Irreversible Damage

After the Boston bombings, a poll revealed that Fox News was the most watched and most trusted network covering the incident. Although the rejection of liberal biased networks is encouraging, damage caused by years of voter ignorance aided by media bias may be irreversible.

A recent poll shows that 42% of Americans don’t know that Obamacare has been passed into law. Unfortunately, many of these people vote. The hastily passed healthcare bill that is proving to be a disaster was sold to the public by a media vested in “making history” and reluctant to report on the bill’s failures. Congress is now trying to exempt itself from Obamacare while some unions, avid Obama backers, are trying to get many of its provisions repealed, but the media continues praising it.

Another poll shows that 55% of Americans don’t know that Planned Parenthood, the largest abortion provider in the country, actually performs abortions. It receives taxpayer money based on the perception that its function is only women’s healthcare, a notion reinforced by President Obama stating publicly that Planned Parenthood provides mammograms, which it doesn’t.

The current trial of abortionist doctor Kermit Gosnell, accused of killing newborns as part of his abortion practice, went unmentioned by the mainstream media until it was forced to cover it because of the attention from Fox News and other responsible news outlets. The progressive media fully approves of abortion so it is reluctant to report anything negative concerning it.

Due to media-assisted voter ignorance, many abortion practices that most find despicable have taken root in society and flaws in Obamacare adversely affecting everyone have become law. It now seems likely that immigration reform will focus on amnesty and ignore border security, putting us all in danger for years to come.

Permanent damage has been done and more is sure to come if the biased media continues unfettered. A Republican White House would surely compel the liberal media to return to being a “watchdog” critically investigating administration policies. If that doesn’t occur, the damage already done will end up seeming miniscule compared to what is coming.

David J. Hentosh

Putting the Cat Back in the Bag

Once the proverbial cat is out of the bag, it is next to impossible to get it back in. So it has been with laws. Once on the books, it has been very, very hard to get a law repealed unless, that is, repeal dovetails with the progressive agenda.

Colorado is set to erase the crime of adultery from its books in order to “keep the government out of people’s bedrooms” and because the law is “archaic”. It seems we are to ignore that the government has already been in our bedrooms forcing health insurers to pay for abortions and provide free contraception. As long as the government is watering-down morality, bedroom intrusion is acceptable.

The traditional family unit is no longer considered as important as self-gratification. Adultery, divorce, abortion, out-of-wedlock pregnancy, and open marriage have not only become acceptable, they are often being advocated. An entire generation has been raised with a low regard for the family unit and are left with no cornerstone for building the future.

Obamacare was passed hastily in order to satisfy Obama’s personal desire for universal health care. He did not read or understand the bill beforehand and didn’t care how damaging it could be as long as it was passed. Unfortunately, it will now be very difficult to get any of it changed or repealed. The common good was neglected in order to benefit 10% of the population – and there is no going back.

Gun control and immigration reform are the current cats being let out of the bag. Both require a serious and impartial analysis of consequences, but both will be handled by knee-jerk, emotional legislation instead. Years from now, there will be a lot of consternation as legislators try to repeal thE soon-to-be hastily passed laws. They will chase those cats for a long time but they will never get them back in the bag.

David J. Hentosh

Our Disabled Country

According to a January article in Forbes, 5.9 million people have been added to the Social Security Disability program (SSDI) since 2009 while only 2.5 million jobs were created during the same period. One in fourteen workers are now on the SSDI dole costing taxpayers $128.9 billion in 2011, and the program is carrying a deficit of $25.3 billion.

A recent investigation found that the federal government spends more money each year on cash payments for disabled workers than it does on food stamps and welfare combined. Since disabled workers are not counted in unemployment figures, the full extent of the erosion of the American workforce ends up hidden from the public.

It should come as no surprise that the increasing number of disabled coincides with an increase in qualifying conditions for disability. Some of these conditions have been watered-down enough to include almost anyone willing to go through the process. The investigation found that 33.8% of the newly diagnosed disabled cited “back pain and other musculoskeletal problems”, difficult conditions to disprove.

Some qualifying mental conditions called “Affective Disorders” seem to rely on a self-diagnosis. These include such things as: decreased energy, feelings of guilt or worthlessness, difficulty concentrating, sleep disturbance, difficulties maintaining social functioning, and marked difficulties maintaining concentration. A doctor needs to sign off on these conditions but has to rely on the word of the patient for verification.

Obviously, the program is ripe for fraud and, consequently, it is rife with fraud. Getting around the system is easy and many alcoholics and drug addicts (conditions which do not qualify for SSDI) find a way in, as do many others. The possibility of receiving up to $1100 a month makes it attractive to those having menial, low paying jobs, especially since free Medicare comes as a bonus after two years on the disability rolls.

The American work ethic is dying and the “system” continues to assist in its death. What was once a ‘safety net’ has become ‘money for nothing’ because of progressive tendencies that put the individual above the common good. The continuous expansion of government assistance programs is occurring with no foresight or oversight and it needs to stop before the entire country becomes disabled.

David J. Hentosh

Obama is Campaigning Instead of Governing

President Obama does not like governing. He has little experience with it; he is not good at it; and it deflates his ego. He does, however, love campaigning because it consists of rhetoric with little substance or accountability.

Much of what Obama has been doing is rooted in the campaign tactic of demonizing opponents. He created class warfare to turn people against the wealthy who are severe critics of his policies. Throughout his first term, he continued campaigning by demonizing Bush, blaming him for everything. His second term finds him using fear to help make Republicans the fall guys.

With most of the mainstream media in his pocket, Obama has made several attempts to demonize Fox News for refusing to blindly back his administration. Badmouthing Fox News from the White House is unseemly, petty, and highly unprofessional, but it is standard practice on the campaign trail and Obama has not left that trail.

Passage of the health care bill was treated like an election by Obama with promises and feel-good rhetoric substituting for facts in his many campaign-like speeches. His only goal was to win and winning simply meant passage of the bill by any means. Details as well as consequences of the bill were absent in those speeches. It was just another campaign for Obama filled with hollow promises.

Obama had no interest in cutting a deal in lieu of the automatic budget cuts (sequester). His dabble in governing on the issue consisted of short photo ops with GOP lawmakers that produced nothing. His disinterest in getting a federal budget passed in Congress (required yearly by law and accomplished only once in his administration) has been an obvious failure to govern.

With no re-election campaigning needed, Obama should be governing full time but it is not evident that he knows how to do that. He seems to be stuck in campaign mode while the country is in dire need of governance and leadership. We may have to wait until 2016 to see a “change”.

David J. Hentosh

Barack the Blameless

The blind faith many display for Obama is not a new phenomenon. There have been many throughout history put on a pedestal by adoring followers, but none have been able to live up to the expectations such belief demands. Some sustained belief by fear and some by deceit, but all depended on denial from followers for survival. With assistance from the media, denial continues to shield Obama from all blame, allowing blind faith to continue long after it has been proven to be unwarranted.

From Peter Kirsanow at NRO

When gas prices broke $3.00 in 2007 the media, fueled in part by daily Democratic press briefings regarding  Bush/Cheney/Big Oil rapaciousness, were in full cry…But the current occupant gets a pass from the media and the public even when his policies have clearly unfavorable consequences. The payroll tax goes up and Obama supporters are stunned to find smaller paychecks, despite the president’s repeated assurances that they’d never see any of their taxes go up — not one dime. Obamacare is passed and not only does the cost of health-care coverage spike, but millions will lose their employer-based health coverage, despite Obama’s assurance that if you like your coverage — and your doctor — you can keep them. Obama spends nearly a trillion on shovel-ready jobs and four years later the effective unemployment rate is more than double what he promised when the stimulus passed…in the minds of a large swath of the public, any present maladies are completely detached from anything the administration has done or failed to do. The bad things are the fault of someone or something else, and will be rectified just as soon as Obama gets to it. Don’t know when, but soon.

…something similar occurred in the Soviet Union in the 1930s when some Russians, particularly the intelligentsia, steadfastly refused to assign blame for their (far more severe) travails to Stalin…when thousands of their comrades began disappearing, the faithful felt certain that, if only Stalin knew, all would be remedied. When millions began to perish from manufactured famines, the believers maintained that all would be well once someone got word of the crisis to Uncle Joe. Surely, he would do something. If only he knew.

Read it here: Barack the Blameless

DJH

Emotional Legislation

When rules, regulations, or laws are driven by emotions or idealism, very little thought is given to consequences. An emotional rush to enact legislation always results in something different than what was intended, causing more problems.

Denver is facing unintended consequences from Colorado’s recent Amendment 64 that legalized marijuana and is now considering opting out of that amendment. Some city council members say voters intended only to decriminalize small amounts of marijuana, not to have pot stores in their neighborhoods. The police chief says there are a lot of safety issues involved and that crimes, such as burglaries, have increased since Amendment 64 passed. Imagine that.

The marijuana issue has become an emotional and political football, confusing legalization with decriminalization. That confusion, a deliberate tactic on the part of marijuana advocates, helped get Amendment 64 passed. Buyer’s remorse is already setting in, but it could have been prevented had voters and legislators been more observant and less emotional.

They should have looked at Los Angeles where marijuana dispensaries now outnumber Starbucks. California has been trying, and failing, to regulate medicinal marijuana which has been legal in the state since 1996. This out-of-control situation provides a lesson for other states, but emotional, feel-good legislation is deaf, dumb, and blind.

Current emotions are running high on gun control, with wingnuts on both sides of the aisle taking untenable stances and refusing compromise. The same can be said concerning comprehensive immigration reform where “reform” has become synonymous with “amnesty”, making the issue impossible to discuss rationally.

We are currently experiencing many negative, unintended consequences from Obamacare, an emotionally charged bill forced through Congress by an idealistic president. This, too, was legislated while ignoring lessons from European countries struggling to sustain liberal health care policies. Good intentions need rational analysis, not knee-jerk reactions.

President Obama’s fomenting of class warfare along with his myopic focus on social issues uses emotions for political gain. As long as emotions rule politics, resulting legislation will just be another burden passed onto the next generation. It is our responsibility to think before acting and elect leaders who do the same.

David J. Hentosh

The Never Ending Campaign

Obama is most comfortable on the campaign trail where reality can be ignored and his idealism can soar on lofty rhetoric designed to stir emotions rather than reason in crowds willing to believe every word. It is what he does best and theatrical campaign tactics remain a staple of his administration.

Every speech Obama delivers is in the form of a campaign stump speech. We saw this during his push for Obamacare when details of the heath care bill remained hidden behind numerous exaggerated benefits that, of course, have yet to materialize. The 2009 political theater he staged in the Rose Garden with doctors in lab coats was an embarrassment for the nation, but not for Obama. He was in his element.

Even now, after re-election and no longer courting votes, Obama can’t give up campaigning and political theater. He brought children to the signing of his 23 gun-related ‘executive orders’, using them as stage props to take the focus away from his arrogant forcing of legislation. Not only is this another embarrassing display, it is an insult to the intelligence of all. It is also indicative of how Obama looks down on the “masses” but, unfortunately, many remain willing to be treated as fools.

With re-election behind him, Obama is beginning to display more arrogance and less willingness to compromise. He no longer needs public approval in order to continue his “fundamental transformation” of America, but he does feel the need to campaign for it. Campaigning has been his most successful accomplishment and he can’t give it up.

Unfortunately, we will suffer through four more years of Obama’s campaigning before being subjected to another presidential campaign. Obama has succeeded in “transforming” politics into a never ending campaign. Do we really deserve this?

David J. Hentosh

The Farce Goes On and On

The National Monitor contains a headline stating: “Obama scores another victory: Unemployment rate falls to 7.8 percent, hiring continues”. The second sentence in the article reveals that the unemployment rate remains “unchanged” at 7.8%. How, then, can a stagnant unemployment rate be considered a victory for Obama? The answer, of course, is that everything Obama does must be considered a victory by today’s biased media.

An unemployment rate of 7.8% since September clearly shows that our economy is stagnant and not recovering, indicating that Obama’s economic policies are not working. Rising health insurance premiums reveal the fallacy of Obama’s promise of lower rates under Obamacare. The increase in social security taxes currently being felt by the middle class comes from Obama’s “successful” tax increase on the rich, breaking his promise to protect the middle class.

Obama was re-elected in spite of all of these failures, and more, because the media protected its investment with repeated spin, reporting success in everything. That spin continues even as Obama’s promises continue to fall and warnings and predictions from conservatives continue to become reality. Obama voters have been duped but, like the mainstream media, they continue to keep the dream alive through denial.

This denial is dangerous and it is allowing Obama’s promise to “fundamentally transform America” to come true – the one promise he is actually keeping. That promised “transformation” was ignored by a media intoxicated by “hope and change” and, therefore, never investigated. Tragically, it still remains ignored.

So, the farce goes on and on and points of no return are being passed with little awareness by the media and Obama voters. Eventually, the truth will become unavoidable and consequences will have to be faced but by then, too many bridges may have been burned. One can only hope that our children will be able to re-construct from those ashes some of the greatness America lost due to the hollow promises of “hope and change”.

David J. Hentosh

Obama’s Tax Charade

In his New Year message, president Obama made the claim that a middle class tax hike was prevented with the recent “fiscal cliff” agreement. He further stated that his priority has been to prevent a tax hike on 98% of all Americans in 2013 and that this agreement does that.

While it is true that expiration of the Bush tax cuts for 98% of Americans was prevented, the Social Security payroll tax holiday which was enacted in 2010 is going to expire, effectively raising taxes for most wage earners. This is a tax hike on the middle class that Obama pretends isn’t happening, amounting to a mean tax increase of approximately $1635 for 77% of Americans.

Obama’s class warfare succeeded in getting him re-elected and raising taxes on the rich, but the middle class he pretends to champion is now experiencing collateral damage from his war. Taxes, spending, and the deficit are rising and the middle class will have to pay for it for a long, long time. Meanwhile, the rich will continue to live well protecting their assets and some may leave the country to avoid Obama’s foolish attack.

Obama blows smoke and far too many inhale it willingly. He has previously stated that the last thing the middle class needs in this struggling economy is a tax increase, yet, his policies continue to raise taxes. Obamacare already increased health insurance premiums and taxes will have to increase to pay for it. Taxing the rich cannot possibly pay for all the entitlement programs Obama refuses to reduce – and he knows that. He just keeps it hidden with smoky rhetoric.

One can say that the American people deserve to be tricked and taxed because they elected the “leaders” doing it, but what of our children? They are going to be saddled with the cost of this charade for the rest of their lives. They don’t deserve to pay the consequences of poor decisions that elected such leadership. Even the rich kids don’t deserve this.

David J. Hentosh

Obamacare Kicks In, Surprising Even Democrats

As Pelosi warned, Obamacare had to be passed before we really found out what was in it. Some Democrats who blindly rubber-stamped Obama’s health care bill are now facing consequences of what they voted for and are unpleasantly surprised.

The tax on medical devices contained in Obamacare is going into effect at the start of 2013 and some Democrat Senators from states abundant with device industries are now trying to delay that tax because of the adverse economic effect it will have. It seems that Democrats’ love of tax hikes does not apply to taxes on constituents in their district.

That tax on medical devices, originally intended only for devices used on humans, is now going to burden veterinarians, too. It seems that government bureaucrats have determined that medical devices used by veterinarians could also be used on humans, so they will be taxed. Not many saw that coming.

Another hidden cost due to mandated coverage of pre-existing conditions is going to squeeze medical plans for $63 per person, a cost that will be passed on to the insured. The promise of medical insurance costing less under Obamacare has yet to materialize. Perhaps Pelosi will tell us it has to cost more in order to be cheaper.

Obamacare (a tax that is not a tax?) is increasing other taxes. Health care flexible spending accounts which allowed tax-free dollars, usually in the amount of $5000/year, to be used for health care costs are now going to be limited to $2500/year. The increased tax will affect many of the middle class as will the change in deductible medical expenses if you itemize deductions. Medical expenses exceeding 7.5% of your adjusted gross income used to be eligible for deductions but will now have to exceed 10%. (Taxing the sick?)

Fear not, however, because those making more than $200K/year will see higher Medicare taxes, paying in an additional 3.8% tax on their investment income. Obama’s war on the rich began long before it became fashionable and this tax on the rich will, no doubt, make everyone forget that the middle class is taking a tax hit with Obamacare. Smoke and mirrors always seem to work and taxing the rich solves everything.

David J. Hentosh