An Oxymoron: Government Health "Care"

By Michael Prell

"The Greatest Canadian," according to Canadians themselves, was Tommy Douglas: the socialist who created socialized health care. Canadians from coast to coast regularly wait up to 36 weeks for an MRI. The average emergency room visit is 6 hours -- just to be seen. Stretchers pile up in hospital hallways. People wait years to get family doctors. And my mother's three year ordeal with pain was so dehumanizing she almost killed herself.

These are the people who voted for their slavemaster as The Greatest to ever walk among them. That is what public health care will do to you. It won't just make you a prisoner of the system. It won't just destroy the great American spirit of self-reliance. It will weaken you to the point where you look upon those who enslave you as your heroes.
Read more here

The Lying Liars

How Politicians Lie About “Budget Cuts”

By Thomas DiLorenzo on July 22, 2009 12:08 PM

An old political game is for a governor of a state to PROPOSE say, a $2billion increase in next year’s budget, and then when the legislature can “only” squeeeze another $1.5 billion out of the poor, hapless and helpless taxpayers, the Gov. then decries a “half billion dollars in budget CUTS.” Since most newspapers are little more than the propaganda arms of big government in each state, there is then a chorus of crying, sobbing, moaning, gnashing of teeth, whimpering, and doomsaying over the social catastrophe that is surely imminent.

Of course, there have been no budget “cuts” at all, but a gigantic budget increase of one and a half billion dollars in my example. This dishonest scam is currently being played out in Maryland (and in most other states). The front page of todays’ Baltimore Sun, the propaganda rag of the state Democratic Party, screams, “[Governor] O’Malley Proposes Millions in Cuts“!!!!!!!!!

If one scrolls down to the sixth paragraph of the article, one reads in the first sentence that “Since taking office [three years ago], O’Malley has reduced spending by more than $3 billion.” But then the last sentence of the paragraph contradicts this, saying: “[T]he size of Maryland’s overall budget, which includes federal funds . . . has grown over the past three years” (emphasis added).

So what has been “cut” is O’Malley’s pie-in-the-sky wish list of billions of dollars of goodies to be passed out to any and every special-interest group in the state. In reality, Maryland state government is still growing by leaps and bounds and should be cut at least in half — for starters.

Greens Hate the Poor

By Lew Rockwell

Concerning Rob’s comment below, the whole environmental movement is an attack on the poor, when it isn’t just plain anti-human. Virtually everything that movement advocates is designed to make life better, as they see it, for the upper-class types who founded it and have always run it, at the expense particularly of the poor and working class. Even their foot soldiers are upper-middle class types. Folks, our anti-capitalist enemies are by and large the rich who want to use the state to keep them that way, and to prevent others from getting rich through the market. Their slogan might as well be, “No Upward Social Mobility.”

The Left Hates the Poor

By Lew Rockwell

The Left, which represents the wealthiest people in society, can’t stand the poor unless they are on the state payroll and enlisted in its army of crime. Why else the hate campaign against Wal-Mart, which has done more for the poor than all the non-profit charitable programs put together, and certainly more than welfare? And now look at this: IKEA, the progressives’ favorite (and one of mine too), is a problem because it also promotes the idea of low prices. Stephanie Zacharek of Salon, which caters to the wealthy Left, in reviewing a new anti-poor book, longs for the days of expensive, detailed craftsmanship. How horrible that cheap goods are available to society. IKEA, she says, is “as bad as Wal-Mart.” This is criticism? Save Money, Live Better.

UPDATE from Rob Worsnop:

And also isn’t the ridiculous “Cash for Clunkers” program an attack on the poor? In order for this program to be judged “successful”, surely we would be seeing large numbers of vehicles, whose value happens to fall below $3500 or $4500, disappear from the market. So then what is left for the poor to buy? New vehicles? I don’t think so.

I was thinking yesterday what a disgrace it would be for my 1996 Nissan Pickup, with only 90K on the clock, to be crushed under supervision of the Federal Government instead of being sold on to someone of modest means.

True Bliss

Boo Got Shot!!

Boo Got Shot - Animation - video powered by Metacafe

New Santa

Just a reminder for 2008. All of you Elves i.e. taxpayers will be working overtime this year.

Tis The Season

Pogo, as well as Albert Alligator, Owl and the rest of the gang living here in the Okefenokee Swamp wish all our friends (and others) the very best of this season, whatever you may call it!!

Pogo 'Possum

A friendly cartoon swamp creature comments wryly on politics and philosophy. Walt Kelly, a cartoonist and movie animator, visited the Okefenokee Swamp in 1942 and was inspired to draw some "swamp critters." Pogo ‘Possum appeared in comic books in the early 1940’s and became the star of a nationally syndicated newspaper comic strip in 1949. Declaring "We have met the enemy and he is us," Pogo poked fun at the vanity and shortcomings of people everywhere. The General Assembly voted Pogo the Georgia State ‘Possum in 1992.

Islamist Fashion

This is the latest in desert chic (did I spell that right?)

Arise Marsupials

Currently we marsupials are at risk of becoming endangered creatures in that continent most famous for our species to wit: Australia. Fortunately the Aussies have devised several strategies for dealing with the threat of the cane toads.

Islamo-Fascist Awareness Week

Time for wakeup call!!

"Torture" at Club Gitmo?

Human Rights Watch which has thus far failed to decry the terrorist murders committed by various Muslim organizations has called for "... a ban on abusive interrogations, and full respect for the Geneva Conventions regarding prisoners of war".

''Most of the detainees desperately want to go home. But there are a small number who are at such grave risk of torture that they would rather stay in Guantánamo,'' said Jennifer Daskal, advocacy director in Washington. She urged the Pentagon to establish a ``transparent process for this small set of detainees to raise fears of torture and have their claims evaluated, before the U.S. government sends people back to a fate worse than Guantánamo. [???]''

In bin Omar's case, she said, ``the United States got diplomatic assurances from Tunisia -- a no-torture promise from a country with a documented record of torture. How are they enforced? Who is doing the monitoring?'' [has Human Rights Watch considered condemning Tunisia, or is it more fun to condemn the U.S.?]

Human Rights Watch is demanding that a special prosecutor be named to investigate former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, former CIA director George Tenet and other top officials for "possible war crimes related to the torture and abuse of prisoners."

Don't Worry! Be Happy

London Mayor "Red Ken" Livingstone states that Londoners have no worries over threats of terrorist bomb attacks as the recent foiled car bomb incidents reveal the "amateurish" competence of the arrested muslims. He goes on to state:

"In this city, Muslims are more likely to be law-abiding [sharia?] than non-Muslims and less likely to support the use of violence to achieve political ends than non-Muslims," he told BBC Radio.

What planet is this jerk from?

The Pogo Party

Those of you who are interested in offending the ignorati, supporting Freedom and Anarchy are urged to consider joining the POGO party!

http://mitglieder.pogo-partei.de/website/action/sub/home/index.php?skin=website_std

The Fourth Reich

A GERMAN school bus driver could face jail time for giving the stiff-armed Hitler salute to pupils as they boarded each day.

Police said they also found compact discs with neo-Nazi rock music on board the bus in the southern town of Vilshofen and were investigating whether the 39-year-old driver had played them for the adolescents.

Teachers had reported the driver to police, accusing him of giving far-right CDs to the children.

The suspect admitted during questioning to regularly giving the Nazi salute to the pupils over the course of several weeks.

Germany's Basic Law bans the use of Nazi symbols, punishable by up to three years in prison.

Source

ht/ John Ray

Economics

Joe Crowley 10 23 06

A BBC article says $170 million in food aid will be needed to feed 2 million people in southern Afghanistan this winter. That works out to a per-person price equal to the street price of one gram of heroin. Since the food shortages are being blamed on the cultivation of opium poppies instead of food, why not have the 2 million soon to be starving Afghanis demand the $170 million from the Taliban? Sure it’s a double edged propaganda sword but I’d bet bags of burgers to bowls of air that the Taliban doesn’t have any C-130s full of food aid waiting to take off from super-secret hanger-caves.

ht/ American Thinker

Important Message

URGENT! Please send 300 kilos of white mice. No time to explain.

Address/dirección: Yate Rubicon
cuidado de: Capitania de Puerto
Marina Chapalin,
Playa Varadero, Cuba

The Switch

Pogo has switched to blogger's beta version. Hope it works.

Pogo