It's a free country, right?

  Right? I mean, our ideals are freedom, equality, our Constitution, our Declaration, our laws?
  Equal protection? What's that mean?
  So if our administration gets an idea in its collective head, then these laws will apply to all, right?
  So take a look over at Washington Times at Dr. Milton Wolf's opinion of obamacare and the numerous waivers that have been mysteriously granted to individuals. Dr. Wolf is The One's cousin, btw:

In short, the administration has decided that you will face increased health insurance premiums, but special friends in the unions will not. Look closely, and you’ll see not only the White House‘s duplicity but also what the Obama administration really thinks of its crown jewel, Obamacare. White House words say that the annual insurance benefit cap is a feature of the program, but its actions say that it’s a bug.

The question remains: If Obamacare is such a great law, why does theWhite House keep protecting its best friends from it?

  Dr. Wolf wonders why Sebelius kept  these details hidden until after the SOTU, since the waivers were granted well before it.
  And then there's the TSA screening process. Why do some get to run their own security but now the TSA (hahahaha, you remember how funny the patdowns are from the SOTU speech, right? hahaha!) has decided no more airports will be allowed to opt out and use their own screeners. Over at CNN:

Rep. John Mica, a Republican from Florida, wrote a letter encouraging airports to privatize their airport screeners, saying they would be more responsive to the public.

At that time, the TSA said it neither endorsed nor opposed private screening.

"If airports chose this route, we are going to work with them to do it," a TSA spokesman said in late December..

  The question is why. Wasn't this heavy hand of the law supposed to be what happened when a Republican was in office? Not the nice, caring, compassionate, indulgent Mommy party of Democrats!
  OTOH, maybe that's why everyone's knocking down the doors to get away from Democrats.
  So party on, dudes! Nothing to see here!

SOTU pap: railroads, green jobs and higher education

  Having had time to reflect (and reflect and reflect) on the SOTU speech, one has to howl in derision and split one's sides in wracking despair that we are going over and over and over the same topics again and again, as if answers to our current financial mess are to be found in any of these old ideas.
  Appearing wearing a new Reagan persona of faux glowing cheerfulness about the future of employment in this country, our Dear Leader decided that we need to get our economic house in order. (We'll move together or not at all...American Family....we're founded for the sake of an idea blah blah blah)
  Obviously we knew that Dear Leader has been extremely concerned about flagrant spending of American dollars but who knew that he has also been chastising the leader of Egypt to get his house in order, etc., for nearly two years?
  So how about these marvelous examples of how to get our country back on track financially? And how about the obsequious sycophantic MSM coverage of said marvelous examples?
  Why, of course, Dear Leader proposes that the way to prosperity is through reinventing ourselves through "clean energy breakthroughs"!!
  And what are those fabulous new breakthroughs, 21st century, cutting edge methods?
  Why, railroads and windmills, of course!
  Notorious around the country, except perhaps for the East Coast, for their lack of efficiency and their cost, some argue that railroads are the responsibility of the federal government financially. Railroads should not be expected to make a profit, just as other government entities are not expected to make a profit:

* First, "profitability" is no more achievable for passengers trains than it is for airliners and private autos (are private cars "profitable" to their owners when they carry an average of 1.2 passengers per trip and spend about 20 out of each 24 hours sitting idle in a garage or parking lot?) The question of "profit" in for-hire passenger carriage is dangerously misleading and irrelevant. The economic value generated by passenger transportation historically is captured by the businesses served by the transportation network, not by the carriers.

  Ohio's Governor Kasich has already declined the billions of federal money for Ohio; when asked if Ohio could keep the money to reinforce infrastructure, LaHood said no. 
  Apparently roads aren't a priority; RAILROADS are because the truth is that railroads are about restructuring society and weaning citizens off personal vehicles and onto government vehicles. (The same is true of the individual home; government entities, at least the ones in power now, would prefer all of us living in (mandated?) collective housing, sharing food and responsibilities and social justice. I mean, have you seen what passive housing looks like?)

  It's about control and redistribution of wealth, all of it.

  Barone has an opinion about railroads:

Moreover, to achieve the speed of French and Japanese high-speed rail, you need dedicated track so you don't have to slow down for freight trains. To get dedicated track, you need a central government that is willing and able to ignore environmental protests and not-in-my-backyard activists. Japan and France have such governments. We don't. 

So we are spending billions on high-speed rail that isn't really high-speed, that will serve largely affluent business travelers and that will need taxpayer subsidies forever. This should be a no-brainer for a Congress bent on cutting spending.

  Now, as far as the windmills go, this horse has been beaten to death. So-called green jobs are very expensive and have to be underwritten by the feds...that is, the taxpayers.Over at Canada Free Press, Currie has the facts:

Spain, Italy, Germany, Denmarkand other countries experimenting with green jobs are experiencing skyrocketing electricity prices and overall decreases in job creation. The reason is simple—taxpayers have to pay higher taxes to subsidize these renewables, andpay higher electricity prices as renewable energies drive up costs. 

The facts are catching on, and Ohio Governor-elect John Kasich is even looking at repealing his state’s alternative energy mandates. But in Pennsylvania, legislators are going to face pressure from special interests groups to increase handouts for solar energy

  Our Dear Leader also addressed the issue of getting ahead in education and the fact that more people need to go to college. 
  Unfortunately some have speculated that the higher education bubble is about to burst, with so many students spending so much time partying, learning nothing, accumulating mountains of debt with little hope of ever paying it off.
  It would seem it might be smarter to funnel students into trades and jobs that actually have a future, rather than meaningless 4 year (or more) degrees which are not much more than indoctrination into the leftwing arena.
  And is it true that A students turn into academics (producing nothing) and C students turn into billionaires?
  After all, government is so much better at turning a profit and managing money, aren't they.
  And another thing.
  Did it strike anyone as incongruous that all those hooting jackals stood up during that speech and laughed giddily when The One joked about not having to endure a patdown to get on a train? 
  First of all, do any of those people seriously think there won't be any security on the rails? Big Sis has already decreed there will. 
  Second, how dare those pompous jaybirds cheer and laugh at the raunchy details of OUR lives that THEY put us through; considering that legislators themselves have managed to exempt themselves from all the rules the common man has to endure, you'd think they'd be more sympathetic.

Mr. Obama: You're no Reagan

  Oh, PLEASE, media personalities, QUIT what you're doing. Mr. Obama is NO REAGAN and we all know it. 
  Do you think we are so pliable that you snap a picture of Obama carrying a book about Reagan and he begins talking in terms like he actually LIKES this country and now we're supposed to look past the demands for a railroad and more Volts to see that he actually LOVES this country and cares about its advancement in the world, especially since he's already bowed and scraped and bashed us around the world?

  Gateway Pundit has more.

  Netrightdaily thinks otherwise.

  Mr. Obama. 

  You're not an optimist. 

  You don't think this country is exceptional. 

  You don't believe we can overcome obstacles. 

  You don't think it's morning in America.

  You're no Reagan.

How do you exempt entire states from obamacare?

  If you put into a place a law that is supposedly good for the people (health care is a right), why would you exempt entire states from having to enforce it? By doing so, aren't you signaling that your law isn't really a law but rather a command? 
  The fact that four states including Ohio are exempt from obamacare does not make sense according to the illogic used by the people who wrote it. There have been utterances such as "equal protection under the law" and "everybody has a constitutional right to health care" and mutterings about the 14th amendment and the 5th amendment.
  The defenders of obamacare have claimed that it isn't fair that only working privileged people have health care which isn't true considering that so much of our budget is based on medicare and medicaid.
  Recently there was a situation locally where a woman's mother in law, whose husband was a black WW2 veteran, needed to enter a nursing home. Her husband was dead and she had no one to care for her so she had to sell everything and put it into living in a skilled nursing center. Once there, she met other folks, some of whom did not speak English and had never worked, whose entire tab was being picked up by the federal government. This woman's mother in law was upset by the fact that, as the widow of a WW2 veteran, she had to give up everything but someone who was an immigrant who had never contributed to the system was getting a free ride. 
  Assuming obamacare was instituted to rectify a situation like this, how does it make sense to exempt the entire state?
  As residents of Ohio, we think this development is great, as will the local doctors who have dreaded the onset of the dis-ease called obamacare, but it would seem that there is no sense, logical or legal, in exempting entire states from having to enact this terrible law.
  Obviously not everyone who applied for waivers received them, since 50 were turned down.
  What criteria were used to turn those entities down?
  And, once again, if this law is so great, why are some people getting exemptions and others not? 
  What was the rationale for deciding? 
  If the criterion is hardship, why wouldn't states like California, Michigan and Illinois be exempted? 
  And who in Ohio applied for the waiver? Strickland? What criteria were given to establish the waiver?
  None of this makes any sense. It certainly seems that HHS has some explaining to do and, indeed, has nullified the need for such an outrageous law.
  And don't we all deserve equal protection under the law?
  But is this a clue to what is happening from the Huffpo, written back last year?

It's called the "Empowering States to be Innovative" amendment. And it would, quite literally, give states the right to set up their own health care system -- with or without an individual mandate or, for that matter, with or without a public option -- provided that, as Wyden puts it, "they can meet the coverage requirements of the bill."

  If this is the case and Ohio is now obligated to set up its own health care system, what if (ha!) the state is broke and cannot afford to do so? And now that the state has gone red again, who's going to set it up? 
  And most especially, where's the money going to come from to do this?
  Wyden says people are silly for suing to not enact this law because all they have to do is create their own health care systems; this fantasy attitude is typical of liberals. Hey, free college! free house payments! free insulation and new windows for your house! free health care! free EVERYTHING!
  But who's going to PAY for it?
  Do they not understand: There's no more money!

Ohio exempt from obamacare

  According to Michelle Malkin, Ohio is one of 4 key states exempt from obamacare, in addition to over 700 organizations.

While the Democrats continued to extol Obamacare and the president defended the behemoth law during the Date of the Union, HHS was quietly presiding over a massive Obamacare Waiver-mania explosion.

When last we examined the growing list, privileged escapees topped 222.

Now: The list now at 729 — plus 4 states (Massachusetts, New Jersey, Ohio, and Tennessee).

  Note that the four states are also key to The One's reelection.
  The full list of waivers can be found here. The list includes school systems, particular high schools, cities, lots and lots of unions, companies and states. It's pretty breathtaking and really makes a person wonder what you have to do to get a waiver (not).
  How did this happen? Very interesting since Ohio went red.
  Still looking for that info.

Deceit, deceit all around

  Powerline has a report on Jim Moran, who appears to be claiming that Americans are racist and that's why they voted out all those white male democrats in November to usher in several black males and several females who happen to be Republican. Here's Powerline's take on what he said. You can read the whole story here and watch the video.

In this case, I believe, a lot of people in the United States don't want to be governed by an African-American, particularly one who is liberal, who wants to spend money and who wants to reach out to include everyone in our society....

  Deceit. 
  The Hill reports that over 500 more NEW waivers have been granted to companies who cannot afford to institute obamacare. So obamacare was for the good of the country? Why is everyone who's friends with Obama getting out of having to do it then? 
  In one case, SEIU unions that contributed $27 million to Obama's campaign have received waivers.
  Go here to read:

The law gives HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius the flexibility to grant waivers to avoid disruption in the insurance market, but Republicans say the waivers are either gifts to Democratic allies or proof that the reform law isn’t working. However, a large number of businesses, in addition to unions, have received waivers. 

  Deceit.
  It's bad enough we had to listen to all the stupid calls for bipartisanship from the administration who gloated, "I won" and then never bothered to call any Republican leadership in for the last two years.
  But that the Republicans would fall for the whole "Let's sit together" thing was galling. Now comes proof just how ridiculous the whole thing was, when one democrat doesn't even know the name of "the guy" he sat next to.

  Deceit.

  Pelosi says, "Obama's always been in the middle," while she blinky blinks her way through an interview. Watch at Real Clear Politics.
  Deceit.

  Old Alcee Hastings claims violent speech/rhetoric inspired Loughner, when it obviously wasn't so. From Weasel/Politico, Hastings' words:

Giffords was shot — and six others tragically murdered — in part because our violent political expression inspired a mentally unstable person, who had preposterously easy access to previously banned weapons. The pundits can repeatedly claim that Jared Lee Loughner was a “madman.” But we all know that he was neither the first nor the last.

  Deceit. 
  Then, of course, there's the revelation that two of the primary claims of obamacare simply aren't true, revealed at last by this administration's own employees. Over at Fox Nation and all around the web:

Two of the central promises of President Barack Obama's health care overhaul law are unlikely to be fulfilled, Medicare's independent economic expert told Congress on Wednesday.

The landmark legislation probably won't hold costs down, and it won't let everybody keep their current health insurance if they like it, Chief Actuary Richard Foster told the House Budget Committee. His office is responsible for independent long-range cost estimates.

  Deceit. 
  Speaking truth on the Winning the Future speech: "There were lots of WTF moments in that speech. His theme of WTF was spot on."~ Sarah Palin

Jailed for wanting a better school for your kids-UPDATE

  UPDATE: The always honest and thorough media apparently did not feel it necessary to report that this woman lives in public housing, is on welfare and is receiving free schooling for her college courses. She apparently has a history of fraudulent actions to acquire free services. She is currently being investigated for a number of other things.
  While this doesn't negate the following points, it does indicate a history of freeloading and fraudulent behavior.
  In addition, change.org, the pro-ACORN activist group, has made a pardon petition a priority online.
  A Google search indicates intense public interest in this subject and repeated accusations of racism.
The original story:
  The following is a video from ABC of a mother who wanted her daughters to escape their dangerous school so she enrolled them in a better school, using her father's address since he lived and paid taxes in that district.
  She is forced to spend 10 days in jail because she refuses to pay the $30,000 in back tuition the district demanded from her for the years her daughters spent in their school.
  In addition, the woman's very close to receiving her degree to teach; everything about her life is in jeopardy now because she wanted a better life for her children.
  This is truly a sad situation, when parents care enough to jockey back and forth and run all over to save their children and then are punished in this way. 
  Why can't the bad school be fixed? 
  Why can't bad teachers be removed? 
  Why would the affluent school insist that a woman who is obviously not wealthy pay them an enormous of money that she obviously could not afford? 
  Why was this case treated like a terrible crime? 
  Why would the judge waste government resources on incarcerating an upstanding citizen?
  Watch the video. You'll be moved; something's messed up in this system.

Obama's Sputnik speech

  Some of us couldn't stay up last night to finish the speech, since it seemed interminable, replete with admonitions, excitement to spend a trillion more dollars and mockery for the TSA patdowns. Apparently there won't be any patdowns on high speed rail trips, regardless what Big Sis has already said. (After all, the ruling elite do not have to endure patdowns or potential radiation.) How stupid do you have to be to buy the line that we need to be more efficient because we are on an unsustainable course financially but let's spend more on high speed rail, education, etc.
  More calls for (failed) green energy, more windmills, more stuff to make sure YOU can't drive your own car and control your own life. More centralized living, like Europe.
  Now come the reviews.
  The MSM, of course, loved it.
  Chris Matthews, Christiane Amanpour, Piers Morgan all gushed about The One's magnanimous tone and setting the tone for a new bipartisanship (now that the Republicans won and he has no choice....signaling that Republicans better do what democrats want.)
  There were repeated references to The One's speech being "Reaganesque." (NOT)
  An immediate CBS telephone poll of 500 people (who in the East Coast wants to be called at 10:30 at night by a pollster, which suggests that the callees were West Coast,  which oughta tell you how skewed THAT was) revealed, as CBS gushed, that 92%, that's NINETY TWO PERCENT, of the pollees loved the speech, thought it was marvelous and loved the idea of high speed rails.
  Which, of course, won't cost anything to build.
  The Tatler has a list of items that were not discussed. Those would be the really difficult problems.
  Professor Jacobsen says the speech was a "million points of trite."
  Mediate takes delight in mocking the Fox News panel's reaction to the speech. Referring to Kirsten Powers as the "token" democrat, while ignoring the presence of Juan Williams, whose dismissal from PBS has apparently neutered him as a liberal. Mediate has grown increasingly partisan in recent days, sometimes becoming viciously partisan in their essays about 
  Sarah Palin points out the numerous contradictions in her Facebook page:

He spoke of doing what’s best for the next generation and not leaving our children with a “mountain of debt,” but under his watch this year, government spending isup by 22%, and his budget will triple our national debt.

  Powerline's Scott has some painful observations:

UPDATE: How could I have missed the high speed rail, the electric cars, the green jobs, the expansion of the Internet, the misstatement of the American creed, the class warfare, or commendable parts of the speech such as the tribute to our military and to the Center Rock company that I overlooked above? My pain threshold has hampered my ability to stick with it.

Obama has been well served by his relative absence from the podium over the past few months. When he addresses the issues, we are reminded why he must be resisted with with every ounce of our being. 

  On a positive note, Boehner's lilac tie had metaphorical significance,as it replaced Pelosi's purple victory suit from last year and phony smile. Boehner sure didn't have a phony smile. Heh.

  The truth is that this speech was boring. One good thing about the kumbayah sitting together moment is that there wasn't as much clapping, interruption and sycophantic thrown kisses from the dopey audience.
  Krauthammer was right; it was flat and uninspired.
  And the Midnight Trucking guys are right. The MSM has taken the presidential butt kissing to a whole new level. 
  And they have the audio cuts to prove it.
  Are we all having fun yet? (from Instapundit)

  Looking forward to Fox and Friends.

The speech: really, really long

  Leaked here. 
Predictions:
  We're all one family. 
  We all need to get along now that the Republicans have won. 
  We need to be nice. 
  We need more teachers. 
  We need more public servants. 
  We're going to save money by investing in teachers, public servants and the new ACORN COI.
  We GOT to save money. We GOT to do it, cuz America is an idea that will endure.
  Now that my poll numbers are up because Republicans are in office The world has changed. China's knocking at our door. We have competition, particularly since I caved on so many negotiations. This is a global marketplace; we welcome the competition and wish well those who compete for world dominance in that marketplace.
  This guy who's sick needs health care, so don't try to get rid of it. This other guy's who sick will go broke if he has to pay for his brain operation.
  We're going freeze federal employees' salaries for two years, but not their step increases and bonuses.
  The investing we are doing is about America; it's for America; it's for the children.
  OMG did you see Michelle O's dress? Were those really her SPANX showing?
Let me sum up the speech in the words of the inimitable Buzz Lightyear: To infinity and beyond!

Claim: Hawaii birth certificate does not exist

  WND has been out front covering the whole birth certificate thing; one might even say they've been way overboard on it.
  But this incident seems to be coming to some sort of climax; we now have a person who claims and has sworn an affidavit that there is no birth certificate and everyone who works at the Hawaii hospital knows it, even to the extent of mocking anyone who claims to be looking for it.
  The claim is that anything Abercrombie found in the archives is most likely a form that the grandparents filled out, not a birth certificate.
  World Net Daily:

"Senior officers in the City and County of Honolulu Elections Division told me on multiple occasions that no Hawaii long-form, hospital-generated birthcertificateexisted for Senator Obama in the Hawaii Department of Health," Adams'affidavitreads, "and there was no record that any such document had ever been on file in the Hawaii Department of Health or any other branch or department of the Hawaii government."

In a recorded telephone interview, Adams told WND that it was common knowledge among election officials where he worked that no long-form, hospital-generated birthcertificatecould be found at the Hawaii Department of Health.

Moochers, moochers everywhere

  So some guy in Columbus runs a red light on his bike, gets hit, and is responsible for his own behavior, according to the police. Out of concern, the owner of the car who hit the guy, who has no health insurance, hunts the guy down after he left the scene, transports the guy to the owner's personal physician, gives the guy some dough for missing a day's work.
  So what does the guy do?
  Of course, when he realizes his cell phone got squashed he calls up the car owner and threatens to go to the press with his "story," like any good moocher would in this climate of hate and opportunism.
  The owner of the car?
  Mike DeWine, recently elected Attorney General of Ohio.