Posted on 03/22/2009 6:59:33 PM PDT by GOPGuide
Everybody makes mistakes, and I made a beaut the other day. I was wrong to call members of Congress blow-hards and buffoons and declare them worse than useless.
I was too kind.
I should have said our representatives are gangsters in pinstripes and pearls. They are petty tyrants and the more power they grab, the more at risk we are. Homeland Security should flash Code Red any time this Congress is in session.
It is twilight in America now. The House vote to use the tax code to retroactively punish bonus babies was an act of sheer madness. What started as phony outrage at AIG has crossed the line into insane policy. It is stunning that the vote was lopsided and bipartisan.
The Senate is itchy to go along, and President Obama says he's ready to tighten the thumbscrews on the banks. Is there no adult who will bring a straitjacket?
We should all be very afraid. Class warfare is mere predicate for a witch hunt that, once unleashed, will not stop with misbegotten wealth. It will punish success and stifle innovation. Dissent will invite dishonor.
That Congress is a gang of cheap connivers is not news. Chris Dodd, Charlie Rangel, Charles Grassley, Barney Frank - they have been national embarrassments for years.
But now they are dangerous, emboldened by public fear and anger. They know nothing, but have power and smell opportunity for more.
Missing in action is the Barack Obama who vowed to unite the country around common values. Lately he has been the very opposite of the man he promised. Instead of hope, many have a growing fear of the arrogant government he leads.
Obama is smart, quick and charming, and, as he showed on "The Tonight Show," owner of a thousand-watt smile he can deploy at will. He silkily manages to make the ridiculous sound reasonable. When he insults the Special Olympics, he is forgiven.
Yet even "Tonight" host Jay Leno broke from full flattery to reveal his qualms about the meaning of the bonus tax. "Here's something that kind of scared me," he said. "If the government decides they don't like a guy, all of a sudden, hey, we're going to tax you and then, boom, and it passes."
Obama brushed it off, part of an endless road show claim that he will bring back "common sense" to the financial system and restore "those values that built America."
If only. In truth, there is no history for what he is doing. He is the most radical President of our times, far outside the mainstream of our political philosophy.
He is not a reformer who fixes things. He fancies himself "transformative," a man who reshapes and reorders. It apparently begins with smashing the existing order under the pretext of managing the crisis he inherited.
During the campaign, a fellow journalist confided that "I know Obama is a Manchurian candidate, I just can't figure out what for."
I laughed then, but no more. Obama represents a secular religion that believes, no matter the malady, Washington is the antidote. More government is the chicken soup of his tribe.
It is an illusion of many Republicans and Democrats that Washington can successfully manage the economy and our lives. Our institutions and culture are too big, too diverse and too unruly to be run like a banana republic.
Yet the economic mess has robbed the nation of its confidence, and the vacuum is being filled by politicians bearing promises and borrowed dollars. The true cost of this "help" will come later, with back-breaking debt and a lack of growth and opportunity.
We can't say we haven't been warned. "Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad" is more than folklore. It predicts our fate if we follow the government mob.
According to the Oxford Handbook of Psychiatry, a Psychopath is defined as such:
Factor1: Aggressive narcissism
1. Glibness/superficial charm
2. Grandiose sense of self-worth
3. Pathological lying
4. Cunning/manipulative
5. Lack of remorse or guilt
6. Shallow
7. Callous/lack of empathy
8. Failure to accept responsibility for own actions
Factor2: Socially deviant lifestyle
1. Need for stimulation/proneness to boredom
2. Parasitic lifestyle
3. Poor behavioral control
4. Promiscuous sexual behavior
5. Lack of realistic, long-term goals
6. Impulsivity
7. Irresponsibility
8. Juvenile delinquency
9. Early behavior problems
10. Revocation of conditional release
Someone please get Oxford on the phone, and tell them that we have a psychopath in the White House who needs to be put into a mental institution immediately.
Wow. First the NY Times, and now the Daily News.
bttt
zero never had a real job in his life.
_______________________________
60 Minutes pointed that out tonight. Where were they prior to the election?
Obama is doing his damnedest to turn us into a banana republic so he can control everything.
I agree I am still dumbfounded, but I also know it has happened and we need to do something about it. What I am not yet sure. We need to do whatever we can as it is clear the GOP and the elected officials will not.
bttt
I don’t know who this Goodwin fellow is, but I like the cut of his jib.
It's not that complicated.
I’ve posted this elsewhere, and also emailed it to my list.
Yes, that’s a bit off-putting about how bright Obama is, but if you read the whole article, this guy really gets it. And he throws some of the blame toward the Republicans (which they have certainly deserved in the past), but he names only the worst of the Democrat offenders in this current mess, Pelosi excepted.
It’s a fantastic article, especially coming from a left-wing newspaper. My only suspicion about that is, are they working for hillary? Never mind, it’s right on.
I googled Michael Goodwin, and apparently he has worked for the NY Times and more recently The Daily News. He wrote a very nice piece on Sarah Palin during the election campaign for Jewish World Review, as well:
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/michael/goodwin.php3
With due respect for the writer — and appreciation for a finely written piece — Too little, too late.
Had you listened to us to begin with, instead of “laughing,” or worse, maligning us as if WE were the fascists, perhaps what Obama and his comrades had planned for us might have been averted. Now, it appears the only way is THROUGH... And it’s gonna get much worse before it gets ANY better.
“Since 1976, Grassley has repeatedly introduced measures that increase the level of double taxation on American citizens living abroad, including retroactive tax hikes.”
Yeah, Real salt of the earth. Grassley is a tax hiking POS.
Does that mean all the astronauts have to give back all the paychecks they've been receiving?
As someone who has passed the 50-year mark I am not all too aware of my limited energy to get things done on any given day. And this clown wants me to "volunteer"(?)
Exactly - we need to support independent conservatives into office, people who are completely free of the stench of party politics and vow to serve a limited number of terms. If Palin runs in 2012, she should run as an Independent. To Hell with the GOP who’ll only backstab her anyway.
Nailed it!
I think congress and Zero know that the 90% tax will be nullified in short order by the courts. This way they get to come off looking like they are our hero’s and the bonuses still get to happen when the squall dies down.
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