Category Archives: Pants on Fire

Hit the Road, Jack

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We go to the polls in just eight days. I’m on the road today, dodging politicians. They all want a piece of my wallet.

Let’s take a look at where we are now, thanks to the crowd in Washington, in Montpelier, in Sacramento, in Tallahassee, and in a capitol near you:

Fun
• I’ve been talking to people in the grocery aisles. “I hate my cow-orkers,” one woman said. “I still couldn’t refinance my mortgage.” “We wanted to go to Hilton Head this year but we couldn’t afford the gas.” People are more negative than ever.
• The Financial Times’ has this depressing air travel story: “Once upon a time, flying was fun. Most of you won’t remember.”
• From trust in airlines to trust in cable companies to trust in food producers to trust in government, doing business isn’t fun anymore. That’s not a political issue but it does contribute to the overall negative vibe. OK, trust in government is political. You know what to do.

Health
• California’s doctor networks will stay limited in 2015. Health Net is dumping its PPO network there and switching to a plan with 54% fewer doctors and no out-of-network coverage. Health Net said its cutbacks were necessary to avoid even steeper rate hikes in California. Obamacare where “if we like our doc, we can keep our doc!”
• Dropped or delayed or pooch-screwed coverage for about 30,000 Californians! The LA Times reported that Californians face enrollment delays, dropped coverage and more, thanks to the Unaffordable Care Act. “If you like your insurance, you can keep your insurance!”
• In the People’s Republic of Vermont, another seriously blue state with a broken Health Exchange built by the same company the Feds used, premiums went up and coverage went down. Costs will go down, right?
• Staying in the People’s Republic of Vermont, the state’s largest employer (that would be state government) told workers that their health insurance premiums will rise 17.9% in 2015.
• News from the Veterans Administration to the CDC is of people dying, not people thriving while the agencies from Texas to Arizona “follow protocols.” Government care makes us healthier, right?

Money
• 46.5 million people now live in poverty up, up from when Mr. Bush was president, despite 6 years of “doing better.” Obamapologists keep trying to show how much better we treat our poor. Or to blame Mr. Bush.
• The national debt of $17.76 trillion is up more than a trillion dollars every year this Administration has remained in office, despite 6 years of “doing better.” Obamapologists keep trying to spin that into a smaller number. Or to blame Mr. Bush.
• Median household income fell again, down from when Mr. Bush was president despite 6 years of “doing better,” despite 6 years of inflation. Obamapologists can’t spin that.
• Premium increases for Obamacare policies and Medicare Part B won’t be released until after the election. Obamapologists can’t spin that, either.

Safety
• A man who posed as a congressman was allowed backstage at when Mr. Obama appeared at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation awards dinner, making us wonder, Who would fake being a congressman?
• Mr. Obama has doubled the number of Border Patrol agents and says “border security is stronger than it has ever been” making us wonder, How do so many millions of illegal aliens get in?
• D.C. Spirit killed his daughter, her six children, and then himself. They had had repeated interactions with the Florida Department of Children and Families. In Hardwick, Vermont, Isaac Robitille was 5 when he got a puppy from Make-A-Wish. The Vermont Department of Children and Families confirms that they’ve tracked Isaac’s problems at least seven years. The state removed Isaac from home in 2007 but a DCF expert sent him back in 2008. They “handled” a new complaint in May. His mom and her boyfriend are charged with his murder. Police say they put vodka in Isaac’s IV. Doesn’t that make you wonder?

Every politician in office today ran on a platform of change. Every politician running for re-election is running on a promise that they “know how to fix it.”

If they know how, why didn’t they?

Tell me again why you want to re-elect any of the liars who brought you to this?

 

Can You Sell That?

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Mr. Obama says the country is doing better. I guess if he says it, it must be true.

“Can you sell that?” Steve Kroft asked on 60 Minutes.

Good question.

Mr. Obama says he doesn’t have to sell it because the data proves it.

Yeppers. Here’s the data:

  • Median household income fell again.
  • 46.5 million people now live in poverty.
  • Oh, yeah. And the national debt approaches $17.76 trillion.

Remember Little Mikey?

Mikey was the young boy in a television commercial for the breakfast cereal, Life. The popular commercial first aired in 1972 and stayed on the air for more than twelve years, ending up as one of the longest continuously running commercial campaigns ever aired.

Little Mikey would eat anything.

Quaker Oats ran the commercial to change kids’ perception that something they thought would be bad would taste good. Mikey liked it.

Let’s look at the data that proves we’re doing better.

Median household income fell again, but only slightly in a change the Census Bureau does not consider statistically significant.

Heh. I have a statistically insignificant smaller number of bucks in my wallet but everything I bought last week cost more than the week before. Yeppers, I’m doing better. The data proves it.

Of course, Mr. Obama’s federal government also says the US inflation rate is low, something anyone who has shopped for ground beef (up from to $1.99/pound six years ago to $4.79/pound today), or home heating oil ($2.21/gallon on January 16, 2009, $2.56 by that November, and $3.869/gallon today), chocolate chips (on sale at 99 cents in 2008 but $2.50 today), or a basic Internet connection (I paid !@#$%^Comcast $41.81/month for spotty Internet service six years ago and $61.14/month for it this month) might question. Could it be that the Consumer Price Index doesn’t track what real consumers “pay at the pump”?

46.5 million — that’s one out of every seven people in the USA — now live in poverty. That’s also the largest number in the 54 years the Census has measured poverty. (Worthy of note is the fact that the percentage of people in poverty has declined as the actual number has risen because the overall population has also climbed.) Yeppers, they’re doing better. The data proves it.

Oh, yeah. And the national debt to pay for social programs to eliminate poverty and other stuff is about $17.76 Trillion (the national debt stood at about $10.7 Trillion on this date in 2008). Yeppers, we’re all doing better. The data proves it.

There’s plenty more. The NYTimes reports today on ER costs skyrocketing in spite of Obamacare. The San Francisco Chronicle reports today that ATM fees keep climbing despite government banking watchdogs. The Chicago Tribune reports today that Americans are stepping up spending, but the home market is weakening, despite federal programs. Doing better.

The True Believers like it.

“Can you sell that?” Steve Kroft asked.

Of course he can. He can sell it to Mikey. Mikey will eat anything! The data proves it.

 

Blow Job

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A cold front blew through the North Country July 8. We had clouds on and off but no rain in North Puffin; it did spawn a tornado in Syracuse that killed four.

“There is a pattern of extreme weather that is different,” Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in a nod to Global Warming. “We don’t get tornadoes in New York. Anyone will tell you that. Well, we do now, and this new normal of extreme weather is a challenge for government, it’s a challenge for first responders and it’s a challenge for every citizen in this state.”

Huh. No tornadoes?

The 2007 Brooklyn tornado, an EF-2, was the strongest tornado on record to strike in New York City. Albany County has had six since 1973 and none since 1998. Cattaraugus County had 15 between 1961 and 2010. Essex County has had three, in 1952, 1958, and 1978. Then there was the 1900 Westchester County tornado and the 1904 Chappaqua tornado. And so on. Anyone with 30 seconds (that’s 29.69 seconds to type and 0.31 seconds to processing time) and access to Google can find 1,720,000 results on tornadoes in New York. That’s how I found the Tornado Project with its interesting data.

I understand politicians have agendas. I hate being lied to.

It’s worse when they think we’re too stupid to know the truth.

It’s atrocious when the media simply publishes the propaganda as fact.

“We do get tornadoes in New York,” WPTZ Chief Meteorologist Tom Messner said tonight.

 

Diminishing Expectations

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“We’ll insure 30 million Americans who don’t have insurance,” Barack Obama said in 2008.

“We’ll insure 27 million Americans,” Barack Obama said in 2009.

“We’ll insure 15 million Americans by 2013,” Barack Obama said in 2011.

“We’ll insure 7 million Americans by March of next year,” Barack Obama said when he moved the deadline in 2013. Again

“We’ll insure 6 million Americans by March 31,” the White House said in last week.

“We’ll insure 2.8 million Americans by 2016,” the White House will say in July.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 48.6 million Americans had no health insurance in 2009, 50% more than Mr. Obama originally promised Obamacare would originally cover. “There are still more people uninsured today than when Obama was elected president,” U.S. Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA) said recently.

He’s mostly right. 15.4% of Americans were uninsured during the first quarter of 2009. That’s 47.7 million folks. 15.9 percent of Americans are uninsured today. That’s 49.9 million folks.

The Obama administration’s original goal was to enroll 30 million 15 million 7 million^H^H^H 6 million people by the end of the open enrollment period on March 31. Around 20% of those will fail to pay and most of those who do follow through already had had insurance that Mr. Obama cancelled.

That’s today.

Do you have insurance? Today is your last day to sign up.

Do you have insurance today?

45.1 million Americans won’t.

And the hidden gotcha: your premium in 2015 will be significantly higher than those in 2014. Aetna and WellPoint predict that most carriers will raise rates by “double digits.”  So will your taxes.

BREAKING NEWS: healthcare.gov was down again for much of March 31 under the crush of the tens of people trying to sign up at the last minute.