Friday, November 20, 2015

You Vet Your Life

obama, obama jokes, political, humor, cartoon, conservative, hope n' change, hope and change, stilton jarlsberg, terror, syrian refugees, paris, widows, orphans, vetting
He's also a small arms expert.
obama, obama jokes, political, humor, cartoon, conservative, hope n' change, hope and change, stilton jarlsberg, terror, syrian refugees, paris, widows, orphans, vetting

In the face of increased terror activity in Europe and threatened terror activity domestically, Barack Obama has cinched up his big boy pants and made his strongest rhetorical attack to date...on Republicans.

"Apparently, they’re scared of widows and orphans coming into the United States of America," the president said of concerns about terrorists hiding among refugees. "First, they were worried about the press being too tough on them during debates.  Now they’re worried about three-year-old orphans.  That doesn’t sound very tough to me."

Actually, Mr. Obama, the worries are bipartisan and they're not about "widows and orphans." They're about you, the lies you tell, and the growing suspicion that your longterm plans for America have little to do with either national security or traditional American values.

Regarding Syrian refugees he's bringing into the country (not including those attempting to enter illegally across our federally-mandated open borders), the president says that his administration's process for vetting is "the most rigorous conceivable" and includes the use of "biometrics" which, apparently, was on his Word of the Day calendar.

And who should know more about vetting than a man who's managed to avoid being personally vetted for his entire adult life? To hear Barry tell it, the current standards for admitting Syrian refugees are more rigorous than those for being president.

Which is a good thing, now that we've seen how much damage one man can do.

UPDATE: GOING TO HEALTH IN A HANDBASKET

obama, obama jokes, political, humor, cartoon, conservative, hope n' change, hope and change, stilton jarlsberg, obamacare, health insurance

To paraphrase the Rolling Stones, "You can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you just might find, you can't even get what you need, dammit."

We are referring, of course, to the miracle of Obamacare. For three weeks, we've been trying to find a replacement health insurance policy for the one which was just cancelled (for 300,000 Texans) owing to the fact that the Affordable Care Act made it unaffordable for the company to offer anymore.

Try as we might, we weren't able to find ANY policy which would allow us to keep our doctors, our local hospital, our pharmacy, our money, or our dignity. Which is why we finally gave up and worked with a professional (we're not being snide - this guy saved our hiney and we're grateful) who gave us the semi-gratifying news that we weren't being stupid or imagining things, there really AREN'T any decent options available anymore.

In a two hour marathon session, we determined that our current doctors just aren't available under any Obamacare policy (a process which would have gone faster if the databases listing every freaking doctor within 25 miles were alphabetized. No, we're not kidding.)

In the end, we settled for a policy which would at least be accepted at the local hospital when our inevitable aneurysm strikes while reading the news.  It's a high deductible HMO policy for about $15,000 which required us to immediately pick a new doctor at random (nearly random; alphabetized or not, we chose a name that seemed like it might belong to an English speaker) who will be the new gatekeeper to prevent us from getting additional medical services from the HMO, while we continue to meet our actual doctors in back alleys and pay cash.

Make no mistake, the health insurance system is actively and rapidly collapsing exactly as it was designed to do under Obamacare. The nation's largest provider of health insurance is giving signals that it may exit the Obamacare market entirely in the near future, other providers are slashing coverage and choice of physicians in the face of poor enrollment numbers, and most of the much-vaunted insurance "co-ops" have already gone out of business.

But take heart. As much as it seems that the whole industry has gone to hell, rest assured that within the next several years we'll look back on the mess we have now as "the good old days."

29 comments:

Mike aka Proof said...

" small arms expert"
" small arms"? - You're killing us here, Stilton! (Keep it up!)

TMay said...

What is the nation's largest provider of health insurance, please?

Anonymous said...

I read where there was no vetting because these young men are not in the computer and they had no information on them. Then too, what is the incentive of these militants going into the belly of the beast to them, The Great Satan,the USA? Without a whale of an incentive would they have left their families in the war zone?
Without a great incentive, you could not have pulled these men into the USA with a tow truck. Did the gal in Paris received 72 studs for her martyrdom? This whole mess smells to high heaven.

Bearcat said...

Keep the faith, Stilt!
There IS another solution(that doesn't involve mass quantities of bourbon)...
http://www.libertyhealthshare.org/
It's something like the difference between a commercial bank and a credit union.
Member-owned, member-operated, people-to-people healthcare expense sharing.

Stilton Jarlsberg said...

@Mike aka Proof- Every joke, including that one, goes through a tough vetting process.

@TMay- Per the link in the commentary, it's UnitedHealth. Which was my insurance provider until Obamacare would not "let me keep it" and I moved to a Blue Cross policy for one year until it was cancelled due to Obamacare. We're having some fun now...

@Anonymous- As I understand it, computerized records with which to crosscheck largely don't exist, and fake passports aren't hard to come by. When Obama drops the word "biometrics" as if it were something magical, he simply means taking physical measurements (anything from height and weight to a picture of an eye's iris). However, such measurements are meaningless unless the government already has biometric data on file with which to cross reference (a facial recognition program won't do diddly if there's not already a good scan of the terrorist in the system).

As far as why so many young men run, part of it may be that they're the first ones killed when the bad guys roll into town (along with the elderly). Women and children are frequently kept for sex and slavery. But again, that raises the question of why these men don't stay and fight.

@Bearcat- I've got a friend using a similar (or maybe even the same) program. I think such faith-based initiatives are a good option for some people. Unfortunately, I'm too much of a heathen to be a legitimate member and too honest (and respecting of my Christian friends) to lie about it.

Fred Ciampi said...

Me and about 97 gazillion other veterans have been bitching about the VA for years now. Well, one thing o'bambam has succeeded in doing is actually make the VA look good. They said it couldn't be done, with a smile he went right to it ........

Anonymous said...

Thank you for finally stating what has been obvious to me from the beginning of his running for office--the man is out to destroy this country. He does not believe in American values, he is NOT an American, and he has succeeded in what his ultimate goal is beyond all belief. He is not inept, as some continue to try and claim. But--no one in the media, even on the conservative venue, would come out openly with the truth. I'm afraid it is much much too late.

John the Econ said...

Yes, to hear Obama and the dwindling number of Democrats sticking with him, it's the GOP and white Americans who are the real threat to America. (Could you imagine if this were a GOP administration, and the President suggested, oh, never mind)

Also never mind that senior officials in Obama's own administration have gone on the record that whatever vetting takes place will likely be ineffective. Not that it would make much of a difference. After all, the Tsarnaev brothers were not only "vetted", but warnings from Russian intelligence were outright ignored. So even when intelligence exists, our government refuses to use it. (on so many levels)

And as for the women: Yes, we had a breakthrough for gender equality this week when Europe experienced their first female suicide bomber. You've come a long way baby!

But don't count out the children either:. In Afghanistan (where many of the "Syrian" refugees are coming from) primary education looks a lot different than it does here in the west. While NEA-approved teachers educate our grade-school kids about inclusiveness and condoms, ISIS-approved teachers educate their kids about hating infidels and how to handle guns & hand grenades.

(Oh BTW, the video I linked above isn't from Fox News, but from the enlightened Progressives at PBS-Frontline. Be sure to watch the intro before they realize their mistake and pull it)

The state of health care: I don't have much to add beyond what I said yesterday on the topic, except for expressing my sympathies to @Stilton. I know "single payer" is going to be a mediocre hell compared to what I have today, but at least it will be "free" and paid for by people I don't particularly like. (Ironic, isn't it?) It looks like @Stilton will be experiencing that mediocre hell a bit earlier than I will and will be paying directly for the privilege.

Bruce Bleu said...

Considering the high value mooselims put on human life, I don't doubt that our little "orphan" is wearing a "suicide diaper"
And, speaking of that, do mooselims go through a "vesting process" when evaluating "refugees"?
As far as HELLthcare, I used to be covered by Humana, at $1100 a month, (my house payment is $756 PITI). I'm just glad magilla wasn't given control of the system, otherwise we'd have Wookieeana!

Pete (Detroit) said...

"Vetting"
Always chuckle a bit, clearly that means something VERY different to a pet person...

Anyway, there's this infographic going around, which offers SOME hope, assuming you even think people working for the UN could possibly be as marginally competent as the morons that we KNOW are working for the Fed...
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=892143327559527&set=a.189459364494597.41104.100002916053361&type=3&theater
Source data here...
http://www.humanrightsfirst.org/…/SyrianRefugeesVettingFact…

Funny how he likes to say 'we don't use religion as a litmus test' but the ONLY people that they are at ALL trying to deport are Christian refugees that a) are already here and b) are surely at risk if sent back...

And again, it hardly matters if the refugees are vetted or not, blocked or not, whole armies of unknown people coming in over the Southern border...
Fookin' priorities, people!!!

John the Econ said...

"Biometerics". Looks like Obama learned a new work this week. Never mind that said "biometerics" will only be useful to identify these people after they self-detonate.

@Pete (Detroit), good point. What's the point of worrying about "vetting" a couple thousand refugees when millions continue to cross our border totally unchecked?

The reality of the situation is that it's a numbers game. The apologists tell us that the number of "radicalized" Muslims that could be embedded in this refugee flow is relatively small; maybe 1%. Great. So we take in 100,000 of these people and only 1,000 of them are a threat. So how many people were responsible for Paris last week. A dozen or two? So 1,000 represents only about 40 Paris-scale assaults. Is that an "acceptable level of carnage" to assuage our guilt over being affluent westerners?

One thing I forgot to say about what I posted above: The ISIS school in the video is in Afghanistan, a country we spent about a trillion dollars and thousands of American lives "liberating". Is this what we paid for??? Is it really like defeating Germany in WWII, and then leaving the Nazis in charge?

Quite frankly, I'm tired of the argument. Over the last week, Facebook has become a "battleground of the memes". Most range between ignorant and inane, with totally irrelevant or factious moral equivalencies. The irony of these "memes" is that they're so bad, that not only are they unlikely to make an argument, much less convert anyone to the other side, they only repel the undecided to the opposite point of view. So far, my favorites have been:

. Would America reject the Jews"? Probably, had Jews been known for blowing up all non-Jews.

. Jesus was a "refugee". Actually, not. But since even so many Christians are ignorant of the context of Jesus's life, it's not a surprise that floats.

(BTW, as a Christian, I find the use of Jesus to justify a partisan political agenda offensive. Fortunately Jesus taught me it would be wrong to kill the people who do this, contrary to the next meme...)

Either way, even if Jesus was a "refugee", it doesn't change the fact that Mohammad was an "imperialist invader".

. "White" terrorists have killed more people than anyone else. No idea where they got stats to back this up. Either way, even if it was true, it won't be for much longer.

Watching people think with social media fueled emotion instead of their brains is depressing.

It's inevitable that people who do not value "freedom" are going to continue to dilute this country. It's inevitable that people who wish to do violence are going to do it as well. I can only pray that these people who don't seem to be worried about this don't end up as victims. I guess I can take comfort that I live in a section of this country where high-profile "soft targets" are fewer and the right to bear arms remains unquestioned. But I still find it all depressing and am finding it harder to care. Perhaps I'd be happier if I didn't.

That's the irony of what "socialism" does to societies; it drains you of your ability to care about anyone other than yourself.

George said...

Stilton, the LAST thing I needed to see on this Friday morning was a spineless, brainless, repugnant, nauseating, calculating, despicable, vial, gutless, disgusting little dwarf. However, the other man with the mustache seems O.K. to me.

rickn8or said...


Make no mistake, the health insurance system is actively and rapidly collapsing exactly as it was designed to do under Obamacare. "


And you know the GOP, despite not one "R" vote and giving Obama every nickel he demanded, is going to get the blame.

"small-arms experts" -- Snort!

Stilton Jarlsberg said...

@Fred Ciampi- I remember that after years of inaction by Obama, when the VA scandal really hit the fan he quickly made a showy symbolic move to show how much he cares for those who have served: he traded 5 taliban leaders for deserter Bowe Bergdahl, complete with a Rose Garden ceremony.

And of course, Hillary is saying that VA care is pretty peachy now, so maybe it'll be okay when we all have it.

@Anonymous- I think Dinesh D'Souza correctly assessed Barry long ago; his simmering hatred for all things American, his belief that our wealth has been derived solely from colonialism, and the "dreams from his father" to bring America down in the world order. I very sincerely believe that Obama is not inept, but has actually been very effective in damaging our country...and setting machinery in motion (which will continue after his time in office) that might well destroy it.

@John the Econ- It's bad enough that we really can't vet these people, but Barry takes it a step farther by denying states the ability to even try to monitor their actions once they're here.

Regarding the youngest Terrorist-R-Us members, I saw a picture today of a bunch of kids (maybe 10 years old) playing games with an infidel's head and having a grand ol' time. Demonstrably, age and gender aren't definitive metrics for weeding out potential killers.

On the health insurance front, I should clarify that while my new plan is $15,000, the great bulk of that will be picked up by taxpayers via subsidy. Which I don't like, but it's now the only friggin' game in town. Note that many (most? all?) of the plans on the marketplace are now pretty awful (better options exist outside the marketplace) and aren't significantly cheaper than the non-marketplace plans. The difference? People who are paying the full $15k out of pocket still demand SOME choices and quality, but people who are only paying a fraction of that $15k are less picky...and it's the taxpayers funding a third-class plan at first-class prices.

@Bruce Bleu- Considering that we've already had an "underwear bomber," the idea of a diaper bomb isn't actually that far-fetched. And good line about the "vesting process;" I may have to swipe that (grin).

Stilton Jarlsberg said...

@Pete (Detroit)- I think pet people have the term right: "vetting" means letting your national security go to the dogs. And yes, Barry has a pretty interesting history of "religious tests" which favor Muslims over Christians.

Your final point is a huge one: we need to be REALLY concerned about who's trying to come in through our porous borders. Obama has opened the floodgates to millions, none of whom are "vetted."

@John the Econ- I can't imagine that Barry's "biometrics" really consist of anything other than taking initial measurements which will only be useful after the fact. Perhaps, as you suggest, as a guide to reassembling a human jigsaw puzzle that used to be a suicide bomber.

Your other comments, while not exactly cheery, are completely accurate and very well stated. The ever-buzzing "hive mind" of social media depresses me, and I'm nostalgic for the days (not that long ago) when I didn't even know what the word "meme" meant. And yes, it becomes harder and harder to remain optimistic and emotionally invest in caring about what happens outside our own little homes and families.

@George- I knew where you were going and still enjoyed the trip.

@rickn8or- When you're right, you're right (or as the Left says, "When you're Right, you're wrong.") The GOP will be blamed for Obamacare's failures. Just look at the many disasters which occurred when the Dems held the White House, the Senate, and the House of Representatives. In the media and popular culture, the blame still went to the "do-nothing Republicans" who "fought Obama" all the time - even though they had no ability to affect or rescind a single disastrous policy.

Unknown said...

As I am sure most of you have realized, if you watch any videos of Noblama in 2008 compared to his recent videos, you can actually see the evil seeping out of him from every cell in his body. His entire demeanor has changed. It is like he has evolved from a clueless puppet to an evil dictator. It makes me cringe every time I see him speaking. He speaks down at us (reporters, especially) like we are a stupid bunch. It is almost scary to see the change that has taken place. Satan has arrived, my friends. BTW, the FLOTUS hasn't been in the news much lately. Just wondering....

John the Econ said...

"I should clarify that while my new plan is $15,000, the great bulk of that will be picked up by taxpayers via subsidy. Which I don't like, but it's now the only friggin' game in town."

You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile. Your life as it has been is over.

@rickn8or, and strangely enough, the excuse of "the last 8 years" will carry no weight.

Geoff King said...

Perhaps the reason that the Condom-drip in Chief cannot bring himself to denounce radical Islam is because when they shout "Allahu Akbar" he flashes back to his days in Hawaii getting the munchies while stoned out of his mind in the Choom Gang and believes they are actually saying "Oahu Snackbar".

Stilton Jarlsberg said...

@Sandy Link- In one of his autobiographies that the media didn't even bother to read when "vetting" him, Obama spoke of his ability to hide his animosity towards white people and adopt a pleasant personality that would make him seem unthreatening. And so it was in his initial run for the presidency; at the point he attained power, he was able to take off the mask. Or at least lower it; even now most people don't see his real face.

@John the Econ- My healthcare has been assimilated, but my mindset hasn't been. Unfortunately, the government doesn't give a flying flip about my mindset as long as I have to knuckle under to their system.

And actually, I have so little "income" (as opposed to filthy, wealth-hoarding assets) that Healthcare.gov initially said "you only qualify for Medicaid, but Medicaid isn't available to you in Texas, so get screwed." As a parting gift, they said they'd waive my fine for having no insurance. And, no doubt, put me on a waiting list for a pauper's grave.

Which is why I had to rapidly amend my "expected income" for next year. I have to take enough taxable money out of my retirement savings (which I otherwise wouldn't touch) to show enough "income" to move me out of indigent status in the government's eyes.

I don't like playing these games, and even though I've paid vast amounts of money into the system I don't like the notion of anyone else having to pay my bills. But as you (and the Borg) say, "Resistance is futile."

@Geoff King- As Barry used to say back in his choom gang days, "the sweetest sound on Earth is ha ha ha ha ha, hey what was I talking about? Who wants pizza?"

John the Econ said...

It sounds like their conversion process from "middle class" to "poor" is going well.

I don't like the idea of other people paying my bills either. My idea of "The American Dream" is being an independent individual citizen, free to run his life as he sees fit. Being a "dependent" is antithetical to freedom. That's a foreign concept to the majority now. And they're robbing us of our freedom.

So if it's "games" they're going to impose upon us, it will be games that we'll have to play. As I've always told my Progressive friends, "Your problem isn't that I disagree with you. Your problem will be when I join you." These games they're forcing us into will rob the nation of desperately needed productivity, and convert millions of us from net-producers to net-consumers. Part of me feels like you do; it's wrong. On the other hand, this is the paradigm they've voted for, whether they realize it or not. "Single payer" will have to impose massive taxes upon the working, which will overwhelmingly be the younger and debt-ridden who thought this would be a good idea. I am feeling less bad about that every day.

But like I said above; that's what socialism does. It makes people care less about the "big picture" stuff and focus more on themselves.

George in Houtx said...

But as you (and the Borg) say, "Resistance is futile."

@Stilton: I get your drift and (I could be wrong) , but I think that "resistance is futile" was used by the Daalecks on the Dr. Who telly program.

JustaJeepGuy said...

I thought "resistance is futile" came from the Vogons in "The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy". Or did they get it from Dr. Who? I'm confused.

Joseph ET said...

Who said resistance is futile?
This link is just for fun.
One phrase, from Star Trek: The Next Generation, is: "We are the Borg. Your biological and technological distinctiveness will be added to our own. Resistance is futile."

If they can’t teach anything about Christianity in school, then how do they teach anything about Islam? Maybe because everyone is afraid to sue about anything concerning Islam.

Wahoo said...

That's some rug burn for a 3-year-old orphan.

Pete (Detroit) said...

@Jeep - The Vogon saying was 'resistance is useless' - similar, yet different..
No idea about Daaleks, can't stand those useless dorkons. Least scary villains of all time...

Bruce Bleu said...

Pete (Deetroit)
I thought "resistance is futile" was part of Ohm's Law!

Pete (Detroit) said...

Bruce Bleu - that's Old School - you have to keep currant on these things...

Rod said...

Openly letting them in here is so obviously not in the interest of the United States. There are other ways to be compassionate, but they don't get as many votes. Maybe Barry, in his all-knowing excellence, could also come out from behind the teleprompter and teach us about his rules of engagement as well. Oh yes; he doesn't want to kill even one Moslem civilian. What about our & others' even more innocent civilians? He needs to be removed from office,sooner the better.

JustaJeepGuy said...

Had anyone in Congress demanded the promulgation of the definition of "natural-born citizen" ("NBC") that was known by all in 1789, Barack Hussein would be nothing more than the answer to a trivia question. In 1789, a "NBC" was someone born in this country, BOTH OF WHOSE PARENTS WERE CITIZENS, so everyone would know why Barack Hussein couldn't be elected president. But of course, nobody in Congress was willing to put up with the call of "RAAAAAACIST!" Chickensh!t Congressmen.

I'd love to see the bastige removed from office immediately, but then he'd be a martyr.