March Madness Dominates America - Obamacare and NCAA Championships

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This year we are treated to two types of March Madness as the NCAA Basketball championships, the annual rite of passage to spring in America, gets underway. Things are a little different this year and not just because Obama has intruded on the publicity surrounding March Madness basketball style.

That in itself is enough to upset the millions of basketball loving Americans as how many overtimes does the president get before he stops trying to dominate the headlines? He started his health reform game over a year ago and now we are to believe it will finally be over. It almost sounds too good to be true that Congress could actually get off health care and start worrying about the economy.



Of course the Obama, Pelosi and Reid team seem hell bent toward leaving the Constitution a shambles before they give up the battle with all their manipulation of Senate and House rules but then Obama, as a constitutional lawyer, knows exactly what he is doing.

Now over 2,700 pages are required to explain what the government will do for the Obama plan and that is only the beginning as there will be thousands, maybe tens of thousands of pages of federal regulations needed to make it possible. So let's say Obama will have to generate 25,000 pages of law and regulations, maybe more, to change our health care.



What is behind the health care bill that even the Congress has not seen although it will be voted on this week? We know there are union protections, Obama has already generated billions of dollars in savings for the bosses. We also know he intends to insure 30 million more people and stop insurance companies for pre-existing condition service denials.

Of course what we don't know is what Pelosi and Reid and Obama have promised those Democrats whose arms they are twisting. The dreaded Nebraska, Louisiana and Florida bribes given for the Senate and House votes may seem like child's play before this week is over. What is the value to Obama for those last few votes?



Does this bill address the primary concerns of health care? It seems Congress is not going to be too hard on those health insurance and service providers when they have poured tens of millions of dollars into the Democrats campaign funds. Do you think these companies are stupid enough to pay off the congressmen if they are going to be punished? There is no more chance of this happening than Obama will punish and prosecute the Wall Street executives who nearly brought the world economy down.

Wall Street continues with their swaps, derivatives and Repo 105 games making billions more at the expense of the consumer and even the federal regulatory controls proposed by Obama and the Democrat majority will not stop them nor the illegal actions by the rating companies who falsely valued the stocks in the first place. Money bought Wall Street protection and money will buy the health industry protection because the president and congress are addicted to the campaign slush funds from the bad guys.



Now Obama has talked about how, well with the help of a Republican proposal, he will fight fraud and corruption in health care. Doesn't it seem odd that he just decided to attack it after talking health care for a year? But what is he doing to fight artificially high prices for drugs, unnecessary treatment, or even the huge costs of malpractice insurance? Your guess is as good as mine but remember the banks, drug companies and trial lawyers who bring those malpractice suits are among his biggest contributors.

I think there are more unanswered questions than answers and if we are betting 16% of our GNP on more government control, regulation and take overs fixing things we have a very short memory about the ability of government to run businesses. Did we forget that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were government run programs and both required, and still require, billions of dollars to bail them out of the mess they made of the housing and mortgage markets?



Am Trak has not been such a sterling example of government success nor has the Postal Service. Even Obama himself says Medicare is a disaster. Social Security is on the brink of bankruptcy. The CDC and health department have generated massive losses with stupid vaccination scares and hysteria. Fact is it is hard to find anything the government has done that worked like expected and nothing the government has done cost what was expected.

I may have a simple view of things but as least I'm not trying to hide my motives and actions in a fog and hope the voters forget it in time. I don't see how 30 million more people can be insured at no cost. I don't see where the doctors and nurses are going to come from to treat 30 million more people when there is already a shortage of hospitals, doctors and nurses. I don't see how drug costs are going to go down.



I don't understand why we have to have health insurance that doesn't work. Why do we have to pay for what we don't need in the first place? Government has no more business requiring health insurance than it has spending billions of dollars in foreign aid to countries and organizations that are not our friends. Stop throwing away international aid and use that money to fund health care.



As for the other March Madness, the one we expected, let us hope it provides a great diversion from the ongoing efforts in our nation's capitol to steal America for the special interests. I think it is time Obama foul out of his game and go to the bench. As for Congress, they should be thrown off the court for throwing the game they were sent to play.



Go Kansas, Kentucky, Duke and Syracuse, beat those scoundrels like Obama, Pelosi and Reid off the television airways so we can finally get a breath of fresh air. By the way, wouldn't a ban of congress result in a great reduction of hot gas emission from our country? Maybe Gore should work on that if he really wants to clean up the environment.

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Cyber Day against Cyber Censorship - Why not Cyber Day for True Computer Security?

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Today is Cyber Day against Cyber censorship. What in the world does that mean? Did the New World Order take control of the Internet and decide on behalf of all nations there will be no censorship of all the stuff on the Internet?

I don't remember anything in our Constitution that says you can promote triple X rated pornography, or prostitution rings, child porn, brutal video games or pedophiles on the Internet. In fact the Internet users are being ripped off to the tune of billions of dollars by all the things being stolen from them on the Internet from identity theft to credit card theft to cell phone theft to bank and medical records.



Today should be the day of Cyber Truth on the Internet because no one seems interested in the truth and no one seems capable to telling it to us. The truth is this, you are not really protected on the Internet by any security system, antivirus, antiphishing, malware of any other type of digital crime whose purpose is to steal your records.

Not a day goes by that some company does not admit records were stolen, the banks don't report the theft of millions of credit card numbers, or that your personal records are so secure that you don't need to check your phone or credit card statements for false billings. Yet if you listen to the many computer security pitches you would think the protection you are paying for will be there.



So far a security system that really does protect your records does not exist, even though billions of dollars are being spent on computer security. Even the most protected sites in the world, those of the governments, defense and intelligence agencies are routinely hacked and disabled.

Digital crime is a multi-billion dollar business and those stakes have attracted the best, brightest and most devious in the world to figure out every possible way to steal you blind and right now you can count on being a victim because there is nothing to stop you from being a victim.



As you and your life become more and more dependent on the Internet you become more and more vulnerable to attack. We are headed for a paperless economy and that means even money in your pocket will become a thing of the past. Every transaction you make will be over the Internet and the truth is if there was a way to protect those transactions it would be a great benefit to mankind. See if you can get an ironclad guarantee for protection from any digital attack.

I challenge you to find any computer security firm in the world that offers a way to detect digital attacks and destroy the attack before it gets in your machine. It would take a revolutionary new approach to computers with futuristic design concepts to truly outwit the hackers of the world and keep your computer truly protected.



Let me know if you hear of such a solution because right now our future is bleak.

ABBA Inducted into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

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Oh my goodness, ABBA will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of fame this year. Is it possible the pop icons have been around that long. I mean, they retired 28 long years ago and still I know the words to practically every famous ABBA song.



They are on Broadway, in movies and commercials all over the world and they haven't even been together for over a quarter century. John Lennon was killed and Ronald Reagan was elected before they retired in 1982 yet still ABBA songs keep pounding through my memory banks.





I think it was the feel good music and the crisp harmonies that made he music of ABBA so enduring. They made us feel good at a time we needed it most, the post Watergate and post Viet Nam eras. Our embassy staff in Iran were being held hostage and the economy was a disaster but there was ABBA, making you smile, laugh and dance through the chaos and confusion.





We need another ABBA right now because it has always been music that helped pull us out of the spiraling blues like ABBA in the 1980's or the musical Annie during the Great Depression. Music is a vital part of our culture and consciousness, it always has been, yet there is no Beatles, ABBA or anything comparable in this day and age. I say the economy will get fixed and the wars will end when the music is heard again in America.



For now I will be content playing old ABBA songs. For a real treat check out this video of the Eurovision Competition in 1974 when ABBA first performed on international television, an unknown group from Sweden.



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Democrats Continue Demolition Derby as Godmother Pelosi Protects Pandering Politicians!

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Just when you think sex in the city couldn't get any worse Eric Massa, former Congressman from way Upstate New York (29th District), gave mainstream media a reason to remain in the gutter with the supermarket rags while the Godmother, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, added fuel to the meltdown.



Massa is giving us a whole new set of word definitions along with insight into the unusual party favors in Washington. It started off innocent enough Tuesday when the media got wind that Massa was having a meltdown because of another ethics problem but intensified when Massa went on the Glenn Beck Show and the show of the poster boy for health care reform, Larry King, to explain himself.



What a mistake. First we learned a whole new definition for the home Congressional District for Massa. And we always thought a swing district was one that went from being Republican to Democrat and back in elections.



There are Red states who vote Republican. They are called Red because the media wants you to associate Republicans with Communism. The Blue states are Democrat. Now Blue stands for being conservative and pure, like the Virgin Mary, neither having anything to do with Democrats. So you might say the media reference to Democrat states as Blue is an effort to make you forget what they really stand for.



Some states aren't really red or Blue because they vote Democrat one year and Republican the next. So they are called swing states. What color do you think the media assigned this group? Purple, the color that implies royalty, mystery, nobility and spirituality. Now that is a mouthful. But I guess what the media meant was the Swing states are the Holy Grail of politics, you win them you win the election.

Massa taught us a new meaning for his Swing District. It has nothing to do with politics. It is staff and associate interaction consisting of groping, tickling, pointing fingers while naked in the steam room, even snorkeling, which is a twisted sexual perversion performed under water. Apparently a Navy buddy of Massa said he was always trying to snorkel with them.



Larry King got into an extended battle of words with Massa over homosexual tendencies. Who knows what they were saying? Then just when we knew beyond doubt this guy has a serious mental meltdown, into the cameras jumps the Democrat's Godmother, Pelosi, never one to miss a press op, and claims she knew about his sickness last October. So Pelosi covered up the meltdown of a fellow Democrat for the last six months to hang on to her votes in the House.



If she knew he was groping staff back then did the thought ever occur to you, Godmother, that maybe you should turn his actions over to the ethics committee and get him out of Congress and into rehab before he could hurt anyone else? Well of course not.



So Obama leaves town to campaign and the only fund raiser he can get is for a Senate race for 2012. It seems Democrats running for election this year don't want to be seen around the president. And Obama continues to talk about health care as if he never stopped campaigning and got real.



What about the economy Mr. President? What about jobs and unemployment? What happened to Main Street? Why did you send Biden to negotiate peace in the middle east, you are the one with the Peace prize?

Poor Joe. He gets to Israel and gets slapped in the face before he even gets a word out as the Israelis announced thousands of more homes will be built in the Palestinian area, a move Obama and the United Nations warned Israel not to do. Some start for peace. Is this a sign of the Israeli attitude toward Obama or the peace process? It sure helped set back relations between the USA and Israel but then how could the Israelis negotiate peace if they are planning to go to war to stop Iran? It would be kind of like winning the Nobel Peace Prize then expanding the war in Afghanistan. Nothing makes sense.



So now the Godmother is busy sweeping the dirt under the rug and tying to get people to think all is well in her transparent world. Let's see, if what is going on is transparent then why didn't we know about Massa a lot time ago? Hummmm, Messa, Rangel and Paterson, not a bad start for the campaign cycle.

As if that weren't enough for one day, last night Congressman Patrick Kennedy goes on TV and rails against how the press and media are not covering the most important issue of the day, the war in Afghanistan, and he calls the fact only two press people are in the gallery as "despicable!" I'm beginning to think all the politicians in our nation's capitol are losing their marbles.

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Liu Bolin, Dissident Artist from China

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Find the artist in the picture.



One of my favorite international artists is 35-year-old Liu Bolin, from Shandong, China, who manages to camouflage himself in any surroundings, no matter how difficult they might be.





Liu works on a single photo for up to 10 hours at a time, to make sure he gets it just right, but he achieves the right effect: Sometimes passers-by don’t even realize he is there until he moves.





The talented Liu Bolin says his art is a protest against the actions of the government, who shut down his art studio in 2005 and persecutes artists. It’s about not fitting into modern society. Despite problems with Chinese authorities, Liu’s works are appreciated at an international level.











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Dancing Through the Years

Did you ever wonder what all those dances were you performed during your lifetime. Well we are going to present them to you so you can get lost in yesterday since there really isn't much going on today. Dance on with Judson Laipply as he shows you The Evolution of Dance on YouTube.com.



Now if you liked that one, wait until you see the famous Dancing Salsa Dog Dancing the Merengue. This dog has the moves proving that any dirty old dog probably still has it in him.



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Our Nation at a Glance - Obama's Words versus Actions

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Well, we have had about three years of non-stop campaigning from the Washington establishment, ever since Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats took over the House in 2006, two years before Obama was even elected president.



In 2008 the Democrats completed their sweep into control of the White House, House and Senate in Washington and a huge margin of victory was achieved including a super majority in the Senate. We were told to believe that a super majority in the Senate means the minority party cannot stop the majority, yet we have heard nothing but whining from the president and Congress on how the Republicans are blocking progress.



I guess that makes me wonder why Obama, Pelosi and Reid along with all the Democratic campaign committees keep blaming the Republicans when nothing happens. According to the political pundits the Democrats had enough votes to silence the Republicans yet they let that power slip away. What really happened is the Democrats found themselves just as hard to get along with as the Republicans. This intra-party bickering has led to stagnation in Congress.

Now, in terms of getting things done Obama had a good run of luck at first getting the Bank Bailout, the Housing Bailout, the Auto (GM, Chrysler and Auto Workers) Industry Bailout, the AIG Insurance Bailout and of course his nearly trillion dollar economic stimulus all were approved. Have they worked?



Banks still aren't giving credit. The number of foreclosed homes have not been reduced. Lower interest loans for housing are still not available. GM remains marginal, Chrysler is still in trouble and the Auto Workers, well they lost their jobs but now own GM and will get their executive health care benefits. The AIG affair made Goldman Sachs about $13 billion and funneled about $64 billion into banks, some already receiving bailout money and others foreign owned. No one really knows what the Stimulus has done or even how much has been spent.



So in summary, he got a lot done right away but has it helped us or the bank executives? Has it saved small business or Wall Street? Are people able to keep their homes or still losing them? Are jobs being created as a result of the trillions of dollars already spent on bailouts and stimulus? Have new markets been created for green goods? Across the board the answer is no and that is the dichotomy of Obama's legislative record.



While claiming to do all these things to help Main Street Obama has almost exclusively helped Wall Street and labor unions and no one else. At the same time he has railed against lobbyists and special interests while hiring an army of lobbyists and coddling the special interests for campaign money.



The result is clear, Obama and the Democrats have become the favorite of Wall Street and the special interests as millions of dollars are pouring into the Democrats campaign funds. Whatever Obama and the Congress are doing, it sure has the backing of the big bucks on Wall Street, the recipients of the million dollar bonuses, and the free wheeling gamblers on Wall Street who consider your money their play money.



Okay, forget the things that got approved. Obama may no longer want to take credit for the series of big business bailouts, for saving executive bonuses, for keeping the credit market clogged up and for failing to get regulatory Reform through Congress. The unions did get a few bones tossed their way but when they compare it to the sharks on Wall Street they got little for their multi-million dollar investment in the Obama campaign.

Turn to pending legislation for a moment. Democrats got Card Check through the House and through a first round Senate vote, but it stalled. They waiting until Obama was elected and promised to champion the bill and the Senate had super majority that was achieved in the last election. In spite of these developments, the union bosses may want to get rid of secret union ballots in the workplace but the Senate still does not agree. I mean how could they, they are all elected by secret ballot. The bill remains stalled in the Democratic controlled Senate.



Obama's Cap and Trade bill to save us from energy dependence also passed the House, that Nancy has been busy fighting in the trenches for Obama, but it did not survive the scrutiny of reality and remains stalled, hopefully permanently. This was to be a dream come true for Al Gore, Goldman Sachs and all those who have figured out how to make a buck on the back of environmentalists. I mean how did Gore make over $100 million personally as the mouthpiece for the greening of America?



Let us see. Gore has a partner from Goldman Sachs handling his investment business to control which environmentally friendly companies will receive funding from the Greening of America, and of course Goldman stands ready to assist the Green economy by managing the carbon emission futures market which they already established. Does that mean Goldman will now control our oil futures and alternative futures markets? Not if the bill is dead on arrival which it seems to be once Congress discovered how they were being manipulated by the supposedly environmentalists on Wall Street, or is that really being controlled by Wall Street.

Wall Street regulatory reform has been stalled for over a year meaning the same things investment houses did to bend the rules and cheat the street on Wall Street remain available to them. If you don't believe Wall Street was the beneficiary of this inaction by Congress look what Goldman did to manipulate the near bankruptcy of Greece and other European nations for their own financial gain. Such predatory practices by those investing other people's money is criminal.

Obama also ran on a campaign calling for energy independence and promotion of alternative energy. That sounds good. But nothing has been done to achieve either promise. The Cap and Trade was flawed beyond repair and Obama has stubbornly refused to demand new production of our expansive oil, natural gas and coal reserves, reserves which could substantially lower our foreign energy demand. Drill baby drill Mr. President if you really want to be true to your word. If you don't drill, you are still protecting Goldman Sachs and their manipulation of the world oil futures.



Finally, health care reform, that giant puzzle that no one has seen, no one has evaluated, no one has been able to analyze and no one can guarantee that it will deliver any of the promises made. When we are considering a bill that impacts on 16% of our gross national product, we better know what the impact may be.

So don't tell me you are going to guarantee no one will lose insurance for pre-existing conditions, that 30-40 million more people are going to be insured, that there will be competition for insurance, that the cost of doctors and medicine will go down, that everyone with an existing plan will get to keep the benefits and pick their doctors, that no one's insurance premiums will increase, and that there will be no taxes on middle class America to pay for it when you can't deliver the goods.



You ask us to bet our futures as well as those of our children and grand children on your promises yet your own economic forecasters, your experts, have been wrong time after time on projections. If we believed your people America would still have 8% unemployment and millions of us would not be out of work. I'm afraid your inexperience at economics has already cost us too much. Let us just fix the things that can be fixed and then decide how we can expand health care, if it works on lowering insurance and health costs, to everyone.



So the pending stuff just doesn't look all that good. After our experience with what you got through, maybe that is a good thing. Maybe that is why the Senate has different rules, to protect us from empty promises. Maybe that is why you should listen to the people for a change and not suffer more losses like New Jersey, Virginia and Massachusetts. They could just be the tip of the iceberg.

So you just keep on promising bi-partisanship while stirring the fires of discontent. Keep on making exaggerated claims for the value of more promises on how we are going to get Wall Street and those nasty executives while acquiring an avalanche of campaign funds for the Democrats from those same bad guys and helping them get their million dollar bonuses. Keep on hiring those lobbyists you promised not to hire so special interests can control the national agenda.



Tomorrow we shall review the last two elements of Obama's first year in office, his foreign policy agenda and the forgotten agenda to help Main Street. I'm afraid the news isn't much better but at least we get to see the big picture of what we have realized in the post-election aftermath of the victory of the Chosen One and his impact on us Americans.

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