Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Merry Aaron Rodgers' Mustache Eve!
Tuesday, November 06, 2012
Prediction Time
The day has arrived, America. After months and months and months of advertising, campaign stops, and debates, it is time to choose a president. Here is my best educated WAG at how it will all turn out:
Sunday, November 04, 2012
An Open Letter To Undecided Voters
Dear Undecided Voter,
By this point in this year's election, most candidates have stopped trying to win you over. Instead, the focus really turns from wooing you to getting their supporters to turn out. But I'm not a candidate, so I want to discuss with you why I am voting for Republicans. It isn't the normal talking points; instead, it is about my biggest fear if we do not elect Mitt Romney and a Republican Senate. And it all boils down to Obamacare.
Democrats played hardball when they crafted Obamacare. They did not wish to negotiate with Republicans, nor did they care for Republican input. Because they had majorities, they were able to do this and ultimately force the bill through on a Christmas Eve.
As an independent, I trust that you are exactly the type to mistrust legislation that one side bullies through, whichever side that may be. And the poll numbers have shown that most of you do. And some of you have legitimate fears about healthcare for yourself and/or your family, and this bill may appear to address those fears. I can respect that. But as this bill starts to take hold in 2013, their is one scary consequence, and I'm not talking about "death panels." I'm talking about your impending loss of you plan.
If you have an employee provided healthcare, as much it may enrage you, that plan costs your employer a huge amount of money. In addition to what you pay, your employer is probably contributing somewhere in the neighborhood of $6,000 to $12,000 a year for your healthcare plan. The Obamacare Bill provides what it calls a "penalty" of $2,000 to your employer if they drop your coverage. But as anyone can see, that $2,000 is significantly less than what they are paying for the plans. I don't know about you, but I call that an "incentive" to drop your healthcare plan.
I'm not going to bother going into why they set that fine so low, because that is laden political baggage, and I just want to talk about a real world affect here. Faced with saving that much money per employee, your employer WILL drop your insurance coverage. They won't all do it at first, but in each industry, in each sector, an employer will have difficulties and have no choice but to cut the plans. That will be the trigger for every other employer to do the same in order to stay competitive.
When your employer kills your fringe benefit of healthcare, that will reduce your total compensation by what they paid for your plan. So that means your compensation will decrease by $6,000 to $12,000. That will not be passed onto you in wages. Now you will need to go into a state exchange to buy insurance because you are required to carry it in Obamacare. Your old plan will probably be there, but it will cost $6,000 to $12,000 more than your share of it used to be, so you probably won't be able to afford your old plan.
In order to find a plan in the range of your old contribution to your old employer healthcare plan, you will need to buy a truly crummy plan. Many self employed are already familiar with this. You will have very high deductibles ($10,000 and up), and the plans will be even more restrictive than your current plans.
This is a serious flaw in the current health care plan, and it needs to be fixed. But if President Obama receives four more years, and the Senate remains in Democrat hands, it won't be. They own this bill, and it will not be in their interests to admit flaws, because they cannot blame "the other side" for them. If you and your family have a bit of bad luck, you may very easily find yourselves tens of thousands of dollars of medical debt in 4 years when you have your next chance to vote for President.
I've tried to avoid the hot topic political issues in discussing this. It is just my personal plea to you. The Obamacare bill is seriously flawed. It needs to be fixed. And the only way to do that is to create the environment in Washington where it can be, and that's by voting for Mitt Romney and a Republican for Senate, if you can. In two years, you can give the House or the Senate back to Democrats if you don't like the results. But if we don't, I don't think any of us will like the results.
This was pretty long, even for a blog post. So if you've gotten this far, thanks for considering what I had to say. Get out there on Tuesday and vote!
Sincerely,
Jib
By this point in this year's election, most candidates have stopped trying to win you over. Instead, the focus really turns from wooing you to getting their supporters to turn out. But I'm not a candidate, so I want to discuss with you why I am voting for Republicans. It isn't the normal talking points; instead, it is about my biggest fear if we do not elect Mitt Romney and a Republican Senate. And it all boils down to Obamacare.
Democrats played hardball when they crafted Obamacare. They did not wish to negotiate with Republicans, nor did they care for Republican input. Because they had majorities, they were able to do this and ultimately force the bill through on a Christmas Eve.
As an independent, I trust that you are exactly the type to mistrust legislation that one side bullies through, whichever side that may be. And the poll numbers have shown that most of you do. And some of you have legitimate fears about healthcare for yourself and/or your family, and this bill may appear to address those fears. I can respect that. But as this bill starts to take hold in 2013, their is one scary consequence, and I'm not talking about "death panels." I'm talking about your impending loss of you plan.
If you have an employee provided healthcare, as much it may enrage you, that plan costs your employer a huge amount of money. In addition to what you pay, your employer is probably contributing somewhere in the neighborhood of $6,000 to $12,000 a year for your healthcare plan. The Obamacare Bill provides what it calls a "penalty" of $2,000 to your employer if they drop your coverage. But as anyone can see, that $2,000 is significantly less than what they are paying for the plans. I don't know about you, but I call that an "incentive" to drop your healthcare plan.
I'm not going to bother going into why they set that fine so low, because that is laden political baggage, and I just want to talk about a real world affect here. Faced with saving that much money per employee, your employer WILL drop your insurance coverage. They won't all do it at first, but in each industry, in each sector, an employer will have difficulties and have no choice but to cut the plans. That will be the trigger for every other employer to do the same in order to stay competitive.
When your employer kills your fringe benefit of healthcare, that will reduce your total compensation by what they paid for your plan. So that means your compensation will decrease by $6,000 to $12,000. That will not be passed onto you in wages. Now you will need to go into a state exchange to buy insurance because you are required to carry it in Obamacare. Your old plan will probably be there, but it will cost $6,000 to $12,000 more than your share of it used to be, so you probably won't be able to afford your old plan.
In order to find a plan in the range of your old contribution to your old employer healthcare plan, you will need to buy a truly crummy plan. Many self employed are already familiar with this. You will have very high deductibles ($10,000 and up), and the plans will be even more restrictive than your current plans.
This is a serious flaw in the current health care plan, and it needs to be fixed. But if President Obama receives four more years, and the Senate remains in Democrat hands, it won't be. They own this bill, and it will not be in their interests to admit flaws, because they cannot blame "the other side" for them. If you and your family have a bit of bad luck, you may very easily find yourselves tens of thousands of dollars of medical debt in 4 years when you have your next chance to vote for President.
I've tried to avoid the hot topic political issues in discussing this. It is just my personal plea to you. The Obamacare bill is seriously flawed. It needs to be fixed. And the only way to do that is to create the environment in Washington where it can be, and that's by voting for Mitt Romney and a Republican for Senate, if you can. In two years, you can give the House or the Senate back to Democrats if you don't like the results. But if we don't, I don't think any of us will like the results.
This was pretty long, even for a blog post. So if you've gotten this far, thanks for considering what I had to say. Get out there on Tuesday and vote!
Sincerely,
Jib
Thursday, October 18, 2012
Friday, September 21, 2012
To Hell with Rally Monkeys
I present the Rally Monkees:
Wake up sleepy Gene!
Oh what can it mean
To a daydream Brewliever
And an NL MVP?
Wake up sleepy Gene!
Oh what can it mean
To a daydream Brewliever
And an NL MVP?
Space Shuttle on Tour
This is a pretty cool photo.
Space Shuttle Endeavour and the Golden Gate Bridge #flickrmeetup #spottheshuttle #ov105 flic.kr/p/dcNBxJ
— Flickr (@Flickr) September 21, 2012
Thursday, September 20, 2012
The "Who Me" Fart Bomb
I LOVE this:
Who Me was a top secret sulfurous stench weapon developed by the American Office of Strategic Services during World War II to be used by the French Resistance against German officers. Who Me smelled strongly of fecal matter, and was issued in pocket atomizers intended to be unobtrusively sprayed on a German officer, humiliating him and, by extension, demoralizing the occupying German forces.Interestingly, French Resistance was already getting stunning results from a "whoever smelt it, dealt it" whisper campaign.
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Talk Like a Yooper Day 2012
Sunday, September 16, 2012
2012 Milwaukee Brewers Review, a Touch Early
Let's review. Your Brewers lost an elite power hitter in the off season. Their other one was mired in controversy. The one they hired didn't hit for the first two months. Their all star 2nd baseman didn't hit until mid-July. They were decimated by injury at catcher, short, first, and pitcher. The bullpen was so bad that if it had just been average, they'd have 10 extra wins. This all led them to trade away a Cy Young Award winning pitcher. Yet this team is still in contention. Even if it ends with the regular season, what they are doing right now is pretty damn special. Appreciate it, fans, and have hope for '13. But hold onto that hope of a late September baseball fan - this might not end badly.
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
"The People Who Did This Will Hear All of Us Soon"
In light of events, this is required viewing today.
Welcome to 1979
Our diplomatic interests were attacked in the Middle East yesterday as we impotently watch. The economy is stagnant. President Obama, killer bunny rabbit is on line one. He says, "get your paddle ready."
Update
And it gets even worse as Libyans drag the corpse of Ambassador Christopher Stevens through the streets.
Update
And it gets even worse as Libyans drag the corpse of Ambassador Christopher Stevens through the streets.
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Caution: Hard Hat Area
If I'm going to start dabbling here again, I think this joint needs a renovation. Please bear with the current ugly theme. It won't last long.
Pre-9/11 Intel
This article, which actually covers another piece that is actually more of a political cudgel, indicates that there was intel in the months leading up to 9/11 that an attack was imminent. I'm not really interested in the political game being played with this, but the raw history of it. And from the raw history, I have no doubt that there were warnings.
Now, why do I say this? First, when there are historic attacks like this, there are almost always subtle and not so subtle warnings. Now, when we look back on them, we say, how could people have missed that? But the fact is that these events destroy old realities and create all new realities. When we view them from our new reality, yeah, they seem obvious. But if you let yourself revert to old mindsets and perceptions of the world as they were in that old reality, you find that the pieces don't fit so nicely. It is often the attack or the disaster that changes the focal length of what is going on and everything becomes clear.
Secondly, and this dogs me to this day, early that summer, I read an article that discussed the growing terror threat. It said that intelligence agencies were worried that terrorists were going to be changing their tactics, and I believe it had used some examples from the then recent years as examples of how that was happening. And it discussed some of the tactics terrorists might use, and I found it frightening and mind blowing. And one of those tactics was using airplanes as weapons. So this was, at least at some level below the public consciousness, out there well in advance of 9/11. I was so taken aback by the article that it was something I would have blogged about, but this was the pre-blog days when only a few people like Sean Hackbarth and Glenn Reynolds were doing what would later be known as blogging.
The article had already receded in my mind a bit by September 10th, 2001, but it shot to the forefront of my mind that next day. Unfortunately, I was never able to find it back, and I used all of my web research skills. But it had been out there. It was as though it vaguely predicted the attack, in a way. But here's the catch - the most important information needed to stop an attack - who was going to do it, when they would, what would they attack, and what with - that was all still a mystery until the morning of 9-11-01. And even then, we wouldn't really who did it for a while.
So while it is fun, and rather easy, to play political gotcha games in stories of intel, it is a disservice to the history. Hindsight is indeed 20-20, but the present is all too often some damn murky water.
Now, why do I say this? First, when there are historic attacks like this, there are almost always subtle and not so subtle warnings. Now, when we look back on them, we say, how could people have missed that? But the fact is that these events destroy old realities and create all new realities. When we view them from our new reality, yeah, they seem obvious. But if you let yourself revert to old mindsets and perceptions of the world as they were in that old reality, you find that the pieces don't fit so nicely. It is often the attack or the disaster that changes the focal length of what is going on and everything becomes clear.
Secondly, and this dogs me to this day, early that summer, I read an article that discussed the growing terror threat. It said that intelligence agencies were worried that terrorists were going to be changing their tactics, and I believe it had used some examples from the then recent years as examples of how that was happening. And it discussed some of the tactics terrorists might use, and I found it frightening and mind blowing. And one of those tactics was using airplanes as weapons. So this was, at least at some level below the public consciousness, out there well in advance of 9/11. I was so taken aback by the article that it was something I would have blogged about, but this was the pre-blog days when only a few people like Sean Hackbarth and Glenn Reynolds were doing what would later be known as blogging.
The article had already receded in my mind a bit by September 10th, 2001, but it shot to the forefront of my mind that next day. Unfortunately, I was never able to find it back, and I used all of my web research skills. But it had been out there. It was as though it vaguely predicted the attack, in a way. But here's the catch - the most important information needed to stop an attack - who was going to do it, when they would, what would they attack, and what with - that was all still a mystery until the morning of 9-11-01. And even then, we wouldn't really who did it for a while.
So while it is fun, and rather easy, to play political gotcha games in stories of intel, it is a disservice to the history. Hindsight is indeed 20-20, but the present is all too often some damn murky water.
Monday, September 10, 2012
Thursday, August 23, 2012
Monday, August 20, 2012
I Hate Words on Pictures
With the advent of Pinterest and Tumblr has come an odious new trend: People making statements by slapping words on pictures. And I loathe them. It is terribly easy to manipulate a message or take it out of its original context, they are difficult to debate because they cross into a visual medium, and it is easy for the person who re-posts them to deny them when called out on the dumb ones.
Because of this, I feel that I have no choice but to fight fire with fire. I did not want to do this, internet, but you give me no choice. Today, I begin to take over the brains of all of the citizens of the internet with words on pictures. Remember, you made me do this:
Because of this, I feel that I have no choice but to fight fire with fire. I did not want to do this, internet, but you give me no choice. Today, I begin to take over the brains of all of the citizens of the internet with words on pictures. Remember, you made me do this:
Sunday, August 19, 2012
Heroism
I typed this into "notes" on my phone in the early morning hours of 9/12/11, and then I forgot about it. Now that I found it back, I think I'll post it here, too.
There comes a moment in the lives of very few men and women when they accept, without emotional bias, that events have become larger than any one man, or even one thousand. In those moments comes a grim determination to do what they can to help save others for as long as luck, fate, and their maker allows. This acceptance of reality doth create heroism and bravery.
There comes a moment in the lives of very few men and women when they accept, without emotional bias, that events have become larger than any one man, or even one thousand. In those moments comes a grim determination to do what they can to help save others for as long as luck, fate, and their maker allows. This acceptance of reality doth create heroism and bravery.
Seemingly randomly, as events subside, some come to meet their maker, while others are allowed to persist and return to life. Invariably, those who have faced their end will tell all that they are not the hero, rather the heroes are those who faced hopelessness and lost. Yet the living remain heroes, for it takes much heroism to face death and still push forward, but it takes even more to survive and accept the gift of life again.
Thursday, August 09, 2012
Livestock Farmers: Halt Ethanol
This was bound to happen:
Livestock farmers and ranchers seeing their feed costs rise because of the worst drought in a quarter-century are demanding that the Environmental Protection Agency waive production requirements for corn-based ethanol.It is never a good idea rely on food producing acreage to instead fuel your economy. If supply is plentiful, let farmers decide, but don't mandate demand for, essentially, burning food.
Wednesday, August 08, 2012
Friday, May 04, 2012
The Fist
The fist that Wisconsin Public Union members have adopted as their logo is really unfortunate imagery. The right should be doing so much more to minimize them via that idiotic fist.
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