Earlier this year I wrote that Obamacare couldn’t possibly work because the numbers don’t add up.  Well guess what.  The Society of Actuaries just released a report saying that Obamacare won’t work because the numbers don’t add up.  These are the people who are paid big bucks by the insurance industry for doing the math and getting it right.  Their credibility is beyond reproach.  This is not evidence of astute observation and analysis by me, it is evidence that Obamacare won’t work because the numbers don’t add up.  The following article from the Washington Guardian explains the problem:

http://www.washingtonguardian.com/study-health-overhaul-raise-claims-cost-32-pct-1

Grab your hats folks, because this is going to get worse, much worse.   The numbers don’t add up for Obamacare and they can’t raise taxes enough to fix the problem.  Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and Barack Obama were granted almost total power in January of 2009.  There isn’t a lick of common sense in the group.  What did you expect?  They came, they saw, they squandered and left us with a mess.

TDM

The California housing bubble caught a lot of people, including me, by surprise.  I knew that housing prices in California were insane.  But that had been true for years.  I knew that some really smart people said the bubble could burst, but it was hard to imagine.  There were times when prices had dropped in the past, for about 15 minutes, but soon they soon came back even stronger.  In addition, I didn’t personally know anyone who really believed the bubble was about to burst.  We were all afraid that if we didn’t buy a house now, we would never be able to buy a house in the future.  For a long time that was accurate.  If you didn’t buy a house when you could, the next year it would be 15% higher but your income sure wouldn’t be 15% higher.  Houses seemed to move farther out of reach with no end in sight.

Of course now we all know that the collapse of the housing bubble was inevitable.  The numbers weren’t adding up and in hindsight, this is really obvious.  I did some research about an upscale community in Northern California in 2007.  This area had a median household income of about $118,000, which is near the top.   The average price of a home was $535,000.  That means that even in this extremely affluent community the average family could not afford the average house.  How on earth did we expect that to continue?

Now we are looking at an international financial bubble that makes the housing bubble pale in comparison.  Once again the numbers just don’t add up.  Supposedly smart people are trying to get out of debt by borrowing more money.  Other supposed smart people are trying to help by loaning them more money.  When, exactly, has this ever worked?  Our fed chairman thinks that if we just keep interest rates near zero that everything will be just fine.  If he keeps in up, we will eventually be paying people to borrow money.  This reminds me of the kid who tried to skate across a pond on thin ice.  As long as he went really fast, it was ok, but the minute he started to slow down he was in serious trouble.  Well things are slowing down all over the world and it sure looks like trouble.

The latest and greatest bailout deal in Cyprus is astonishing.  The EU is going to give Cyprus banks 10 billion euros, but only if the banks first take (steal) 4.8 billion from their largest depositors.  Senior bondholders will be unceremoniously wiped out.  The Laiki Bank will be shut down and the “insured” depositors will be moved to the Bank of Cyprus.  In the meantime banks will not reopen until at least Thursday and the government is going to limit the amount of capital that can be withdrawn.  I suspect people all over the world are looking for an exit strategy.  It won’t take much to trigger a mad dash for the exits.

Perhaps, just perhaps, the EU will pour enough water (actually watered down currency) on the financial fire in Cyprus to stave off the inevitable.  But at best, this will not solve the problem; it will just kick it further down the road.  Then another fire will erupt somewhere and there will be even fewer options for containing the results.  The only real solution would be a booming world economy, but all of Europe is run by socialists who have never succeeded in creating a strong economy.  The former economic engine of the world, the United States, is following Europe down the path toward economic stagnation. 

In an interview today Charles Krauthammer made an interesting comment comparing the situation in Cyprus to the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand.  Following is a link to a Daily Caller article about that interview:

http://dailycaller.com/2013/03/26/krauthammer-compares-cyprus-bailout-to-assassination-that-led-to-world-war-i-audio/

The problem with Krauthammer’s comment is that it has the ugly odor of truth.  The collapse of the housing bubble was bad enough.  This time the entire world could experience a bubble bath.

TDM

It discourages me to hear conservatives brag about how they love our drones.  They think it is wonderful that these neat little drones are really good at killing all those nasty terrorists.  There is no doubt that these guys had it coming.  It feels so good to eliminate the problem painlessly.  Granted a few innocent civilians are also getting killed, but one must expect some collateral damage.  It’s doesn’t matter where they are, because our drones are really good.  We don’t even bother getting permission from the host country, or anyone else.  They can’t stop us anyway.  We just spot the target on the neat little camera and bombs away.  This is so exciting that the Obama administration tried to create a new combat medal for drone operators, to show their appreciation.  Liberals were describing this as the new, modern, better form of warfare.  What could possibly go wrong?

Unfortunately, we may have unleashed a serious problem.  One obvious problem is that our government may have been seriously considering the use of drones against us.  Every day there are more reports of drones being used in the U.S.  Currently, these drones aren’t armed they are just used for surveillance.  But originally drones in places like Afghanistan and Iraq weren’t armed either.  Then someone figured out that just attaching a little missile here and there was really cool.  One day a drone spotted a terrorist, a button was pushed and: instant results.  What a great new concept.  We can now kill people almost anywhere without risking any of our own people.  At first we only used them on the battlefield.  Then we started using them in Pakistan.  Now we are using them in places like Yemen and the Sudan.  If it wasn’t for Rand Paul, they might even have been used here. 

This reminds me of the nuclear bomb.  It was a great option for Harry S. Truman.  He dropped a couple of bombs, two cities were eliminated and World War II was over.  But within a short period of time, the Soviet Union also got a bomb.  Suddenly nuclear bombs weren’t all that great any more.  A nuclear bomb looks a lot less attractive when you are a potential target too.

I predict the same thing will happen with drones.  It won’t be long before our enemies have drones too.  According to the following article from National Journal, Iran may already have one:

http://www.nationaljournal.com/magazine/when-the-whole-world-has-drones-20130321

Even if they don’t have them yet, they will have them, probably sooner rather than later.  And as least one of them will feel no moral restrain in launching one against us.  Why would they?  We’re the ones who set the standard.

For whom the drone roams.  It roams for you and me.

TDM

The United States Supreme Court is hearing arguments on one of the most important cases in our nation’s history.  It should not be a close call, but with the recent Obama appointees on the court this is very likely to be another 5-4 decision.  Arizona has a law requiring people to prove they are U.S. citizens before registering to vote.  They want things like birth certificates.  Currently in Arizona you can use the federal form, which is a joke: 

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/19/us/politics/supreme-court-justices-appear-divided-on-arizona-voting-law.html?_r=0

The question for the justices was whether that state law conflicted with the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, which allows voters to register using a federal form that asks, “Are you a citizen of the United States?” Prospective voters must check a box yes or no, and they must sign the form, swearing that they are citizens under penalty of perjury

The bottom line here is that Democrats passed a federal law saying all you need to do to vote in an election is “say you are a U.S. Citizen.”  No wonder they still don’t consider Barack Obama’s birth certificate to be an important issue.  When you combine this with millions of illegal aliens in the United States and the Democratic Party openly soliciting their votes the danger is obvious.  The worst outcome here would be for the Supreme Court to just overturn the Arizona law.  If that happens, it may be impossible for Republicans to ever win another election.  The best outcome is probably if the Court determines that the federal standard is inadequate and demand the federal government set up a reasonable system to verify the citizenship of all voters.  A middle outcome would be to uphold the Arizona law or at least parts of the Arizona law.  At least then a lot of states would almost immediately adopt standards consistent with the Supreme Court ruling.

If we lose this one, I don’t see any hope of recovery.  I still suspect that if voting in the last election had been limited to legally registered, living voters, only allowed to vote once, that the results might have been quite different.  We will never know, because we have no way of verifying this.  If we don’t change this now; future elections will be determined by which party is more skilled at stealing votes.

TDM

President Obama is well on his way to becoming the lamest of all lame duck Presidents.  He has botched things big time, his popularity is dropping like a stone and even Democrats are starting to turn on him.  Today John Podesta took a major shot at Obama:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/13/john-podesta-obama_n_2868904.html

John Podesta was the Chief of Staff for Bill Clinton.  He was also co-chairman of the Obama-Biden Transition Project.  This is a Democrat’s Democrat.   I remember when Lyndon Johnson said that if he had lost Cronkite he had lost the country.  Well, if Obama has lost Podesta, he has lost the Progressive wing of the Democratic Party.

If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it’s a duck.  The second term of the Obama administration is less than two months old and it is already looking like a Quacker Factory.

Have you noticed that Republicans have started to go more than a little silent lately?  The reason is that when your opponent is self-destructing, you just get out of the way.  Quack, quack!

TDM

Up until now, Barack Obama has never had to learn the meaning of the word no.  Whatever he wanted, he got, usually with little or no real effort.  The most consistent pattern to his life has been unearned rewards.  He was the first person with zero accomplishments elected President of the United States.  He even won the noble peace prize for doing nothing.  For the first four years of his presidency, Republicans were afraid to say no.  They were continually battered by self-inflicted wounds earned in battles they were afraid to fight. 

His demands with regard to sequestration were so absurd that even the spineless RINO Republicans were forced to say no.  The results have been immediate and earthshattering.

Like most spoiled brats who are finally told no, Barack Obama threw a hissy fit.  He campaigned around the country trying to blame Republicans for the sequestration plan that was actually his idea.  But a miracle happened.  This time even the main stream media didn’t buy his nonsense.  This time it was Barack Obama who had to back down.  Then Rand Paul stood alone on the Senate floor, unarmed and unafraid and said no again.  While RINOs like John McCain and Lindsey Graham tried desperately to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, it was Barack Obama who had to back down. 

Suddenly, almost without warning, the “Anointed One” has lost his force field.  Barack Obama looks all too human and more than a little vulnerable.  The rest of the world figured this out a long time ago.  Republicans have finally figured it out too.  I suspect a whole lot of people are asking themselves why they ever feared him.

I cannot predict what will happen next.  But I can predict that we are going to see a whole lot more:  “BO  NOs.”  Barack Obama will remain President of the United States for nearly four more years, but he is already a lame duck President and the ship of state is leaking power like a sieve.   

 “BO NO”s.  A beautiful thing

TDM

Last night, Rand Paul changed american politics.   His filibuster was a stroke of genius.  While Lindsey Graham and John McCain were dining with Obama, Rand Paul reminded us all of the power of principle over politics.  He simply and eloquently said you either believe in the constitution or you don’t.  He did this so well that liberal and progressive Senators were stunned.  Dick Durbin even asked him questions that made the impact of the filibuster more signficant.  By acknowledging that Rand Paul was asking a seriious question and by engaging in a serious conversation with him, Durbin made Rand Pauls comments impossible to ignore.  It is hard to argue with his point that the President of the United States doesn’t have the power to just kill American citizens in the United States just because he thinks it’s a good idea.

Rand Paul did not shout.  He did not make outrageous attacks.  He even said a couple of nice things about Obama.  Yet, with his quiet, but reasoned performance, he delivered a devastating rebuke to the Obama administration.  The quieter he spoke, the louder he was heard.  Even die hard liberals are having a hard time arguing with Rand Paul this morning.

But an even more important star emerged with the public unveiling of Ted Cruz.  I thought Ted Cruz was just another Tea Party candidate.  The main stream media has painted him as another light weight swept into power by over enthusiastic Tea Party supporters.  But after I watched Cruz eviscerate Eric Holder during his cross examination I decided it was time to research this man.  It turns out that Ted Cruz is one heck of an attorney.   Cruz graduated from Yale and Harvard and unlike Obama his academic performance at Harvard is well documented.  He “earned” a position as editor of the Harvard Law Review, he was an executive editor of the Harvard Law & Policy Review and he founded the Harvard Latino Law Review.  He is also a brilliant debater and twice was voted the speaker of the year at national debate conferences.  As a private attorney he argued cases in front of the U.S. Supreme Court and he was the Solicitor General for the State of Texas.  That is the kind of position you give to a real attorney, rather than the political position of Attorney General.  This is one of the most intellectually capable people in the United States Senate and no one should make the mistake of underestimating him.  Eric Holder finally came face to face with a real live capable attorney and the result was devastating.

Both John McCain and Lindsey Graham responded by ripping Rand Paul this morning in speeches to the entire senate.  It was a huge mistake:

http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/inside-politics/2013/mar/7/graham-mccain-blast-paul-filibuster/

The Republican Party hasn’t seen this kind of talent in decades.  Ronald Reagan was the great communicator, but Ted Cruz is a great communicator who gradued Magna Cum Laude with a JD fromHarvard.  Rand Paul is a medical doctor, a man of principle with a rare ability to make arguments that are compelling even to political opponents.  While McCain and Graham were dining with the President, liberal Senators were being mesmerized by the rarest sight in Washington, a man standing firm and alone, on a matter of principle refusing to be intimidated.  McCain and Graham would have been wise to applaud such courage rather than to try and suppress it.

Lindsey Graham and John McCain are acting this way because they know they have just been pushed off the public stage by Rand Paul and Ted Cruz.  When politicians have to try and explain to people why they are important, it is because they aren’t.  The torch has been passed.  The RINO leadership of the Republican Party was blown off the national stage by the soft but eloquent words of Rand Paul and Ted Cruz.  It’s a beautiful thing.

UPDATE.  While Lindsey Graham and John McCain were explaining why Rand Paul was so naive and stupid, Eric Holder was busy caving, because it worked:

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/interactive/2013/03/07/letter-from-holder-to-sen-paul-on-drone-authority/

Graham and McCain just embarrassed themselves.

TDM

Rand Paul has just moved into my top ten list of American politicians .  He is now into his eight hour of filibuster regarding the nomination of John Brennan to be CIA director.   Who knows how long he will last.  Strom Thurmond, the current record holder, spoke for 24 hours and 18 minutes against the Civil Rights Act of 1957.

I do not know how long this will last, but I do know that he has focused attention on this issue and he is making a compelling argument.  Even liberals are paying attention when he warns against an administration that believes it can kill American citizens without even pretending to follow due process.  At a minimum, the main stream media will have to cover this story.

It will be interesting to watch how this plays out.  It is just possible that Rand Paul will single handedly energize the entire Republican Party.  It has been a long time since we have seen such a raw and powerful example of leadership.  You may like Rand Paul.  You may hate Rand Paul.  You may even be indifferent to Rand Paul.  But after this performance today, it is going to be increasingly difficult to ignore Rand Paul.

As for me, I just hope he keeps droning on.

TDM

I must admit that I found the term “pluperfect subjunctive” to be more than a little perplexing.  The more someone who actually understood the concept tried to explain it to me, the more confusing it became.  I ultimately decided that no one else actually understood it either, so on several occasions, for pure entertainment purposes, I would comment that a particular phrase was the classic example of the pluperfect subjunctive.  No one ever challenged me, probably because they either didn’t really care or more likely because no one wanted to admit they were also clueless.

Now we have political theater with regard to Senator Menendez that may actually make the pluperfect subjunctive more than a little appropriate.  A subjunctive is basically a verb that is used to express contingent or hypothetical rather than real action.  Since the action is viewed subjectively, it is called subjunctive.  Pluperfect actually means past perfect and it is used to describe an action that took place prior to some other past action.  An example would be:  “when I got to the dock, the ship had already sailed.”  In this case the Washington Post is saying that when they arrived, the prostitute who previously said Menendez did now said he didn’t.   A word to the wise, it would probably have worked out better if they got the right girl.

The Washington Post and the Daily Caller are now engaged in screaming at each other about who did the worse job of reporting.  A couple of things should be obvious.   For one, someone was paying $60,000 for Menendez to spend a couple of days in the Dominican Republic.  If you think Menendez, or his bff spent that kind of jingle for a nice beach and some great margaritas, rational thinking is probably not your strong suite.  But more important, the Senator’s conduct reeks of political corruption and payback.  Frankly, the sex party is probable the least important of his problems.  It is impossible to read this story without realizing that the Senator was bought and paid for big time.  There should be bi-partisan disgust with such blatant corruption on display.

Perhaps I am wrong, but I suspect that if Menendez was a Republican, the Washington Post would not have bothered sending a reporter down there to check this out.  They would have just assumed he was guilty as sin.  If nothing else, he would have been guilty of being a Republican.

Now Menendez is claiming that this horribly flawed Washington Post article is proof positive of his innocence.  That is like O.J. Simpson claiming that because Mark Fuhrman lied about using the N word O.J’s DNA magically appeared on the knife used to kill his ex-wife.  Oops…that actually worked.

Like I said:  “pluperfect subjunctive.”

TDM

LBJ understood the problem with liberals:

“The differences between Liberals and cannibals,” he said, “is that cannibals eat only their enemies.”

I sense that President Barack Obama is about to learn that first hand.  The problem is that Liberals believe things that are not true, that have never been true and that never will be true.  Therefore, by definition, Liberals are doomed to disappointment.  In the deluded world of the Liberal left we are separated from utopia only by the failures of our leaders.  Liberals rely on thoughts and emotions and ignore inconvenient facts.  When liberalism fails, as it always does, Liberals turn on their leaders.  They are always heartbroken by another lost opportunity.

Obama is now viewed as a loser by the liberal left.  They are absolutely shocked that Republicans stood up to him with regard to sequestration.   It is not too late for Republicans to once again snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, but right now Obama is the big loser.   Liberals never handle political defeat very well and they are humiliated by being stopped by Tea Party Republicans who they consider to be dumber than plant life.  Since they will never consider the possibility that they are wrong on any issue, they will blame Obama.  This could be really ugly.  LBJ was wrong about a lot of things, but I think he nailed it with liberals.  Watch out Mr. President.  They may find you delicious in a whole new way.

TDM