The Obamacare debacle: modified rapture*
On one level, the events of the last few weeks have been deeply satisfying. Who wouldn’t feel a certain vindication in seeing one’s predictions come true, and watch the perpetrators running for cover? But I’m having a lot of trouble feeling the requisite joy, because I’m not at all sure that the fundamentals have changed.
Sure, some people will experience an “aha!” moment when they find this particular emperor has no clothes. But plenty of people are still not paying attention—and won’t unless their own insurance is affected. And even then, many will swallow the “Blame the Republicans!” and/or “Onward and upward to single payer!” lines. To discredit an entire well-entrenched mindset takes—well, let’s just say that “a mind is a difficult thing to change.”
We’re talking belief here, and affiliation of the deepest sort. Self-image and self worth. I can’t quite imagine most of the people I know turning their backs on liberalism—or even, really, on Obama, more than feeling just a mild diminution of admiration—as a result of this. The “Democrats have good intentions, Republicans have bad intentions” template is too deeply engrained to be overcome by a mere program and its unfortunate design, and the fact that the president lied can be countered by the response that the poor dear just didn’t know because he was kept in the dark by his underlings.
Am I being too pessimistic here, or am I just being a realist about people? I honestly don’t know, but I do know we need to remain alert, press any advantages with vigor and intelligence, and not relax and think the fight is anywhere near over. But at least Obamacare has gotten the attention of more people than have the previous acts/omissions of this administration that should have gotten a lot more people incensed but did not.
You know what these acts/omissions are; I probably don’t have to list them. But one of the very first—one that most people don’t even remember—was Honduras, a crisis that occurred in June of 2009, only a few months after Obama took office. I wrote many many posts about Honduras at the time, because it seemed an extremely important indicator of where Obama stood on the issue of tyranny and power-grabs by an executive—and let’s just say it wasn’t on the right (correct) side.
And yet the MSM covered for him and twisted what was happening into something that sounded almost like the opposite, which was an even more alarming indicator of where they stood. From that point on, there wasn’t much question that Obama was intent on the tyranny path himself, and that the media would for the most part give him a free pass, a scout, and several guides along the way.
In my very first post on the Honduras crisis, I wrote the following:
A year ago [June 2008] I might have considered the statement I’m about to make to be a slide into tinfoil hat territory. But now I believe that [Honduran congressman] Mr. Aguilera may be giving Obama way too much credit. I suspect that Obama understands exactly what dangers Chavez and Castro pose, and that he either doesn’t care or that he actually approves.
Obama has said that he is “deeply concerned” by the news of the removal of Zelaya and that he calls on “all political and social actors in Honduras to respect democratic norms, the rule of law and the tenets of the Inter-American Democratic Charter.” So far it seems, however, that it was actually Zelaya who was violating those rules of law. It also sounds as though Obama’s definition of “democratic norms” might include “one person, one vote, one time.”
Zelaya was determined that Honduras follow in the footsteps of that stellar democracy, Venezuela, which not long ago…paved the way, in a similar referendum, for Hugo Chavez to become president for life.
A democracy can vote for tyranny””but that’s what constitutions are designed to prevent…And if Obama is defending the sort of “democracy” practiced by Zelaya, it’s a very ominous sign indeed.
What happened in Honduras may seem like a far cry from Obamacare—or, more accurately, from Obama’s statements about Obamacare and his changes to it by executive fiat. But the common thread is a president who thinks the Constitution is whatever he says it is, and who can flout it at will if it serves his purposes, and who supports the right of other leaders on the left to do the same in their countries.
[NOTE: By the way, in case you had any doubt about the staying power of the left, I just noticed that the wife of Zelaya (the leftist Chavez-wannabee whom Obama supported back in 2009, and who is barred from running again in Honduras) is campaigning for the Honduran presidency in 2013, and has a good chance of winning. Fancy that.
The election is on November 24, her name is Xiomara Castro de Zelaya, and in another irony her party is called “Libre.”]
[*If you’re not familiar with the origin of the phrase in the title of this post, please see this.]
Excellent observations and more proof that great minds think alike. As noted by many; the problem is not so much Obama but the twits that put him in power. There is even evidence at Rasmussen that his popularity is recovering.
I lost track of the times I tried to point out to people that Obama revealed himself to be a left-wing fascist in Honduras and not a liberal. Of course I was labeled a right wing nut, after-all who could imagine that a pro-communist could get elected president of the US? Things like that can’t happen here. The electorate and the media are too insightful.
Might as well put this here. Saves me the task of reproducing it at least.
(Intro: Those in America that have been fighting the Left since the 60s, it has been a long and weary battle. It seems no matter who you vote in, nothing ever changes except for the worse.
Do you know why? Because you haven’t struck the Death Blow against the Left.)
Sadie: Let’s add if he/she has unresolved childhood/personal issues that cloud judgment and he/she transfers the pathology of rejection, anger and abandonment to politics. What if, there’s a body of dysfunctional politicians who seek power and position to feel adored and admired.
What if … they are the embodiment of who runs for office?
Ymar: Then you get rid of em.
Sadie: Thought we had, more than once. I’ve been voting since the 60′s. They’re like the evening tide…constant and at times threaten the shoreline.
Ymar: You’re not getting rid of them. You’re getting rid of their lackeys. A difference.
Ted Kennedy and Byrd has been in power for how long again? Union bosses, George Soros, and Code Pink, how long do you think they have been in power?
Most of the Left’s power base doesn’t rest in their politicians. I would dare say that 50% of the Left’s power base rests within their urban fiefdoms, Chicago and elsewhere. Numerous organizations are not limited to urban cities, but their operations and resources come from there. Those like Soros isn’t based in the cities and thus they and the DC Democrat politicians constitute the other 50% of the power equation. Simply booting off politicians is the 3 monty game the Left conned the Republicans with. It isn’t even nearly half the pie here.
Danny: George Soros…now there is a man who truly gives me an icy chill up and down my spine. That he has become the Godfather of the American Liberal/Left is all that one needs to know about them. He would make a good candidate for the anti-Christ.
Mike Devx: Has there ever been one single Death Blow, in American politics, Ymar? (In reply to my intro comments)
Ymar: The Declaration of Independence and the following US Constitution was indeed a deathblow against British tyranny. The reformation of the Constitution after the US Civil War was indeed a deathblow against slavery. Not against serfdom or racism, because the Democrat party wasn’t wiped out, but definitely a deathblow against slavery of blacks.
Slavery has taken a new form now because people have allowed new laws and situations to develop. It is another kind of slavery, but not the kind seen in the past. That one got killed. Where there is life there is hope. The corollary also is, where evil lives, you got to keep on killing it cause so long as there is life, there will be evil.
(Mike Devx then asked some questions and clarification results on my proposal.)
Ymar: Class warfare is already here, whether we like it or not. Our choices are limited on this venue. If the welfare and political classes don’t surrender their power over the law and the bank accounts of other people, people will keep fighting.
This is not a situation where everybody is going to benefit. Justice is not about giving people luxuries that they don’t deserve or have not earned. My plan will allow people to survive based upon what they need. For those that paid into the system, they will be paid back. As much as victims of ponzi schemes can be “paid back”. They can’t ask for money and a basic living stipend, while also demanding that I give them ever increasing political powers. Not going to happen if I’m at the table.
(If I recall correctly, this was something I took a few days thinking about, since others at Bookworm Room were talking about how to constructively fix America, via Constitutional Amendments or what not. At the time, I had already concluded that civil war would be inevitable in the US in 20 years if Obama is elected in 2012, in 50 years if he is not re elected. The time stamp is 2010, May bookwormroom.com/2010/05/21/a-question-to-chew-on/)
neo…
We need only look to the nuttiness that was the chronic Maoist revolutions.
Duping the young is EVER the sign of the tyrant.
Hitler
Stalin
Mao
Obama
All work to the same game plan.
Now it’s our turn to cry.
I don’t see the LIV getting the message quite so quick.
However this is such an epic fail — as previously described — that it’s going to hit like a typhoon. The message will get through whether the phone is picked up or not.
BTW, the US Dollar is now breaking down through critical supports — and hot Red Chinese money is now chasing American real estate to the Moon.
I find it very hard to believe that Barry won’t have us in full on crisis mode before 2017. He would regard that as double-plus good.
Mr Yellen is a hyper-inflationist. By her own words, she hasn’t seen any of the debacles coming.
Well I did. The train wreck was obvious by July 2003. I was tossing out lectures to friends and family. Five years later, “Who could have known?”
Such is the nature of economic memories. Stampeding sheep is more like it.
We still have astounding debacles looming ahead: the insanity of the derivatives casino. Bets TEN times the size of the global economy are riding there. Most of them have just four (4) banks on one side — and everyone else on the other. The bet is that interest rates must be hedged. When the turn comes, the four banks are required to eat TRILLIONS in ‘bond puts.’
In sum, it’s macro-embezzlement. There is no way ANYONE should be buying ‘protection’ from these four banks. You pay but they can’t pay out. It’s that simple.
Obviously, our nation is being managed by idiots. Witness the follies of Harrisburg, et. al.
“…too pessimistic here, or am I just being a realist about people?”
It’s entirely the realist you are. Leaving aside those eager to be on the right side of racial kumbaya, unaffiliated voters hearing the quixotic millenerianisms of O were overcome with unmodified rapture. O, in effect, throughout the campaign, had been promising them “if you like your country, you can keep it”. They fell for it then and again re Obamacare. Failure of that magnitude reflects more on them than the Dissembler in Chief.
It suggests a test may be in order for perspective voters – IQ, literacy, comprehension, and connect the dots. Start with the last – ‘if you like it you can keep it’ and ‘fundamentally transform the country’. Failing to connect two dots isn’t asking much.
I think that you are too pessimistic. This is a very different kind of story. It’s a nuclear chain reaction, a gift that will keep giving. It will come in waves — one after another — and after a while it will break down resistance.
Did you (all) see Allahpundit’s roundup last night? Amazing!
The press has been forced out of denial. The American people will see the truth, and their reaction will be an embarrassed silence.
It is unavoidably clear that the only way to deal with Leftists is to kill ’em dead. Xiomara is one example; what is fixing to happen in Chile 40 years after Pinochet saved the country from Allende is another.
Conservatives fundamentally leave folks alone, wanting to be so treated themselves. But that only allows Leftists to regroup and come on back. They never quit, are never converted (“a mind is a difficult thing to change”). They follow the Black Prince, enslave themselves while enslaving us.
There is only one way to deal with them; after that, their books must be burned.
@ Neo: “But the common thread is a president who thinks the Constitution is whatever he says it is, and who can flout it at will if it serves his purposes, and who supports the right of other leaders on the left to do the same in their countries.”
As I usually do, I think you are soft-peddling the issue. I think most people soft-peddle it, except for the people I meet in the streets and doing regular work. What used to be called “real people”. They are still out there. Still probably a silent (or rather silenced) majority.
This is not a case of a person who takes a position along a spectrum of how do take the Constitution as a document or as a guide to American Law and society. There are leftist academics in law schools and there are moderates and then I suppose a few conservatives left (in the schools). All can be found on that spectrum line.
Obama is not that at all. He is not in that category at all. His case is much simpler, much more direct, much more horrific and dangerous.
he hates America.
Period. End of story. The beginning and the end of the matter. He is, in fact, an enemy of the country he is President of. Strange, but true.
That’s the fact.
Until and unless that is admitted, Obama will forever be explained and excused away – to our detriment and possibly to our demise.
The Constitution talks about enemies “foreign and domestic”. Okay, we have one. He’s President.
The only question at all should be – What do we do now?
I agree with George Pal neo, you’re not being too pessimistic. You’re being a realist. Some people need reality’s slap upside the head, some need a hammer between the eyes and some would rather die than re-examine their world-view.
“The Constitution talks about enemies “foreign and domestic”. Okay, we have one. He’s President. The only question at all should be — What do we do now?” Mike
No martyrdom for Obama. The failure of his Presidency would be, for him the gravest blow because it would be a permanent rebuke to his ego.
So what to do?
Obama has no power without the left’s support.
Attacking the left’s strengths is critical. But not directly, instead tangentially. Those ‘strengths’ are academia, media and political in nature.
Academia; conservative students should be assisted in starting civil and class action lawsuits against leftist professors, colleges and universities for loss of future earnings, resulting from politically correct grading in classes.
Media; wealthy conservatives and conservative organizations should start acquiring large blocks of stock in the six publicly held media holding companies, that control 90% of the media outlets in America. Once control is established, new management and editors should be hired.
Growth of the Entitlement and Regulatory State; the growth of the Entitlement State is the primary means the left is using to grow the dependency class, exponentially increasing democrat support. The growth of the Regulatory State is the primary means the left is using to attack business and the middle class.
Both can be stopped by cutting off the funding of that growth. The key to accomplishing that goal lies in the House of Representatives. Election of a sufficiently large block of Tea Party/Libertarians would allow the formation of a true Conservative Caucus, one that could block both the raising of the debt ceiling and the raising of taxes, while also stopping retaliatory moves to impeach members of the Caucus.
When outrage erupted, the Caucus members could seize the moral high ground by calmly but firmly stating that it is a morally indefensible obscenity for adult generations to create obscene levels of future indebtedness for younger and as yet unborn generations. That since the Congress, President and many members of the public refuse to act responsibly, it is the constitutional duty of the House to act responsibly.
Blocking both the raising of the debt ceiling and the raising of taxes stops the growth of the federal government cold and finally forces the Federal government to essentially operate within a balanced budget. It finally forces the President and Congress to be accountable in the funding choices they make. It removes the escape valve of a raised debt ceiling and that of higher taxes and forces actual spending cuts.
Let Obama, the democrats and the MSM try to explain why Obama’s military golf course, million dollar vacations, budgets of the EPA, DHS and ATF and why the Dept of Energy and Education are MORE important than Food Stamps, Aid to Dependent Families, Cancer Research, the US Military and the Border Patrol.
A temporary shutdown is not something to be feared, it is something to be sought because its the only legal way left to stop the left’s “fundamental transformation’ of America into the United Socialist States of Amerika and a declaration of political war upon the left, a ‘war’ they declared upon America long ago.
I don’t think you’re too pessimistic, but then I’m the reigning champion in that category.
Obama only needs to get through the 2014 elections.
If he can delay the employer coverage changes until after those elections, he’s home free. After those kick in, 90 million Americans are going to be ready to lynch him. The real question is whether or not the Republican Tridumbvirate of “Grandstand” McCain, Mitch “I filibustered my own bill” McConnell, and John ” Grand Bargain” Boner will be help him get through the elections.
They’re going to want to compete with the Democrats for the best bad Obamacare fixes, and that means who can promise the most budget busting subsidies and money.
So I’m sticking to my prediction before this blew up, that they will in fact screw up any chances for themselves of regaining the Senate or picking up seats in the house. There’s a good chance they’ll even manage to get themselves blamed for half of the problems.
And just to show they’re predictable, Rove and Preibus will destroy anyone who opposes whatever idiot strategy they concoct.
Let’s not forget it was two those clowns and the RINO squad who launched the campaign to destroy Ted Cruz and the Tea Party. Rove and Preibus aren’t going to let a bunch of conservatives lose seats; they’re professional losers, and nobody is going to infringe on their right to lose elections.
We’re just back from visiting the youngest granddaughter… lovely wife went straight to bed; I walked the dogs and prepared coffee for tomorrow. Perhaps because I am rather dense, I see the unfolding debacle of Ocare as a mighty fine time. It only takes 5% to change an election. 5%! I think Ocare may shift as many of 10% once sticker shock and awe hits home.
Something has changed. We’ve never seen the media talking about O’s incompetence and “incorrect promises” before now. Hope and Change!
“Something has changed. We’ve never seen the media talking about O’s incompetence and “incorrect promises” before now. Hope and Change!
I am cautiously ready to make my wqy 9LITERY
Some times I wonder if all societies need to follow in the steps of Czarist Russia, to endure violent revolutions, famines, civil wars, terror and economic collapse of socialism in order to come to their senses and decisively reject social utopism.
It’s not guaranteed the Left will suffer much the more Americans suffer in reality. When their founding member, the Democrat party caused the 1st US Civil War, all the blame for the violence, KKK, voter repression, economic destruction actually settled upon Republican shoulders, like LIncoln. Simultaneously Lincoln’s positive reputation amongst some were hijacked by people teaching kids that Lincoln was a Democrat.
The extent of the social re-engineering was so vast and deep that generations later, the South is still registered Democrat due to family ties and still talk about various memes perpetuated originally by Democrats. Their politics, family values, and other things don’t actually matter on this score. So long as their family was Democrat, they imbibed the milk along with it.
You couldn’t find a situation as economically bad as Reconstruction in the US history. Yet, the final victims of them all, blacks and whites in the South, are now solid Democrat voters. Or at least were solid until post WWII, when economic conditions finally stabilized and equalized.
It seems that the more suffering is caused, the more control Democrats have over politics, society, and economics. This isn’t a theory or a slippery slope, they’ve done it to Americans before.
Ymarsakar:
Satan casting out Satan – Rene Girard.
1. Satan: Dems cause problem, crisis, chaos (but you’d never suspect it). 2. Casting out: Dems solve problem (Satan) by taking more power and extending their reach. 3. Dems demonize Republicans, blaming them. (that is why kids today think Lincoln was a Democrat and Republicans did that Bull Connor thing in the South and Dems saved the day.
The true battle, fair or not, in our day is who can win the victim battle. R’s simply have to start saying all the time and over and over that the Dems cause more victims than they do.
That is only effective way, and it is true.
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Clarification: The South was solidly Democrat until post WWII, around Reagan’s time. That was when economic conditions in the South stabilized and people became free to pursue their own goals in life, allowing them to break free from generations of Democrat loyalty and obedience.
The blacks, however, were Republicans prior to 1960s, more or less. They had values indistinguishable from the Southern warrior, Irish, Scottish clans, so fought in WWII and earned respect on a nation wide scale. But they still remembered their history with Democrats and Republicans. Until welfare and the Democrats broke them. Now they vote 95% for Democrats, love Democrat masters, and hate Republicans.
If you look at the two times (that we know of) when Democrats achieved Super Majority control of a culture, the economic conditions were “terrible” for those demographics. The worst it got, the better Democrat control was.
So those that think it’ll go differently this time, the third time charm… I don’t think there’s much favoring our odds on this matter.
Neo’s not a pessimist. Compared to me, she’s an elevated optimist.
Wow! The reverse-double-spiral dismount on that….^thing… is dizzying. Obomber lied, and feigned concern about a coup, that he actually supported, and claimed wasn’t a coup ( See the Wikileaks cable releases), thus helping bring back the old S./Central American tradition of death squads, torture, and disappearances. Therefore, that shows that he’s a leftist tyrant, who will do anything, up to and including Romneycare.
Obomber is a control-freak authoritarian, but that bit of unreality discredits the whole argument.
People are under the disillusionment that arguments are required in a war.
I know a lot of very liberal people and they’re well aware things are going badly for the country. They know the Democrats have failed to get the economy going. They pay enough attention to foreign affairs to know most of the news there is bad. They were unsure about Obamacare when it first passed, and now it scares the hell out of them.
However, they will keep voting for Democrats (when they vote that is) because no Republican has shown them a better option. Pointing out that the current situation is bad isn’t enough. The 2012 election should have taught us that.
If Republicans can agree on a good healthcare reform plan, and talk about it every chance they get, then they’ll get rid of Obamacare.
[As an aside, Am I the only one who thinks all this talk about how Americans are too dumb or too partisan to recognize the evil of Obama and brilliance of the Republicans sounds a lot like what Democrats were saying in 2005 and 2010?]
Baltimoron,
well is the term moron placed in your name.
No better options? Are you for real? Are you actually, actually for real? You are a moron.
Romney wasn’t a better option than Obama?
You are a fool and your liberal friends are fools. We will win, we have to, because you are weak and foolish and rebel against reality. No utopia for you. Not at our expense.
Thank you for educating us. We will now exterminate you. It will take some time, but by education and the consequences of your leaders and your policies, much has been exposed. The Noam Chomsky’s have been exposed. The Ayers, the Acorns, the Chicago shitfaces have been exposed.
The truth is a stronger force than all your moronic evil.
Here, for you to examine, is the uglines of your lies:
http://www.chomsky.info/articles/20090119.htm
Baltimoron, I am not sure what delete.the.alternative is going on about. I think your point is a good one. I would add that the issue is not just plan vs no plan but the elites vs the public. DC is the problem. I think it is just as important to focus on this aspect as on having a plan.
mikeportc:
It is you has it reversed. See this, on the administration, Wikileaks, and Honduras.
delete.the.alternative:
I don’t think Baltimoron was saying there actually were no better alternatives. I think he’s saying that a lot of people perceived that there weren’t any, and that Republicans haven’t shown it clearly enough.
I happen to disagree. I think Romney showed a better alternative quite clearly. But I do think the message isn’t being received, even by a lot of intelligent people.
In the case of a lot of people I know, both men and women (although more commonly in women, but it involves both sexes), many just don’t like politics or pay attention to it. They vote in a kneejerk way, through habit. Sound bites reach them, but that’s about it.
Most of them vote Democrat. They are indeed LIVs, but they are not unintelligent and don’t lack common sense, either. They just don’t get into politics; it either doesn’t interest them or has turned them off and they don’t trust politics or politicians.
Steve,
There is a big establishment vs. everyone else problem in our politics. Part of the Republicans reason Republicans haven’t done well lately is that Democrats do a much better job distancing themselves from big government and big business.
I think this is an extension of the plan vs no plan issue. Republicans need to show how they can improve life for the little guy if they want people to take them seriously.
Using Mitt Romney as an example [No he didn’t run a good campaign]; He talked a lot about improving the business climate, but was never able to succinctly explain how that would put more money in workers’ pockets. That left him open to Democrats’ criticism that he only cared about CEOs with private jets.
“part of the reason republicans haven’t done well lately”
oops
Political education starts at home and ends up at the universities. It’s not up to Republicans to re do everything from scratch. Democrats don’t do it either, they rely on infrastructure operatives instead in unions.
A nation that has a bunch of people called voters that need a “leader” to tell them which way is up, isn’t free but a bunch of slaves and automatons. Their “votes” are worthless.
Yes. I agree Neo. But I am sickened how often that view is expessed by the lame stream media. And it infuritates me because we all know what we have to offer: family, faith, country, constiution.
It is not a fault of ours that our message is buried. It was buried by the intent and purpose of the left and then they want to complain our view isn’t expressed!
How did Obamination explain his point of view: by accusing the Republicans and by lying and by misrepresenting us, our view. And Baltimoron is stupid enough to go along with that!
The gov’t has become so deceptive that health care law is like tax law. It is almost impossible to define anything.
So the failure of the Republicans to offer an alternative is a result of a failure of language and many years of preparation by the socialist/communist to prepare the battlefield. They did win. They won the culture, the academia, and Hollywood Then, when someone comes with real and true language, they say,
“oh, that’s not what I meant.”
All right. They got the language. But, finally, did you think we would just let you take away our guns, health, marriage, family and property.
I don’t really care for cussing all that much. Never do it in my regular life. But fuck you Obama. Fuck you. We are gonna see you destroyed you fucking piece of shit.
All those millions who have been added to food stamp roles, Medicaid, and extended unemployment benefits have had their vote bought.
I’m just so chuffed that you knew the origin of “modified rapture”. I thought that was a secret of obsessive Gilbertians. Rapture!
Robert Dammers:
And what makes you think I’m not an “obsessive Gilbertarian”?
I believe I know just about every word of every song (and some of the dialogue, too) in both “The Mikado” and “HMS Pinafore.” Also bits and pieces of the rest of them, but mostly those two.
Have loved them since early childhood; seen both many many times.
“But I’m having a lot of trouble feeling the requisite joy, because I’m not at all sure that the fundamentals have changed.”
Neo–they haven’t changed, and I don’t see them changing very soon.
Back when the Gosnell horror show was daily fare (on Fox News at least–ABCNNBCBS not so much) I asked a very liberal coworker what he thought of the trial. He said he didn’t know what I was talking about. When I started explaining it, he as much as called me a liar. Then a not-as-liberal coworker told him that it was true and that he’d seen it online and a couple times on the networks. I told him he needed to be informed and should at least check it out.
The next day I asked him if he’d found anything and he said he hadn’t. I asked him the next day–same answer. The third day I offered to forward him some articles but he said no thanks, he really didn’t care.
His refusal to not only face the facts but to not even investigate the facts reminded me of something: the German people who lived near the extermination camps during WWII claiming they didn’t know what was going on inside the camps.
They knew. Either they supported what was happening or they didn’t care what was happening or they feared repercussions or they’d convinced themselves that “it can’t happen here.” Whatever the reason, they knew and did nothing.
I think this is the mindset of many if not most liberals in this country today. Toe the party line no matter what. Add to this a completely submissive press and the malignant narcissist we have in the white house and you have a very dangerous situation.
And I don’t think it’s going to end well.
More scandal. Saw this at Ace of Spades:
“Until last month, no concrete performance measures had been developed for HealthCare.gov, the first-ever government computer system for consumers to buy private insurance, several officials confirmed.
“Many asked about benchmarks,” said a senior administration official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the topic’s sensitivity. But there was “no schedule of them.”
[No concrete performance benchmarks? Are you kidding me?]
“When HHS in 2011 invited contractors to bid on the chance to build HealthCare.gov, the department’s “statement of work” did not include requirements typical of many IT contracts, in which interested companies must spell out how the system would perform, according to an industry representative close to the project, who was granted anonymity in order to speak frankly.
The agreement that CGI Federal, the company chosen as the main contractor, signed on Sept. 30, 2011, also did not contain specific performance criteria, success measures, or response times.”
So it was Total Slop, All the Way Down. Who ever heard of a huge-arse contract with no criteria???
Neo: and just what is wrong with “Iolanthe”? (That’s my favorite.)
Of course, the fact that the no-bid huge-arse contract was just handed to one of Michelle Obama’s buddies may have something to do with it. . . .
Oh, well, it’s in the public domain, innit?
“When I was a lad I served a term
As office boy to an Attorney’s firm.
I cleaned the windows and I swept the floor,
And I polished up the handle of the big front door.
Chorus.
He polished up the handle of the big front door!
Sir Joseph.
I polished up that handle so carefullee
That now I am the Ruler of the Queen’s Navee!
Chorus.
He polished up that handle so carefullee,
That now he is the ruler of the Queen’s Navee!
. . .
Sir Joseph.
Of legal knowledge I acquired such a grip
That they took me into the partnership.
And that junior partnership, I ween,
Was the only ship that I ever had seen.
Chorus.
Was the only ship that he ever had seen.
Sir Joseph.
But that kind of ship so suited me,
That now I am the ruler of the Queen’s Navee!
Chorus.
But that kind of ship so suited he,
That now he is the ruler of the Queen’s Navee!
Sir Joseph.
I grew so rich that I was sent
By a pocket borough into Parliament.
I always voted at my party’s call,
And I never thought of thinking for myself at all.
Chorus.
He never thought of thinking for himself at all!
Sir Joseph.
I thought so little, they rewarded me
By making me the Ruler of the Queen’s Navee!
Chorus.
He thought so little, they rewarded he
By making him the Ruler of the Queen’s Navee!
Sir Joseph.
Now landsmen all, whoever you may be,
If you want to rise to the top of the tree,
If your soul isn’t fettered to an office stool,
Be careful to be guided by this golden rule.
Chorus.
Be careful to be guided by this golden rule!
Sir Joseph.
Stick close to your desks . . . and Never go to sea,
And you all may be rulers of the Queen’s Navee!”
[“The situation is rather Gilbertian, don’t you think?” — Dorothy Sayers]
Mrs Whatsit:
I’ve seen “Iolanthe,” but never really got into it. I think the other two are my favorites in part because they are the BEST, and in part because they were played over and over in my youth, and I imbibed them.
I also know quite a bit of “Pirates of Penzance,” but nowhere near as much.
As far as “The Mikado” goes, I can sing “To sit in solemn silence…” and “There is beauty in the bellow of the blast…” pretty darn fast. At least, I used to be able to. Only thing is, you wouldn’t want to hear me. I’m not much of a singer.
I was looking just now for a good YouTube version of “There is beauty,” and although I didn’t find what I was looking for I found this unexpected treat: a selection of Mikado songs by the great Martyn Green in 1952 on TV, including that one.
Enjoy:
Neo: “You know what these acts/omissions are; I probably don’t have to list them.”
I disagree. You do have to list them and do so repetitively. One, I don’t know or don’t remember what all the acts/omissions are. The media certainly doesn’t remind me. Two, listing them and doing so repetitively is important for the all-important Battle of the Narrative.
Of course, the fact that the no-bid huge-arse contract was just handed to one of Michelle Obama’s buddies may have something to do with it. . . .
The Left is like those death merchants that win no matter who is the victor in a war. Because they get profits no matter which side is favored.
Thus they have made war into a cycle of violence and money. They had the original patent on the cycle of violence.
sergey:
Welcome back! Haven’t seen you in a while.
Eric, Bookworm wrote a post listing Obama’s scandals but… can’t seem to find it now.
Spoke too soon, my last ditch search efforts turned it up.
http://www.bookwormroom.com/2013/11/13/the-other-obama-scandal-a-pithy-summary/
Part of the plan/no plan debate has to include the fact that we’re on a collision course with disaster. At this point, the sanctimonious expectation that Republicans “come up with a better plan or we won’t vote for you” is like being lost at sea headed full-speed toward an iceberg and saying, “if you can’t magically transport us to the harbor, we’re going to let the ship hit the iceberg.” After the economic crunch and five years of Obama, there may not be a better plan available to us right now than simply not making the situation worse by the minute.
Since our country is currently pursuing a course that is disastrous on all fronts – economy, foreign policy, you name it – simply not doing these things would be better than letting things continue because we don’t have a “perfect” plan. I get that we need a better message than that for the LIV set, but the fact that we blow winnable elections when the stakes are this high over this kind of stuff really hurts.
Obama didn’t win in 2008 or 2012 because he presented a plan. He won on superficials, supported by the fact that many Democrats and media types supported him, which was all the evidence the average Democrat needed that he was somehow qualified.
Hogwash. Obama didn’t have a plan. He copied Bush’s plans on Iraq and A’stan, and he let Reid’s Senate come up with an ad-hoc healthcare plan. The people who will continue to vote for Obama will do so without any regard for any Republican plan.
Democrats are attached at the hip to big government and big buisness. To the extent they can argue otherwise it is rooted in lies and control of the MSM.
Part of the problem is that many people simplistically assume those “trying to help” are the good people. In reality those who “try to help” are often the scam artists, which is an accurate view of Democrats.
I see the “GOP needs a good plan” argument as simply an excuse to vote for Dems despite the inability to actually defend their policies.
My BiL is a died in the whool Dem, he’s hispanic and actually seems to identify as a Dem almost by genetic factors. He will fall back to the “don’t like the GOP plan on healthcare” argument without actually knowing anything about GOP plans. He uses it as a fallback when he can’t defend the actions of his own team.
Well, well, well: Kirsten Gillibrand (NY Senator) admitted on ABC this Sunday that the Democrats “all knew” that Obama was lying.
This should be Noised Abroad by everybody. Breitbart News has the deets.
“On Sunday, appearing on ABC’s This Week with fill-in host Martha Raddatz, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) admitted that Democrats knew full well that Americans would be booted from their health insurance plans as an effect of Obamacare implementation.
When asked whether Democrats were misled by President Obama about whether Americans would be able to keep their plans in the individual insurance market, Gillibrand answered: “He should’ve just been specific. No, we all knew.”
She added that the whole point of Obamacare was to “covering things people need, like preventive care, birth control, pregnancy.” The redistributive nature of Obamacare, Gillibrand stated, was the point of the program; anyone claiming ignorance, therefore, is not telling the truth.”
The only good plan the GOP could come up with right now is to order the Marines into Chicago and clean it out. But that option disappeared once Obama was elected, so there are things such as time limits.
People in a democracy think they can endlessly play the political game, sharing power, bouncing it back and forth like a ball.
What the Left is aiming for is the End Game. Final Solution. One man, one vote, one time. There will not be another.
So sure, if people want to play the election and voter rigging game cause they think they can win, let em have at it. Prove me, us, the Left, and the world wrong.
But don’t go around doing so while thinking that you’ll have a “reload” chance.
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