Advice for Sunday, a few things to say, & Linky Love

Might as well get the advice out of the way.  

Do not, I repeat, do not go out in your backyard in your robe and fluffy red backless slippers (that includes all you guys, too!)  If you do, don't cut through a flower bed on the way back to the house, stepping over the rock border.  If you do not follow this advice, your chances of stumbling on the rock border are very high, meaning you will probably make a four point landing (both knees, both hands, while also wrenching your wrists, shoulders, and severely spraining some fingers badly needed for typing).  You will also in all probability not land on the grass but the cement sidewalk. 

If I were to engage in such stupid behavior, know this; I would still manage to sit and type out a post for my loyal readers even while disturbing my quest for Sunday devoutness.

Where to start?  Ok - let's start with Victor Davis Hanson, one of my favorite writers.  This is an illuminating read:   

A Very Interesting Next Three Years
Up is Now Down, Down Up
If one were to collate the public statements and actions of many in the Obama administration, one would conclude that the most conciliatory past language masks the most divisive, polarizing administration in recent history–a fact born out by most polls. Surely this is one of the most radical turnabouts in memory: in a mere ten months the mellifluous voice has become a siren that charms and hypnotizes the voters as they are lured onto the partisan shoals. read the whole article

The handsome Carlos Echevarria has very nicely posted all three parts of Rush's interview on Fox News Sunday.

Big Government brings us this thoughtfully written article: ObamaCare Vs. The Hippocratic Oath
by Dr. David Janda

Senator Mike Pence (R-IN) on CNN: The money quote:  

"This is just another version now lurching out of the back rooms after weeks of closed door negotiations. It just looks like another freight train of big government with more taxes, more mandates and more spending, and that's not what the American people want in health care reform."

More from Mike Pence's Facebook page:

Page 94—Section 202(c) prohibits the sale of private individual health insurance policies, beginning in 2013, forcing individuals to purchase coverage through the federal government

Page 110—Section 222(e) requires the use of federal dollars to fund abortions through the government-run health plan—and, if the Hyde Amendment were ever not renewed, would require the plan to fund elective abortions

Page 111—Section 223 establishes a new board of federal bureaucrats (the “Health Benefits Advisory Committee”) to dictate the health plans that all individuals must purchase —and would likely require all Americans to subsidize and purchase plans that cover any abortion

Page 211—Section 321 establishes a new government-run health plan that, according to non-partisan actuaries at the Lewin Group, would cause as many as 114 million Americans to lose their existing coverage

Page 225—Section 330 permits—but does not require—Members of Congress to enroll in government-run health care Page 255—Section 345 includes language requiring verification of income for individuals wishing to receive federal health care subsidies under the bill—while the bill includes a requirement for applicants to verify their citizenship, it does not include a similar requirement to verify applicants’ identity, thus encouraging identity fraud for undocumented immigrants and others wishing to receive taxpayer-subsidized health benefits

Page 297—Section 501 imposes a 2.5 percent tax on all individuals who do not purchase “bureaucrat-approved” health insurance— the tax would apply on individuals with incomes under $250,000, thus breaking a central promise of then-Senator Obama’s presidential campaign

Page 313—Section 512 imposes an 8 percent “tax on jobs” for firms that cannot afford to purchase “bureaucrat-approved” health coverage ; according to an analysis by Harvard Professor Kate Baicker, such a tax would place millions “at substantial risk of unemployment”—with minority workers losing their jobs at twice the rate of their white counterparts

Page 336—Section 551 imposes additional job-killing taxes, in the form of a half-trillion dollar “surcharge,” more than half of which will hit small businesses ; according to a model developed by President Obama’s senior economic advisor, such taxes could cost up to 5.5 million jobs

Page 520—Section 1161 cuts more than $150 billion from Medicare Advantage plans, potentially jeopardizing millions of seniors’ existing coverage

Page 733—Section 1401 establishes a new Center for Comparative Effectiveness Research; the bill includes no provisions preventing the government-run health plan from using such research to deny access to life-saving treatments on cost grounds, similar to Britain’s National Health Service, which denies patient treatments costing more than $35,000

Page 1174—Section 1802(b) includes provisions entitled “TAXES ON CERTAIN INSURANCE POLICIES” to fund comparative effectiveness research, breaking Speaker Pelosi’s promise that “We will not be taxing [health] benefits in any bill that passes the House,” and the President’s promise not to raise taxes on families with incomes under $250,000

If you would like to read the entire 1,990 pages yourself, you can find the legislation here: http://docs.house.gov/rules/health/111_ahcaa.pdf 

RightKlik has this to say:  ObamaCare: To Be Determined... and he also led me to Solitary Dancer over at My Take on the World who posted even more pesky little details about PelosiCare including a Michelle Bachman vid.

Saint for the Year

Angela Messenger is already busily working on her Saints for the Year Devotion.  For several years she has graciously worked her kazoo off to provide all who ask a saint for the year. This is a special patron just for you.  Angela has wisely set a deadline (it will probably be Dec. 1, like last year, so no dithering.)

And ..............................you don't have to be Catholic to request a saint.  The saints love us all (they just love Catholics more - only kiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiding!!!!!)



I already have my saint, Bl. Miguel Augustin Pro,  who was martyred by firing squad in 1927.

"We ought to speak, shout out against injustices, with confidence and without fear. We proclaim the principles of the Church, the reign of love, without forgetting that it is also a reign of justice." Miguel Agustin Pro

 "Does our life become from day to day more painful, more oppressive, more replete with sufferings? Blessed be He a thousand times who desires it so. If life be harder, love makes it also stronger, and only this love, grounded on suffering, can carry the Cross of my Lord, Jesus Christ." Miguel Agustin Pro


  From Mark in Spokane on Oct. 29th:

Still working...    

Work is in overdrive right now. Posting on the blog will be light for the next ten days or so. My apologies for the light posting, but it can't be helped. Gotta keep the lights on and the mortgage paid... 

 Mark then proceeds to post about a gazillion things.  Mark, the first step in overcoming your addictions is to admit you have a problem... I'll walk you through the other 11 steps  :-)

 Wish The Crescat a Happy 5th Blogaversary 

 And for the really big news of the day?  I found spell-check. Can you say right click??  Maybe I should have gone and checked Google when they changed the format.  Simple? Someone with ADD rarely does the simple thing.  We just flounder around until a flash of insight whispers, "Wonder what would happen if I right clicked on that underlined word."  Hmmmmmmmmmmm

Off to get some work done... 

Black Helicopters and Stacy McCain

Should we be looking for black helicopters?

I'm not real big on conspiracy theories. The thought of organizing some sort of world-wide group of people to act in concert to achieve a goal seems to be a bit far-fetched. If you've ever tried to organize the human animal in any capacity, you have an idea of how difficult this would be.

However (always listen to what comes after however), if you back away from the distractions of the MSM, and really, distractions are all they offer, because their "news" could never be confused with actual news, then a different picture begins to emerge.

As usual this past week, we were being manipulated to focus in on Obama's Cairo speech, a non-happening of empty words emitting from an empty suit. And now the focus is on where the Obamas will dine while in Paris and where the first daughters will shop. Judging by the way they were dressed while visiting the Eiffel Tower, a shopping trip is a good idea. But I digress into snarkiness. Sorry.

So here we all are getting hysterical about this speech while he is releasing his latest "crisis memo to the American people" by way of his weekly address.

"If we do nothing, everyone's health care will be put in jeopardy," Obama said.

"Fixing what's wrong with our health care system is no longer a luxury we hope to achieve — it's a necessity we cannot postpone any longer," said the president.

Meantime, Senator Kennedy is putting forth his "plan" , which is short of details but deemed necessary anyway. Here's what is being reported:

• Under the legislation, the government would subsidize premiums for people with incomes up to 500 percent of the poverty level ($110,000 for a family of four), and private insurers would have to pay out a specified percentage of their premium revenues in benefits.
• The new government-run program would pay doctors and hospitals at Medicare rates, plus 10 percent.
• Under the Kennedy bill, individuals would be subject to financial penalties if they did not have health insurance.
• Any group health plan or insurance company that provided coverage for children and their parents would have to offer to continue “dependent coverage” for the children through age 26. In effect, young adults could stay on their parents’ policies.
• Under the bill, the federal government would make grants to the states to establish insurance marketplaces or exchanges. Those entities, known as health benefit gateways, would disseminate information about premiums and benefits and would help people enroll.
• The new entities would also act as financial intermediaries, receiving subsidy payments from the government and sending the money to insurance companies. The insurance exchanges would also redistribute money among health insurance plans, from those with a large share of healthy subscribers to those with large numbers of sick people.
• The bill gives no indication of how Mr. Kennedy would pay for his proposals, other than by requiring contributions by individuals and employers.

So here we go again. A crisis, a bill with no details, absolutely no indication of how it is to be paid for, and it will be rammed through while we are being distracted by petty and superficial stuff.

So what about those helicopters? Anyone who believes our current President is anything more than a shill for something bigger going on, is spending way too much time reading the MSM. All the while, few Republicans are willing to speak the truth and when they do, the MSM either doesn't report it or vilifies the messenger.

We are facing the biggest dismantling of a country, its economy and its values, in the shortest amount of time ever, in the history of the world. Granted, the dismantling started many years ago, but it is now moving at warp speed. One man is not capable of accomplishing this by himself. I just may have to start looking for those black helicopters.

Further reading:

Alinskys' Rules for Radicals

The Perfect Storm


What makes Robert Stacy McCain so Popular?

Don't get me wrong - I like Stacy, I really, really like him. But I've often wondered about his real secret of success. The fact that he used to be a print journalist gives him the ability to spit out copy like some never ending flow of hot stuff from a volcano. And yet, when he wants to do a more serious article, his prose and reasoning is flawless.

After much pondering, I have finally zeroed in on his real secret - it's Smitty!! I'm not even sure who Smitty really is, even though I've tried to find out. But by gosh, every time you log on to his site, The Other McCain, there's Smitty doing the hard labor. It's Smitty who puts together the Full Metal Jacket every week and it's Smitty who fills in when Stace is off hob-nobbing with the literati.

Smitty is the one who makes it possible for Stacy to start a new blog Not Tucker Carlson, which probably got more hits on its first day than I've gotten in the past year. I might add that this new blog is open to submissions as long as they are 300 hundred words or less and have a gazillion links.

The BlogProf will be taking up the challenge and I have no doubt he will make the cut.

As for me:

I need a Smitty...