A Topsy Turvy World

By William L. Garvin

“No shirt, no shoes, no service”

“We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone.”  Congress doesn’t have to represent their constituencies even though 61% of America oppose Obamacare’s individual mandate.  Lawyers don’t have to represent a prospective client.  Theaters don’t have to show films they don’t like.  Companies don’t have to introduce a new product.  Businesses have the ability to succeed or fail based on what they offer and who they seek as a customer base.  When I was denied entrance to a restaurant because I wasn’t wearing a coat and tie, I went to another restaurant.  When I was denied entrance to a night club because my date was wearing jeans, we went to another club.  That’s no longer the way of the world.

 

We see the trickledown effect of the federal government forcing employers, including religious institutions, to provide insurance that pays for abortion and contraception, even though it violates the owners’ religious beliefs or conscience.  In Washington, the state sued a florist who did not wish to provide flowers for a homosexual marriage.  In Oregon, the State Bureau of Labor and Industries is investigating a baker who did not wish to provide a cake for a lesbian wedding.  In Colorado, another homosexual couple sued another bakery for not providing them service.  In New Mexico, a photographer was sued for not wanting to shoot a lesbian commitment ceremony.  The couple secured another photographer and that should have ended the story.  It didn’t.  The couple took the matter to the New Mexico Human Rights Council and now the New Mexico Supreme Court has found a violation of the New Mexico “Human Rights Act.”   The photographer had to cough up nearly $7,000 in attorney fees for the plaintiff.  Will churches and pastors be the next targets?  This same New Mexico Supreme Court has also ruled that people who cannot speak English should be seated on juries and provided translators.  It’s a good thing that nothing will be lost in translation.

 

In similar fashion in California, the legislature has already passed bills that are sitting on the Governor’s desk awaiting his signature.   They will allow non-citizens to sit on juries and act as poll watchers.  Earlier this month, the Governor signed a bill that affected the 6.2 million students in the California K-12 educational system.  The transgender student bill is a clarification of the Education Code and was passed along Democrat party lines.  Henceforth, all California public schools will now permit biological boys in girls’ restrooms, showers, clubs, and on girls’ sports teams and biological girls in boys’ restrooms, showers, clubs, and sports teams.”  It will be the student’s choice as to which gender he or she identifies with.  Early analysis shows no requirements for parental notification or prior counseling.  Again, it’s good that nothing will be lost in gender translation.

 

In 2009, South Africa’s Caster Semenya won the world title in the women’s 800 meters.  The 18-year-old was kept out of competition for 11 months while track and field’s governing body investigated her gender.  Such concerns will now be passé in California.  Are all the girl’s records now ready to be broken or will they simply be asterisked?  There are already prohibitions against human growth hormone and other performance enhancing drugs but how will girls compete with transgender boys who already boast the additional amounts of testosterone naturally?  Inquiring minds want to know.

 

Finally, now that “Soldier of Allah” Nidal Hasan has been convicted of thirteen premeditated murders and thirty-two attempted murders in the Fort Hood massacre, isn’t it time to clear up something else that has been lost in the translation.  It was never “workplace violence”; it was always a terrorist attack!  It is a stain on the United States Army, the Department of Defense, the Commander in Chief, and the United States of America that the survivors would have to file a lawsuit to get the medical benefits to which they feel entitled.  All those in the chain of command, the NSA and the FBI were derelict in their duties for not identifying this obvious extremist with his terrorist connections and for not protecting our service men and women from this monstrous zealot.  In your convoluted thinking, you have even denied them an award of a Purple Heart for the suffering they endured.  Mr. President, it’s time to do the right thing and turn this situation right side up.     

 

How Low Can You Go?

By William L. Garvin

 

In the Sixties, a Trinidad dance craze briefly captured an American audience.  In it, a bar was progressively lowered to see who could navigate beneath it without the use of hands.  Chubby Checker, who popularized “The Twist,” also popularized the limbo catch phrase “How low can you go?”  Today’s political activists are plumbing depths that would make limbo enthusiasts walk away shaking their heads.

 For instance, how low can American foreign policy sink?  Russia thumbs their nose at us; China goes their own international power base building way; North Korea rattles their nuclear saber in our face; and Iran pursues their nuclear ambitions with no U.S. speed bump in its path.  In 2011, Iraq forced our troops out with the willing compliance of the Obama administration.  However, in July of this year, more than 1,000 Iraqis were killed in terror-related attacks, the “deadliest month since 2008.”  Now they are begging for our assistance.

 The Obama administration orchestrated the ousting of Libya’s Muammar Qadaffi and what do we have to show for it?  A year ago, our ambassador and three other Americans were killed in Benghazi and our embassy was bombed again just last weekend.  In Syria, the Obama administration decrees that President Bassar al-Assad must go and is providing “humanitarian relief” to the rebels.  Apparently, they are also providing small arms assistance to the rebels, many of whom are al Qaeda affiliates.  In Egypt, Mubarak had to go so the Muslim Brotherhood came in.  The Egyptian military kicked Morsi and the Brotherhood out but the administration denies that it was a coup and continues to provide aid.  The Muslim Brotherhood and the military are engaged in much violence and many people are dying so this administration is now “deeply concerned.”  The “Arab Spring” turns out to be “1001 Arabian Nightmares.”

 On the home front, the “defend Islam at all costs and hate America” crowd beats their perpetual persecution drum in spite of the facts.  Where would you rather be?  If you’re homosexual in Lebanon, it’s a year in prison.  In Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Dubai, Yemen or Oman, it’s life in prison if you’re not given the death penalty.  In Kuwait, it’s okay to be a lesbian but it’s illegal to be a male homosexual.  In Nigeria and other parts of Africa, you can have your hands and maybe your feet cut off if you steal a goat or a television set.  That’s better than South Africa where you can be shot on the spot for stealing a diamond.  In Afghanistan, rape victims are often jailed for adultery!  You face the death penalty in Iran just for being a Christian!  Would you rather be a Christian pastor in Iran or a Muslim Imam in America?

 Another low in civility was set by the pro-abortion protestors in Texas who chanted “Hail Satan” and wore tampon earrings, carried Maxi-pads, jars of urine and feces to advance their cause.  This is all because the Texas legislature placed restrictions on abortions after 20 weeks.  If only we were more enlightened…like Europe.  In Portugal, the “no fault” abortion right ends at 10 weeks.  In Greece, Norway, France and Germany, it’s 12 weeks; in Italy, it’s 13; in Spain it’s 14.  Only England (24 weeks) exceeds the Texas legislation.  In several European countries, abortion beyond the designated limits may only be considered if there is an immediate medical threat to the woman’s health or there will be serious or lethal fetal anomalies.   In Norway, her request must go to a committee!

But the winner in the “How Low Can You Go” category has to be the Democrat Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.  “It’s been obvious that they’re doing everything they can to make him (Obama) fail.  And I hope, I hope — and I say this seriously — I hope that’s based on substance and not the fact that he’s African-American.”  Keep in mind that only 35% of Americans approve of how the president is handling the economy and his overall rating is down to 44%.  Is Harry insinuating that the 62% of Americans who disapprove of the Obama economy and the 55% who disapprove of his overall performance are ignorant of his policies and therefore, de facto racists?  Could it just as easily have been said “I hope, I hope—and I say this seriously—I hope that those who support the President do so on the basis of substance and not the fact that he’s African-American.”  Until Democrats of Harry Reid’s ilk stop dealing the race card from the bottom of a marked, media deck, there is no lower low on their side of the aisle.

 

Knight of the Living Debt

By William L. Garvin

In 1968, a spate of zombie horror films was spawned by “Night of the Living Dead.”  Given all the sequels, there are some things you just can’t kill.  Given the unlimited state of technology today, there are some memories that you just can’t erase.  This is especially horrifying when politicians don’t remember what they used to say and what they used to stand for.  It is infinitely easier for bloggers and citizen journalists to research and debunk the errors and untruths that our representatives utter.

The internet should be an option for our voting populace to be knowledgeable about critical issues facing our country, but in the world of the low information voter, this option for knowledge is not exercised with any degree of regularity.  For instance, “I can see Russia from my house” and “strategerie” were inventions of Tina Fey and Will Ferrell, not Sarah Palin or George Bush.  But then, what could be expected from those who will sign petitions to authorize abortions in the fourth trimester, euthanasia for old people, banning pressure cookers as weapons of mass destruction, or immediately authorizing the government to confiscate all guns?  These videos are easily viewable on YouTube or any late night comedy show.

It’s easy to find President Obama’s claiming to have already visited 57 states, butchering Gulf Coast geography, saying the Constitution is 20 centuries old, noting that Ho Chi Minh was inspired by our founding fathers, referring to  Austrian as a language, putting summer events into the winter Olympics, etc., etc. Naturally, you’ll only find these on conservative websites and blogs because liberal media find conservative gaffes to be much more newsworthy.  AP will even try to hide liberal gaffes.  The media will go ballistic over a stupid statement by a conservative office seeker, but won’t even mention that the serial groper of a mayor in San Diego is a Democrat!  Liberal media lets liberal icons “evolve” but stigmatizes conservative foes as “flip floppers.”  But that’s all silliness in the one-sided world of gotcha journalism. 

However, here’s a serious example of “evolution.”  In March, 2006, Senator Barack H. Obama said “Over the past 5 years, our federal debt has increased by $3.5 trillion to $8.6 trillion. That is “trillion” with a “T.” That is money that we have borrowed from the Social Security trust fund, borrowed from China and Japan, borrowed from American taxpayers. And over the next 5 years, between now and 2011, the President’s budget will increase the debt by almost another $3.5 trillion…Every dollar we pay in interest is a dollar that is not going to investment in America’s priorities. Instead, interest payments are a significant tax on all Americans—a debt tax that Washington doesn’t want to talk about. If Washington were serious about honest tax relief in this country, we would see an effort to reduce our national debt by returning to responsible fiscal policies…Increasing America’s debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that ‘‘the buck stops here.’’ Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better.  I therefore intend to oppose the effort to increase America’s debt limit.”

Senator Obama was right on target.  Unfortunately, President Obama doesn’t know how to walk the talk.  For the Senator, $3.5 trillion over five years constituted a “failure of leadership.”  In less than five years under his leadership, he has increased the debt by $6.3 trillion to $16.9 trillion.  He is on course to more than double the national debt incurred by all the presidents before him!  He appears intent on continuing the “irrational exuberant” spending that characterized his first term.  He will continue the same tax and spend economic policies that characterize his administration’s economic failures.


President Obama also proclaimed that “Transparency and the rule of law will be the touchstones of this presidency.”  Another promise broken.  In President Bush’s final budget year, Freedom of Information Act requests were denied 47,395 times.  His secrecy was roundly criticized by Candidate Obama.  In the first year of the Obama administration, FOIA denials occurred 70,779 times, nearly a 50% increase.  So we now have more spending, more debt, more secrecy, more IRS harassment, more NSA surveillance, more drones, more food stamps, more centralized planning.  We have less trust, fewer jobs, higher costs, an undecipherable foreign policy, more scandals and cover-ups.  Until we have a government that honors the Constitution, this suicidal death spiral will continue.  The living debt is about to turn this nation into the living dead. 

Obamacare - Unworkable, Unaffordable, and Unloved

By William L. Garvin

In the pantheon of pathetic, political pontification, the Pelosi pronouncement "We have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it" is prominent.  It was entirely predictable that a government health care leviathan, cobbled together in the dark of night behind closed doors, would turn out to be an incorrigible Frankenstein monster.  Remember all the broken presidential promises?  It was supposed to be "cost neutral" at $898 billion.  Latest estimates are that it will cost $2.6 TRILLION over the next decade!  On top of that, President Obama dictates an unconstitutional delay of the employer mandate that will cost an additional $12 billion next year alone.

Remember how the health care debate was supposed to be covered by CSPAN?  It wasn't.  Remember how the bill was supposed to be posted online for five days before signing?  It wasn't.  Remember how your family was supposed to save $2,500 in health insurance premiums?  You didn't.  In fact, you saw double and sometimes triple digit percentage increases.  Wait until the young folks get off their parents' insurance plans and try to purchase coverage on their own.  Talk about sticker shock!

Republicans and conservatives have tried to warn you for years.  Democrats are late to the party but they have finally arrived.  Senator Max Baucus (D-MT), one of the authors of the legislation says "I just see a huge train wreck coming down."  Then there are the congressional staffers who make between $70-100,000 per year.  They had to have a special exemption in order to avoid a "brain drain."  Apparently, at their near poverty salaries, they absolutely must have the taxpayer kicking in 75% of their premiums or gasp...be forced into the exchanges!

Proving the "Law of Unintended Consequences," James Hoffa, Teamster union president notes that Obamacare will "destroy the foundation of the 40 hour work week that is the backbone of the American middle class."  The National Treasury Employees Union, representing IRS workers who will enforce 47 separate aspects of Obamacare, opposes being forced into the health insurance exchanges.  Even the IRS chief Danny Werfel has testified that he would rather keep his current policy.  Furthermore, the Obamacare call center in California is hiring part-time workers and they won't be provided healthcare!

Over half the general public is opposed to Obamacare.  In order to increase its popularity, the Obama administration is about to spend $684 million in advertising costs.   "I am greatly disappointed - beyond upset - that the administration chose to help pay for the Affordable Care Act in fiscal year 2013 by raiding the Public Health and Prevention Fund," said Senator Tom Harkin, (D-Iowa).  Still, the Congressional Budget Office estimates that 30 million Americans will remain uninsured.  So exactly what will this law accomplish in the long run other than giving the government more control over one-sixth of the economy?  Remember, health insurance does not improve health care.  With more and more physicians refusing to accept any more Medicare or Medicaid patients, this law does nothing to promote the access to and availability of medical professionals.

Nothing more dramatically demonstrates the Democrat reversal of field than the recent statement by Dr. Howard Dean, former Democrat presidential contender:  "One major problem with Obamacare is the so-called Independent Payment Advisory Board.  The IPAB is essentially a health-care rationing body.  By setting doctor reimbursement rates for Medicare and determining which procedures and drugs will be covered and at what price, the IPAB will be able to stop certain treatments its members do not favor by simply setting rates to levels where no doctor or hospital will perform them."

Back in 2009, in her famous "death panel" post, Sarah Palin said "The Democrats promise that a government health care system will reduce the cost of health care, but as the economist Thomas Sowell has pointed out, government health care will not reduce the cost; it will simply refuse to pay the cost.  And who will suffer the most when they ration care?  The sick, the elderly, and the disabled, of course."  Back then, liberals, leftists, progressives, and Democrats mocked, ridiculed, insulted, cursed and vilified Governor Palin for her comments.  Politifact (sic-oxymoron!) labeled her comment "Lie of the Year."  So what now, Politifact?  Either apologize to Governor Palin for her prescience or take Howard Dean to task for his derivative thinking.  Or...you might actually investigate the roles and responsibilities of the 15-member appointed IPAB bureaucrats who might well be determining who lives and who dies in the name of "cost savings."  Yes, Virginia, there is a death panel!