Americenema » James

Burning the Koran and other atrocities of ignorance

James — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 00:18:50 +0000

I’ve heard that somewhere in Florida some church is publically burning the Koran. While, I suppose this is supported by our right to free speech, I can’t tell you enough how incredibly stupid this is. I don’t care about the Koran, or Islam, or religion in general, but the problem with burning books is that you are destroying an object and not an idea.

Destroying a book won’t make that book go away. There must be over a billion Korans in the world and no one can destroy them all. And even if you could, it’s not like one could destroy the ideas behind the Koran. It’s not like you would end terrorism by destroying it either. The only thing you are doing is offending people that might not have had a beef with you before.

I won’t go as far as to say that by burning the Koran that we are putting our troops in danger because, let’s face it, they already are in danger and I don’t think a terrorist or insurgent really needs another excuse to bring us harm, especially when Iran is paying them for an American body count. Burning a book only makes you look ignorant, evil, and on the wrong side of the argument. No book burner has ever won a debate.

Burning a book only makes it seem that the ideas inside are too powerful for you to take. Burning a book only makes you seem intellectually inferior to the author of the book. It doesn’t make you a hero, and I doubt that it is even an effective form of protest (much like burning the flag). Burning a book means that you lack the mental fortitude to defeat its ideas with reason, logic, and peace. It means that you have to turn toward brutality in order to win an argument.

But you don’t win the argument. Because for every book you burn there are thousands more to replace it. Every book that is destroyed can be reprinted. And therefore, by destroying an object you have martyred the ideas inside. Those ideas cannot be destroyed by burning. They can only be defeated by reason.

Those who turn to brutality are the intellectual losers. Come on. Really. Book burning? You have to be kidding me.

If you truly have faith, then there is no book burning necessary. The truth will set you free. Not burning.

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We The People are to blame

James — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 18:02:40 +0000

I know you don’t want to hear this but you must. Everybody is looking for someone to blame for the Great Recession. Some say it is the “fat cat” Wall Street guys whose greed caused this. Others say that the politicians caused this with over (or under) regulation. The fact is that We The People caused this mess.

Yes, We The People are the ones who caused this mess by voting for people who promised us more subsidies, or more welfare, more tax credits, more of anything. Whatever it is, we voted for them because they said they would get it for us.

An example of this is the housing market. We thought that it was great that people were buying houses they could not afford. Our home values were skyrocketing and so we kept voting for the people who gave us things like Community Reinvestment Act and Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac. We voted for the politicians that we like to blame. We did it.

And the Wall Street guys? Well, we voted for the politicians that created the market for derivatives didn’t we? The Wall Street guys played the game; at our expense yes, but we effectively gave them our consent to play when our home values were sky high.

There is no escaping it. American greed doesn’t happen on Wall Street. It happens on Main Street. Whenever you vote for a politician that promises you more of anything, that is called greed. Whenever you vote for a politician that guarantees that Healthcare is a right you are voting with greed. You are voting yourself more of other people’s hard earned money or compelling them to offer you services at their expense. And it may seem nice for a while until the house of cards, which you created, comes crashing down on you and everyone else.

Things of value must be and should be earned, not voted. Think about that next time you wonder why all politicians are evil. Have you ever looked at the people who voted them in? Maybe we should all look in the mirror.

1984 and a Brave New World

James — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 20:45:15 +0000

The A.P. is reporting that the economy is slowing down again… gee I wonder why? And for what reason….

The age old economic adage: tax something to get less of it and subsidize something to get more of it. One reason that jobless benefits rose is due to the recent extension of unemployment benefits. If the government would stop extending unemployment we’d eventually get less of it as people would stop applying for it. They would have to go out and get jobs, even if it is not a job they want. The more you extend unemployment the more people are willing to sit around and wait for the perfect job to open up. This strains the economy even worse than forcing people to go back to work.

Another reason we are getting more unemployment is because companies are not hiring. I’m sure it has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that this administration’s policies have been the most anti-business/anti-free market in the history of the United States. The Government’s policies are not encouraging to investors, or to businesses who are anticipating higher costs for healthcare, higher taxation, more regulation and more costs associated with cap and trade.

Low mortgage rates don’t mean a thing if you don’t have a job and can’t buy a house. You can’t re-finance without a job and/or good credit so what is the point? The housing market sucks because people bought houses they could not afford, they lost their jobs, and/or the government programs that were used to buy houses overheated and it caused a housing bubble that was eventually going to collapse. We are dealing with this market correction right now.

The stock market is too volatile because of these anti-business policies. That means the stock market is too unpredictable and people don’t want to put their money into a losing situation. Traditionally that means you put your money in government bonds, but rampant government spending is ruining the credit of the US treasury. Bad credit means you raise interest rates on bonds and loans, but the Fed is keeping interest rates artificially low in order to stimulate growth! So people don’t want to put their money into bonds that have no credit and a low return rate.

Meanwhile the Government is spending billions to bail out failing companies, union jobs, government jobs and pensions. None of this stimulates growth; it only delays and exacerbates the inevitable because those who are getting bailed out don’t have to change their behavior at all. They continue on the same path in hopes that the economy will magically revive praying they do not have to be accountable for their actions. Of course the people in the government don’t seem to realize that saving other government jobs won’t stimulate the economy since they don’t produce anything and are completely dependent upon private sector taxes to provide them the revenues in order to pay their salaries, which are significantly higher than their private sector counterparts.

Economists are worried that small businesses are reducing their staffs. This is because most small businesses fall under the thumb of new tax hikes that are about to kick in when the Bush Tax Cuts expire. Small businesses also have new taxes and expenses due to the new health care reform act that was passed. Gee I wonder why they’re cutting back. They have no incentive to hire.

It’s no wonder that there are 4.45 million people on state unemployment and another 5.3 million on federal unemployment.

So what happens when the government runs out of money and no one will lend them anymore? Where will they go to satisfy their urge to spend us into oblivion? Well, since Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac own 95% of all mortgages and the government owns Fannie and Freddie… what do you think they will use as collateral for their next loans? That’s right your homes. The idea of private property is quickly vanishing anyway. So why not just see it through to its ultimate end and cash in on your home’s value? What will the new owners of your homes do to your house? I don’t know, maybe nothing, maybe something. The harsh reality is that you will not own your home and you may NEVER own your home.

What kind of leverage does this give to the government? They now control your home (Fannie and Freddie), they will be able to control the temperature of your home, the water usage, what you can and can’t plant in your yard (Cap and Trade), what you can and can’t eat, drink, smoke, use, or do (Health Care), they will control all the means of capitalization and production (banks, the Fed, nationalization of industry), they will be able to silence all political opposition (political correctness, fairness doctrine), they will control your education (Student Loans, department of education) they will control your means of gathering any kind of alternative information (internet control, state run media) and what does that leave you with? The land of the free and home of the brave? More like 1984 and a Brave New World.

Experts say this bill will increase premiums

James — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 02:47:13 +0000

Sent from james.courtney@keypoint.us.com’s mobile device from http://www.cnn.com

Under the new health care legislation, experts say the first changes Americans with employer-based insurance will see is in their benefits.

Companies don’t have to make any immediate tweaks to their plans, but they will have to incorporate a few of the federally mandated changes by open enrollment time late in 2010, said Tracy Watts, partner with employee benefits consulting firm Mercer.

The changes made this year will come into effect in 2011, with more phased in over the next few years until the law becomes fully implemented by 2018 or later.

Some of the changes will increase costs for employers, she said. Consequently, companies could share more of that burden by charging employees higher premiums and deductibles.

So here’s what you can to expect in 2011.

Dependent coverage to age 26: This is one of the most significant changes, said Watts.

Currently there are different laws in different states regarding the timeframe for dependent coverage. Typically employers provide coverage for dependents ’till age 22 or 23.

In 2011, employers will have to provide coverage for dependents of employees who don’t have access to other employer-based health care coverage ’till age 26 with the exception of a few states which mandate this coverage until age 28 or 29, she said.

Watts said this measure could raise costs for companies, depending how many workers they have with dependents this age.

“This measure goes into the ‘cost increase’ column for employers and could potentially result in higher premiums for employees overall,” she said.

No lifetime dollar limits: Many employer-based health insurance plans have lifetime maximum limits on insurance of $1 million or $2 million. The new law eliminates all lifetime caps, said Watts.

“This is a very good benefit for employees,” said Watts. “In the event of a catastrophic accident or illness, employees no longer have to worry that their benefit will run out.”

No reimbursement for over-the-counter drugs: Currently, employees can get reimbursed for the money they use to buy over-the-counter drugs from their flexible spending accounts (FSA) or Health Savings Account (HSA) to buy over-the-counter medications.

These accounts typically enable individuals and families to pay for out-of-pocket medical expenses not covered by their insurance plans with tax free dollars.

The new law removes reimbursements when the accounts are tapped for buying non-prescription drugs, said Watts.

Higher penalty for misusing Health Savings Accounts: Under the new law, employees who use their HSA money for a non-qualified medical expense will face a higher penalty, said Watts.

“The most frequent example of a non-qualified expense is if you use your HSA money to buy a flatscreen TV,” said Watts.

Report health coverage on W-2 forms: Employers will have to report the value of an employee’s health care plan on W-2 forms.

“This is not the value of your claims but the value of the coverage you elected,” said Watts.

Cap on Flexible Spending Account contributions: Although this change does not kick in until 2013, the new law will limit employee contributions to FSAs to $2,500 a year.

These accounts enable individuals and families to pay for out-of-pocket medical expenses not covered by their insurance plans with tax free dollars.

Many employers have their own caps on FSA contributions and the cap for federal employees is $5,000.

“This seems like a significant change but our surveys shows that the average amount put into an FSA is typically $1,500 a year,” said Watts.

Oilfield Math

James — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 19:08:11 +0000

A clunker that travels 12,000 miles a year at 15 mpg uses 800 gallons gas a year. A vehicle that travels 12,000 miles a year at 25 mpg uses 480
gallons a year.

So, the average Cash for Clunkers transaction will reduce US gasoline consumption by 320 gallons per year. They claim 700,000 vehicles so that’s 224 million gallons saved per year. That equates to a bit over 5 million barrels of oil. 5 million barrels is about 5 hours worth of US consumption.

More importantly, 5 million barrels of oil at $70 per barrel costs about $350 million dollars.

So, the government paid $3 billion of our tax dollars to save $350 million. We spent $8.57 for every dollar we saved. I’m pretty sure they will do a great job with our health care, though!

So how’s that hope and change thing going for ya?

Even the Old Testament prophets knew that big government was bad

James — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 00:22:12 +0000

1 Samuel 8 10 Samuel told all the words of the LORD to the people who were asking him for a king. 11 He said, “This is what the king who will reign over you will do: He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots. 12 Some he will assign to be commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and others to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. 13 He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. 14 He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants. 15 He will take a tenth of your grain and of your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants. 16 Your menservants and maidservants and the best of your cattle [b] and donkeys he will take for his own use. 17 He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves. 18 When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, and the LORD will not answer you in that day.”

Is this where we are going? This is what the government is becoming. The progressive movement has been doing this to us for years. God told Samuel to warn Israel about the downside of having a King. But the people clamored for a King to lead them like the other nations of the world had. America is the New Israel.

We clamored for a government like the ones the rest of the world had and now we have it. Progressives have taken over our country and we keep voting for them. Every day they bankrupt us, our children and the future of this great nation. We pay them for the honor of destroying us. Much like the people would pay the King for the honor of enslaving them. We have traded a king for an evil corrupt government. We are slowly (not so slowly anymore) becoming the slaves of the government.

Look what Samuel told Israel! He said the King would take the people’s stuff and give it to the people who the king liked. It’s kind of like pork barrel projects, funding for ACORN and earmarks. He said he’ll take the best people and cattle for his own use. Kind of like the way the government takes a cut of every person’s hard work. Samuel said the king would take 10% of everything a person owed, produced, and earned… our government take WAY more than that.

The death blow. The fatality. The end game.

James — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 05:01:43 +0000

Obama is intent on destroying the insurance companies. He said in his speech (which was after the speech that was supposed to be his final speech) today in Ohio that they were going to “require insurance companies to proved free preventive care.” FREE PREVENTIVE CARE. F R E E P R E V E N T I VE C A R E!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What does that tell you?????

What do people do when they get something for FREE? My wife nailed it. She said “They Milk it.” MILK IT! And that is exactly what the American People will do. They will go to the doctor for ever scrape, bump, bruise, cough, sneeze, or sniffle that they can pass off as “preventive care.” The cost of preventive care will go up since demand for it is so high, which means the insurance companies will then eat even more costs.

So what do you do when your business is losing money? You have to either raise rates or cut expenses. I’m pretty sure that the Insurance companies won’t be able to raise rates. So their other option is to cut expenses and that means JOBS. Once they start cutting jobs the workload of the remaining employees will drastically rise. This will create an environment where services are delayed and inadequate. This is actually so unacceptable that it is almost not even an option, but let’s just pretend it is. Then what?

You have overworked, underpaid employees doing the jobs of a workforce twice their size to meet a rising demand for a service for which the company is not even going to receive any revenues. But since the company is locked into providing these preventive service free of charge BY LAW there is nothing it can do.

Or is there? Of course, as my wife said again (quite astutely), “Then you Kill yourself.” That’s right honey. You kill yourself, figuratively of course. IN this case, you would close up shop and get out of the insurance business. Your investors would divest the company, and split it up amongst themselves, make a killing and call it a day.

This is exactly what Obama wants. There is no other logical reason for his and the Congress’ actions.

Oh, you have to PASS it before you can find out what is in it…

James — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 14:43:51 +0000

Well if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes I don’t think I would have believed it. You have to PASS the bill before you can see what is in it. Nancy Pelosi is admitting that she doesn’t exactly know what’s in the bill but she knows it’s good and “exciting.” Well I’m convinced! Let’s do this!

When I’m done maybe I’ll get a mail-order bride too. There’s no need to talk to her or meet her, just package one up and ship her to me. I find out what she’s like after I marry her.

Then after that I think I’ll buy a used car online without even so much as a test drive. I can find out what’s wrong with the car AFTER I get it in the drive way.

This is why this is the worst Idea I have heard of. This is so screwed up! We have to allow ourselves to be burdened with the bill and the new laws and regulations it will put on us BEFORE we find out what it says, exactly. Let’s face it. It will be YEARS before we figure out everything that’s in the Healthcare Bill. By then it will be too late to fix any of it.

This is Washington B.S. 101!

Obama rails against insurance companies, why not Medicare?

James — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 01:09:13 +0000

While Obama is railing against the Insurance companies for denying coverage and claims, maybe he should look at Medicare, which has the highest rejection rate of any healthcare provider. Get your facts straight. Oh that’s right you know the facts but are intentionally misrepresenting them. My bad. I keep forgetting that. Let’s not forget that this is nothing more than an attempt to eliminate private insurance, as Obama said in his own words, and take over all American’s health care… and in essence your entire life.

Hear it from his own words…

Massa? WTF?

James — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:21:49 +0000

I don’t think there is anyone who actually believes that Congressman Massa resigned due to his allegedly improper behavior. In fact, it goes against everything we know about politicians. They never resign until it actually becomes a huge national-level story. This wasn’t anything like that until he told us that he was forced to resign.

I honestly don’t know what to believe. This guy is a total tool bag and he proved it on Glenn Beck’s show tonight. Glenn said it all by saying that he wasted our time. The guy had an hour to prove or at least further explain what he was charging the White House with. He didn’t even come close. He back tracked and blubbered something about how he screwed himself.

That seems to play into the logical side of things. If Massa was truly forced out, then he had nothing to lose. All he had to do was speak the truth. I don’t know if this guy even knows what the truth is. I don’t think he knows what he is.

It makes me wonder… is this what Washington is made of? Holy crap. We’re in more trouble than I thought.

So here are my scenarios:

1. This guy screwed up and resigned before the investigation was plastered all over the news. He was embarrassed or humiliated and then said the White house forced him out as a childish lash out. Probably because the White House had some harsh words for him when he voted against Obamacare.

2. This guy screwed up and was told to change his vote or resign because the WH had the goods on him. Then he resigns, but lashes out against the WH and tells them that they are going to get exposed with what he knows. The WH ignores him and then he shuts up because he doesn’t really know anything.

3. This guy screwed up and was told to change his vote or resign because the WH had the goods on him. Then, knowing that Washington is corrupt he decides to tell all on Glenn Beck. Then something happens to make him change his mind. And he decides to not say anything bad on TV. What was it that would have made him change his mind? You got me. It’s worth looking into. Maybe he got a dead fish in the mail.

The WH denied that they forced him out and Robert Gates blubbered, incoherently about something being silly and ridiculous. He always says that, even when something is completely logical and reasonable. It really doesn’t seem that far of a stretch to believe that a Chicago-style move was placed on Massa, considering the WH’s reputation for being total failures it’s believable that they might try something so stupid. But we will probably never know the truth.