Leftist Denial Intensifying

It seems that the public’s continued lowering opinion of the media, Congress, and the president has had an effect on leftist denial, but it has been to increase it rather than decrease it. The hardcore left is doubling down instead of backing off.

Unconditional, and irrational, adoration of Obama broke new ground with Sports Illustrated naming president Obama as one of the 50 most powerful people in sports. Sounding like a Saturday Night Live skit (or a North Korean news story about their leader), SI considers Obama’s off-handed and un-presidential remarks about various sports as powerful influences.

Nancy Pelosi continues to make senseless statements intended to elicit unconditional acceptance of the administration’s agenda. She redefined tax cuts as spending, adding that we should cut spending by ending tax cuts. Furthering her distance from reality, she also said that Obama has been very bipartisan.

California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein, arguing for gun control, asserted that “…it’s legal to hunt humans with 15-round, 30-round, even 150-round magazines”. Perhaps in Feinstein’s personal Bizarro world this may be true, but it makes her sound battier than Pelosi – a difficult thing to do.

Refusing to bow to the pressure of reality, the Associate Press continues spin for Obama by lauding a recent drop of .2% in the unemployment rate, adding: “The American job market isn’t just growing. It’s accelerating”. Chris Matthews certainly agreed, wondering when Obama would get “credit for this amazing economy that’s coming back”. For those who have given up looking for a job or forced to settle for a part-time job, this job market is far from having an amazing acceleration.

With reports of global temperatures remaining stable for the past decade, one would think Al “global warming” Gore would take his fortune along with his panic and just go away. Instead, he continues to present himself as a science expert with a new book, “The Future”, expecting his credibility to be intact. It isn’t, but many caught up in political inertia still buy his act.

Perhaps it is true that a good offense is the best defense, but leftist denial propaganda is stale, overexposed, and seemly. It is time to give up that ghost.

David J. Hentosh

Food Stamps for Pets

There is a newly launched, NY-based, non-profit organization providing food stamps for pets to qualifying pet owners. In just two weeks, the organization has received 12,000 requests for assistance.

This is not surprising considering the poor economy, joblessness, and the amount of people receiving food stamps (which cannot be used for pet food). This organization, however, is run by a private citizen, Marc Okon, concerned for the welfare of animals owned by those in need themselves.

Considering that Americans spent $53 billion on pets in 2012, up 5% from 2011, it is a good bet that this pet food stamp program will catch on. Americans love their pets, often more than they love their neighbors. That’s also why PETA rivals the ACLU in fighting on behalf of perceived victims.

The lesson here, however, is that private citizens (Americans) DO care and if the government curtailed handouts, any assistance gap would eventually be filled by caring citizens. That is also evident by the many homeless kitchens and church food drives providing needed food assistance in their communities. They do not rely on taxes. They rely on the American Spirit.

The current, and rising, record number of people receiving food stamps (over 47 million) is labeled as necessary help from the government. However, there are many instances where the government’s “help” stopped or inhibited private citizens’ attempts to feed the homeless on their own. Left alone and fully encouraged, a citizen-based approach could make food stamps disappear or, at the very least, decline in numbers.

Food stamps for pets will most probably be embraced and succeed, especially if the government can stay out of it. Since pets do not vote, yet, the government has no interest in getting them hooked on assistance. However, pet owners do vote and they may find themselves getting government handouts for their pets in the near future. That will depend on the next election’s polling.

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

Insurance or Tax?

A bill introduced in the New York State Assembly would require the state’s residents to acquire liability insurance as a condition for gun ownership. The annual cost for $1 million in liability insurance is estimated to be between $1600 and $2000.

Proponents of the bill will certainly argue that this is no different than requiring insurance coverage for car registration or home insurance in order to obtain a mortgage. There is logic to that argument, but the bill opens the door for an onslaught of requirements for insurance.

Clearly, this is a mandate to buy insurance, though it is not the same as the mandate from Obamacare because it does not require everyone to buy insurance. However, if this bill were to land in a court’s lap for a decision, could it be labeled a tax?

No one expected the Supreme Court to rule the Obamacare mandate to be a tax, especially after Obama adamantly assured us it was not a tax. However, that is what occurred and, as with many court rulings, it created a slippery slope that a NY court may decide to slide down. Stranger things have happened.

Once that door is wide open, could liability insurance be required for ownership of a bow and arrow, machete, BB gun, darts, or a nail gun? How about for ownership of a dog, baseball bat, skateboard, or a bicycle? Could a purchase of cigarettes, alcoholic beverages, or prescription painkillers require liability insurance or an additional health policy?

That may sound crazy but not too long ago it sounded crazy to buy water in bottles like soda, pay for a cable to receive free TV, hand out condoms in grade schools, or provide sex-change operations to prison inmates. Perhaps this may be a good time to buy stock in insurance companies.

David J. Hentosh

Obama’s State of Denial Address

President Obama once again delivered a campaign speech disguised as a State of the Union address. Obama is good with rhetoric that stirs emotions while denying reality, so those who succumb to such gibberish will be ecstatic. Those who are not in denial will be frightened by the direction this president is taking.

Obama’s denial of his administration’s failure to improve job growth was evident in his calling for a higher minimum wage. If there are no jobs available at a minimum rate of $7.25 an hour, how would raising it to $9.00 help create more? It wouldn’t, and many experts have warned against such an increase at this time, especially since it could result in jobs being exported to China.

Obama further denied the job crisis and threw out another emotional bone to hungry believers by stressing a college education. The unemployment lines are full of college graduates unable to find jobs, so the primary emphasis needs to be on the economy and job growth. Talking of college educations certainly plucks parents’ heart strings, Obama’s intent; but it hides his administration’s failure to improve the job market and reduce unemployment.

Obama declared Al Qaeda to be a “shadow of its former self”, denying Al Qaeda’s continued successful attacks around the globe. Declaring Al Qaeda defeated doesn’t make it so, but it rationalizes bringing troops home so he can cut the defense budget. Obama only cares about his social programs and cutting the defense budget will help him finance those programs. Pretending Iran and North Korea are of little threat also helps him in that endeavor.

In Obama’s eyes, everything is going well because he is, by hook or by crook, finding a way to get everything he wants. Consequences are meaningless to one convinced of superior intelligence, especially when duped voters and a highly invested media ignore accountability.  His “green” agenda has been a costly disaster, but that bandwagon is still full and rolling.

Inadvertently, the president did touch on reality in his speech at one point when he said his spending proposals would not increase the deficit by “a single dime”. They will increase the deficit by billions of dimes and saddle future generations with the bill, higher taxes, and programs they will no longer be able to afford. On the brighter side, fast food joints will end up with the most educated employees of any industry – as long as Michelle doesn’t find a way of eliminating fast food.

David J. Hentosh

Obama’s Fiscal Fallacy

President Obama continues to demand that the debt ceiling be raised, inferring that the nation’s bills will not be paid unless that ceiling is raised. His framing of economic issues skirts the truth and is done in such a way as to make him look like a rational and knowledgeable expert. The reality is that he is no expert; He is the problem.

Forty cents out of every dollar spent by the federal government is borrowed money and raising the debt ceiling only allows the government to borrow more money. It will not help reduce the debt or reduce the forty cents on the dollar borrowed. It will only help Obama increase entitlement spending to meet his personal, ideologically driven goals – by borrowing more money.

Obama has shown that the poor economy, high unemployment, and the enormous debt take a back seat to his personal ideology. This is why he fails to meet the legal requirement of submitting a budget by the first Monday in February. He has done that only once and will fail to do so again this year. In fact, he has failed to meet that requirement more than any previous president. It is not a priority on his agenda and legal requirements mean little to him.

Obama continually uses the blind faith many have in him, telling believers what they want to hear and spinning everything his way. It is the reason he was re-elected with an economy doing as poorly as it is and unemployment at such a high level. He uses rhetoric to solve economic problems in the minds of his followers while running up the tab fulfilling his personal agenda.

With no future re-election to hamper him, Obama’s arrogance is increasing as fast as the debt. His fiscal policies have been a farce and he is now aiming to ram through legislation on guns and immigration – through the back door. The bill for all of this will have to be paid eventually but by then he will be gone, leaving behind a costly and “fundamentally transformed” America for our children.

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

Progressive Dilemma

Michigan State Lawmakers are considering legislation that would allow a fetus of at least 12-weeks to qualify as a dependent for state income tax purposes. Giving tax breaks (in essence, government assistance) to the non-rich by admitting that a fetus is a dependent and, therefore, a human being, is a real dilemma for the liberal agenda.

Progressive liberals have re-elected Obama based on fondness for government assistance, but abortion is a sacrosanct tenet and a fetus must always be treated as just a blob of tissue. How can a blob of tissue be a dependent when it is nothing but a nuisance? However, getting tax breaks for those who aren’t rich has been a class warfare battle and this is, in essence, a progressive win.

The Michigan National Organization for Women is claiming that this tax legislation has a hidden agenda of establishing fetal personhood in order to ultimately ban abortion. In other words, it’s one of those slippery slopes that they vehemently deny exist when advocating abortion-on-demand. The fact that such legislation would actually benefit women, the reason for their organization’s existence, means nothing.

The cost of such legislation will, of course, be passed onto taxpayers already saddled with an enormous bill. The cost for progressives could end up being very painful. For many, however, this dilemma is priceless.

David J. Hentosh