Saturday Night Explains Obamacare

[Adult theme warning]

It's not a critical so much, but I have to think it's a major step forward that comedians are finally able to at least examine this president's policies.

The shutdown? I'm hoping that it doesn't happen. I think the best argument against Obamacare is Obamacare. Let it crash and burn on its own, with no exemptions for Congress, unions, or well connected companies. Apply it to everyone and you'll see how popular it is.

Oh also -- Breaking Bad's Walter White wouldn't have been helped by Obamacare. Walt had insurance but wanted to go outside of his HMO's participating physicians. That's a situation that will likely get worse under Obamacare as insurance companies are forced to cut costs.

Care This!

Afford This

Undoable Care Act

Abominable Care Act

@AdorableCareAct But we liked the Vet we have now. pic.twitter.com/cdt6c8cO6s
— rodger thomas (@welumberjacks) September 27, 2013

What Do We Want?

via

Climate Fairy Tale

Der Spiegel reports:

German ministries insist that it is important not to detract from the effectiveness of climate change warnings by discussing the past 15 years’ lack of global warming. Doing so, they say, would result in a loss of the support necessary for pursuing rigorous climate policies.

See what they're saying? Don't do the science because it will detract from the conclusion. Don't examine reality because it may hurt the illusion.

I used to think expectations just made proper science harder. It appears that sometimes they make it impossible.  And we'll be paying $4.00/gal for gas before the data wrestles Al Gore to the ground.

via 

***Update: 
Alec Torres at NRO:

The EPA recently announced new regulations limiting the carbon produced by power companies as part of a greater effort to curb climate change. However, on the 346th page of the 463-page report, under a section entitled “Impacts of the Proposed Action,” the EPA admits that it doesn’t think the new rules will reduce emissions of CO2, a major greenhouse gas, in any major way.

According to the report, “The EPA does not anticipate that this proposed rule will result in notable CO2 emission changes.” They released a press statement the same day the report was made public announcing their decision to “cut carbon pollution from new power plants in order to combat climate change.”

Last month, President Obama directed the EPA and the EPA’s new chief administrator, Gina McCarthy, to make climate change their top priority. Regulations the agency itself thinks won’t help are an interesting start.

Don't let the 15 year proof that the models aren't adequate  affect the pursuit of "rigorous climate policies." EPA's policy will affect coal miners, transporters, power plant workers, and the price of electricity. But it won't affect the climate.

Burglar in Training

This is a good one to watch when you're having a bad day. Sure, the losing the Peterman contract hurt, but at least you didn't crash to the ground three times.

Physics

Know my problem with string theory? I can barely handle the first four dimensions, and string theory posits six more. Still, they don't call skeptics "deniers" yet. There's that.

Know the difference between skeptic and denier? Advocates call you a 'skeptic' if you think a theory is questionable. On the other hand, advocates call you a 'denier' if you think a theory is questionable, and they're jerks.

Cute Enough for Government Work

As you probably already know, every Thursday we like to blah blah blah...

Bear Wrestler vs. Winnie the Pooh

Lee Smith, in the weekly Standard:

Give Vladimir Putin his due. With his proposal to put Syrian president Bashar al-Assad’s chemical weapons under international control, he proved he was more than a mere thug who expresses his self-regard by posing bare-chested, dating teenage gymnasts, and wrestling wild game. In showing his subtlety and cunning, Putin reminded us that his professional training as an intelligence officer (not to mention his judo hobby) taught him to zero in on human vulnerabilities and exploit them. Obama is vain. Putin saw that the American president always needs to look good. 

Thus, after years of denigrating the president and his staff, Putin spared Obama a devastating defeat on Capitol Hill by repackaging humiliation as a diplomatic win for a president whose motto is that he came to end wars, not to start them. It mattered little to Putin that the White House claimed credit for the initiative, that administration spokesmen said Obama officials had broached the subject with Moscow over a year ago, that the Obama team pretended it was the president’s threat of force that had prompted the diplomatic breakthrough. Let Obama boast of another beautiful victory: Putin knew that he had exposed an American president too timid to fire a dozen cruise missiles into the Syrian desert as indecisive, unreliable, and weak. To American allies, a president who makes good on neither his promises nor his threats is a liability.

I think that sums it up nicely.

I heard some Democrat on the radio parroting the talking point that the president's "threat of force" made this "breakthrough" possible. What struck me though was how tentatively he said it; like he wasn't sure if he could get away this particular whopper. What threat of force? Do nations now tremble when Obama says he intends to seek Congressional authorization to use an unbelievably small force against them?

Haven't We All Done This?

Sometimes the Eagles can make you a little stabby:

Police in South Carolina arrested a North Charleston woman Monday night after she allegedly stabbed her roommate multiple times for refusing to stop playing music by the classic rock band The Eagles.

According to the official report, Vernett Bader, 54, became irritated with her 64-year-old roommate (and one-time boyfriend) after he rejected her pleas to turn off the Eagles and told her to "shut up."

Bader then entered the kitchen and grabbed a serrated knife, which she subsequently used to stab her roommate several times in the arm, hand, and elbow.

The roommate and his brother managed to wrestle the knife away from Bader, but she quickly retrieved another from the kitchen.

All three were intoxicated at the time, per the report.

 They don't say which song was the last straw, but my money's on "Peaceful Easy Feeling".

A Matter of Style

 

Don't get me wrong, I heartily approve of taking your kids on rides. Just posted these for the contrast.

And anyway, which one is listening in on the most citizens? We may well take the macho cake in that category. (against a KGB guy!)

Another thought: What diet do you suppose Vladimir Putin's wife would be  dictating for the Russian people had he not divorced her earlier this year? I bet she could have beaten more-water-less-salt. Vodka and beets for everyone!

(Also: more-water-less-salt - do you suppose she's experimenting on our kidneys?)

Cat Cannons

Not even once!

via

By Request

Too many muscles and too much chest hair but the "slack power" seems about right.

Fun with the NSA

An Iranian/Netherlander filmmaker calls up the NSA asking about a lost email. Would they possibly have a copy they could send him? Well, if they weren't saving his mail before, they are now.

I'm sure the NSA lady suspected this was a joke, but had to continue the call just in case it wasn't. Meanwhile technicians were scrambling in the background; getting GPS coordinates for a possible drone strike should he suddenly admit to terrorist intentions.

I long for the good old days, when you could call up the White House and ask for Spiro Agnew's shoe size, and they couldn't trace the call unless you stayed on for longer than three minutes.

The President Clears Up a Few Things, Well, Not Really

So far I haven't learned anything about our relationship to Syria that couldn't have been better explained to me through the vehicle of interpretive dance.

Found

I was all ready to mock Kerry's "unbelievably small" military response with toy soldiers, but someone at NRO beat me to it. So instead, here's some found images:

And while we're at it, another found image:

Unifirepiper

This wouldn't work in the woods. First, there'd be (glorious) fallen trees to navigate. Then there's the possibility of flaming squirrels and owls which is a little bit dangerous, and not nearly as awesome as you'd think. (unless it's at night, in which case yeah, it's a pretty awesome sight)

But you really don't need entertainment at a logging camp. When it gets boring we'll institute Talk Like a Pirate Tuesday, or have a tree felling competition while wearing lipstick. (putting on lipstick in no way affects the tree felling, I know, but I don't think the new guys have figured that out yet)

Just One of Those Days

Life can be so frustrating sometimes that you just 

want to take off the head and fume for a bit.

Inability to Act

Images like the one that's (not really) on the TV screen are starting to proliferate in Yurup and the FSU. And we can only hope Obama is learning something from it. If he was entirely sure that Assad had used chemical weapons and that he needed to send a message, he should have struck quickly and explained himself later. This would be winding down now if he had.

Russian Racism

I found this on a Russian Live Journal entry. I don't speak Russian so maybe it isn't in reference to Обама, but I may as well get out front on this one and make denunciations early and often. At the very least, I can say that this isn't a good time to be posting pictures of monkeys with grenades.

Where am I on the question of Red Lines? I think you should only draw them if you are ready and willing to act swiftly once they are crossed. Obama wasn't clear about what he would do once the red line was crossed, but he at least implied he would do something.  Passing the problem to Congress isn't taking action, it's taking cover.

Now we're coming up on the first anniversary of the Benghazi attack. The administration didn't act there because "exact conditions on the ground in Benghazi were unknown".  That excuse should have been a big Check Engine light regarding Obama's willingness to use force in the Middle East. If he wasn't willing to take a risk when American lives were at stake, how can you expect him to stick his neck out now?

This looks for all the world like the guy who voted "present" back in the Illinois legislature. (for the short time he was there) He's a guy who doesn't know how to lead and didn't understand that the job required leadership. Now he'd like to go back on vacation please. Look at those abs. He sure looks like he's enjoying that snow cone.

Where do I stand? I'm still not sure we know who used chemical weapons, so I'm:

 

Found Clever

Found this and wondered, "How would I draw the French army?"

Then a quick google showed that someone had beat me to it:

So Hollande is telling Assad that he better not use chemical weapons. And Assad asks, "Who'll stop me?" Hollande blusters, "I'll stop you!"

"Oh yeah? You and what army?"

Just Sayin'

from wikipedia:

False flag (or black flag) describes covert military or paramilitary operations designed to deceive in such a way that the operations appear as though they are being carried out by other entities, groups or nations than those who actually planned and executed them.

 I guess the question is: Do you trust these guys?

Presidential Selfie

Wish I could say I made this one, but it came from here. (based on this, I believe)