — will be forced to buy their insurance through heavily regulated state-run exchanges, the health care bill excludes one group: the leadership and committee staff. Yes, that’s right. The very people who wrote up this bill are refusing to be included themselves. Given the narrow definition of “congressional staff” on page 158 of the health care bill, the Congressional Research Service memo believes that courts will not require “professional committee staff, joint committee staff, some shared staff, as well as potentially those staff employed by leadership offices” to go through the exchanges. President Obama and his family are also exempt from the law.
Thanks to Zack for forwarding this story to me to post here.
The Most Disgusting Health Care Deal Of All
I got a lump in my throat when I saw this article posted on Drudgereport.com. You can link to it here. It reveals the latest backroom deal offered by Pelosi and Company to bribe a few more congressmen into voting for, excuse me, not voting for but sort of kind of voting for health care reform.
I have friends who live in the Central Valley region, near Modesto, CA where water, the most basic necessity of life, is being denied to local farmers and citizens with the stated reason being the salvation of the lowly Delta Smelt. This tiny little fish, which may be endangered by a variety of causes, was championed by environmentalist wacko’s who coerced a willing EPA into shutting down the water supply. The irony is the move may not even save the smelt from possible extinction.
The argument was that the water coming out of the mountains and channeled by man made, state run aquifers for use in agriculture and drinking water, was destroying the habitat of the smelt and had to be stopped. A judge agreed and so tens of thousands of acres of once rich farm land now lies fallow and drying. Cities from San Jose to San Diego are developing rationing plans for citizens. Thousands of people, on the low end of the wage scale, have been put out of work and now have to live on government handouts to survive. Unemployment in some farming communities is 40%. Compare that to the Great Depression’s 25% rate. Prices for food are going up because of it. It is a disaster of epic proportions, but according to liberals like Nancy Pelosi, Barbara Boxer and others the salvation of the delta smelt was too important so joblessness, destruction of farm land, killing business and forcing skyrocketing prices is a price “we all have to pay” to save the smelt. In the meantime, all that precious water that was being pumped southward is now being diverted out to sea. Great idea, huh?
That is until health care came along. Apparently the need to pass health care reform far out-weighs the need to perpetuate existence of the delta-smelt. So much so that Pelosi is buying votes of a couple of California congressmen by offering to open up the flood gates and send the water back to the farms again. The deep, ironic hypocracy of this back room deal is that the people of this region have been desperately fighting to overcome this starvation by our federal government for 3 years, being told all the way that the delta-smelt is too important, when in truth, the facts show that the diversion of water is probably not the cause of the loss of delta smelt populations.
These people, these liberals, are so desperate to pass health care reform, they will say and do anything. Why? They know health care reform will swing open the door to socialized country they all wished they could live in.
VOTE THEM OUT!
EVERYONE TAKE YOUR CRAZY PILLS
I don’t even know where to begin on this latest Obama-Care push in congress. The so-called, Slaughter Rule or self-executing option now being considered is so ridiculous that any sober thinking American can’t fathom the concept. Only a politician could come up with such a scheme.
The idea is this. Instead of having to vote on a senate bill they don’t like or come up with a house bill that the senate can stomach and then go through reconciliation, Pelosi has released the lawyers in a hunt to determine the legality of not actually voting on the bill. Huh? The way it would work is the senate bill would stand as is and the house would vote on a bill that basically says we’re going to amend the senate bill because we don’t like it. Then President Obama would have to sign both the senate health care bill and the house amendment bill into law. Then the senate would have to actually agree to change the bill they passed in the first place to please the house. Then both houses of congress would vote on the new bill and amendments to come up with a final health care bill that both the house and the senate can live with.
Makes perfect sense, doesn’t it.
Of course none of this revolves a single Republican. Not one. This is all a product of Democrats hemming and hawing and trying to cover their butts come election day. At the same time all of this is going on, Obama is literally bribing Democrats to vote yes on all this with cash, merchandise and promises. All this to pass a bill that not a single Republican wants and that a majority of the American people don’t want. All this to pass a bill that will raise the cost of insurance, end Medicare as we know it, and kill any thought of job creation for small businesses.
Makes perfect sense to me.
I feel like I’m taking crazy pills. This entire effort by the Democrats is insane. I can only look at them as zealots, hell-bent on changing the fundamental nature of our democracy. Willing to do anything and everything. Kamakazi’s.
Take your crazy pills.
ITS NOT NICE TO BLAME MOTHER NATURE
The Obama administration is saying that the unusually cold and snowy weather this winter may have “artificially” driven February unemployment rates. OK NOW I’M REALLY CONFUSED! If the weather is so cold and snowy that people can’t get jobs, wouldn’t global warming, at least a little bit, be a good thing? Work with me on this. Global warming could actually be good for the economic recovery by making sure people don’t get snowed in and can go to work. So I propose that we increase carbon emissions, temporarily, until the jobless numbers go down. Let’s get all those clunkers back on the highway! Fire up the coal plants! Feed your cattle pork and beans!
The administration is also saying that green jobs are the future of the economic recovery. These are jobs that are, by their nature, tied to defeating global warming, thereby perpetuating the same weather patterns that are causing the causing the jobless numbers to go up. OW! I JUST GOT A HEADACHE!
And just for the record, unless it was artificial snow, wouldn’t it be more accurate to say that the cold and snowy weather this winter, naturally drove February unemployment rates higher?
Any thoughts on this?
SIGNS THE ECONOMY IS REALLY, REALLY BAD!
THE ECONOMY IS SO BAD:
I got a pre-declined credit card in the mail.
I ordered a burger at McDonald’s and the kid behind the counter
asked,”Can you afford fries with that?”
CEO’s are now playing miniature golf.
If the bank returns your check marked “Insufficient Funds,” you call
them and ask if they meant you or them.
Hot Wheels and Matchbox stocks are trading higher than GM.
McDonald’s is selling the 1/4 ouncer.
Parents in Beverly Hills fired their nannies and learned their
children’s names.
A truckload of Americans was caught sneaking into Mexico .
Dick Cheney took his stockbroker hunting.
Motel Six won’t leave the light on anymore.
The Mafia is laying off judges.
Exxon-Mobil laid off 25 Congressmen.
Congress says they are looking into this Bernard Madof scandal. Oh
Great! The guy who made $50 Billion disappear is being investigated by
the people who made $1.5 Trillion disappear!
I was so depressed last night thinking about the economy,
wars, jobs, my savings, Social Security, retirement funds, etc., I
called the Suicide Lifeline. I got a call center in Pakistan and when I
told them I was suicidal, they got all excited, and asked if I could
drive a truck.
The WanderingMind on YouTube
When I get up in the morning, I like to have my coffee, check emails and run through several websites I like to follow daily. This morning, my first stop was at Drudgereport. The banner headline was a link to an article about Phil Jones, the embattled climate scientist from East Anglia University. The jist of the story was this. Yes, I lied. There has been no global warming since 1995. I’m pretty disorganized so that’s why I can’t find the actual collected data which forms the foundation of my thesis. That is pretty much a 180 from one of the lead global warming proponents in the world.
From there I went to YouTube and somehow stumbled upon a video posted by a guy named Greg, screen name wanderingmind42. This very pleasant, self-described science teacher has a hugely popular video that walks through an 10 minute logic and reasoning exercise that basically says, no matter what you think the “undeniable conclusion” has to be doing something now, immediately to curb global warming or catastrophe awaits.
After reading the current story on Drudgereport and knowing that it is just the latest in a series of broadsides against the man-made global warming argument, I was amazed at this video. The more I thought about it, the more I felt obligated to post something here. What concerned me most was the idea that this wonderingmind42, who has a very good on camera presence, is filling young minds with his activist rubbish. He invites people to poke holes in his “silver bullet theory” but takes huge leaps in logic that demonstrate his and other peoples closed minded, unscientific, activist approach to global warming.
“>BEFORE READING MORE, GO TO YOUTUBE AND WATCH THE VIDEO HERE.
Okay, assuming you didn’t watch the video, here it is in a nutshell. In fact the image below is a recreation of the cost/benefit analysis grid the teacher uses in the video.
Got it? True or False it is much better to act now than not.
ILLOGICAL
The key element of wonderingmind42′s presentation is his cost/benefit analysis grid. Unfortunately he makes two presumptions that unhinge his argument from the outset. The first is regarding the causes of global warming. His premise is that we don’t have to even know whether or not human caused global warming is true to come to the undeniable conclusion that we should do something about it now. While there is ample evindence to the contrary, lets just assume that there is global warming and humans do cause it. Can we realistically assume that we are the ONLY cause of global warming? Of course not. The known and unknown effects that the sun has on warming the earth are far, far greater than any impact that man can have. Now that is an undeniable truth. The undeniable conclusion then is that even if we did everything we could to curb or even eliminate human’s contribution to global warming by acting now and acting radically, we have no control over the sun or other natural phenomenon that can change the climate. Can we stop a volcano from erupting? Can we stop an asteroid from impacting the earth?
The second jump in logic that wandermind42 doesn’t address is the solution side. Again, let’s assume, despite the evidence, that humans cause global warming and there is no other natural cause, therefore, we must act. The global warming community has proposed any number of solutions, from the ridiculous cap and trade farce to draconian emissions standards to green technology requirements, etc, etc. These are the economic hardships referenced in the upper left panel. The unfortunate truth for the global warming community is that even using their numbers, all of these efforts over a 50 year span might be able to impact the temperature by a fraction of a degree, maybe as much as 1 degree. The undeniable conclusion is that what is being proposed is an unproven solution to unproven problem.
Unproven solutions to problems that may not even exist. Maybe, just maybe, a little more study is needed. Now I am not opposed to promoting energy efficiency, energy independence and green technology. Nothing wrong with that. Go for it. Bill Kristol made a great observation on Fox News Sunday this past weekend. He rightly pointed out that if all this liberal talk about energy independence was real then Obama would be calling for the building of nuclear power plants, U.S. based refineries, coastal drilling, drilling in ANWAR and domestic engery exploration tax incentives.
Of course the real reason behind the global warming scare is money. If you wanted millions in grant money in the last 10 years, all you had to do was propose a study on how man is causing global warming. Come up with the right conclusion and you’ll get even more money. All the proposed solutions are about money as well. In fact even a casual observer can recognize that the proposed global warming solutions such as cap and trade, green technology, etc., do little but create revenue streams that concertrate a power in the hands of a few. The undeniable conclusion….Lets wait study more, then act.
DO YOU MISS ME YET?
There has been a confirmation, of sorts, regarding the billboard in Wyoming that features a picture of George W. Bush with a caption reading, “Miss me yet?” Apparently it is a real billboard. Rush Limbaugh got a call from a listener who said she passed by it every day on the way to work. Now, the owner of the sign company that owns the billboard has come forward to reveal that the billboard was purchased by a group of local small business owners who posted the board as a protest against the current administration.
There has also been an email floating around regarding a visit by the former president to Ft. Hood. The email claims that Bush visited Ft. Hood and was asked to leave by the White House. The web is all a-twitter regarding the veracity of the claims made by the author of the email, that include, Bush arriving unescorted, Obama showing up at Ft. Hood only for a photo op, and so on, blah, blah, blah. After receiving the email then doing some follow up investigation I decided to post my conclusion.
Yes. I miss him.
It’s a fact that Bush went to Ft. Hood. He went unannounced, no fanfare, no photo ops, no talking with reporters. His people didn’t stage an event. He and his wife went because they wanted to go and offer whatever they could to help people in need. In fact, when was the last time you ever heard Bush hold a press conference or make any public statement about any current events? Gore? Clinton? Carter? Yeah. Big difference! The left hates Bush for precisely that reason. He’s just a regular guy that does what regular guys do. You can find the same kind of hate directed at Sarah Palin. Interesting.
Below. George and Laura Bush meet with Sgt. Randy Royer and his wife Trisha at Ft. Hood. 
THERE IS WHAT ALL OVER THE LAWN?
There seems to be a problem with global warming.
NUCLEAR OR NUCULAR?
Remember how stupid Dan Quayle was because he couldn’t spell potato? It was an iconic episode in American politics. The media was relentless in demonstrating how the inability to spell a simple word was proof enough that Quayle lacked the gravitas to hold the office of Vice President. The truth behind the story was that Quayle was handed a list of spelling words prepared by the teacher with the word potato misspelled with an e at the end. As candidates are wont to do on the campaign trail, he didn’t pay to much attention to what was being said. However, the “gotcha” moment was to good to filter with the truth.
Remember how George W. Bush said “nucular” instead of nuclear? It was the clarion call for the attack media and entertainment leftists. “See!”, they shouted. “He can’t even pronounce the word correctly.” Careers were launched and saved by using the “mock Bush strategery”. (Will Ferrell is the funniest.)
Remember when Obama was making a speech before a bunch of people from the military and kept referring to a Navy Corpsman as a “corpse-man”? You don’t? Heck, it just happend a few days ago. Haven’t you seen it all over the media? Oh, that’s right. It wasn’t all over the media. In fact, I’ve only seen it reported in once place. Here at National Review Online. You would think that with Obama’s very election to the presidency dependent, in part, upon his silver-tounged oratory, that a misstatement of this magnitude would be big news. But of course, this is Obama and the media is not going to turn on Obama. In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me to see Brian Williams start referring to the “corpse-man shipping out overseas to fight the war.” After all, if Obama said it, it must be so. Maybe he should issue an executive order changing the official pronunciation of the word.
In Texas, they have a saying. “Don’t piss on my leg and tell me it’s raining.” When it comes to Obama the media is pissing bias and claiming that it’s raining objectivity.
ASTONISHING CREATURES
This planet is filled with astonishing creatures. Among them are a variety of unique bats.
For example here is an example of the sucker-footed fruit bat. This species has feet that act as suction cups to allow it to climb almost any surface.
This is a left-winged dingbat. It’s most astonishing feature is the up-turned elitist nose and lack of foresight.
NEW OBAMA JOKES
America needs ObamaCare like Nancy Pelosi needs a Halloween mask.
________________________________
Q: Have you heard about McDonald’s new Obama Value Meal?
A: Order anything you like and the guy behind you has to pay for it.
________________________________
Q: What does Barack Obama call lunch with a convicted felon?
A: A fund raiser.
________________________________
Q: What’s the difference between Obama’s cabinet and a penitentiary?
A: One is filled with tax evaders, blackmailers and threats to society. The
other is for housing prisoners.
________________________________
Q: If Nancy Pelosi and Obama were on a boat in the middle of the ocean and
it
started to sink, who would be saved?
A: America !
________________________________
Q: What’s the difference between Obama and his dog, Bo?
A: Bo has papers
Punxsutawney Phil Hates Global Warming
In a stunning blow against Osama bin Ladin and Al Gore’s fight to hold the western world accountable for global warming, Punxsutawney Phil declared six more weeks of winter during his annual prognosticating festival this week. The ground hog who, to date, has been more accurate at weather forecasting than all of the climate scientists at East Anglia University, saw his shadow on the snow-covered Gobbler’s Knob. The prediction dealt yet another setback to the embattled climate change community.
The series of recent revelations about estimated data, incomplete evidence, false research and outright lies being used as the basis for the IPCC’s reporting on global warming has done only a little damage to the global warming cause. Even with record cold temperatures, snow blizzards causing event cancellations and Osama bin Ladin jumping on the global warming bandwagon, the march continues towards a world wide solution to find a way to tax people when the temperature goes up..
Then comes Punxsutawney Phil. What does his prediction reveal? LaughAtLiberals sat down with Phil for an exclusive interview.
LAL:Phil, first the obvious question. Your prediction was for 6 more weeks of winter. What makes you think winter will continue, especially in light of the facts presented by Al Gore in an Inconvenient Truth?
PHIL: Well first of all I saw my shadow. I’m not bragging, but I’ve been pretty accurate for the last 100 years. As for Al Gore’s movie, I didn’t see it so I can’t comment, but I did see G-force and those gerbil chicks are hot!
LAL:Well Phil, Inconvenient Truth used some questionable data to propose that the earth’s temperature has risen dramatically in the last century and that man is the cause of what will be a devastating climate change if we don’t do something to stop it.
PHIL: Oh yeah, that was the one with Dennis Quaid in it with the kids in the library. Yeah, it was kind of stupid if you ask me. Look, everybody in the world knows that the sun has the most impact on our climate, followed by natural forces such as volcanoes, the oceans, plants and animals. What man can do to effect world wide climate is so far down the list, its kind of arrogant to assume that you humans can change the climate that dramatically, let alone fix it.
LAL: Well what about those who point to recent data showing that the temperature is rising?
PHIL: Well, actually, it’s not.
LAL: Well what if it is?
PHIL: Yeah, but it’s not.
LAL: Well lets just pretend it is.
PHIL: You mean like those scientist at East Anglia University?
LAL: Yes, I mean No. What I’m saying is, if the temperatures here on earth were warming wouldn’t that be a bad thing?
PHIL: Not really. Look. The earth has gone through these warming and cooling cycles before. I remember I ate a science book once that had a whole chapter
devoted to the Little Ice Age. Hello. Temps change. Nothing you can do about it and in fact, it may have a positive impact, allowing for longer growing seasons, more tillable soil, the spread of plant life.
LAL: So what you’re saying is that man-made global warming is a hoax?
PHIL: No. What I’m saying is there is absolutely no evidence at all that man is the sole cause of recent changes in temperature. There is also absolutely no evidence that there is anything that man can do to have any kind of an impact on changing it.
LAL: So we should just do nothing?
PHIL: No. There is nothing wrong with building things and using things that are more environmentally friendly. That’s a good idea and groundhogs like me appreciate it. But this idea of taxing people and business and countries for the carbon they produce sounds like a scam to me. I mean, I eat grass and clover. Do I need to borrow some carbon credits?
LAL: Good point, thanks Phil.
Happy Birthday Emory
I wanted to wish a happy birthday to my long time friend Emory Rowland. The reason I’m doing it here is that without Emory, Laugh at Liberals would not be. It was his effort, all those years ago, that launched our first Laugh At Liberals site and he has continued to play a key roll in it’s growth and development.
More important than that, though, is my long connection with Emory. I am 46 years old and I have known Emory since I was 15. I still hold a close place for him in my heart. We played in our first band together. It was just a high school band, but we were pretty good! I lived with Emory for a few weeks right after graduation then moved away from the small town where we met. We have only seen each other in person a few times since then, but we have always talked and remained close via phone and internet.
Emory has an amazing mind, a warped sense of humor and a huge heart. I am proud to call him my friend. Emory has always provided me with a reference point in my life. As you grow older it is good to have those people and places that focus your mind on who you are and where you’ve been. Knowing Emory and having him in my life, even it is only an email or a phone call now and then, gives me a sense of self. He’s part of my roots.
Happy Birthday Emory.
Love, Buck
Apple iPad: Could be a Game Changer.
I’ve been following the stories about the Apple iPad and with the release announcment now official I wanted to take a few minutes to comment on this technology and how it might effect the future.
CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE OFFICIAL APPLE IPAD WEB SITE
I am a real fan of Apple technology. I use a Mac every day and use it exclusively for web development, graphic design and video production. Mac has always been on the creative cutting edge. When the iPhone and subsequently the iTouch were released, I couldn’t help but think then that Apple’s next step would be a highly portable, but more functional unit that was similiar, but better than what those products offered. They have done exactly that with iPad.
I am convinced that the Apple iPad is the next step in the evolution of computer/human interface concepts. Cell phone technology has been improving rapidly, but let’s face it, the physical limitations that cell phone size presents to operator interface and data storage limits not only the audience for that technology, but how far it can be advanced. The Apple iPad has solved that problem by creating a book size device, with very intuitive interace, that anyone can use. I don’t text much on cell phones. My fingers are to big. My vision is to poor and for my types of usage, it just doesn’t quite hit the mark. My mom uses here cell phone just for calls for the same reasons. The Apple iPad’s size is probably it’s best asset. Small enough to be portable but big enough to usable, iPad will bring a lot of people “into the fold” when it comes to using this kind of technology.
The Apple ipad is about 10\
The newspaper business is dying. The internet and cable TV are killing it. It’s probably better to say that the newspaper business is having to convert into the content development business and the internet advertising business. People who still subscribe to a daily newspaper for home or office delivery, read it over breakfast, or after dinner in the easy chair, maybe on a break at work or in the train station during a commute, but millions of people have abandoned the historic interface between humans and the newspapers we read to access news and information easily and instantly via the internet and cable news. Now comes the iPad. It’s portability makes the breakfast table, the easy chair and even the morning commute a great place to read the newspaper again. However, instead dropping a quarter in a newspaper stand, you just touch your iPad link to your favorite newspaper.
The iPad is green technology too. Think of how many trees can be saved because instead of printing books or newspapers, you can just download them onto your iPad. Think of the savings in manufacturing.
It has long been the stuff of science fiction and science fact that computers would become easier to use. Instead of you having to get smarter to use the computer, which is the way it used to be, the computer is now getting smarter so it is easier for you to use. The Apple iPad is leading a giant leap forward in towards easier interface and more daily usage of technology by everyone.
HE SHO DO SPEAK GOOD, DON’T HE?
In as resounding smackdown to those who said Harry Reid is a racist, President Obama used his state of the union address to speak in a very “non-dialecty” kind of way, thus exonerating Reid’s unsavory comments regarding Obama’s skin color and speaking skills made earlier this month.
Now to the speech.
There can be no discounting Obama’s oratorical abilities. He can deliver a speech and while it was delivered well, I felt it was pretty uninspiring, at least until his closing remarks. The content of the speech, however, was the same argument we’ve been hearing for the last year. It was Bush’s fault, but government can fix it. He talked mightly of his faith in the resilience, tenacity and decency of the American people but offered little in the way of spelling out how his administration would get out of their way and let them rebuild the nation.
JOBS
He devoted most of his speech to jobs. It’s about time, but let’s take a look at some of what he said. At one point he said that there were roughly 2 million jobs now that would not have been here had it not been for the stimulus. He even mentioned 300,000 teachers and 200,000 firefighters and policemen as I recall. Well we already know this unprovable statement is somewhat in doubt and as for the teachers, policemen and firefighters, last time I checked it was your local taxes that paid those bills.
He talked about helping small business through various incentives, but then took it back when saying that taxes on “those who make over $250,000″ would be going up. A real jobs bill, which Obama called for, is what his administration and this congress should have been focusing on for the past 6 months. Instead, Obama and the Democrats were busy cutting deals and having secret meetings and 1:00am votes on health care reform.
HEALTH CARE
I hope the Republican party was inspired by Obama’s challenge to bring him a better idea. It’s time for the Republican party to issue its own health care reform plan in a format that people can understand and comprehend. Most sober thinking conservatives are all for reforming health care, but doing it in a common sense way, incrementally fixing components and testing new ideas. ObamaCare is pieced together mess. For example, a key component of paying for ObamaCare is using nearly a half billion dollars of “money that is going to waste and fraud” in the medicare system. Here’s an idea. Why not identify and eliminate the waste and fraud first? That should be a plank in the Republican health care platform, one that will help demonstrate how silly a proposition this has been all along. Here are some other ideas, Obama. How about tort reform? When an OB/GYN has to come up with $150,000 in just one year, just to pay malpractice insurance premiums, no wonder it costs so much to have a baby. That’s about $12,000 per month, $400 per day just for malpractice insurance because a lawsuit could cost $20 or $30 or even $100,000,000. How requiring all insurers to offer common sense plans for a variety of pocketbooks, in exchange for opening up competition for all insurers in every state. How about letting insurance premiums be tax deductable? What about working with states to strengthen existing public health clinics and offering incentives to doctors, nurses and hospitals to participate? There are a lot of great, conservative ideas out there that can make our health care system better. As a side note, I find it laughable that of the millions of people this health care overhaul is supposed to help, a huge percentage of them don’t really want to spend money on health-care because they just don’t need it.
THE SUPREME BACKHAND
It was rude to admonish the supreme court justices for their decision. It was also hypocritical for Obama, of all people, to bemoan the influence of special interest money in elections. This from the same guy agreed to take public funding, which would limit contributions, but changed his mind when the money started rolling in from….wait for it….
special interest, lobbyists and foreign countries. Politicians have balls. It was nice to see Justice Alito mouth the words “not true” right back at Obama. Good for him.
Obama’s state of the union address was nothing more than an attempt by Obama to pull himself out of the fray that is brewing in the 2010 election season. He blamed Bush for the problems and congress and banks and insurance companies and so on, and so on. The problem with the speech tonight was Obama has lost trust and he showed no signs of trying to earn it back….but he sho do speak good don’t he?
