A Liberal in Conservative Clothing

Be careful, conservatives.  You might actually be a liberal fighting to convince yourself that you are a conservative.  Oh, the horror!

I know this because I actually talked to one this weekend.  I was in a hotel having dinner, and I began a conversation with a conservative about some hot topics.  As I expected, we made absolutely no headway with the abortion (contraceptives) debate.  There is no winning in a debate about that.  The debates I really enjoyed were about "entitlement" programs and gay marriage.

In these discussions, I simply used a sequence of logical questions to get the poor closet liberal to admit that they didn't really align with conservatives in the way they thought.  We began discussing the law being free from religion.  This conservative played the "Constitution was written on Christian beliefs" card.  Well, that was an easy one.  I simply got the person's agreement that the Constitution was written to protect freedom of religion, and freedom from religion.  Once that was established, I asked if they believed that the government should be forcing some Christians' beliefs on others?  Of course, it was hard to admit, but I got the "no" I was looking for.

Then it was time for the self-proclaimed conservative to play the "but marriage is a gift from God" card.  Another simple one (that seems to be a trend with conservative arguments).  The easy argument here is that, while it is fine for a church to refuse to marry people because of their beliefs, marriage as far as the government is concerned, is purely secular.  It is a contract that has specific rights and responsibilities included.  If religion is taken out of the argument, then we're only left with a contract (called marriage) that the government has no reason to deny to a gay couple.

At this point, I got an agreement that, even though the conservative didn't agree with homosexuality, there was no reason that the government should be denying gay marriage.  This person did attempt to say that they would have to vote against approving gay marriage if it came up because they didn't agree with it personally.  Well, the discussion immediately became about forcing the person's beliefs on others versus allowing others to make decisions on their own.  No matter what logic was used, this was the last hiding place for this faux conservative.  There was not going to be an admission that, even though they said the government should not be writing any religion's beliefs into law and there was no reason that the government should be denying gay marriage, this person actually believed as many liberals do and would vote to see progress in freedom and civil rights.  I warned this person to be careful because they might actually be a liberal in conservative clothes.

At some point, we transitioned to a discussion about "entitlement" programs.  We agreed that Social Security, being a system that is paid into by workers, is not what many people refer to as an "entitlement" program.  (We had a discussion about the word "entitlement" before we started in which we decided that we would use the word to basically "charity" as many conservatives use the term.  We agreed that, by the true definition of the term "entitlement," social security was one.  I'm pretty sure the sentence, "I've paid into that my whole career, you're damn right I'm entitled to it" was uttered.)

Then we agreed that there should be some reform to the programs.  We agreed that people on welfare should be subjected to drug testing.  The surprising part was that, while the conservative thought Medicaid should be destroyed, we agreed that everyone in a country as rich as ours deserved to have basic necessities like food, shelter, and healthcare.  This conservative told me that they believed we should move to a single-payer healthcare system.  Stop.  Re-read that last sentence.  Now realize that this conservative works in the healthcare industry...and has for over 25 years.  At this point, there was no denying the obvious.  I had to tell this person who proclaims to be conservative that they are actually a liberal.  Yes.  This anti-abortion, anti-gay marriage, self-proclaim Christian conservative is actually a liberal who is refusing to see the truth.  If you believe in the freedom to live one's life, if you believe that the fundamental rights outlined in the Constitution apply to all of us, if you are a true Christian...then you should be very careful with whom you align yourself politically.  You may actually be a liberal in conservatives clothing.  

Better Ingredients, Worse Math...John Schnatter is Costing Himself a Fortune

Math has become the bane of conservative "logic" over the last few months.  It seems that all of their rhetoric and lies are getting exposed by peons like me who simply do the math.  Here's a fun one for you.

Tonight I read an article from Forbes that showed how flawed John Schnatter's, the owner of Papa John's, math was on his per pizza costs for health care.  That was interesting, but what really caught my eye was the number of shares he owns and the stock price. 

According to the Forbes article, John owns 6,094,409 shares of stock.  On Thursday November 8, 2012 the stock price began at $51.70 and has been dropping ever since.  As of today, the stock price is now $48.69.  This means that John Schnatter's stock was valued at $315,080,945.30 last Thursday morning.  Right now that same stock is valued at $296,736,774.21.  This is a loss in value of $18,344,171.09.  While he was busy trying to screw his employees and save $5-8 million per year (according to his own estimates), he has lost over $18 million in stock value due to bad press (and a lawsuit he is facing). 

I love the power of social media.  If he continues to refuse his employees health care and threaten to reduce their hours, I hope the calls for boycotts spread like a virus.  I want to see his stock plummet well under $40 per share.  At $38 per share he would have lost enough money to have paid for his employees' health care for a decade.  Don't lose sight of what the public can do to these millionaires who try to hold us hostage to their greed.  We've already cost him what he would have paid over 2-3 years for health care.  Let's make him lose decades.  Continue the boycotts of Papa John's and every other business who plays games with the livelihood of their workers.  Let's end the American Aristocracy before it begins.

I haven't done it in a while, but this makes John Schnatter today's Douchebag Businessman!  Congratulations John!

Argument against Obama Debunked

Originally appeared on The American Complaint Department October 15, 2012

     Obama’s the worst President ever!  No, I don’t believe that.  That’s what I hear from everyone who is opposed to him in this election.  When I ask them what makes him the worst President in history, they only have a handful of answers.  Most of the answers center on how much money he has spent.  These people are in a panic about the debt of $16 trillion.  I don’t remember any of these people panicking about the $10 trillion debt that our country had when Bush left office.  Most of the other attacks are nonsense such as he is socialist, communist (because these people don’t know the difference), Muslim, and hasn’t done anything good for our country.  The last argument is the one that really gets me fired up. 
       There are two problems with that argument.  First, these people seem to forget that congressional Republicans have spent the last two years fighting every initiative that President Obama has supported.  This has led to very little progress (which was evidenced by the fact that this congress passed fewer bills into law than any congress in history), but the responsibility lies with congressional Republicans, not with the President.  If he were to issue executive orders to get these measures passed, they would be accusing him of abusing his authority. 
       The other problem I have is that, despite the best efforts of Republicans, President Obama has accomplished quite a bit during his term.  Here’s a short list of some of those accomplishments:
       • His economic policies have pulled us from a recession that was heading towards a depression.  The U.S. GDP has grown from 14.07 trillion when President Obama took office to 15.83 trillion in July of this year.  Unemployment was 8.3 percent when the President took office in 2009.  Shortly after he was inaugurated, this number topped out at 10 percent.  Even though he had initiatives such as the Bringing Jobs Home bill blocked by Republicans, he has brought unemployment down to 7.8 percent.
       • He worked to pass the Affordable Care Act, bringing the health care reform that people have been wanting for years.  Today, millions of Americans are now insured due to this bill.  Studies have indicated that this reform will decrease health care spending in the long run as well.
       • Reformed Wall Street with the Consumer Financial Protection Agency Act which
       • After 9 years of war, the United States has finally pulled out of Iraq.
        • Under President Obama’s direction, the United States military found and eliminated Osama Bin Laden.
       •Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell was repealed for our military bringing more equality to our armed forces.
       • Benefits were extended to same-sex partners of federal employees.
      • Advocated for and signed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act.
       • Signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, furthering equal rights for women.
       • Ended the Bush-era practices of “enhanced interrogation,” which is a nice way to say torture.
       • Signed the Iran Sanctions Act, furthering the sanctions against Iran in an effort to curb Iran’s nuclear program.
       • He began the process of training Afghan troops to replace American troops so that the U.S. could begin withdrawing its troops.
        •Established a “Credit Card Bill of Rights” meant to protect consumers.
       • Increased funding to the Department of Veterans Affairs
       • Increased student financial aid.
       • Reformed the student loan program so that students could refinance their education at a lower rate.
       • Created the Race to the Top program, encouraging school reforms.
       • Furthered the opportunities for higher education by expanding the Federal Pell Grant program.
       • Worked with Michelle Obama to pass the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act to improve nutrition in schools and improve children’s health.
​
       There are hundreds more examples that I can give of the accomplishments that President Obama has made during his term in office.  In fact, there are websites out there like whattheheckhasobamadonesofar.com that do just that.
       I don’t mind if someone doesn’t agree with the President’s policies.  The ability to have different perspectives and beliefs is a fundamental right of our nation.  However, ignoring the accomplishments of the President simply because members of the opposing political party have said that he has done nothing of value is pure mindless conformity.  Do not simply allow these people to ignore evidence and misconstrue the facts to gain power.  They are counting on your blind acceptance of their propaganda to put themselves in a position to improve their own lives at the expense of those who President Obama has spent the last four years protecting – the middle class.  We live in the age of information.  Don’t accept the lies and propaganda that Republicans have been using as their platform in this election.  Look at the facts and make an informed decision in November.  I believe that, if you do, you will cast your vote to re-elect President Obama.

The Rumble 2012: The Best Debate of the Election

If you haven't seen it, please watch Jon Stewart and Bill O'Reilly in The Rumble 2012.  While there are a lot of jokes floating around in this mock debate, there are a lot of good points being made.  I saw more passion and conviction in Stewart and O'Reilly than I have seen in any candidate in an election since I have followed politics.

I understand that this was really only for entertainment purposes (and half of the proceeds from the live stream went to charity), but there was a level of seriousness in the discussions.  I even found points that O'Reilly made with which I would agree (not many).  For example, Bill discussed why he believes that the political discourse in our country is so poor.  He blames it on capitalism.  He says that people can make money selling hate, and that is what is driving such severe polarization and hatred in our discourse.  I completely agree with this sentiment.

I would love to see an actual debate with the candidates for president that was as impressive as this.  Hell, I'm practically ready to put Jon Stewart in office in November.  Like I said before, if you haven't seen this, give it a watch.  It's only about 90 minutes, but you'll be entertained and you might even actually get some good perspective. 

Romneyfish Flips Again

In another episode of "Romney's Full of Crap," we have Mitt saying that emergency rooms are a viable option for people who have no health insurance. 

"Well, we do provide care for people who don't have insurance.  If someone has a heart attack, they don't sit in their apartment and die. We pick them up in an ambulance, and take them to the hospital, and give them care."

This was an attempt to justify his goal of repealing the Affordable Health Care Act if he was to win the election.  There are so many problems with this...let's get started.

First, let's look at the problems with repealing the individual mandate, but keeping other provisions of the law such as the increased age limit on parents' coverage and elimination of denial for pre-existing conditions.  If we expand the number of people insurance companies are forced to cover, and don't require everyone to have insurance, the cost of insurance will skyrocket.  The point of requiring everyone to maintain coverage is that healthcare providers won't have to write off medical bills for uninsured persons and pass the amount owed on to the rest of the people who have insurance.  This is a major factor in the increasing cost of medical care.  If this problem still exists, and we expand coverage, we will only see rising costs of healthcare and insurance rates.  It won't work. 

The other problem is that Mitt is entirely full of crap.  He knows very well that emergency rooms aren't an option for healthcare.  Let's take a look at some previous quotes from Romney on emergency rooms as healthcare for the uninsured:

"Look, it doesn't make a lot of sense for us to have millions and millions of people who have no health insurance and yet who can go to the emergency room and get entirely free care for which they have no responsibility, particularly if they are people who have sufficient means to pay their own way."

 "When they show up at the hospital, they get care. They get free care paid for by you and me. If that's not a form of socialism, I don't know what is.  So my plan did something quite different. It said, you know what? If people can afford to buy insurance ... or if they can pay their own way, then they either buy that insurance or pay their own way, but they no longer look to government to hand out free care. And that, in my opinion, is ultimate conservativism."

So Mitt's plan was that people could choose to either have insurance, pay in cash when services are rendered, or be denied healthcare.  So...according to his plan, if you don't have insurance or you can't pay cash in advance of any services rendered, you just get denied and sent home to either get better or die.  Okay, I don't agree with letting people just die because they can't afford the same care as rich people, but if that's what you want, then I think he needs to stand up and tell the country that this is what he believes.  And he would also have to make a law that allows healthcare providers the option of turning away patients who are dying if they don't have insurance or the money to pay in advance. 

See where the problem lies here?  We either have to let people die, watch healthcare costs continue to skyrocket, or mandate that everyone take personal responsibility and stay insured. 

But the most entertaining piece of this story is the fact that Mitt showed us once again that he is willing to lie and tell people what he thinks they want to hear in order to win the election.  He flip flops like a fish out of water.  He really makes me wonder if the Republican party chose him in an effort to lose this election.  What other explanation is there for putting a candidate out there who does nothing but lie, offend people, and reverse his position on issues every other day?  I don't know...maybe some liberals infiltrated the GOP and worked their way to the top so that they could destroy the Republican party from within.  Or is that just the wishful thinking of a dreamer?