An Ol' Broad's Ramblings
Archive for August 2009
2010
Swiped from Southern Sass on Crime.
Obama’s Czars
Simple Listing of Czar Titles:
1. Afghanistan-Pakistan (Af-Pak ) Czar: Richard Holbrooke
2. AIDS Czar: Jeffrey Crowley
3. Auto Recovery Czar: Ed Montgomery
4. Behavioral Science Czar: Not appointed yet.
5. Bailout Czar: Herbert Allison Jr.
6. Border Czar: Alan Bersin (Former US attorney)
7. Car Czar: Ron Bloom
8. Climate Change Czar: Todd Stern
9. Copyright Czar: Not appointed yet.
10. Counterterrorism Czar: John Brennan
11. Cybersecurity Czar: Not appointed yet.
12. Disinformation Czar: Linda Douglass
13. Domestic Violence Czar: Lynn Rosenthal
14. Drug Czar: Gil Kerlikowske
15. Economic Czar: Larry Summers
16. Economic Czar II: Paul Volcker
17. Education Czar: Arne Duncan
18. Energy Czar: Carol M. Browner
19. Food Safety Czar: Michael Taylor
20. Government Performance Czar: Jeffrey Zients
21. Great Lakes Czar: Cameron Davis
22. Green Jobs Czar: Van Jones
23. Guantanomo Closure Czar: Daniel Fried
24. Health Czar: Nancy-Ann DeParle
25. Infotech Czar: Vivek Kundra
26. Intelligence Czar: Admiral Dennis Blair
27. Latin American Czar: Arturo Valenzuela
28. Mideast Peace Czar: George Mitchell
29. Mideast Policy Czar: Dennis Ross
30. Pay Czar: Kenneth Feinberg
31. Regulatory Czar: Cass Sunstein
32. Religion Czar: Joshua Dubois
33. ‘Safe Schools’ Czar: Kevin Jennings
34. Science Czar: John Holdren
35. Stimulus Oversight Czar: Earl Devaney
36. Sudan Czar: J. Scott Gration
37. TARP Czar: Elizabeth Warren
38. Technology Czar: Aneesh Chopra
39. Trade Czar: Ron Kirk
40. Urban Affairs/ Housing Czar: Adolfo Carrion
41. War Czar: Douglas Lute
42. Water Czar: David J. Hayes
43. Weapons Czar: Ashton Carter
44. Weapons of Mass Destruction Czar: Gary Samore
Potential Czars not yet vetted:
1. Income Redistribution Czar: Not appointed yet.
2. Consumer Financial Protection Czar, aka Mortgage Czar: Not appointed yet.
3. Land-Use Czar: Not appointed yet.
4. Radio-Internet Fairness Czar: Not appointed yet.
5. Student Loan Czar: Not appointed yet.
6. Voter List Czar: Not appointed yet.
7. Zoning Czar: Not appointed yet.
H/T once again, to Lisa from Facebook for the list of names.
The Chadcast
You may or may not have noticed that I’ve been pretty quiet both on this blog and the other blog. The reason for this is twofold. One, I’ve had a lot of stuff going on in my life recently, because YES – I DO have a life outside of cyberspace. Two, I’m just having a hard time getting worked up over current events. It seems like it’s the same crap, different day. Oh, I know that eventually something will get me worked up, but with everything else going on, it’s just not happening lately.
ANYWAY…the Chad has once again started podcasting. In the first part of this week’s podcast, Chad reflects on his wedding. I posted my thoughts on the wedding here. I enjoyed hearing the groom’s take on that wonderful day.
In the second part of the podcast, Chad opines on Cash for Clunkers. I really don’t have much to add to that because, as often happens, he pretty much said exactly what I think about the whole situation.
Go on – take a listen!!
Verizon Update
Got this in an email a few minutes ago:
My name is Janice, and I can assist you regarding your feedback about our marketing decisions.
I regret no information is available regarding a decision to drop advertising during the Glenn Beck Show.
Your comments have been forwarded to our marketing department for review and consideration. Your feedback provides us with the perfect opportunity to hear exactly what you think, and often leads to improvements you will see in the future.
We appreciate your business and thank you for using Verizon Wireless.
Sincerely,
Janice
Verizon Wireless
Customer Service
Gee, thanks Janice. That was truly informative. 
This Ain’t Right!
We have made it to Wisconsin. Why am I cold? I realize this is referred to as the ‘tundra’, but c’mon! It’s August fer the love of pete!
I’d also like to ask….who taught these people how to drive? What a bunch of yahoos. And it always seems to be those itty bitty death boxes that try to blow you off the road doing 90mph. Morons!
Letter to Verizon
It has come to my attention that Verizon has decided to drop advertising during Glenn Beck’s show on Fox New Channel. I would like to know if this is true. If so, I will be shopping for a new cell phone provider, and advising every person I know to do the same.
I find it rather pathetic when a well known, and respected company succumbs to the whining of a bunch of left wing loons. If this ‘rumor’ is true, your reputation has been damaged. I have convinced many people to use your service, as opposed to the many others out there. I will work doubly hard to convince them to get rid of it as well!
As a side note, I’m fairly sure you didn’t drop your ads from MSNBC when the commentators continuously bashed Bush. Rather hypocritical, don’t you think?
Can you hear me now?
Weasel Time
Old Tool…New Application?
This old tool has been reintroduced in Washington D.C. by the Obama administration.
Are you starting to feel it yet?
The Ant & The Grasshopper
OLD VERSION: The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.
The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool & laughs & dances & plays the summer away.
Come winter, the ant is warm & well fed.
The grasshopper has no food or shelter, so he dies out in the cold.
MORAL OF THE STORY: Be responsible for yourself!
MODERN VERSION: The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house & laying up supplies for the winter.
The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool & laughs & dances & plays the summer away.
Come winter, the shivering grasshopper calls a press conference & demands to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm & well fed while others are cold & starving.
CBS, NBC , PBS, CNN, & ABC show up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper next to a video of the ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food. America is stunned by the sharp contrast.
How can this be, that in a country of such wealth, this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?
Kermit the Frog appears on Oprah with the grasshopper & everybody cries when they sing, ‘It’s Not Easy Being Green.’
Acorn stages a demonstration in front of the ant’s house where the news stations film the group singing, ‘We shall overcome.’ Rev. Jeremiah Wright then has the group kneel down to pray to God for the grasshopper’s sake.
Nancy Pelosi & Harry Reid exclaim in an interview with Larry King that the ant has gotten rich off the back of the grasshopper, & both call for an immediate tax hike on the ant to make him pay his fair share.
Finally, the EEOC drafts the Economic Equity & Anti-Grasshopper Act retroactive to the beginning of the summer.
The ant is fined for failing to hire a proportionate number of green bugs & having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, his home is confiscated by the Government Green Czar.
The story ends as we see the grasshopper finishing up the last bits of the ants food while the government house he is in, which just happens to be the ant’s old house, crumbles around him because he doesn’t maintain it.
The ant has disappeared in the snow.
The grasshopper is found dead in a drug related incident & the house now abandoned, is taken over by a gang of spiders who terrorize the once peaceful neighborhood.
MORAL OF THE STORY:
Be careful how you vote in 2010.
Swiped from Lisa Marie on Facebook.
ACK!
We have made it to northern Illinois. Can I go home now? It’s bloomin’ COLD! Ok ok ok. Maybe not cold, but what the heck happened to all that ‘global warming’? 60 degrees??? C’mon! Gimme a break! I only brought one pair of long britches with me (aka blue jeans), cuz I wasn’t expecting to freeze my hinder off. Today is the first time I’ve turned off the A/C in the truck since I got it, and was considering turning on the heater.
Clunking OUR Cash
‘Clunkers’ to Close After Fueling Sales, Dealer Anger
The U.S. “cash for clunkers” trade-in program will stop accepting applications on Aug. 24, bringing to a close an effort that helped revive auto sales and drew the ire of dealers for slow repayments.
The clunkers plan, which offers auto buyers discounts of as much as $4,500 to trade in older cars and trucks for new, more fuel-efficient vehicles, has recorded more than 457,000 dealer transactions worth $1.9 billion in rebates, the Transportation Department said in a statement yesterday.
The deadline will give car dealers and buyers time to complete purchases and apply for rebates from the remainder of the $3 billion provided by Congress, the department said. Dealers have complained of difficulty running their businesses while awaiting program payments, and the agency said it’s adding workers to help process claims faster.
I guess, on the surface, this originally sounded like a good idea. Help folks get into new, more fuel efficient vehicles, what’s the problem?
Well, I’ll tell ya the problem as I see it. First, the gubmint can’t run a lemonade stand without going into debt. Second, what they’ve been doing to perfectly good, serviceable cars is down right criminal, and is putting a serious crimp in the used car business. Third, a lot of those folks who have fallen for this scheme couldn’t afford a new car, but will be buying one anyway, just to get a few bucks off the union inflated price, and go into debt. I wonder how many will default on their loans? Hmmm… Fourth, with the usual efficiency of the fed’rul gubmint, paperwork is so far behind, some dealers may never see repayment, and they’ll be out the funds. Fifth, how could the morons who came up with this really misguided idea NOT have anticipated the response? Aren’t a large chunk of the people of the mindset of something for nothing? I mean seriously. How could they not have known that people would flock to buy new cars, that they may not be able to afford, to take advantage of a ‘give away’.
What seriously bugs me is the fact that the gubmint is ‘giving away’ money that isn’t theirs. It’s ours. OUR money. You see, the government doesn’t have any money. Not a dime. Zip. Zero. Zilch. They take money from working families to fund their absurd ideas. They don’t produce anything but government reliant citizens. That’s it.
Yes, make this stupid plan go away….ASAP! And then get your sorry asses back to the drawing board, and figure out a way to STOP spending OUR money!
Heh.
Gore hosts ‘Inglourious Basterds’
In three short years, Al Gore has gone from presenting Nashville with An Inconvenient Truth to showing us an alternate reality.
Wait a minute, both movies are fiction. Well, if there’s anyone who know about alternate realities, it would be the Boracle.
From TCPR
Ten Things You Should Know About “America’s Affordable Health Choices Act”
(H.R. 3200) (.pdf)
1 The bill will cost the average person $460 more in premiums each year.1
2 As many as 114 million Americans may lose their current coverage if the bill passes.2
3 Up to 5.5 million jobs may be lost, according to a model developed by President Obama’s own chief economic advisor.3
4 While the Congressional Budget Office claims the bill will cost $1.28 trillion, it will actually cost $9.2 trillion over the next 75 years.4
5 The bill contains $820 billion in tax increases, the largest tax increase in history.5
6 Companies that do not provide their employees with a government-approved health insurance plan will be taxed at 8%, forcing many employers to drop coverage for their employees.6
7 Individuals that do not obtain a government-approved health insurance plan will be taxed an additional 2.5% of their income, or $1,000 for every $40,000 they earn.7
8 After increased income taxes on those making $350,000 or more, the top tax rate in 39 states will be more than 50%; the highest wage earners in New York will be taxed at 58%, more than any country in the world, including Sweden.8
9 A family of four with an income of $88,200 will qualify for taxpayer-funded subsidies.9
10 Even after the plan takes effect, 34% of the estimated uninsured will still lack coverage.10
This analysis is not designed to endorse or oppose this or any other proposed legislation. Its sole purpose is to discuss the bill’s components in the context of the Center’s research into the topic. The statistics cited herein are current as of August 19, 2009, but are subject to change due to amendments made to H.R. 3200.
1 Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D., “The House Health Care Bill: A Blueprint for Federal Control,” Heritage Foundation.
2 “Analysis of the July 15 draft of The American Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009,” The Lewin Group.
<http://www.heritage.org/Research/HealthCare/upload/HouseBillHeritageRevised.pdf>.
3 Rep. John Boehner & Gov. Tim Pawlenty, “Capital Malpractice: How the Washington Takeover of Healthcare Will Hurt States,” p. 5.
4 “Financing Health Care Expansion with ‘Surtaxes’ on High Incomes,” Joint Congressional Economic Committee. July 20, 2009.
5 Chuck Blahous, “Plan still $820 billion above target,” Politico.com, July 29, 2009.
6 H.R. 3200, 111th Cong. § 412.
7 H.R. 3200, 111th Cong. § 401.
8 “If Health Surtax is 5.4 Percent, Taxpayers in 39 States Would Pay a Top Tax Rate Over 50%,” Tax Foundation, July 2009, No. 178.
9 H.R. 3200, 111th Cong.
10 Lewin study.
Tennessee Center for Policy Research
Road Trip!
Yes….another one! 
This time, heading north….to Wisconsin! capper, hope you’ve got the gators in the moat! 
The Morning Bell
“By Any Legislative Means Necessary”
The American people do not like President Barack Obama’s health care plan. According to the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll 42% of Americans “think his plan is a bad idea” compared to only 36% who think it is a good idea. 40% of Americans believe Obama’s health care plan “will result in the quality of your health care getting worse” compared to 24% who believe their care will get better. And 47% of Americans oppose “creating a public health care plan administered by the federal government” compared to only 43% who support it. Facing this cratering of public support, the left in Congress is now considering abandoning moderates and independents to pass their narrow partisan ideal of health reform. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid spokesman Jim Manley promised yesterday that Democrats will pass Obamacare “by any legislative means necessary.”
