The last two weeks or so have been a three ring circus. The center ring producing the biggest event, but certainly not the most important, is Michael Jackson’s death. In a side ring is the health care (aka Obamacare) non-debate. The third ring is the “wise Latina” Sonia Sotomayor, being nominated for a life tenure to the US Supreme Court.Jackson coverage has been wall to wall, 24/7. If possible, this has been getting more coverage than Princess Di. Every night for two weeks the entertainment shows talked only about Jackson. A majority of time on regular news is given to him. LA got locked down, and freeways closed during his memorial service. An unnecessary precaution since millions less showed up in the streets than predicted. It saddens seeing a mere celebrity, a troubled human being at that, get so much attention, when actual life impacting people barely get noted. That’s the Age of Celebrity. I liked some of Jackson’s music, and his dancing may be the best since Gregory Hines, or going back, Fred Astair. Ultimately I agree with commentator Mark Steyn, who observed people “feasting on round-the-clock coverage of a self-mutilated misfit of dubious sexual predilections a bit too crude to be plausible.” A commentator, Princeton African American Studies Professor Cornel West, Statist and Racist, "It's almost like a crucifixion, in terms of the cross you have to bear. We reap the fruits of the resurrection, in terms of the power that emanates from [Michael Jackson's] sacrifice. He sacrificed his childhood because he loved us so. He didn't just entertain us, he sustained us.” I’m thinking, well then, who needs Jesus? We've got a deceased pedophile drug addict to worship now. Yikes! Michael Jackson, RIP
In the next ring are the confirmation hearings for Justice of the US Supreme Court. Judge Sotomayer is of the Obama mold, racist, Statist and liar. She’ll get confirmed because the Senate, whose Constitutional mandate is to ‘advise and consent’ regarding judicial appointments, has a filibuster proof majority, and so can’t be stopped. Her biggest challenge was to overcome her racist statement, "I would hope that a wise Latina woman, with the richness of her experiences, would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life." Can you image a white guy saying that a wise white man with the richness of his experiences would reach a better conclusion than (fill in the blank…woman, black…) The “Wise Latina” comment was used in 1994, 1999, 2002, 2004, and 2001 speeches. The challenge is that justice is blind, and should not be informed by ethnicity, gender, or anything personal. She has also said, “Personal experiences affect the facts that judges choose to see.” She’s affiliated with the Puerto Rican Bar Association, the Hispanic National Bar Association, the Association of Judges of Hispanic Heritage and the National Council of La Raza. This last, translated “The Race” is an unapologetic racist group that advocates the overthrow of the US government and the taking back of the American Southwest and returned to Mexico. Historical note, the Southwest was never controlled by Mexico. The Supreme Court is to judge using the US Constitution, and she advocates using international law. She spun it during the hearing, ‘that’s not what I really meant’. The Second Amendment, the right to bear arms, hugely supported by the American people, she’s spoken against and doesn’t support, and spun it during the hearing, ‘that’s not what I really meant’. Risking going over long here, but she’s made speech after speech advocating anti-democratic and racist statements, and had to spin them all, by lying. She sounded like she was to the right of Justice Scalia (conservative justice) during the whole process. She’s replacing a Statist, so the change of the makeup of the court won’t be that much. Her opinions will just be radical leftist and less balanced and reasoned, but the effect will be the same.
In the third ring is health care, being referred to as “Obamacare”. This is supposed to reduce the health care costs of everybody. The Director of the Congressional Budget Office (appointed by the Democrat leadership) said the costs are unsustainable. The CBO is the last and most trusted word on budget issues. That sent the Dems scrambling, because it was their guy that said it! Hopefully that’ll kill the bill. This is a government take over of about 20% of the US economy. It creates forty-eight new bureaucratic offices. Health care will be rationed. Obama said everyone can keep their current insurance if they want to. There’s a provision on page 16 that once this goes into effect, a citizen with private insurance can’t change it or add anybody to it. That means that in five to ten years pretty much everybody will be in the government run health system. There’s a penalty for businesses that don’t provide healthcare for employees that will shut down small business because they can’t afford it (small business is about 70% of the economic base), and large business can save money by paying the penalty and not ensuring its employees. There’s also a provision for “Community Transformation Groups”. These will be government health enforcers that can go into restaurants to ensure there are healthy items on the menu, can “visit” homes! to enforce that people are engaging in healthy behaviors. The ‘veggie shirts’ are coming! No discussion or debate allowed; Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said this will be passed on schedule, and debate will be limited to ensure it’s passed by the end of August. The strategy here, like all recent legislation, is to get this passed during the summer when Americans are playing and vacationing and paying even less attention to the news than usual.
If Obamacare passes, then Obama has succeeded implementing his Statist agenda within the first eight months of his rule. He’s got control of a majority of the automobile business (Ford Motor Co has escaped government control so far), the energy sector with the recently passed “Cap and Trade” legislation, the financial and insurance sectors with the TARP and ‘stimulus’ legislation, and now the health sector. By the way, in the promised “age of transparency”, none of this legislation was posted on the ‘dot gov’ site, none of it read by any congressman or senator, and it was passed with limited debate, and rushed though.
~~The Metaphysical Peregrine
