Katie Couric was so interested in Sarah Palin’s reading material that, in an effort to make her look foolish, the biased media news anchor implied Palin either didn’t or couldn’t read.  The left used the former Alaskan Governor’s irritated response to foster the premise that Sarah was nothing more than a dumb, gun toting, wild-eyed born again Christian whose reading material was limited to the back panel of Lucky Charms cereal boxes.  Liberals are convinced that Sarah is dumb, if not dumber than G. W. Bush, whose reading material, or supposed lack there of, the left was also obsessed with.

All along, the implication and insinuation of the elite media has been that Conservatives are intellectually challenged, who as a group, lack both reading skill and interest in cerebral pursuit.

Quite the opposite as to how the media treated Bush and now treats Palin, Barack Obama is consistently portrayed as a person abundant in both brains and brilliance.  Yet, perception of Obama’s intelligence is not based on his school records or even IQ because data that should be available to the public, to date,  remains a mystery.  Nevertheless, a studious Barry recently carried reading material under his arm, lo and behold, his scholarly choice was none other than the December fantasy edition of GQ crowning Obama, for second year in a row, “Leader of the Year.”

Based on how he governs, the President is obviously a huge fan of The Little Engine that Could.   The events of the past year make it apparent that Obama spends all his off time perusing page after page of stories and articles that incorporate fairy tales for plots.  Which might explain his affectionate attraction to GQ.  So, if reading material determines intelligence, maybe in the future Obama should pick publications that include facts, rather than pure fiction.

In lieu of having the opportunity to review documentation exposing Obama’s level of intelligence and based on the media’s own standard that what a person reads measures superior or inferior brainpower, does Obama reading GQ’s year end edition effect the left’s opinion of the President’s intelligence level?  One thing for sure, Obama’s great intellect belies his lack of judgment and reticence by his repeated acceptance of unearned accolades.

Lest we forget, the “Leader of the Year” ran up the nation’s deficit, administrates over double-digit unemployment, proclaims a failed stimulus successful, and is attempting to socialize, by way of health care, 1/6^th of the entire US economy.  He accepted a Nobel Peace prize he didn’t deserve and has dawdled for months about sending reinforcements to American troops in Afghanistan.   The GQ title should have been “Clueless of the Year,” with a picture of Barry and Alicia Silverstone.  A President so overtly enamored with himself may choose to read quarterly publications that laud his great accomplishments, but together with Conde Nast, Obama remains oblivious to the truth about what a poor, inexperienced, naïve, shoddy leader he really is.

Obama could use a one year anniversary intellectual challenge administered by official reading material inquisitor; Katie Couric who is just about due to schedule her next fawning dialogue with the President. Pressing the “reading material” point during the Genius-in-Chief’s interview, maybe Katie will set aside bias and shock the global journalistic nervous system by demonstrating the same level of intense consternation, confrontational concern and lack of civility she exhibited when interviewing Sarah Palin.  But I wouldn’t bet on it!

On behalf of all Americans, Katie Couric can find out why, in a time of war and economic hardship, a man of such exceptional and incomparable mental aptitude would be caught reading Gentlemen’s Quarterly with a picture of himself on the cover, or is his choice of reading material another indication of just how slow on the uptake Barack Obama actually is?

Cross posted:  www.jeannie-ology.com

The synergy between the House of Representatives and the Executive Branch is so finely tuned that Nancy Pelosi’s health care bill HR 3962 has finally provided a vehicle for Barack Obama to deliver on the promise of creating shovel ready jobs, specifically in the area of public safety.

According to the US Department of Justice, at the end of 2007 there were 2.3 million people incarcerated and as of 2008 that number jumped to 1 in 100 Americans. If all goes well for Pelosi’s health care bill, that number could more than double, providing a myriad of opportunities to help get the 10% of unemployed Americans back to work.

Extending a hand of assistance to the President’s sagging poll numbers, the Speaker of the House has provided a possible means for employing millions of Americans.  Even in a sluggish economy—opportunities abound.   If HR 3962, which passed in the House, succeeds in passing in the Senate, Obama can rely on ribbons being cut at correctional facilities, jumpsuit factories and correction officer training schools all over America.

The healthcare bill specifies that those who refuse to purchase health insurance and fail to pay the fine of about 2.5 percent of their income, face penalties of up to five years in prison.

Section 7203 – misdemeanor willful failure to pay is punishable by a fine of up to $25,000 and/or imprisonment of up to one year

Section 7201 – felony willful evasion is punishable by a fine of up to $250,000 and/or imprisonment of up to five years.

It should be duly noted that according to a recent analysis by the Congressional Budget Office insurance that would keep Americans out of jail, for “the lowest-cost family non-group plan under HR 3962, will cost $15,000 by 2016.” The bill will only subsidize what breaks down to be about $1195.00 a month after families making $45,000 have paid 8%, or $3,600.00 a year and those earning $65,000 have contributed 12%, or $7,800.00 a year.

Constitutionality aside, these premiums serve two purposes.   First, subsidizing a very expensive program on the backs of young people who might normally decide against buying high priced catastrophic insurance policies and second, to funnel heaps of money into insurance company coffers as a means of motivation to sign onto an initiative, which private insurance might otherwise reject.

In the “home of the brave and the land of the free” intimidation, by way of misdemeanor and felony incarceration, has never been a great motivator. Nevertheless, the new Chicago-style formula for a “healthier” nation, more jobs and a better economy has been reduced to coercion and bullying. In a spirit of fairness, kindness and concern for all Americans and to save health care and the economy Obama, Pelosi and company seem more than willing to hold hostage millions of people.

Truth is if 99% of Americans kowtow and pay the mandated $15,000.00 a year for health insurance, as far as response rates go would be an extremely high percentage. Taking that into consideration, the number of Americans over the age of 18, or 1% of 217 million would amount to about 2+ million people who, by law, would promptly be fitted for zebra stripped prison garments.

The possibilities for tax revenue and job creation is endless for a Congress that continues to overstep the limits of its power and push health-care mandates by threatening anyone who doesn’t follow the dictates. If based on so profound an unconstitutional premise, 10% of the population decides to refuse to buy the policy, prison populations could swell nearing 21,700,000, creating lots of those much talked about “shovel ready” jobs.  Yellow Caterpillar backhoes could instantaneously be rolled to various and sundry sites to begin construction on sprawling, brand new prison facilities.

Yet, one has to wonder how Pelosi and Company justify spending an average of $30,000.00 per year to incarcerate people for exercising the Constitutional right of refusing to pay $15,000.00 for a health insurance policy? Notwithstanding, stubborn “Live Free or Die” Americans who persist on being obstinate, whose fines would climb to $250,00.00 apiece with jail sentences upwards to five years.

Obama’s compliance incentives are as ridiculous as mandating all citizens eat apples and penalizing anyone eating a grapefruit and then when appearing in court, having the ticket agent pay double the price of the fine he or she issued the offender.  According to HR 3962 Americans must buy a $15,000.00 insurance policy—if they refuse, off they go to jail where the federal government pays $30,000.00 to teach a lesson about the high price of insubordination—which anyone would agree is pure political genius!

The OBO (Obama Budget Office) fails to realize that for every one individual incarcerated for a twelve months, two health insurance policies could be paid for instead.  But, we need to remember that this brilliant idea was hatched from a President and administration that brags about spending $248,000.00 in stimulus money to create or “save” one job that likely pays less than $50,000.00 a year.

Last year states spent the vast majority of $52 billion on prisons to house 2.3 million inmates, add an impending 2 million, or a 1% insurance infraction influx to that number and costs rise to well over $100 billion.  In order to save on the “high cost of health insurance” the federal government is willing to pay $50+ billion a year to punish those who refuse to submit to tyrannical laws not based on the Constitution? A perfect example of how coercion delivers a poor return on investment.

Touting the historical nature of providing health care as a “right,” despotic Washington politicians continue to define the meaning of “acceptable health insurance coverage.”  In doing so, Democrats in Congress led by Pelosi and Obama are preparing to subject insurance scofflaws to numerous and criminal penalties which, if the bill passes, will imprison millions either behind bars, or shackled to heavy fines, premiums and tax burdens.

In another attempt to convince campaign; Pelosi and Obama could disguise the poison dart in the full quiver of “free” benefits by stressing health care provides a healthier, fairer and more equitable America, as well as millions of jobs for law abiding citizens.  By building and maintaining facilities to house and curtail lawless insurance delinquents, Obama can then persuade America that while enjoying the benefits of universal health care one man’s crime is another man’s job opportunity.

America, face it…there is a new Sheriff in town.  In the meantime, while ground is broken and construction started on thousands of penitentiaries and in exchange for federal clemency, Nancy and Barry could recruit Joe Arpaio to design pink prison garb and tent cities to house felonious Americans. In addition, HR 3962 can replace the Constitution and be ensconced as a manifesto to historical advances in Democrat benevolence. After being merited for saving a flailing economy, the Pelosi bill can also go down in perpetuity as the document verifying that if Liberals are in power freedom goes to prison, while tyranny roams free.

Cross posted at:  www.jeannie-ology.com

I have to first say, I’m not a conspiracy theorist.  I was born and raised in the United States.  In all of my 55-years I cannot remember one occasion where I’ve gone to fill a prescription and  then been told  there was a shortage of any drug.  I  recently had that experience, while attempting to fill a prescription for the antibiotic, Cipro.  I was somewhat taken a back when alerted to the fact that it would be months before Cipro was available again, a troublesome situation for a woman with a raging bladder infection.

Then hubby Jerry went to the doctor expecting to receive the routine yearly “seasonal” flu shot he has gotten for the last 30 years.  Much to his surprise he was promptly informed that there were no seasonal flu shots.  When he asked when he could get the shot? He was alerted to the fact that there weren’t any around and it was unlikely there would be any available for the rest of the season.  A hard spot to be in as Tamiflu shortages makes India (a third world country) a potential source for an alternate type of flu medication.  Hoping to find an alternate source, I typed our zip code into awww.flu.gov location finder and came up with only one location administering flu vaccines and it was in a health clinic somewhere in the inner recesses of Springfield Gardens, Queens.  My husband would have a better chance of surviving the flu than he would if he ventured into Springfield Gardens.

Then of course you have the first government controlled foray into health care administration and preparedness in the form of H1N1 vaccines.  Promising 80-120 million doses by flu season it is now November and to date the government has overseen the production of approximately 16.5 million vaccines.  To date, we’ve seen 13% percent of the promised inventory, which means we’re 87% behind on the delivery of promised dosages.  To put things in perspective, we’re still 119,999,994 doses short of the 120 million and we have 400 million people to vaccinate.

Something is afoot here – in Communist countries past and present it’s a well known fact that shortages prevail in everything from consumer goods, drugs, light bulbs to food.  The only thing there is never a lack of is Stolichnaya® Vodka to quell the pain.   Way back in 2001 an article regarding the formerly communist Poland in the European Banker said that “There remains a pent-up demand for almost everything after 45 years of state socialism when shortages were endemic, there were no choices in domestically produced consumer goods, imports were limited, and political controls rationed who could buy cars and who could get flats and telephones.”

My question is why are shortages making their way to America?  What is fostering this situation?  In less than a week I’ve run smack into four unrelated instances in a country I’ve lived in for more than half a century and never experienced a shortage before.

Now last night, out of the corner of my ear,  I hear that Eggo Waffles are in demand because of nationwide shortages.  The Kellogg Company is blaming the projected month’s long scarcity on flooding in a plant in Tennessee causing an Eggo Waffle dilemma until the middle of next year.  I don’t buy it…I don’t mean the waffles, I mean the excuse – since when does a flood stop the top cereal manufacturer in the nation from being able to find a way around a flooding problem in a single factory?

A Jan. 13, 2003, report in Newsweek on Stalinist North Korea says, “Food shortages there were so bad that “more than 2,000,000 people died of starvation over the last decade.” We’re far from being relegated to bread lines and no one has starved to death yet, but I find it curious that in one week I’ve happened upon 4 specific deficiencies just going through every day life–in a nation that lacks for nothing in ingenuity or ability to produce.

An article in Newsweek dated Jan. 8, 2001, said that “In Eastern Europe, the fall of communism unleashed political freedoms, open markets and a bright array of consumer goods.”   Now, in America creeping socialism is having the opposite effect — less freedom, more government control and now suddenly we’re being confronted with drug and food shortages?

One is forced to contemplate government induced controls as a way to foster dependency and cultivate panicked need in people.  A crisis trial balloon is sent up to see public reaction to waiting, which instigates a frenzied response when the product is made available.  The result equals control of the masses through medicine and food. Wait until Eggo releases its first batch of waffles after a six-month famine, people will rip them frozen from the box in the grocery store, glomming them downlike famished children from Biafra!  Same with H1N1, if you were considering skipping the government recommended shot… a shortage may convince you that you might as well get it while you can just in case you change your mind and there’s none available.

As for seasonal flu shots –  that’s a double edged sword, the group the most in jeopardy of suffering from flu ravages are the elderly, which works to the government’s benefit as they contemplate budgetary concerns having to do with health care reform.   And for those hoarding Cipro – you may  well survive your first Anthrax attack, but be aware, the next one might be very, very  iffy.

H1N1 aside, the government may have nothing to do with any of this and the shortages are more likely caused by complicated manufacturing and inventory issues.  However, it’s a good preview of what lies ahead for our nation if Obama gets his way and socializes both the means of production and the health care industry.  Until then, my message is to the one aspiring to control every aspect of American society including medicine and food, “Hey Barry, I’m on to you — Leggo of my Eggo!”

Cross posted at:  www.jeannie-ology.com

I have a very wicked habit – I gawk.  I am a visual person who takes in every detail.  I can describe anything down to the minutest element.   I stare at people.    I scrutinize lines on faces and if someone is interesting or unusual looking I drink in the facets of what I’m seeing even more.  My bad habit has become a tool in writing, which provides a paint box full texture and interest to what I’m attempting to convey.

When I was a little girl my Dad told me, “Stop staring!” He said it was impolite and made people feel uncomfortable.  If I saw a handicapped person with a deformity, I brought staring to a whole new level.  If I happened upon a person who was mentally challenged, my father would have to literally drag me away because my reaction was as if I encountered an otherworldly phenomenon– eyes wide, mouth agape frozen and fixated.

Now, as a Grandma, I have learned to curtail my habit and feed off the treasure trove of past staring information that I stored away.  However, the practice of staring has given me insight as to why the situation we find ourselves in as a nation irritates me the way it does.  I realize that there are people who beg us to look at them and then censure us for doing what they dared us to do–like people with full body tattoos or ten penny nails through their pierced eyebrows.

After many years of contemplating my annoyance and impatience with a certain people group that doesn’t like being stared at,  I finally figured out what bothers me about Muslim women outfitted in hijāb.

I want to clarify, although I realize that the burqua marginalizes women and is a symbol of the inequality between males and females in the Muslim culture that isn’t what irks the living daylights out of me. Freedom of religion aside –I know myself enough to know that I’d be unable to control my reaction if confronted on the street by Casper the Friendly Ghost.  Trust me, I would stare.

The crux of the matter is that the Muslim culture has invaded our nation and their repressive, 5,000-year-old outerwear is being inflicted on us in our day-to-day life.  Muslims make some sort of costume statement and we’re being told to dare not ogle?   If we do, because we can’t believe our eyes–it’s interpreted as religious discrimination against Islam.  You know what I say, “Tough! If you don’t like it, woman-up and take off that ridiculous outfit.”

Question?  If  you saw two people walking around in the grocery store in Renaissance attire acting like it was the most normal thing in the world, would you keep thumbing through the National Enquirer, or look?

For example on a recent foray into Walmart, the people’s market, I was subjected to quite an eye-opener.  Perusing the laundry detergent aisle and innocently comparing the prices between Tide and Purex,  I prefer Tide, whiter whites and all, out of the corner of my finely tuned eyes appeared a Muslim man outfitted in a floor length, galabiyya.  On his poorly coifed head, a wrinkled kufi. He had sandals on his, hygienically challenged bare feet and sported a full length, never been groomed, overgrown, Prophet Muhammad beard. Trailing right behind him, at a comfortably respectful, but no less repressive-submissive pace, was a woman dressed in full burqua, with niqab – and sunglasses no less.  And I’m not supposed to look?  I was gripped with horror like the first time I saw the Invisible Man – no skin, a mummy in Ray Ban’s.  I thought, “Is there someone in there?”

I couldn’t stop staring and as I did, I questioned reality asking, “Is this America?”  I know the argument that other religions dress funny like the Hasidic Jews or even the Amish, who by the way all look alike.  I’m sorry, there is a big difference between a head scarf, suspenders and a full body tent with two holes cut out for eyes —it just doesn’t compare.

Meanwhile, back at Walmart the woman in the niqab was struggling to see under her sunglasses, holding Windex in one hand and a pair of trendy pink flip-flops in the other.   Shoppers were making wide turns to avoid these two.  Although straining toward a politically correct effort not to gawk, I could see that inquisitive shoppers were just pretending to read the ingredients on the products they held in their hands,  while every eyeball was riveted on Abdul and Habibah.

Or how about the woman I encountered in Starbucks trying to drink a Caramel Macchiato in a burqua?  My thought at the time was maybe she should put the drink on the floor and snake a garden hose up under her garment and into her mouth.  Then, the only thing suggestive of latte drinking would be the veil covering her face billowing like a sail on a mizzen mast.

Originally, my first reaction to burqua-draped females was mild interest; my second, feigned respect and then following close behind was infuriated rage!  I became outright indignant and it showed.  In my heart and on my face I was ripping headgear off and throwing it to the floor in a blasphemous statement…and saving  Judeo-Christian foundations in the process.  After watching what could best be described as a religious sideshow I lost my ability to acquiesce to the First Amendment and wondered what the framers of the Constitution would say about the abuse American culture is presently being forced to endure.

The First Amendment does says that, “The civil rights of none shall be abridged on account of religious belief or worship, nor shall any national religion be established, nor shall the full and equal rights of conscience be in any manner, or on any pretext, infringed.” However, Santeria is a religion and animal sacrifice, which is an integral part of that faith, is still against the law.  Can’t we outlaw burquas? Burquas offend much more and at least you can eat dead chickens.

I can’t help thinking America is presently the victim of a Santeria ritual being slaughtered under the oppression of a Muslim culture that is slitting the throat of cultural sanity.  I also can’t help but believe that to ask an American citizen to be subjected to the scene similar to  the one in Walmart, while simply buying laundry soap, is an “…abridgement of civil rights on account of Muslim religious belief or worship.”

The couple in Walmart had no problem inflicting on modern American culture a fashion statement instituted in the days of the Byzantine Empire and while doing so dared Americans to object.

Reality is, we’re under invasion, literally and culturally and the invasion includes subjugation.  American culture is being subjected to having to endure infiltration by a religious system that insists, regardless of how much it offends, that America submit to a 1500-year old tradition…and dare not complain about it.

Fatwa aside and risking suffering the potential fate of Salman Rushdie, part of my new plan to address the problem is to disobey my much revered late father and stare.  I plan on staring down every woman in a burqua I run across whether pumping gas or picking up dry cleaning. Hopefully, my staring will send a message making marauding shrouded entities more uncomfortable than they make me –forcing niqābīah; to either assimilate, take the sartorial hijāb off, or take it somewhere else.

Cross posted at:  www.jeannie-ology.com

Congressional Democrats are committed to overhauling the healthcare system and while doing so obviously do not intend to let the public know what the legislation contains for fear Americans will reject the QVC sales pitch.  Instead they are embarking on a successful method employed during the 2008 election of false advertising and selling a bag of goods without revealing the ingredients or the effect.

In a hurried effort to pass a bogus health care bill it is imperative that the merchandise’s contents be hidden from those it’s being sold to.  Instead, Democrats have dragged out a conceptual Vitameatavegamin health care bill for public consumption void of legislative language and whose obscure costs and implications no one bothers to consider.

Anyone over the age of forty remembers Lucille Ball playing the part of a woman auditioning for a Vitameatavegamin commercial where a tonic is presented as the, “…answer to all your problems.” In the episode, Lucy’s director is unaware that the “healthful” concoction of “…vitamins, meat, vegetables and minerals,” also has listed in the fine print a 23% alcohol content.  The Democrats might as well be holding up a bottle of Vitameatavegamin every time they speak on behalf of the health care proposal.  However, unlike Lucy’s director, Democrats are well aware of sinister particulars residing in their legislative proposals, but continue to resist posting ingredients online in an attempt to present a benign product that ultimately delivers a punch.

For all intents and purposes, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is our very own Lucy convincing America to sign onto a product she knows nothing about.  Smiling a forced, phony grin Nancy continually auditions to retain her seat of power. The only thing missing from the Speaker’s head is a lovely, little retro-lace Lucy-style bonnet.  Nancy, like Lucy, assures America that the Vitameatavegamin health care bill is a panacea that will be the ultimate, “…answer to all our problems,” especially if it includes a high-potency vitamin packed public option she guarantees it will include.

In the episode clip, Lucy auditions for the part of Vitameatavegamin girl beaming widely into the camera.   The director tells her to recite the script.  After citing the ingredients, the director tells Lucy to take a big mouthful, smile and wink saying what Speaker Pelosi alleges today about health care, “…it’s so tasty too…just like candy!”  However, after Lucy lifts the swill to her mouth the look on her face tells the whole story.  Yuck!  Her lips invert, the two muscles in her neck pop as she attempts to down the ghastly medicine. A similar situation could pose a problem for Pelosi’s sales pitch as personal commitment to a product ultimately clinches the sale.

After Lucy’s adverse reaction to the liquid remedy her director tells her, “No, no, no…you’re supposed to like the stuff. You’ve got to smile and be happy,” which was even difficult for someone determined to win the title of Vitameatavegamin girl.  The content of what Lucy was forced to swig was not fit for human consumption, which is precisely why, unlike a compliant Miss MaGillicutty, Democrats repudiate for their own consumption a product they are pushing on us.

Barack Obama disregards the vomitacious nature of the proposal and perseveres repeating, “OK, take it from…It’s so tasty too!” And, despite national rejection of the proposed fix, the Director-in-Chief personally holds our nation’s nose while dictatorially insisting we say “Ah.” According to studies, ninety-three percent of the American population feels a remedy is unnecessary for a condition that doesn’t exist.  Yet, the Vitameatavegamin health care sales team continues to drone on asking the wary, “Why don’t you join the thousands of happy, peppy people?”

In the fifty-year-old episode, Lucy slowly becomes desensitized to the questionable ingredients in the bottle as her ability to focus diminishes.  Her reaction to the product presents a potential ruse that Democrats could employ in their quixotic quest to control life and death. Bleary eyed and inebriated Lucy smacks her lips and says, “This stuff tastes pretty good…after you get used to it!”  Thus, if Democrats have their way, they will continue to force a tonic of half-truths and obfuscations on the public.  With any luck the effort will result in an America, so disorientated by lies that without question, the majority will guzzle down a Vitameatavegamin health care bill—consigning even the sober to endure its influence.

Speaking on behalf of the Director-in-Chief, our very own little Vitameatavegamin girl, Nancy Pelosi, has gotten to the point where she is encouraging, “Everybody to get a bottle of this stuff!”  What began as a coherent attempt to convince America to sign onto sane cost and competition directed health care reform has now been reduced to statements about public options that are on par with Lucy asking, “Do you pop out at parties…are you unpoopular?”

Nancy, Harry and Barry – are modern day snake oil salesmen.  Their medicine show consists of constant hawking to step right up and join the millions of Americans who have yet to read the ingredients, have no idea what it tastes like, or how it will affect them–but look to government to provide them with a healing elixir.

Yet, the Democratic sales pitch appears to be breaking down with every slam of the clapboard. As Pelosi, Reid and Obama work together to preserve their bottle of bureaucratic belladonna it becomes apparent they are the ones intoxicated with power. Presently, what we are witnessing is a desperate coalition of Democrats reduced into a desperate band of marketing mavens attempting to convince dubious consumers to invest in Handy Brushes.

In the famous Lucille Ball Vitameatavegamin episode the more she persisted in promoting her product the clearer it became what it actually was.  Hope endures that just as Lucy buckled under the influence of a shoddy product, the American public will recognize that like  a bottle of Vitameatavegamin, the bill the Democrats in Washington DC swear will surely be as easy as “spooning our way to health,” has neither our health, nor our well being in mind.

Inspired by his own celebrity, and regardless of the rival, it appears Obama believes exercising oratory muscle can bring opposition to its knees and “one voice” can wrest victory from the jaws of defeat. Always at the ready when liberal ventures are in peril of hitting the skids, Obama can be counted on to fly in and save the day by orating every obstacle into submission.  So secure is he in his rhetorical proficiency Barack Obama enthusiastically inserts himself into the midst of international competitions and high profile political campaigns.

One can’t really blame the guy for his personal view of himself. Barack Obama’s speaking skills are so superior that with no experience, and after eight unimpressive years in the Illinois State Senate, carefully placed words on a teleprompter, exquisitely timed pregnant pauses and cheesy slogans catapulted him directly into the Oval Office.

The reason for this type of stratospheric rise to power can only be explained by the principle that “Exceptionally articulate politicians begin with a great electoral advantage because the opinion-forming class is in love with words.”

However, like a bad actor with a brilliant script Obama is, “…discovering the truth about the power of oratory; it can only get you so far.”   Travelling to Denmark to vouch for the Olympics coming to Chicago and spending weeks campaigning for a horrendous blue state Governor, Obama’s empty rhetoric is disclosing to a formerly enamored world an amateur costumed in impressive attire, but void of substance.

Obviously, Obama learned nothing when pressing Presidential responsibilities took a back seat to spending 10 million dollars jetting to Copenhagen to dazzle the IOC and make short work of securing the 2016 Summer Olympics for Chicago.   In Obama’s mind, after months of deliberation, all that was necessary to seal the deal was a last minute visit from a luminary such as himself.  His purpose was to convince the International Olympic Commission that whatever had been decided, prior to his appearance, would pale in comparison to the power of his presence and words.

Obama nonchalantly arrived in Denmark fully convinced of his ability to sway the Olympic committee to place a duly deserved crown of olive leaves upon his egotistical head. He didn’t, and they didn’t, which “…raised serious questions about his perceived international star power.”

Obama flying to Copenhagen was questioned internationally after the U.S. was eliminated in the first round.  What many failed to comprehend was that the Olympics being hosted by Chicago was undecided for everyone except Obama.  His unwavering trust in his own charisma and public speaking skill has delivered the impossible for him every time.  Yet, this time when Obama flew in…America lost!

Addressing the embarrassing situation diplomatic Fox political analyst Tucker Carlson remarked that, “It’s good for us to fail in a high profile way every once in a while because it reminds us that we’re not God and there limits in our ability to sway other people.”  Earth to Tucker, earth to Tucker…while that may be true for some people, your hypothesis is nonapplicable when it comes to Barack Obama.

Based on what he said while campaigning in New Jersey and for Creigh Deeds in Virginia, a totally clueless Obama didn’t seem to understand the “growing disenchantment” with his incessant action-deficient talk. “Faced with real crisis and insecurity,” people sick of rhetoric are, “…demand[ing] substance and want to know precisely what mechanisms you are proposing to install to bring about that glorious and beautifully evoked future that you advocate with such forceful sincerity.”

Yet, Obama flew to New Jersey five times and spent the time talking mainly about, you guessed it, Barack Obama. “Listen, I want you to remember, when I ran for – when I ran for election, I did not say— (applause) –wait, wait, wait – wait, when I ran for election, I did not say this was going to come overnight.” Self-absorbed comments indicated that Obama perceived voters’ pulling the lever for John Corzine, as recommitment to none other than Obama. The President’s appeal to New Jersey voters was not for Governor John Corzine but rather an obvious appeal for reaffirmation of Yes We Can policy, which have proven to be a flawed, faltering failure.

Barry traveled to New Jersey in a similar spirit with which he sojourned to Copenhagen.  Once again, deluded that persona and rhetoric would insure victory for a Governor whose liberal guiding principle of taxing and spending have wreaked statewide havoc in the same way Obama’s liberal policies have negatively affected America. In the face of defeat, the President venturing to the Garden State the weekend prior to the election indicated he believed the power of his personality so strong; it could stem the tide against disaster even at the eleventh hour.  Regardless of the effort, Barack Obama’s unshakable belief in himself was proven wrong on Election Day when a pattern that started in Denmark began to emerge.  Obama flew in and a loss for both Creigh and Corzine followed.

The question now is whether Barack Obama is self-aware enough to recognize his waning political influence after being humiliated internationally in Copenhagen and after witnessing the party he stumped for get its proverbial clock cleaned?  New studies indicate that the density of dopamine receptors in the brain determine whether we learn from our mistakes or not, which could explain a large majority of what our nation has experienced over the better part of a year, “dope-a-me-me-me-me-n.”

So, as the nation sat riveted to election results, instead of monitoring the success of the gubernatorial campaigns he stumped for, Obama had something more compelling piquing his interest–a HBO documentary, starring none other than himself. Barack Obama remains captivated, convinced and concerned with the always influential and ever enthralling Barack Obama, as well as oblivious to the fact that lately, in spite of what he says, when he flies in, crushing loss follows closely behind.

The Obama administration picks advisors based on ideology, which is why comedian Bill Maher would be the perfect “Choice Czar.”  Maher lacks the diplomacy and finesse of Harvard professor turned Regulatory czar, Cass Sunstein, but in principle, they both adhere to similar methods.  Sunstein employs the tactic of nudging, while Maher’s advice to Obama on how to deal with those who continue to reject the public option, “…they’re stupid. Just drag them to this.”

In his book, Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness Cass Sunstein said, “In many cases, individuals make pretty bad decisions.”  Thus, human beings are in need of what he describes as, “libertarian paternalism,” where choices are made for the masses by brilliant “choice architects” like Nancy, Harry and Barry.  Sunstein assessed that the public is, “systematically biased…toward our notions of what everyone else thinks.” Judging from the line at the Mac store, there may be a measure of truth to that statement.

According to Cass Sunstein, Obama agrees and “believes in doing law in a way that’s realistically based on human behavior.”  Thus, in order to control America and take the Nancy State to a whole new level of institutionalized paternalism, Americans who don’t appreciate being dominated or proscribed to need to instead be methodically prodded along.  Or, in layman’s terms, hoodwinked into believing their actions and decisions are the result of individual choice.

So, in hopes of discouraging a freethinking America, nudging has become a Washington DC pastime.  If Americans remain resistant to getting the H1N1 vaccine there is always the Tickle Me Elmo technique.  Fabricate a shortage and suddenly panic sets in and those who might have otherwise skipped buying the toy, take to storming Toys R Us. Tickle Me Elmo then becomes a must have Christmas gift even if you’re childless or if people are trampled to death in the process.

Motor Vehicles, though unlikely as a resource, can be utilized as a nudge zone if organ donations are on the decline.  The feds can poke the public by defaulting the option on a driver’s license to sign over your kidneys.  If you fail to opt out, someone on dialysis gets a new lease on life if making a right on red makes you a statistic.  The implementation of “mandated” policies, where government makes choices for you, insures fresh surpluses of organs from those who would otherwise be buried with corneas.

As nudging becomes engrained in the political playbook, it appears as if Sunstein has been tutoring the Speaker of the House on how to elbow people away from negative impressions associated with the controversial public option toward believing alternatives that don’t exist, actually do! Of course Democrats do all this with best intentions and to insure that the “stupid people”, “…wind up with better public and private policies.”

Left wing liberals must believe that if “competition” and “consumer” show up in a title Americans will buy anything. Based on the recent proposal to change the name of the public option to the competitive option, Democrats in Washington obviously concur with Bill Maher that most people are so dim-witted that merely changing the name makes the original legislation indistinguishable to the average citizen.  Someone should wax poetic and throw off the intellectuals in the Obama administration by asking, “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would [still] smell as…” fetid.

Presently, the people of this country are being nudged toward accepting a form of health care that the preponderance of evidence shows Americans radically oppose for any purpose other than competition and price control. Therefore, American sentiment is being manipulated, no, nudged by polls that continue to insist, 77% support the public option.  Yet, Democrats in DC still lack votes within their own party to pass a health care bill that includes a choice they claim “the American people” desperately want.  So what’s up with that?

Nudging tactics work to the benefit of manipulative politicians because “choice architects” remain unimpeachable by designing policies that assure responsibility fall solely on those they seek to manage. Washington plans to benefit from the same practices the credit card companies they regulate use when charging for a service and then continuing to charge if consumers don’t opt out. Paying $16.00 per month on a Visa statement, because of failing to “opt out” of a free credit report? Who’s to blame? Ask magazine marketers, opting out is an “option” few people avail themselves of.

In response to largely unfavorable opinion polls and based on the events of the past few days it appears as if the ultimate libertarian patriarch in the White House comprehended the need to prod the dense toward the definitive goal of a single payer system. So, under the probable tutelage of Cass Sunstein, “choice architects” Pelosi and Reid incorporated, “…small and apparently insignificant contextual details,” to the title of the bill in hopes of majorly affecting American perception and behavior.

While Barry maintains a low profile, Nancy and Harry circumvent Americans who continue to rebuff government run health care by campaigning for a bill that includes the perfect nudge.  The proposal Reid plans to bring to the Senate floor “… will include a public health insurance option that individual states could decline to participate in,” defaulting on a state-by-state basis to “opt out,” which they are unlikely to do. Subsequently, liberals in Washington will remain cosseted from culpability when Americans, bleeding out in health clinics, crammed with illegal aliens, recognize they’ve been both prodded and punk’d.

Polls continue to show that 87% of the American population is satisfied with the health care they presently have. Regardless, the expectation in Washington remains high that a name change from public to a consumer competitive option will provide the gentle nudge needed to accomplish what Cass Sunstein and soon to be appointed czar, Bill Maher insist is essential to haul the majority of brainless people to the public option.

Cross posted at: www.jeannie-ology.com

Listening to Barack Obama speak about the nation he leads, one would think Alex DeLarge had been wreaking havoc in the world for the last 200-years, raping the global economy, beating the hell out of the underprivileged and pillaging world peace. Who is Alex you ask?  Why, Alex was the main character in the violent, socio-economic, political horror movie Clockwork Orange.

Every chance Obama gets he “…fulfills his campaign vow to show the nations of the world that a new American leadership stands ready to atone for the transgressions of the old. ” Both here and abroad, Obama apologizes for perceived thuggery as if America were guilty of Alex DeLarge-style global mayhem.

In the movie Clockwork Orange, Alex and his bawdy band of droogs, plunder through a dystopian world with full abandon sans regret, compunction or remorse.  Now, a diffident Obama offers the hand of peace to hateful dictators by acquiescing as if he were the self-effacing parent of Alex DeLarge. Hell, Obama has a vision for utopia and if it wasn’t for the nightmare America has created he might actually be able to transform the planet into a socialist Shangri-La.

Alex and the droogs epitomize ignorance and brutality.  On the global stage liberals represent traditional America as nothing more than a droog, a utopia spoiling, intellectually dumb warmonger, whose lack of knowledge and aggression historically discourages solidarity with the global vision for negotiable world peace.

Five minutes into Clockwork Orange it’s obvious to the viewer that the dichotomous Alex DeLarge is not a “force for good.” Although he loves classical music he dons a mask, bowler hat and white overalls before fusing beating with indiscriminate forced sexual assault. Listening to Obama express worldwide lament for our nation you’d think an imperialistic/capitalist America prowled the globe like the profane Alex, “…whose principal interests are rape, ultra-violence and Beethoven.”

Liberals, led by Obama, believe symbolic goodness is something that can be mandated, legislated and implemented through transformative left wing policy. If America wants “freedom,” in the Obama sense of the word, the only answer is behavioral revision managed by leaders whose inspiration for egalitarianism, harmony and social justice is birthed in repressive control.  And for that, there could be no better adaptive model to emulate then the one found in Clockwork Orange.

Midway through the sardonic film, Alex DeLarge goes to prison for 14-years for murdering an elderly woman.  As a precursor, he is forced to undergo a body cavity search similar to the one America is presently enduring. Like Alex’s prison enforced rules, collectivism focused America, now forbids crossing lines drawn by dogmatic, politically correct policies and the threat exists that liberated people are about to be reduced to faceless, nameless numbers.

Trapped in a facsimile of H.M. Prison Parkmoor, America’s is having its psyche pulverized into submission as if we are deviant, rowdy, and renegade like Alex DeLarge.  However, in our case the goal of serum No 114-propaganda drug is to make America resistant to the concept of freedom, capitalism and Constitutional fidelity.  If our nation can be made to retch when presented with what she once held dear, Obama’s political experimentation will be a smashing success.

In Clockwork Orange, classical conditioning transformed Alex DeLarge from an insurgent into a pacifist.  Similarly, Obama is bent on amending American society through systematic administration of rewards and punishments in hopes of shifting belief systems, patriotic spirit and conduct. Obama’s definitive goal is the destruction of American dystopia in hopes of replacing it with international utopia. Yet, even the prison Chaplain in Clockwork Orange warned deviant Alex, that change isn’t gained that way, “When a man cannot choose he ceases to be a man.”

Regardless, a self-righteous President believes he has a better way for America.  Moreover, Obama has commissioned a Clockwork Orange-style, Ludovico Technique be administered on the nation with full knowledge of what a few hours of “shovel ready job” indoctrination can do to unite the workers of the world. Obama’s attendants in American aversion therapy are media pupil lubricators and a cadre of white-jacketed politicians, whose occupation is to monitor a social experiment of associating pain of retribution for actions alien to Obama’s utopian view.  Reprimands, which include discouraging war by leaving the military to die without reinforcements. Small businesses, private industry and corporate America taxed and regulated into capitulation and the demoting of Judeo Christian influence.

Every time Obama steps up to a podium he injects rhetoric with a hypodermic full of shame, lies, and remorse in hopes of distorting reality and fiction in American minds. The President’s despotic modus operandi includes, half-truths and repetitive encoding, coupled with punishment directed at capitalism, condemnation of Constitutional principles, castigating free enterprise and the systematic undermining of national security.

Like Alex, on Election Day a naïve America willingly submitted to being straitjacketed with inescapable limitations beyond imagination. As a result, we are presently experiencing a near death experience.  We are captive to autocratic tendencies and victimized by misinformation. Our eyelids have been clamped open and our head wired with electrodes in a tortured position where the national gaze is fixed on only what those in control dictate politically acceptable.

The illicit Alex was robbed of his individually and intrinsic humanity, tamped down into innocuous compliance and, in turn, made a “free man.” It was only then that he could be sent, “…out with confidence into the world again.” Obama attempting to alter national identity, personality and foundational principles does so to wrest control of the natural impulse of a free, democratic nation. His hope is to present a subjugated America to the world as a neutered, mind-numbed, docile Alex DeLarge–though independent at heart, “queer as clockwork orange,” bizarre internally, while appearing natural, human, and normal on the surface.

If the President gets his way, government will have the clout to exert power over American distinctiveness and exceptionalism.  In turn, the dream of authoritarian utopia will be established upon a foundation of domineering restraint, indoctrination and political propaganda.  Its time Americans inform our self-aggrandizing leader, Dr. Brodsky-Obama, that the United States is no Alex DeLarge.  Instead, he and the liberal, left wing band of social propagandists he leads are the “queer as clockwork orange” droogs in need of reprogramming…not us.

Cross posted at:  www.jeannie-ology.com