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An Evil Idea

Posted by Arik on Tuesday, July 28, 2009 6:33:08 PM
Today, at one of his signature pre-planned, staged "town hall meetings," in front o a bunch of "willing" seniors from the AARP, Our Commutard-in-Cheese had this to say:
 
"We also want to start rewarding doctors for quality, not just the quantity of care that they provide.  Instead of rewarding them for how many procedures they perform or how many tests they order, we'll bundle payments so providers aren't paid for every treatment they offer when they chronic -- to a patient with a chronic condition like diabetes, but instead are paid for how are they managing that disease overall."
 
Now, call me crazy, but I think what he's saying is that we should be paying doctors on the results of their work, rather than the process of treatment.  Call it Outcome Based Reimbursement if you like. Or, as I prefer, Merit Based Pay.
 
Interesting.
 
I have an idea.
 
An EEEEVIL idea.
 
Let's take this plan and transplant it. Instead of paying teachers on how many students they have, or how many students they graduate, let's pay them on how many of their students can read, and how many can do simple math problems. Merit Based Pay. Exactly what the Republicans have been arguing for for years.
 
Now, I hear the caterwauling: But, Arik, some kids don't do their homework, some kids don't have parental support, some kids are just plain dumb. You can't pay a teacher based on the work their students are willing to do.
 
To this I respond like so: Some patients refuse to take their pills. Some patients refuse to see a doctor until their problems are so far advanced it is impossible to save them. Some people just can't be helped. Medicine is still very much an ART, despite all of its scientific advances of the past century or so.
 
And, just curious: We can't objectively test schoolchildren with standardized tests without cries of racism, elitism, etc, etc, etc. This leads to the question:
 
Who is going to judge what is a successful outcome, and what is not?
 
King Beeyotch Obuttma, on his throne in Washington, just when you think his ideas can't get any more idiotic, comes up with a new one to top it.  If it weren't happening here, we'd all sit back and laugh, as I expect most of the rest of the world is now laughing at us for electing such a moron.
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Patience

Posted by Arik on Monday, July 27, 2009 6:01:35 PM
Let me start with a word to the wise - Don't start playing Mafia Wars, or Pirates, or any of the games like them on Facebook.  They are like crack for nerds and you will not be able to think of anything else.
 
Hi, my name's Arik, and I'm a Mafia Wars-aholic.
 
Anyway, Despite the fact that I haven't written anything for almost two weeks, I have been paying some attention to the non-Pirates world.  There's been a lot going on. The good news is that, according to Obviously unbiased columnist Paul Krugman from that bastion of unbiased reportage, the New York Times, the recession is over. In fact, some are saying that our economy hasn't been this good since the halcyon days just after Clinton rescued us from the economy of Bush the Elder.  So, let there be no more discussion, King Barry the Munificent  has now saved us from the greedy Wall Street Vampires. It's official.
 
But wait. What exactly are they basing this judgement on? Well, the stock market is up over 9000 for the first time in a while. Never mind that a few years ago it hit 14,400: Barry has brought the market back to life.  And what else do they cite? Well, that's pretty much it.  Remember when it hit that 14,400 under Bush? The only people getting rich, they told us, were the Evil Robber Barons on Wall Street; Main Street wasn't feeling any effect from that. Now that it's finally rebounded to 9000, everybody is apparently rolling in (freshly-minted) greenbacks. So say the media.
 
Now, I see signs that the economy may be sputtering back to life. And I do believe that Oblahma is responsible for that recovery. I just have a different view of how he's doing it.
 
First and foremost, we don't have Tax Cheat Timmy, he of the gigantic prosthetic forehead, trotting out there on a daily basis, telling us how he's going to dismantle the U.S. economy.  I think it is no coincidence that the market started stabilizing shortly after he and his inane, nonsensical blather disappeared from the national radar. When someone who obviously has no clue what they are doing is put in charge of reviving the U.S. economy, things are not going to go well. Now that we don't have to hear him yammer so much anymore, market confidence is slowly returning.  On the other hand, it would just take a few words from him to drop the market again. And Quickly.
 
Next up is a slowly-building rebellion among the so-called Blue-Dog democRats.  These are the guys who can't be out-and-out bugfork nuts, like the rest of the dems, because they face constituents who actually ponder the issues and candidates when voting, rather than just the 'd' or the 'R.'  As they slowly grow a pair of whatever kind of pair they need to grow, they will stand up to the Froot Loops in the rest of their party and start thinking of their constituents, especially as election time nears.
 
Lastly, does anyone remember when Dear Leader said that the market indices were sort of like a tracking poll? Well, guess what, it looks like he was right!  If you notice, as his approval ratings have trended steadily downward, the market has trended steadily upward.  As the Jackarse-in-Chief continues to try to ram his radical agenda down the throats of an unwilling populace, look for his numbers to drop even further. And look for the market to rise even higher.  People are coming to realize that this guy is not only NOT the second coming, but that he is little more than a pompous, arrogant stuffed-shirt who has about as much business being President of this great nation as I do of being President of the NAACP.  I can't even dance.
 
I'm starting to get a little more hopeful, seeing a little glimmer of sunlight from behind the clouds. DoucheBarry is starting to run out of political capital, a lot earlier than I think anyone expected, especially him.  He's resorting to threats and innuendoes now, instead of relying on what the democRats perceived as a mandate from the electorate, which means he's getting desparate, and while a desparate Oblahma may be a dangerous Oblahma, it is also an Oblahma that will soon collapse under the weight of its own self-importance, leaving America a better and safer place.
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A Quick Question

Posted by Arik on Sunday, July 12, 2009 6:28:29 PM
"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."
 
Let's accept this statement at face value and assume that it is true.
 
In modern society' hyper-charged, racially-motivated political atmosphere, would a "wise Latina" have chosen to make this statement?
 
Since Sotomayor is obviously Latina, and not likely to let us forget it, the emphasis here should be on her wisdom. How STUPID did she have to be to make this statement, given the modern state of racial politics, and, given that she actually DID make the statement, numerous times, what does that say about her wisdom?
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Here Comes the War

Posted by Arik on Friday, July 10, 2009 8:20:20 PM
Watching the news recently has become a painful ordeal.  I'm not talking about the "All-Michael, All-the-time" snoozefest we've had to deal with for the last two weeks, but the little nuggets of stuff that come in between people either fawning over or excoriating the late, self-proclaimed "king of pop."
 
Take a quick look around the world:
 
Iran - After a few days layoff, the demonstrations started up again the other day, as did the beatings of demonstrators.
 
China - Rioting Uighurs beaten down in the streets. 

Honduras - What is being incorrectly called a military coup ousts the president from office and sends him into exile.
 
What do these stories have in common? They are all about people fighting for freedom, attempting to throw the bonds of dictatorship and tyranny off of their respective nations and breathe in the air of liberty.  What else do they have in common? When you dig deeper, you find that the Tyrant King in Washington comes down firmly in support of the Tyrants in each of these other nations.
 
While other nations are fighting for Liberty and Independence from their oppressors, our nation is voting our oppressors into office, under the banner of "Hope and Change." The people were so cought up in the mantra of "Hope and Change," that they forgot to ask what kind of Change they were Hoping for.  As it turns out, there has been a lot of Change, but the only Hope I see is the Hope that we can get these Jackasses out of Washington before they finish the destruction of our nation started by Leftist Saint F.D. Roosevelt.
 
The democRats, under the leadership of King Hussein Obama, Banking Queen Barney, Dingy Harry Reid and Nancy the Red are putting the Constitution and the nation through the wringer, hoping to come out with a "New, Improved America," cast in their own image. 
 
Unfortunately, they are succeeding. 
 
Let's look at what they've inflicted on us so far. 
 
The Stimulus Package was little more than a trillion dollar pork barrel, which could have been more accurately called the "democRat Re-Election 2010 Act of 2009."  The Crap-and-Trade tax bill is working its way through the Capitol, in preparation for the annihilation of the American economy. Rather than correct the mistakes made in the mortgage crisis, leading into the economic collapse, caused by Barney Frank and Chris Dodd, the Fools on the Hill are wading deeper, though they were already in over their heads.  Witness the attempt at actually, physically, killing us off that is the Universal Healthcare Plan.  Pretty soon we won't have to worry about the Canadians coming here for actual quality medical care, because there won't be any here, either.
 
While the idiots in Washington are busy trying to loot all of the industries they've already screwed up, the Greenies around the country are trying to make life more difficult, if not impossible. By calling Carbon Dioxide a pollutant, it literally becomes possible to tax people for breathing. Well, not exactly, you can inhale for free; It's exhalation that you'll need to pay for.  The same people who are trying to get you to regress back to the stone age are flying around in private jets to spread their message of reducing emissions.
 
I see trouble on the horizon.
 
I want my kids, and my grandkids, and their grandkids, to grow up in a prosperous, free nation.  The democRats and their ilk want to curtail liberty and prosperity in order to aggrandize themselves, so that they may rule.  I cannot and will not stand for that. 
 
I think there is a war coming for this country; a war not with an external threat, or even a civil war, but a revolution, a deliberate break for independence from a central government which is attempting to become an oppressor, not a facilitator.  I don't know which states or locations are going to break away first, or which will remain, but I do know that I will be taking the side of the United States, and its Constitution. Since the "Constiutional Law Expert" in the White House apparently hasn't read, or can't read, the Constitution, I feel we should have no trouble taking it for our own use, as it seems to work, at least for people who care to follow it. We can probably also keep the name United States, as the Kenyan Usurper will probably want to go with the United Soviet Socialist States, which is much like his beloved USSR, only one more.  And they can also keep the massive debt they are incurring. I feel no responsibilty for it, as I am effectively without representation in Washington.
 
Oh, yes, I think there is going to be a war, not between black and white, rich and poor, North and South, but between those who want to be free and prosperous, and those who want to be subservient and simply subsist.
 
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Bodies

Posted by Arik on Saturday, July 04, 2009 8:16:00 PM
Question:  How many body bags have to be filled before a "Wise Latina" decides that maybe, just maybe, Affirmative Action isn't such a good idea.
 
Answer: All of them.
 
Of course, you could fill in any variety of liberal you like, in place of "Wise Latina."  Liberals are not much for reviewing their positions and considering new evidence, especially evidence that contradicts their quasi-religious belief system.  Just look at the Ricci case that was just recently decided in the Supreme Court. The Dissenting liberals, led by Ginsburg, decided that if enough blacks didn't score high enough, that was sufficient evidence that the testing was racially biased.  Ginsgurg even went so far as to say that written tests were naybe not the best way to determine firefighting ability.  This from a woman, as Ann Coulter so tactfully pointed out, whose entire career, from Primary school on, has been based on taking written tests.
 
Now,  I don't know about you, but if someone can't figure out the right answers on a test, with no pressure other than that of actually taking the test, Then I'm not sure that that is the person I want on the crew when my house is butning down, and my family is in danger.
 
We are quickly moving from a society in which ability is prized, to a society where whoever can claim to be the most victimized gets the prize: To the losers go the spoils. 
 
Is there anyone else out there that feels like they've suddenly awakened in a strange world, where what is logical and intelligent is shunned, and stupidity and rash behavior are at a premium?
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Transformers and Obama

Posted by Arik on Wednesday, July 01, 2009 9:48:20 PM
My wife and I took the kids to see the new Transformers movie this past weekend. It was pretty cool. It had Megan Fox running in slo-motion. And there was some other stuff, too. There was also one line in the movie that upset my wife a little, until I explained the (most likely unintended) logic behind it.
 
The line in question was a throwaway line, over a radio, or tv, or military communication of some sort, and I almost didn't hear it. It states simply that "President Obama" is being shuttled to a bunker in Kansas, or somewhere.  Now, putting the president in a bunker during a major crisis is pretty much S.O.P. What my wife objected to was the naming of a president at all, as most movies usually give a fake name, or just say "The President." Frankly, I think she was upset over nothing, but the mere mention of Ovomit sends her into paroxysms of nausea.
 
What I suspect the people behind this movie were trying to do was give a shout out to Oblahma in a big summer hit. Hollywood being what it is, I suspect the people behind the scenes are likely on the left. I know Spielberg is.  Anyway, what they ended up doing was making him look like an idiot.
 
In the movie, there is a guy who keeps giving the military grief. He is the typically Hollywood-style Washington bureaucrat vermin: kind of slinking, weaselly, thin and fond of throwing his authority around. This is where it gets good: He keeps telling everybody he speaks for the President, and that he intends to negotiate with the bad guy Decepticons, and tries to toss away the alliance with the good guy Autobots. Sort of a Palestinian/Israeli vibe going on there. The kicker is that he repeatedly tells everyone and anyone who will listen that he is speaking with the authority of the president, who we are informed in that one throwaway line, is Obama.
 
Now, like I said, Spielberg is a pretty liberal guy. I love his movies, and admire his skill as a both a director and a producer, even if I disagree with him often politically.  As an Executive Producer, he may not have had a hand in this, but that would be the only theory that makes sense if it is not an unintentional slam.  Is Spielberg taking a whack at Obama and standing up for Israel?  His Jewish heritage and advocacy are well known. I wonder if he added that as a "hidden" message, something an astute viewer would pick up on.
 
Of course, the best money is on it being inadvertent, but I like the idea that Hollywood might take a backhanded swipe at the Obamessiah.
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