The government has never been shy about paying big bucks for cute mascots to help popularize important issues. And now Smokey the Bear, McGruff the Crime Dog, and Woodsy the Owl are being joined by a new iconic cartoon figure who genuinely speaks to our times: The Obamacare Waver!
This jolly fellow exists to remind us that over 1000 businesses (encompassing some 2.6 million people) are now saving huge amounts of money on healthcare thanks to the fact that they've all been granted waivers which allow them to escape the alleged president's unaffordable plan for at least a year.
Virtually all of those people currently have insurance...and virtually all of them would lose it under the president's plan because it calls for either great coverage or no coverage. And unsurprisingly, many employers simply can't afford to give great coverage to part-time and minimum-wage workers.
According to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, the Obamacare waivers are being granted because "We don't want to take away people's health insurance before they have some realistic other choices.” And therein lies the problem: there are no realistic "other choices" because no insurance company can stay in business if forced to charge Dollar Store prices which won't cover their out-of-pocket expenses...no matter how Mr. Obama and the Democrats try to cook the books.
Which is why "The Obamacare Waver" isn't the only new mascot the government will be introducing in this high-stakes, budget-battling year. Get ready for "Swampy McDeficit - The Bookkeeping Crock!"
Swampy Sez: "Obamacare doesn't add one dime to the deficit!"
Update 3/9/11 - The federal government has just given a three-year Obamacare waiver to the state of Maine, while acknowledging that enforcing Obamacare in that state could "destabilize the state's market for health insurance."
Specifically, Maine's largest health insurance company (insuring 37% of the people) was simply going to pull out of the state because Obamacare made it economically unfeasible to stay in business. We salute the state of Maine, and encourage the alleged president to sign those other 49 state waivers as soon as possible.- -
On Saturday, Washington DC celebrated Barack Obama finally reaching "The Big Six-Oh." Of course, we're not talking his age, which is alleged to be 49, but his 60th game of golf since taking office.
While England contemplated establishing a "no fly" zone to protect violence-torn Libya, and Harry Reid was declaring that no agreements could be made on budget cuts in Washington, and Michael Moore was proclaiming the beginning of a socialist revolution in Wisconsin, and dozens of people in Louisiana were being killed by violent weather which will be really, really hard to blame on George Bush, the alleged president pulled on his checkered knickers and tam o'shanter and hit the links. Again.
He took an environmentally-questionable motorcade of 10 cars (each filled with paid government employees) to the Andrews Air Force Base golf course for his standard five hour game. During which time, he presumably actually had to be decisive enough to choose between a wood and an iron, because there's no golf club called "present."
While in office, President George W. Bush also enjoyed playing golf...but he gave it up in 2003. “I don’t want some mom whose son may have recently died to see the commander in chief playing golf,” he said. “I feel I owe it to the families to be in solidarity as best as I can with them. And I think playing golf during a war just sends the wrong signal.”
We think Barack Obama's habitual golfing during times of national and international crisis certainly does send a bad signal...but in this case, one that is perfectly accurate. He is a 9-to-5, Monday-thru-Friday government worker who can't be fired...and damn well won't accept a cutback in perks.
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October 10, 2010 -
It was exactly one year ago that Barack Hussein Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize - not because of anything he'd done, but because hopes were so high that he would create peace with his promises to speak reasonably and without preconditions to any politicians in the world, including blood-drenched anti-American lunatics.
Now, Obama's "year to create peace" has passed...and not only has the world gone to hell in a handbasket, but the president and his administration are now personally threatening politicians in our own capitol with physical violence.
Vice president Joe Biden told an audience that "if I hear one more Republican tell me about balancing the budget, I'm going to strangle them."
Not to be outdone, Barack Obama has declared that "a Republican majority in Congress would mean hand-to-hand combat for the next two years."
Of course, the Republicans aren't exactly worried about these threats, which can only be compared to being warned of a potential ass-kicking from Pee-Wee Herman and Barney Fife.
Meanwhile, the Nobel Prize Committee is undoubtedly and justifiably embarrassed by their gullibility in believing the president's meaningless promises. Which is why next year's peace prize should be for "No Bull."-
When the going gets tough, getting tough gets hilarious.Update 3/6/11 - In selecting cartoons for these weekend retrospectives, I try to make them relevant to recent stories. This week, one of those stories which didn't get much coverage was about a Wisconsin State Representative - a Democrat - who turned to a female Republican colleague after she voted in favor of a budget-balancing bill and said: "You're fucking dead!"
Not exactly the sort of rhetoric politicians are supposed to be using following Jared Lee Loughner's shooting spree in Tucson, and Barack Obama's suggestion that we use "words that heal rather than wound."
Of course, as the original cartoon points out, Mr. Obama and Mr. Biden were only too happy to suggest (or perhaps even instigate) physical violence for their political opponents before their recent (and not entirely believable) change of heart.-
