So Many Pigeonholes, So Little Time
By T Blogger | October 14, 2009
So many pigeonholes, so little time. I can’t figure out who I am speaking for when I speak for myself. Am I a “senior citizen”? Am I an “angry white man”? Am I a “veteran”? Am I one of the “poor”. Am I a “worker”? Since I am able to answer “yes” to all of those questions, I get a little confused when the babbling class starts making assumptions about what I want and the political class starts telling me what I need based on their assessment of what pigeonhole I fit into.
Suffice it to say that, while I plead guilty to being an angry old poor white male veteran in the work force, I am, above all else, an American citizen, and I am deeply saddened by what is happening to my country. I’m sick of watching a gaggle of pampered politicians flitting about our nation’s capital like Dukes and Duchesses and Potentates, explaining to us ignorant slobs in our little pigeonholes how they are planning to “take care of us” by bankrupting the country. Who asked ‘em to do that?
We have a large flock of guys and gals running the show up there in D.C. who have never been poor “feelin’ the pain” of us “po’ folks”. You have a bunch of trust fund babies who never had a real job talking about what the workin’ folks need. I used to think Barack Obama was a one trick pony (give him an hour and a teleprompter and he’ll make a rousing speech about anything). I’ve changed my mind. He’s not even a real pony, he’s a no trick rocking horse. How did a guy who had accomplished so little get publishing companies to pay him to write not just one, but two books about himself? I guess old HL Mencken was right when he quipped, “Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of of the American public.”
The big O will be the president at least until January of 2013. Fortunately, however, next year is an election year. If we haven’t all starved to death, gone to Mexico to find work, or been incinerated by an Iranian or North Korean nuke, we can have a house cleaning in the congress and put some real people to work for us who will put a leash on Obama and his ridiculous collection of clowns. All it takes is climbing out of our little pigeonholes, shaking off all that hopey-changey pigeon poop and voting like adults.
©2009, Tom Weeks
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THE REAL PROBLEM
By T Blogger | September 10, 2009
I have a recurring dream. In this dream huge crowds of people flood into the two houses of Congress and say to the senators and representatives, “OK, ladies and gents, pack up your stuff and go home and get a real job. We’re going to start all over.” It is, unfortunately, the Impossible Dream.
When the Founders of this country set up our system of government, I don’t believe they imagined they were setting up an enterprise that would produce an entirely new profession — politician. I believe they expected that elected federal offices would be held by citizen/statesmen who would take time out from their various private sector pursuits to temporarily bring their skills to bear in keeping the federal government on track. If you told John Adams or even old Tom Jefferson that in the future people would actually tailor their education and aspirations to pursue a “career” as an elected official they would have laughed at you.
Washington, D.C. is not a fetid swamp crawling with professional politicians. The professional politicians are the “swamp”. Our legislators are a bunch of people whose “success” depends not on their insight, or their problem-solving talents, but on their ability to get elected and, more importantly to them, reelected. Their lives are a constant cycle of begging money, making deals, and campaigning. With a two year term, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives starts campaigning for his next term the instant he or she is elected. This system cries out for term limits.
Of course the professional politicians are not going to impose term limits on themselves. We the people have to do that. It takes a member of the House about two terms to be Washingtonized. So, no matter how much you like old Joe congressman, you need to think really hard about electing him to a third term. No matter how conscientious he might have been when he got to D.C., after two terms he has already been to too many cocktail parties, bought too many fancy suits, ridden in too many limos and cut way too many back room deals to be trusted. He needs to go back home (if he even has a home anymore). Furthermore, if old Joe is a lawyer, one term is quite enough for him, because he’s already entirely too good at making –and breaking– deals.
It takes a person elected to the Senate about thirty seconds after being sworn in to become an insufferable elitist bloviator. One term is quite enough for them. It boggles the mind that some people have actually spent four and five decades in the Senate. Any incumbent senator needs to be voted out of office — period. No exceptions!
That, my fellow Americans, is change I can believe in.
©2009, Tom Weeks
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The “Health Care” Bill — Who Writes this Crap?
By T Blogger | August 6, 2009
The “Health Care” bill that is in the U.S. House of Representatives is, at present, 1,018 (8 1/2 x 11) pages. I have attempted to read it. While I will readily admit that I am not a lawyer, I am a reasonably intelligent person whose formal education consists of a BA in English, and an MA in linguistics. This bill is the most confusing collection of legal gobbledygook I have ever had the misfortune to try to decipher.
Probably the most disturbing aspect of this monstrosity is that a high percentage of the text consists of changes to other legislation (primarily the Social Security Act). What this means is that, if one wants to understand what the “Health Care” House bill actually mandates, one must have a copy of the Social Security Act, and all the other laws referred to in order know what is being changed in the existing U.S. Code. This is because all the references are like the following (copied and pasted verbatim from the official Government PDF document):
(a) GROUP HEALTH INSURANCE COVERAGE.—Title
XXVII of the Public Health Service Act is amended by
inserting after section 2713 the following new section:
or:
(1) IN GENERAL.—Part C of title XI of the So-
cial Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1320d et seq.) is
amended by inserting after section 1173 the fol-
lowing new section:
or:
(42 U.S.C. 1320d) is amended—
(A) in paragraph (7), by striking ‘‘with
reference to’’ and all that follows and inserting
‘‘with reference to a transaction or data ele-
ment of health information in section 1173
means implementation specifications, certifi-
cation criteria, operating rules, messaging for-
mats, codes, and code sets adopted or estab-
lished by the Secretary for the electronic ex-
change and use of information’’;
Got that?
Thanks to the magic of my PDF reader, I can say with certainty that there are 394 “insertions” into existing laws in this document.
As my Dad used to, I was born at night — but not LAST night. This “legislation” is a monument to obfuscation. The reason almost none of the congressmen / congresswomen have read this bill is that it is almost unreadable! It is unconscionable that the U.S. congress is willing to vote on making binding law of a document that they can’t understand.
One has to ask oneself just how many of the laws that govern our country are filled with such inscrutable language. One also needs to ask an even more important question — since most of our legislators have admitted that they haven’t read this bill, and one can therefore assume they didn’t write it — JUST WHO DID WRITE IT?
© 2009, Tom Weeks
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NEWSPEAK AND OBAMACARE
By T Blogger | July 27, 2009
“Newspeak” — the systematic, government-driven butchering of the lexicon — does not just exist in the pages of Orwells’s 1984. It is in full force in the United States. It is in use by the media, politicians, pundits, entertainers, and increasingly by our citizenry.
Consider, if you will, the current “debate” about the push for socialized medicine. Almost everyone repeats the term “Health Care” as if it had some real meaning. It does not. Doctors, nurses and hospitals treat illness and trauma. “Health” requires no treatment. The more appropriate term is “Medical Care”, but even this is not the real subject of the current debate — that would be “Medical Insurance.” America has the best medical care in the world. That is why people from all over the world come here to receive treatment. Obamacare seeks to increase medical insurance coverage, but at the cost of further compromising medical care. It is a deal with the Devil, and it needs to be thwarted.
A few days ago, in a rare display of candor, the president revealed that he thinks doctors, nurses, hospitals and insurance companies are money-grubbing villains that need to be controlled. It is obvious to me that the reason we have so few American-born physicians in this country is the government’s involvement in medical care — primarily through medicare, medicaid, and financially unrealistic regulation of insurance companies. In order for the med student to become a licensed physician, a daunting array of educational hurdles must be surmounted, and many hundreds of thousands of dollars must be spent. He or she must spend countless sleepless hours learning the intricacies of the healing arts. The reward for all this work and study should include a substantial income. If anyone in this society deserves to get rich from his work it is the physician. But the government, in its infinite stupidity, seems to think there is something bad about making money for doing good work. Who wants to go through ten or twelve years of rigorous training with long hours and short money with no financial payoff in the offing? The answer is fewer and fewer Americans. The people smart enough to become doctors are smart enough to recognize a losing proposition when they see it.
The class warfare that Obama and his ilk continue to provoke has crossed one too many lines. We need more wealthy doctors and fewer wealthy community organizers. If you don’t agree with this, the next time you get sick, call ACORN.
©2009, Tom Weeks
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Coming Home Ain’t What it Used to Be
By T Blogger | July 21, 2009
In March of 1963 the USS Forrestal tied up in Norfolk after a seven month cruise to the Mediterranean. A young homesick sailor (who happened to be me), stumbled down the ladder with his sea bag, fell to his knees on the pier and kissed the greasy pavement. I was back in the U.S.A. and my God was I happy! The country I had come home to was ripe with promise for the future. My president was a war hero with a beautiful wife and cute kids. Things were looking good.
Much has changed in our country and the rest of the world since my glorious homecoming all those years ago, but I can still call up that feeling of being proud to have such a magnificent country to come home to. Sadly, my president is now a guy who earned his political chops trading Newports and Colt 45 forties for votes in Chicago. He is not a war hero. In fact, he goes around the world apologizing for the people who elected him. I can’t help but wonder what a homesick sailor coming back after a long cruise today feels like. It is certainly something to think about.
©2009, Tom Weeks
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