February 18, 2009
Welcome to the Tribulation
One wonders if Barack Obama has a master plan to address his myriad concerns as he assays to transform America, or even if he has any plans at all. His approach thus far has been rather scattershot, what one generally calls not thought through. I find this lack of preparation shocking, especially in light of the fact his many supporters were rending their raiments during the transition period, and were lamenting the failure of George Bush to resign his office immediately so that the new Age of Reason could commence forthwith.
Judging by his first month in office I believe Obama could have spent more time actually performing the gritty task of transitioning, and less time enjoying the eucalyptus scent of his foot emollients. It seems the hard slog of screening and vetting spoilees, crafting a viable stimulus package, and bullheading a working pecking order with his comrades in the legislative branch were beneath his Caesarian impulses. One does not appear on the cover of every magazine in the nation without spending considerable time on photo shoots, after all. There seems to have been plenty of time allotted for these preening beefcake sessions, and little or no time or thought given to actual governance.
The charade of unvetted tax criminals offered up as administration rainmakers, coupled with an historic pilferage of the purse of the law-abiding citizens to prop up the rotted timbers of the defaulting classes, is unparalleled in recorded history. Obama's deliberate confiscation of the wealth of this and future generations' financial security to procure the devotion of the self-shattered Morlocks of the Failed Society will reverberate beyond our lifetimes.
The focused determination of this administration to buy off the derelict, the corrupted, and the shameless with the fruits of the honest will create a backlash that will be as horrific as it is avoidable. This is a nation, after all, that went to arms against the might of the beloved George Washington himself, and his federal bayonets, rather than have their fucking whiskey taxed. It's mine, damn it, they reasoned. I'll spill it or spoil it before you tax it.
We've lost a bit of that edge, of course, taxes being something not quite novel to us anymore. But as surely as I speak there will be backlash to the takings by force. We are not Europeans. We do not abide, nor tolerate. We will resort to barter, to cash, to hiding, to offshore, to like kind, to charitable contributions. Ultimately the rage of impotence against strongarming will lead to the kind of brother against brother animus we have mercifully avoided since 1865. And the cruel unnecessity of it all will rest solely upon Barack Obama's narrow, sloped shoulders.
The Laffer Curve and history have proved that lower taxes increase overall revenues. Likewise confiscatory taxes lead inevitably to tax avoidance, and the code of the smuggler. Obama is a smart fellow. He understands this. He likely reckons the proles are a bit too engrossed in their own personal tribulations to muster any defense against his glorious machinations.
We shall see what stern stuff Obama is made of when the remonstrances begin. Is he Ceascescu the Strong, or Bashar the Weak?
We shall see.
he is Wingnuthead the Stupid.
Posted by: og at February 18, 2009 8:46 PM"We shall see what stern stuff Obama is made of when the remonstrances begin. Is he Ceascescu the Strong, or Bashar the Weak?"
I think he's just an idealogue who has never run anything and who has never earned a buck in the private sector.
Put more simply, he's an ass.
Posted by: Jim - PRS at February 18, 2009 8:51 PMAs noted on Treacher's blog today: at least Jesus could assemble a cabinet.
We do not abide, nor tolerate. We will resort to barter, to cash, to hiding, to offshore
I'm thinking Belize...
Wingnuthead? YEAH! That's IT!
Posted by: PeggyU at February 18, 2009 9:22 PMThe Laffer Curve and history have proved that lower taxes increase overall revenues. Likewise confiscatory taxes lead inevitably to tax avoidance, and the code of the smuggler.We may be at the leading edge of an interesting experiment.
On one hand, I believe a great many Americans have lost more than a bit of that edge you describe. Political activism is generally what can be dished out from behind a screen, especially on the right. We have jobs, we just can't be arsed to take up paper-mâché heads and riot in the streets. It's bloody uncivilized. What would the neighbors think?
On the other hand, however, that same internet which so empowers the left has also given people on all points of the political spectrum a somewhat devil-may-care attitude toward property and piracy. An MP3 here, a movie there. It's all just bits and digits, what's the harm? You're not out bludgeoning some poor bastard for his paycheck, after all, so it's not really a crime. A venial sin, at worst. (Unless you're caught, poor bastards.)
So the willingness to be that smuggler, that pirate, that lawbreaker, is probably more prevalent in the average middle-class suburbanite than at any point in our history. That little angel who once sat on Jerry Mathers' right shoulder and tsked disapprovingly if he sneaked a bite of the pie cooling on the neighbor's windowsill isn't nearly as vocal as he used to be.
Long and short of it: the urge to active, armed resistance might be less common - but so, too, might be the moral compulsion to render unto Caesar simply because it's what a "proper" citizen does.
Posted by: apotheosis at February 18, 2009 9:27 PMMy $0.02: He's also a doooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooshbag.
Fucking HATE him.
Posted by: Erica at February 18, 2009 10:18 PMI'm not real bright and I've had something of bad week, so I'm trying to get my head around this. So please forgive the question.
Are you saying that this isn't Change We Can Believe In?
Jesus Christ and All The Dwarves in Disneyland, I'm starting to feel better about Canadian. Well, that and the free prostate exams. All I pay for is the Happy Ending.
Pure and simple, he's a physical coward and will be shown to be so.
Posted by: vanderleun at February 18, 2009 11:37 PMI'd say Ceascescu, if only because of the wife. Just wait, Michelle will be writing your science textbooks yet.
Posted by: skippystalin at February 19, 2009 12:03 AMI'm with Joan...and I know my way around Belize...
Posted by: Sam at February 19, 2009 7:42 AMThat makes 8 votes for Belize, because there are 6 of us.
Posted by: dr kill at February 19, 2009 8:11 AMI honeymooned in Belize. They offer you a 1 time tax exemption to move all your shit there, but once you're there, their tax rates are pretty high. OTOH if enough of us moved down there, we could probably change that.
Nice place Belize.
But re: V-Man's post, I think too many people are passive aggressive today rather than being plain old out-in-out aggressive, particularly the dreaded Generation Y. But it's true of the other generations as well. I think the more likely outcome is mass tax avoidance, use of cash (probably Euros or gold) etc. I doubt we'll ever see anything as dramatic as Shay's Rebellion in our lifetimes...
Posted by: rob sama at February 19, 2009 9:28 AM”There was underlying concerns we had become too regionalized and the party needed to reach beyond our comfort” zones, Republican National Committee Chairman Michael S. Steele said, citing defeats in such states as Virginia and North Carolina. “We need messengers to really capture that region - young, Hispanic, black, a cross section ... We want to convey that the modern-day GOP looks like the conservative party that stands on principles. But we want to apply them to urban-surburban hip-hop settings.” --Your Leader.
You homies down with it?
Posted by: Erin O'Brien at February 19, 2009 12:38 PMLaffer is undoubtedly correct, although you cannot convince a liberal of that unless he is tied to a board and tilted back.
But until we control the animal that lower tax rates (and less regulation) leaves open--greater government revenues--we will pay for being right.
Because each time we clean up the mess of the liberal state with this "theory" we see government vastly expand with the greater revenues. Catch 22.
Steele's just the Republicans' Uncle Tom token, Erin. You should know that. As a conservative, why, he's not even an authentic black man. He's just a fucking Oreo. Therefore anything he says is suspect. Just like Clarence Thomas. We're hoping his wife takes Julianne Malveaux's advice for Thomas's wife, and feeds him lots of eggs and butter so he dies early.
Having said that, I'll hang with homey. He's phat. Fo' shizzle.
Posted by: Velociman at February 19, 2009 3:00 PMerin must not have gotten a ride on girth vader. shes still alive. pity.
Posted by: og at February 19, 2009 3:17 PMerin must not have gotten a ride on girth vader. shes still alive. pity.
Posted by: og at February 19, 2009 4:02 PMDon't be picking on Morlocks, okay? Those are my paternal ancestors you're talking about. (Seriously, Dude -- that's my maiden name.)
Posted by: Omnibus Driver at February 19, 2009 4:11 PMDearest Og,
You, Mister Man, need to be a little less grumpy! Try this:
1. Go find a playmate--maybe that Joanie chick who hangs around here. She seems like she could use a little loosening up as well.
2. Do a fun Earth activity together like make Joanie a macrame bikini or bake organic oatmeal raisin cookies. Wait, I know! Tie a bandanna around your dog's neck and frolic and laugh in a green meadow.
3. Then, as Father Sky pulls a velvet blue blanket over Mother Earth at the end of the day, fill two goblets with dandelion wine.
4. Spark up a patchouli-scented candle.
5. Put on some Peter, Paul and Mary.
I'll leave you two crazy kids to figure out number 6 all on your own!
Posted by: Erin O'Brien at February 20, 2009 6:47 AMErin: How about this?
1: You go pound sand.
Posted by: og at February 20, 2009 7:47 AMOg? Did you used to spell your name with two g's?
Posted by: Erin O'Brien at February 20, 2009 8:46 AMErin:
If you hate the views of this blog then why do you visit? Perchance to learn, mayhaps to be enlightened, most likely to bash. Go hump your chair somewhere else. Luvya, Mike
Dang, guys cut it out , she might show Vman her tits.
Posted by: james old guy at February 20, 2009 10:01 AMIs he Ceascescu the Strong, or Bashar the Weak?
How about Mugabe the Inflated?
Maybe I'll just show one boob. Should it be the big one or the bigger one?
Posted by: Erin O'Brien at February 20, 2009 4:56 PMThe middle one, Erin!
Posted by: Velociman at February 20, 2009 5:36 PMWe may find out first hand about the truth of the Laffer Curve as the Bush' tax cuts expire.
And even if the cuts are made permanent congressional spending that weakens our currency is about the same as taxation. It in fact lessens our buying power just as taxation does and will finish off our dying economy.
Hope you got a lot of that most precious of metals...lead...stashed. Even if you don't use it for varmits...two legged and other kind you will be able to use it for barter.
Posted by: GUYK at February 20, 2009 7:05 PMYes, Erin, the middle one. The one between your ears.
Posted by: Joan of Argghh! at February 20, 2009 8:46 PM You forget Velocidude, that THE ONE thinks that the mainstream media will always cover his stinking tracks with rosewater, thus he will continue to poke a stick in the eye of us regular folks until there is real rage. The rage of the common folk will quite possibly dwarf the apoplexy of the lefty twits.
What will probably result in all of this will prove Glenn Beck correct, and I used to think of him as just an entertaining nutjob.
Anyhoo, I am stocked up on shitpaper and cartridges, so I gots my ass covered.
I am hoping for Bashar the Weak. The opposite might actually get more people killed.
Now, slurring into my Peter Griffin persona, it's like our Attorney General claiming that we have a lot of cowardly racists. To me, that is the best kind. It is a good thing. I want as many racists as possible to be cowardly. It beats the hell out of Europe, where they are much bolder and out in the open.
One more reason why the USA is better in every way than the Europe that is beloved by liberals and socialists.
Posted by: Cappy at February 21, 2009 12:34 PMWell, if he finally follows through on his promise to get a dog for his girls, and then chooses to name him 'Corbu', we'll have our answer.
Or, at least we'll know to whom he aspires.
Posted by: jmflynny at February 21, 2009 2:39 PMWell, if he finally follows through on his promise to get a dog for his girls, and then chooses to name him 'Corbu', we'll have our answer.
Or, at least we'll know to whom he aspires.
Posted by: jmflynny at February 21, 2009 2:41 PM