Happy Holidays 2013

The 2013 Apple Holiday Commercial has gone viral, as well it should. This moving tribute to the importance and value of friends and family is virtually impossible to watch without tearing up.  I'm pretty sure Apple has managed to capture the real meaning of Christmas... and all holidays for all religions. 

 

This moving version of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" is by the incredibly talented Cat Power and is available on iTunes.

Seething in a Cauldron of Hate

Christmas Day was an interesting time for those of us reading in the political corners of the blogs, Facebook and Twitter.  As most of you know I follow an equal number of Conservatives and Progressives/Liberals on Twitter and in my reading of blogs.  I work hard to do this as I feel it's important to get both points of view.

While my observations are merely anecdotal and not scientific, they startled me greatly.  Progressives and Liberals posted Tweets filled with hate and vitriol all day Christmas.  It was sad and disturbing to see and read.  Regularly posted were hate filled condemnations of Republicans,the Tea Party and, especially mocking or outright condemning Christians.

Meanwhile the conservatives all were posting greetings of love, cheer, blessings and Holiday Joy! Conservative posts contained pictures of family and friends, Christmas Trees and Holiday anecdotes.

I don;t understand the hate.  Seriously, I don't know why so many Liberals are consumed in hate.  It just can't be healthy.

The hate is so all encompassing, it prevents even remotely logical thought.  It becomes an obsession.  Witness this terribly sad example of hate filled insanity from Joy Reid on MSNBC.  She hates Sarah Palin so much she felt obligated to file an astonishing piece of complete nonsense about Palin's anti-biblical worship of.... Christmas Trees!  As you watch this short clip notice Sarah Palin was talking about Family Love.  Shere never once mentions Christmas Trees.  That didn't stop Reid.

 

I know Reid hoped to illustrate some flaw in Sarah Palin, perhaps Biblical hypocrisy, but she sailed way off the mark into sea waters of stunning stupidity. Only sheer hatred can take you this far off course.

Compare Palin's Chirstmas Greeting with Michelle Obama's wonderful White House tour of the many Christmas Trees found throughout the Obama Home and Nation's Capitol.  You'll notice immediately how Sarah Palin's message and Michelle Obam's message are virtually IDENTICAL!! Yet Joy Reid's hate and vitriol are reserved only for Sarah Palin.

 

It is interesting to note that no Christmas Tree was ever displayed in the White House until 1856 when President Franklin Pierce, a Democrat from New Hampshire, installed the very first White House Christmas Tree. The move was incredibly unpopular. There was even talk of impeachment for President Pierce for allowing a pagan German tradition into the White House.

It is the ultimate irony that Joy Reid is condemning Palin for following a tradition started by a open minded Democrat President.

Anecdotal Evidence

ObamaScare
by SCOTT SCHABLOW

So far, my experience with The Affordable Care Act provides me with ZERO confidence that any part of it will ever produce anything other than chaos. I am hereby renaming the plan ObamaScare, because frankly it frightens the hell out of me. Friends tell me stories about premiums rising 1000%, A friend called the Alabama Insurance Department and the spokesperson there said the average Alabamian may see a 300% increase in premiums. That is IF ANYONE EVER GETS TO COMPLETE THE PROCESS! I spent a couple hours filling out the online application. The section before the identity verification kept losing my information each time I logged off, even after repeated saves. Each time I logged back in I had to re-enter the same information. This game I repeated SIX TIMES at about 30 minutes each. I FINALLY got to the end of the section and I was ready to embark on the ID verification process and present the submitted application tfor verification.

But wait, after I submitted the information for the ID verification process I got an error saying that my ID could not be verified online. I needed to call the Healthcare Marketplace. Where is this cool sounding marketplace? Near the Wharf in SanFran? Or maybe PepperPlace in B'ham? Nope it's nowheresville. I place the call. After waiting on hold a short while I heard, "Hello this is the hellfiredamgeplace whatdjks;aieh kdsljf". Assuming that the inaudible mumbling I just heard actually confirmed I had called the correct place, I proceeded with, "Yes, hello, I am trying to fill out my application at Healtcare.gov (I really wanted to say I'm battling ObamaScare Gallactica!) and I got to the part where I need to verify my identity and I got an error saying to call this number."

She says "OK." Silence. . . more silence. . . not a word. Me: "Hello, is anyone there?' She: "yes." Then more silence, but this time I can hear someone in the background whispering, "Ask him mumble mumble blah blah." More silence (even the mysterious whispers have stopped). Then, like someone jumping out of a closet in front of an unsuspecting kid feeling this way through a dark hallway, "SIR, WHAT CAN I HELP YOU WITH?" Well by now I'm thinking, you can get me one of those portable de-fib units they have at public spaces - and set that phaser to stun 'cause you just gave me a heart attack! I recomposed myself and essentially repeat the same, "the web site told me to call you" blurb. Then I added is this the right number?" She assures me it is and that some other people have had trouble in that spot." BINGO, SCORE WE HAVE A WINNER, she knows what I'm talking about! Smooth sailing ahead! I wait with great anticipation for forthcoming wisdom; an action plan to set this thing into motion!

She says, "Umm, just a minute" and puts me on hold. Tick tock, tick tock. Another blanket of silence has covered this corpse of a customer service call. And this has officially, at this very second, shredded my hope of ever seeing my family alive again. Oh, sorry, It just felt that way. She returns again, this time at a normal volume level and the mumbling is understandable. But it's not exactly professional, or semi-professional or even business casual. It's an insulting combination of slang phrases and one word sentences that has no place in an private office conversation, much less in a customer service center. Things like "do wut," uh-huh, gonna, naw, nuttin', ain't and more. Aside from the slacker talk, the bottom line is the system wouldn't work for me, nobody could fix it, tell me why or what's wrong or anything. Oh, except I needed to write down my name, address, telephone number, and MAIL it with a copy of my driver's license, social security card, a lock of my hair, a DNA swab, a urine sample, fingerprints, a retinal scan, a psychological evaluation and my Facebook password. I asked her if she could just get a copy of the stuff she's needin' from the NSA, because they've been following me for years. Silence. Me: "I'm just kidding, I'll send the stuff, gimme the address. " She does and proceeds to tell me it would take 3 to 8 weeks to get verified. I'm no math whiz but I know there is not 8 weeks left in the year. "Ma'am, if it takes 8 weeks, what am I supposed to do for health insurance in the meantime. She: "I dunno" I hang up, resolved to find a real solution.

Today a friend tells me the new web site actually works. But she also says that I better get back in there quick because she had to start over. I login tonight and the application resumes on STEP NUMBER ONE. All the information I have entered again and again is gone. Along with it is a popup message saying that I need to remove, delete and destroy the old application and start all over again. Lucky number seven, right? Well tonight, I aint' doin' nuttin' like 'at. Gonna chill away from ObamaScare and dream of a better time.

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Scott Schablow is a long time friend. He is the Director of Digital Marketing & Social Media for The Hip Brand Group in Birmingham, Alabama. This essay originally appeared on Scott's Facebook page and is reprinted here with his permission. 

Religion and Science

Liberals tend to mistrust organized religions, especially rigid and structured sects that demand great conformity among its practitioners.  That mistrust turns to outright rebellion if that religion tries to force conversion and dictate the practices of those who do not believe.

This mistrust is not without merit as throughout history religions and cults have abused their power to convert or even enslave their opponents.  It the religion demands total acceptance of doctrine without question it can become a tool to force absolute compliance and demand contributions of money, resources and time from believers and non-believers alike.  In the end, organized religion is often all about money and power, rather than faith and belief.

Because science thrives on inquiry, experimentation, observation and questioning of pre-conceived ideas, scientists are often at the forefront in conflict with religion.  Religion tends to brook no questions, tolerate no denial, permit no experimentation and, all too often, forbids even observation of nature.

One of the greatest scientists in history, Galileo Galilei, was ensnared in the conflict between religion and his own scientific inquiry, observation and development of theories that explained the facts he observed.

In 1633 Galileo was arrested, tried during the Inquisition, forced to renounce his findings and theories and was imprisoned only to be released and forced to live under house arrest until his death. He was forbidden to discuss this theories unless he labeled them as "fiction."

Most people know the biography I've outlined above.  What you might not know is the Galileo was often wrong in his theories! Factually, provably, stunningly wrong!  For example, in his zeal to prove the earth revolved around the sun, he predicted the movement of the tides based on his theories.  He was wrong, horribly wrong [ as a side note, tides are influenced by the gravitational pull of the moon, not the sun ]. Galileo's theories about the movement of the tides were pure bunk!  This absolute failure was used as "proof" that he was a heretic during his trial.

Further, because his theory about the tides was wrong the Jesuit's used his failure to infer that his entire idea that the earth revolving around the sun was also wrong. Since he was imprisoned and forbidden to research and forbidden to write, he could not vindicate himself.

Of course, Galileo was, in fact, correct about the earth and the sun.  He was also correct about, quite literally, hundreds of other theories and ideas. The Catholic Church realized, almost immediately the error of its conflict with science and has spent the better part of the last 300 years forgiving and eventually pardoning Galileo.

Today we have a new, powerful and money hungry religion, it's the religion of Global Warming and human influenced damaging climate change.  Like the Catholic Church of the 17th century, the Church of Global Warming demands absolute and unquestioning adherence to the per-prescribed set of doctrines and beliefs.  Global warming zealots permit no questioning of the holy scriptures and will not tolerate for even a moment any observation of facts that does not fit into the rigid belief system.

Their mantra is "This is Settled Science," or "97% of Scientists Agree." Neither statement is remotely true. What is true is the "Popes of Global Warming" are making millions of dollars off the paranoia their doctrine creates.

Unfortunately, the current facts on the ground fly in the face of the organized acolytes.  We are, in reality,in the early stages of a global cooling cycle that will likely last another 50 years.  Ice is rapidly reforming in the Arctic, and the Antarctic is the coldest its ever been in recorded history.  Every projection so far issued by Global Warming scientists has failed to predict the current cooling.  Predictions of extreme storms has also failed as were are now in the eighth year of the quietest period for hurricanes and tornadoes since 1900.

This is not to say, that Global Warming isn't happening.  It is to say, like Galileo's theory of the tides, the early attempts to prove the theory are stunningly wrong. Eventually, scientist will determine the truth if......  if the religion of Global Warming allows real scientists to investigate further without condemnation or restraint.

Therein lies the problem. Today the zealotry of the Global Warming establishment seeks to have skeptics fired, lose research grants, face public ridicule and be driven into the modern equivalent of house arrest.

The recent revelation of facts has denied the Global Warming Priests of virtually all their arguments supporting Global Warming. Like the Church, when the facts no longer match the scripture, they fall back onto the threat of Hell and eternal damnation. Those who don't believe are heretics, possessed by the devil.

Witness this little piece of religious horror from Greenpeace. This isn't science, it's a quest for money, power and believers:

If a Tree Falls in the Forest...

If a tree falls in the forest and.... The New York Times fails to report it, did it really fall?

Clearly there is a recent and very disturbing trend of the major media that leans leftward to downplay or even ignore rather major news stories.  To be certain, news organizations whether they lean left or right have always modified their reporting in a way that places their philosophies and political leanings in a more favorable light.  Fox News does it and so does NBC News.  This leaning, if you'll pardon the pun, is not news.

But now we see major news organizations simply fail to report news at all, ignoring it as if it doesn't exist.

MSNBC is especially bad about failing to report news unfavorable to Democrats or the Obama administration.  Often, when major news breaks, most people channel surf to get the best reporting and the most viewpoints.  When they reach MSNBC they find there is no story at all, no coverage.  It's not that a story is painted in a positive light, it's that the story doesn't exist.

I'm not sure the public is harmed by this practice as there are many options for news and most people do scan the channels and surf the news websites.  It's not a cover-up.... well, at least it's not a successful cover-up.  

But to see this happen again and again in The New York Times is disturbing.  And it's a well documented and pervasive problem.

There is an example happening right now.  Our nation has been plagues with mostly teens committing assualts on primarily elderly white adults in what has been dubbed "Knockout Games."  The New York Times basically hasn't reported on this nationwide trend beyond a snippet claiming that such attacks doesn't exist or are an "urban myth."

This is all the more funny because even as the Times denies their existence, while city leaders denounce the growing attacks in New York as Hate Crimes. Here's just a small a report from CBS News Channel 2 in New York

Police have arrested four men in connection with an assault in Brooklyn. The suspects allegedly hit the victim without warning, similar to recent incidents related to the so-called “knockout game” in which mobs of young people randomly sucker-punch innocent people for fun.

Around 2:45 a.m. Friday, investigators said a 24-year-old Jewish man was surrounded by four men and punched in the face on 18th Avenue in Borough Park. NYPD officers were nearby in an unmarked police car, commissioner Ray Kelly said Friday afternoon. The victim told investigators he heard one of the attackers say, “I’ll do it to this guy,” right before he was surrounded and punched, sources told CBS 2.

 The suspects fled, but were quickly apprehended and taken into police custody, sources said. The victim identified the suspects, police said. “I commend the excellent police work that we saw this morning,” Assemblyman Dov Hikind said in a statement. “I am grateful that these four thugs are off the streets and am hopeful that they will be treated with the severity of the law. I urge continuing diligence in dealing with this issue.”

Hate crime detectives were interviewing the four suspects — three Hispanic men and one Indian male — and the victim at the 66th Precinct, sources said.  The four men face assault charges, but those may be upgraded, CBS 2′s Don Champion reported.

The suspects range in age from 28 to 38, police said. There have been seven so-called “knockout” or “polar bear” assaults in the Crown Heights and Midwood sections of Brooklyn since October, Kelly said Wednesday. The alternate name “polar bearing” comes from the fact that the victims are white.

Councilman David Greenfield said the attacks have targeted Jewish people, with victims ranging from a 12-year-old boy to a 78-year-old woman. “These are anti-Semitic knockout attacks and it’s not a game,” said Councilman David Greenfield, who is calling on the men arrested early Friday morning to face gang assault charges.

Conservatives are enraged that The Times, Slate Magazine and MSNBC continue to deny the attacks and to deny any racial overtones, in spite of overwhelming exidence.

As Liberals we ought to be even more enraged.  After all it is the Liberal Media denying us the news we need to make intelligent decisions and provide balanced responses to conservative hysteria.  The answer is not to cover-up the news but to cover it fairly.

My Reply to Steve

Thoughtful, calm, intelligent and reflective are qualities that my friend Steve has possessed the entire time I've know him.  It's likely he's been this way all his life.  And, he has great balance in his life, able to separate politics from his family and personal life.  He keeps things in balance.  I urge you all to read his blog, The Peripatetic Blogger.  He generally posts only once a week,and only after great reflection and analysis.  He loves the Oklahoma Sooners and the Dallas Cowboys.

He wrote a blog this week which, in part, chastised some Democrats for breaking ranks with the President over the Affordable Care Act.  He feels they should "all hang together."  Indeed I'm tempted to agree with him, especially on the "hanging" part.  But, hey, I don't want to be accused of pulling a Martin Bashir, so please disregard that last comment.

I wrote a short response to Steve that I felt deserved repeating here.  In short I don't ever feel that Party Loyalty should ever interfere with good judgement.  Here is my response to Steve:

Dear Steve, 

I believe the President Obama had the very best of intentions.

And I know that our Congress is badly broken and that caused The ACA to be written in back rooms and passed late at night by a Congress that never read the bill or had the time needed to resolve potential defects.

And, even though not a single Republican voted for the act, they deserve equal blame for the dysfunction that forced Pelosi and Reid to act in a hurried and secretive manner.

Regardless of all this, the bill is nothing short of a disaster. Forget the website as that will get fixed. It’s not the problem anyway. As a result of the ACA more people, not fewer, will be uninsured. Most people will pay substantially more for insurance, not less. The blow to the middle class, financially, will be nearly unimaginable. Meanwhile the rich, who had Cadillac Plans to begin with, will be virtually unaffected.

This will all get fixed, eventually. But, in the meantime, the ACA doesn’t deserve the support of any self respecting Democrat (or Republican). Let’s admit our mistakes, avoid placing blame, and get on with the job of repairing the system.

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Here is just one of the first (and certainly the most ironic) examples of the financial disaster awaiting the middle class: Woman Hailed by President as Obamacare Success Story Now Can't Afford Obamacare

Destroying the Very Fabric of the American Healthcare System

I wish that the politicians in Washington weren't so busy building sound bites for the 5 o'clock news that they could actually get together and save America's Health Care System, but, alas, they are incapable of compromise or even intelligent analysis.

Group "A" are so determined to save the reputation of the President they will never admit they made a (gigantic) mistake or compromise to find a solution.

Group "B" is so determined to bring down the President a notch or two that they cannot offer intelligent or reasonable compromises that just might solve the problem at hand.

And the public is so caught up in the political rhetoric, many do not see the tsunami on the horizon about to drown us all.  

But make no mistake about it, the entire Health Care System in the United States, unarguably the finest health care infrastructure in the history of mankind, is months away, a year at most, from complete and utter destruction.

And it's all being caused by The Affordable Care Act, the single worst piece of legislation ever passed by the United States Congress.

About 200 million Americans will lose their current Insurance.  The replacements, if they can be found, will be significantly more expensive for most Americans (about 4/5th will pay several thousand dollars more annually) and they new insurance will have significantly higher deductibles and may well (or most certainly will) force Americans to change their doctors and hospitals.

The hospital infrastructure will collapse.  Some hospitals will be forced to close.  Others will greatly curtail services.  A few, perhaps fifty or less nationwide, will become hospitals for the super rich, those able to afford completely private care.

Sarah Palin's Death Panels of non-medical actuaries will decide on care and payments, effectively making the best care treatments unavailable except to the super rich.

The total economy is mere months away from a total collapse into recession or depression.  The ACA (or ObamaCare) is a nothing more than a hidden super-tax that will drain hundreds of millions of dollars out the middle class taxpayer's wallets, through increased (and unaffordable) premiums and deductibles. 

It's happening every day now.  Moments ago REUTERS reported that insurer UNITED HEALTH CARE is being forced to drop thousands of doctors form Medicare patients programs due to Barack Obama's ego driven theft of millions of dollars from Medicare to fund his ObamaCare albatross.

This was one hundred percent foreseeable and avoidable. Many Republicans and many pundits and analysts and blogger like me have been correctly forecasting this for three years.  But we are all branded by Democrats and media not willing to actually read the ACA bill, as anti-Obama haters.  Alas, that was never true, we were and are the lookouts, warning the people of the on-rushing waves of health care and economic destruction, begging you to save yourselves and get to higher ground.  

Every day a few more are swept away and a few more listen.  I fear it's too late.

Bon Voyage, Titanic!

ObamaCare is destroying the American health care system.  One side casualty is the Democratic Party.  As of today not one single Democrat Senator can possibly be re-elected, regardless of how Blue his or her state may be.

And the intelligent Democrats know it.  And none is sharper or more savvy than former President Bill Clinton.  So President Clinton did what only a true elder statesman of the party can do. He politely told President Barack Obama to get his head out of his ..... and do everything necessary to fulfill his promises to the American people.

See CBS NEWS: Bill Clinton says Obama should honor health care promise

To be certain, former President Bill Clinton is also trying to protect future President Hillary Clinton.  Bill Clinton understands the politics. He understands the people.  He reads the dynamics.

He also would like the health care system to actually work.  We're at over FIVE MILLION INSURANCE POLICY CANCELLATIONS right now, on our way to nearly ONE HUNDRED MILLION!!!  The impact on people will be horrific.  The impact on the health care system itself will be catastrophic. Hospitals will close. Doctors will be forced out of work. People will suffer and some, perhaps many, will die.

And Democrats who lacked even the intelligence to read the bill before passage will all be forced out of office.  Today, they cannot be re-elected. They all need Bill Clinton. 

We all need Bill Clinton.

"Nobody's madder than me,,."

As The Affordable Care Act disintegrates before our very eyes, Barack Obama has spoken nearly every day this week proclaiming "Nobody's madder than me about the fact that the website isn't working as well as it should," and other variations of the same message.

Sadly, it just isn't true. If President Barack Obama were really mad that an incompetent staff had nearly destroyed his signature achievement he would have demanded and received the resignations of those responsible, those who betrayed the President. For a man who rests his entire Presidential legacy on this one act, this particular failure is unforgivable.

If President Barack Obama was genuinely mad, he would demand to know why a "no bid" contract for over $400,000,000.00 was issued to a third rate Canadian company to build his signature website after he proclaimed in his election campaign that no bid contracts would end forever. He would most assuredly want to know why there were no penalties written into the contract for failure to produce the work. This, too, is a personal betrayal of the President and he should take it personally.

If President Obama were truly mad he would want to know who issued regulations that turned his oft repeated proclamation "If You like your insurance, you can keep it," into a complete falsehood.  If we assume President Obama meant what he said, he would demand this egregious error in regulation writing be corrected, fixed, and fixed immediately.

If President Obama were blazingly mad that a woman with cancer was being thrown off her insurance, the very act ObamaCare was designed to stop, he would explode in anger at the regulations written by bureaucrats into his law that forced this to happen.  He would have called the woman on the phone and guaranteed her he would fix this error.  He WOULD NOT have sent his minions out to attack the woman on Twitter, making her the villain simply because she told her story.

President Obama is not mad, except, perhaps, at me for writing this blog.

Halloween, All Tricks and No Treats

As my very good friend Steve says, "This could be funnier."

Have a Happy Halloween.

One President's Halliburton is Another President's CGI Federal

One of the many things that made President George W. Bush one of the most hated Presidents ever among Democrats and others on the left was the use, and we felt THE ABUSE, of NO BID CONTRACTS going to friends, classmates, crony's and lobbyists who had an inside track into the Bush Administration.

Investigations into the NO BID CONTRACTS were a staple of the nightly news on the major networks, articles in The Huffington Post, blog entries in The Daily KOZ and conversations everywhere.

Ultimately the issue of no bid contracts became so large it was a major campaign issue for candidate Barack Obama.  There is no doubt in my mind that his promise to "END NO BID CONTRACTS FOR GOOD" was a major factor leading to his election.

The generally left leaning BUZZ FEED has even put up a montage of Obama's many speeches promising to end NO BID CONTRACTS.  Click on the link above to see them all or just check out the one I've republished below:




Of course now we find that Kathleen Sebelius' Health and Human Services Department awarded a four hundred million dollar ($400,000,000.00) to CGI Federal, a Canadian company with close ties to Barack and Michelle Obama and the Obama Administration with absolutely NO BID. 

What's worse, especially after listening to Barack Obama's speech above, there were actually four other companies who attempted to submit bids for the ACA (ObamaCare) contract and those bids were never opened or reviewed by the Administration. CGI Federal got exactly the kind of insider sweetheart deal given behind closed doors that candidate Obama PROMISED to end forever if he were elected President. 

But, as it turns out, CGI Federal is used to getting no bid contracts with a license to siphon off federal funds. The AP is reporting today about a major failure on the part of the government to distribute funds to the victims of Hurricane Sandy. 

Congress allocated $1.7 BILLION for Hurricane Sandy Relief and hired CGI Federal, without any bidding, as a consultant to aid in the allocation of the funds. Although 24,000 family is desperate need have filled out the applications for aid, only a paltry 1.2% of the money has ever been distributed. Everyone else is still waiting. 

In this case, the government and CGI Federal are a bigger disaster than the hurricane itself. 

Of course no one is ever held accountable in the Obama Administration. When quizzed, they all, from Barack Obama on down, admit "mistakes were made." But then they quickly add the important thing is to "look forward" and "fix the problem."  

Looking forward is Washington code for "spend even more money." 

Barack Obama is no where near our worst President ever. But he easily is the President who has consistently told the most outright lies when campaigning for office or campaigning for his pet projects. 

It's his own little version of a "no bid contract."  

Severe Pain

“Let me be exactly clear about what health care reform means to you. First of all, if you’ve got health insurance, you like your doctors, you like your plan, you can keep your doctor, you can keep your plan. Nobody is talking about taking that away from you.”

                                                                  --- President Barack Obama, July, 2009

If only that were true. I don't think President Obama meant to lie. He just never bothered to read the bill he signed into law.

I am deeply saddened by the emerging details and near tragic consequences of The Affordable Care Act. Millions of Americans are now losing their insurance precisely because of The ACA.

You've likely noticed that all Liberals, Democrats and Progressives and the Main Steam Media now refer to the law as The Affordable Care Act or The ACA.  Only weeks ago all Democrats used to proudly call it "ObamaCare" as did President Obama himself during the election.  Now that it's all falling apart they can't run away from that name fast enough.  

I've seen the disaster coming in part because, unlike Members of Congress and unlike President Obama, I actually studied the bill.  I read it and studied it and I listened carefully to others who had great knowledge of the details and the likely consequences of what is now, unarguably, the single worst piece of legislation to ever emerge from Congress.

I've written again and again and again and again about the pain and suffering this law would cause, the almost unimaginable expense to both the government and to individuals, the dismantling destruction of our health care system and the impact on both doctors and patients.  I knew many, if not most, people would not be able to keep either their doctors or their insurance.

One of my friends commented last night that at least now I can say, "I told you so."

I would have preferred to be wrong.  I take to comfort in being right.  I take even less comfort in the fact that our intractable Congress is not currently up to the job of fixing the problems..... or even addressing the problems.

Millions of people will now lose their health care and their insurance because of President Obama's ego and stupidity (there is simply no other word to describe his failure to ever read the bill he claimed as his own). They will not be able to get substitute insurance under the unworkable system of insurance the law mandates.

Those who somehow can magically cobble together insurance to replace their cancelled policies and can somehow afford the staggering cost of premiums and deductibles will be very angry.  When they discover they can no longer see the doctor of their choice or use the hospital of their choice they will be very angry.

Many Democrats now see the handwriting on the wall.  Sadly, it's just too late.  Dems are quietly lobbying for a delay in implementation, but that might actually make matters worse.  People are receiving notices of cancelled policies today.  Their insurance ends on December 31st.  God forbid they need surgery on January 1st. Delaying the ACA won't help.

Here's my prediction: November of next year will be a bloodbath for Democrats. Republicans who shut down the government trying to stop ObamaCare will turn from goats into legendary folk heroes.

There is no excuse. This was all foreseeable.

A Lesson We Liberals MUST Learn

The ObamaCare roll out somehow managed to be more flawed than the horrific law itself. As impossible as it seems, the initial introduction of President Obama's prize accomplishment from his first term is, so far, one of the biggest embarrassments in the entire history of our government.

And each and every day it gets worse.

The President's biggest allies for the first two weeks were the hapless Republicans who stole the spotlight from the ObamaCare introduction with their ill advised government shutdown.  President Obama ought to write Senator Ted Cruz a "Thank You" note". 

The biggest error the President made was letting the shutdown be settled.  Two weeks was not long enough to fix the flawed website design. And once the shutdown ended, the press and blogosphere turned its full attention to ObamaCare.

Speaking of mistakes, President Obama's second largest mistake was not to accept the Republican DEMAND that ObamaCare's mandates be delayed a full year.  He needs that time (which could have easily buried the issue past the 2014 election) to fix this mess.

Actually biggest problem is the ObamaCare Law itself, but that is for another blog entry in a few weeks.  Today we, as Liberals, need to learn one critically important lesson: The Government Should NEVER Do Anything EVER!

If we love people, if we want fairness, if we demand the folks get full value with no waste, programs like Universal Health Care need to be turned over to the private sector. We can legislate universality, fairness and value and we can hire inspectors to make certain the law is accomplished, but GOVERNMENT SHOULD NOT RUN THE PROGRAM.

We, the taxpayers, spent $680,000,000.00 on bad code, poor design, insane logic, zero testing and no results.  By contrast Facebook's website was started at less than $80 million. Twitter at less than $300 million. And there are countless other examples.  And they all work.

The problem lies in government management, the bidding process and the sheer bureaucracy that permits no innovation and allows no decision to ever be made. 

Megan Neal pointed out over on the Motherboard Website (not a political site, but an IT site) that the bureaucratic morass of bidding on government contracts guarantees no qualified company will ever win a contract or even bid on one.  

     The "procurement" process of government contracts is so labyrinthine, the administration has to hire firms that are adept at the process, even if that means they're not sufficiently adept at the actual task. As a result, despite a government budget of $80 billion a year for information-technology services, federal web services wind up clunky and glitchy like they're stuck in the dial-up age.

Today many are calling for HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to be fired for incompetence. Indeed she is totally incompetent and ought to be fired. In any private company she would have been long gone, years ago. But politics, not competency rule Washington.  And that is exactly why programs should always be delegated to the private sector.  Yes, private companies will make a profit but, like Amazon, they will get the job done for less taxpayer dollars with better results.

As Liberals we hate giving profit for needed services to the private sector.  Yet we waste many times the money for vastly inferior services.  We must learn to Legislate and Regulate, instead of trying to Implement the program in the systemically incompetent government sector.

A Very Sad Day for America

Walter Pruden writing in The Washington Times:

[The Barack Obama Administration] has closed Washington down as tight as [they] dare, emphasizing the trivial and the petty in making life as inconvenient as he can for the greatest number. It’s all in a noble cause, of course. Access to most of the memorials is limited, and often in curious ways. The Lincoln Memorial is easy to reach, with the streets around it remaining open. But the Martin Luther King Memorial is made difficult to reach, relegating it, you might say, to the back of the bus. Not very nice. 

The Park Service appears to be closing streets on mere whim and caprice. The rangers even closed the parking lot at Mount Vernon, where the plantation home of George Washington is a favorite tourist destination. That was after they barred the new World War II Memorial on the Mall to veterans of World War II. But the government does not own Mount Vernon; it is privately owned by the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association. The ladies bought it years ago to preserve it as a national memorial. The feds closed access to the parking lots this week, even though the lots are jointly owned with the Mount Vernon ladies. 

It is important to note that NONE of this was ever done during any of earlier government shutdowns.  No previous President ever wasted the hundreds of thousands of dollars it has taken to inflict this personal pain on the American citizens.

Mike Flynn, writing for FOX NEWS:

Just before the weekend, the National Park Service informed charter boat captains in Florida that the Florida Bay was "closed" due to the shutdown. Until government funding is restored, the fishing boats are prohibited from taking anglers into 1,100 square-miles of open ocean. Fishing is also prohibited at Biscayne National Park during the shutdown.

The Park Service will also have rangers on duty to police the ban. Of access to an ocean. The government will probably use more personnel and spend more resources to attempt to close the ocean, than it would in its normal course of business.

This is governing by temper-tantrum. It is on par with the government's ham-fisted attempts to close the DC WWII Memorial, an open-air public monument that is normally accessible 24 hours a day. By accessible I mean, you walk up to it. When you have finished reflecting, you then walk away from it.

At least that Memorial is an actual structure, with some kind of perimeter that can be fenced off. Florida Bay is the ocean. How, pray tell, do you "close" 1,100 square miles of ocean? Why would one even need to do so? 

This is not, most assuredly, the America I grew up in. America has become a divided country filled with hate, vindictiveness and envy. People no longer help one another. They look for the advantage, the opportunity to profit from other's loss, to win at any cost. 

I'm not talking about big corporations here, although they can be greedy, too.  I'm talking about people, citizens, individuals.  People putting politics above morality.  People no longer loyal to each other, to their communities and their country, but loyal only to their political party, their so called leader.

It is the kind of personal animosity, hatred of those who might believe differently from you, that has driven the middle east into constant, centuries old conflict. Northern Ireland suffers from the same mindless hatred. Serbia, the list goes on.

How much of this petty vindictiveness comes right from the personal instructions of Barack Obama and how much comes from "the folks" who think they are doing what he would want I can't say.  But I do know Barack Obama could stop it instantly if he wanted.  Clearly he wants divide, class envy, pettiness and hatred. 

If the Republicans are the cause of the shutdown (and that can be argued), President Obama is certainly responsible for this temper tantrum of implementation, as he is for similar acts during the sequestration. This is a sad day indeed.  I pray our next President will actually work to bring this country back together.

It's Well Past Time for Real Leadership in Washington

We need to increase the debt limit.  It is not optional.  We must meet our obligations. But it should be done, as it was last time, with dramatic reductions in spending.  Most importantly, the Hypocrite in Chief Obama should quit his name calling and get off his high horse and negotiate for reasonable spending reductions.  It would be easy as the Republicans are desperate and will settle for any crumbs.

Based on his many outrageous statements just this past week it is impossible to respect Barack Obama, the man.  Between Barack Obama and Senator Ted Cruz I feel like we're watching children on the playground in kindergarten.  "Nazis and Racists and Terrorists, Oh My!"

Dear President Obama, 

          Your poll numbers are so low because you prefer name calling to leadership.  You have no real effective opposition, the Republicans are divided and drowning.  President Reagan, President Johnson, President Clinton and even President Bush would have taken this opportunity to solve the problem and emerge as a leader.

          The opportunity is now your's. Please be the leader we elected you to be.

Sincerely,
The American People

Insurance Regulation versus Medical Care Reform

Today, for a few short hours, is an exciting moment for those who somehow hoped to end The Affordable Care Act, or ObamaCare as it is known to both its friends and foes. Senator Ted Cruz is holding his mini-filibuster and it is the stuff of great television.  It is also, I'm told by politicians who know the inside scoop, doomed to failure.

In my opinion his filibuster is much worse.  It is a tragic waste of time, energy, enthusiasm and public opinion that needed to be aimed at amending and correcting the many, tragic, often horrific, errors of ObamaCare.  It isn't even possible to "defund" ObamaCare as Senator Cruz proposes and it is a mistake for him and the Republican controlled House to even try.

Repealing ObamaCare would be wonderful, but that's not possible either, so repair is the best option.

What I want to add to the discussion tonight is a simple and rather brilliant observation made on television this morning by my new favorite Congressman, Doctor Brad Wenstrup of Ohio. Yes, he is an M.D. and he served in Iraq prior to becoming a Congressperson.

Like me, Congressman Wenstrup sees the desperate need to provide medical services to the poor and to the uninsured.  He sees the need to provide full and complete care for the people who face major illnesses.  He has proposed fully thought out and intelligent programs for the government to provide such services.

The problem with ObamaCare, he wisely observed this morning, is that it will not accomplish any of these goals.  Not one! Why? Because ObamaCare isn't Health Care Reform, it's Insurance Regulation and over-regulation at that! 

Under ObamaCare the uninsured will still be uninsured and will still flood Emergency Rooms for services like diabetes care, or simple cases of flu, or child wellness vaccinations, all of which that Emergency Rooms are not equipped to handle.  It will cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars, needlessly.

Meanwhile, by providing totally unneeded and tragically misplaced Insurance regulation, the currently insured will lose their coverage and have it replaced by managed coverage that will almost uniformly change their doctors, hospitals and coverage costs.  

You can count on this for sure - Next year you will not be able to keep your insurance, your doctor or your hospital.  And you can count on  this,too - it's going to cost you personally, a lot more, more in premiums and more in deductibles.  And you may well be denied needed medical care as a bonus.

The answer was always deregulation not increased regulation of insurance.  Here's a much needed example, just one of many. Once we deregulated the Telephone companies we got better service, the long promised (but never delivered) picture phones (now called Facetime), and virtually free long distance.  And phone bills are a tiny fraction of the cost they were for your mom and dad (or grandma and grandpa).

Instead of over-regulating Insurance we need to completely deregulate it!  Get rid of every state board.  Allow full competition across state lines.  Costs will drop and coverage will improve.

Meanwhile the government should fund clinics for the uninsured and the poor instead of forcing them to misuse emergency rooms.  Finally states should administer "catastrophic care" programs for those facing major illness. This could be done for a tiny fraction of the cost of ObamaCare.  

That's the prescription from Dr. Wenstrup.  Let's stop filibustering and start fixing the problem.

The Tragedy of War, The Victims of Hate, Remembering Peter, Sue Kim and Christine Hanson

President Franklin D. Roosevelt proclaimed December 7, 1941, "a date which will live in infamy." The horrific, unannounced and unanticipated attack on the Naval Base in Honolulu, Hawaii left 2,467 dead, Americans and Japanese combined and left America in a state of shock.

September 11, 2001 was, in many ways even more horrific.  Believe it or not, more people were actually killed, 2,996 lost their lives.  And the attack wasn't perpetrated by another nation, but by a large, loosely knit group of religious fanatics determined to bring death, destruction and humiliation on private citizens living in a country that did not agree with their strict religious beliefs.

In the minds of the terrorists, Americans had perpetrated a million wrongs and their humiliation, death and destruction was demanded by God, by Allah himself.

For the first few hours America didn't even realize we were under attack.  Our President was reading schools books to children in an elementary school in Florida. Early reports were so unclear that President Bush continued to read even after being informed of the first airplane crash.  It took hours for the events to unfold.

We saw it all on television.  Reporters and politicians were confused, bewildered and horrified.  We watched the Twin Towers collapse and the shear magnitude of the damage done slowly became clear.  Hatred turned out to be the real weapon of mass destruction.

We focused that day, as we do on most days, on the big issues.  Numbers, statistics, nations, religions. Two Thousand Nine Hundred Ninety Six dead.

But I believe we can only learn to replace hate with love if we focus on the people, their lives, their loves, hopes, fears and dreams.  That's why today, as I have every September 11th since 2006, I'm taking a time to remember Peter Hanson, the handsome, young software engineer, Sue Kim Hanson, his Korean-American bride, and their two their old daughter, Christine.

The Hanson's were killed when United Flight 175 was hijacked by the terrorists and purposely crashed into the World Trade Center.

Sue Kim was a Doctoral Candidate at Boston University.  She, Peter and Christine decided to take a vacation to Disneyland and to visit Sue Kim's father in California before she had to defend her Doctoral Thesis.

Blind hatred killed the Hanson's.  The terrorists never knew them, because to know them might have lead to understanding, to doubt in their mission, to have concerns about the justness of their cause.  The leader of the terrorists, Osama bin Laden didn't want to know people, he wanted to see numbers.  Peter, Sue Kim and Christine weren't people to the terrorists, they were just the number 3. Just 3 out of 2,996.

Please take a few minutes today to remember Peter, Sue Kim and Christine.  Say a prayer for them and their families.  Say a prayer for us all.  Remember people today, not numbers.

-----------------------------------------------------

In 2006 a blogger project was begun on the fifth anniversary of 9-11.  Called the "2,996 Project" volunteers were asked to write a short remembrance for each of the victims of the September 11, 2001.attack.  I was randomly assigned Sue Kim Hanson.  Each year since I have repeated my effort to honor Sue Kim and her family.  You can read each of my essays following the links below:

September 11, 2006 - Susan Kim Hanson

September 11, 2007 - Remembering Sue Kim Hanson

September 11, 2008 - Remembering Sue Kim Hanson

September 11, 2009 - Remembering the Reality: 9-11-2001: Sue Kim Hanson

September 11, 2010 - Reflections on the Life of Sue Kim Hanson

September 11, 2011 - Tears in Tragedy - Remembering Sue Kim Hanson

September 11, 2012 - Honoring the Memory of Peter, Sue and Christine Hanson

The Slow, Inexorable March into Hell

I realize I should be writing about the Affordable Care Act nearly every day.  So should every blogger and analyst. The issue genuinely is that important.

But there are other important issues, too.  And important events capture our attention, like the current debate over military action in Syria.  Nearly every blogger, liberal and conservative alike, are debating this chain of events, presidential powers, war powers, red lines and more.  This is an important discussion and President Obama's actions could have major ramifications for the region or even the world.

On a brighter note, the Syrian debate has temporarily distracted Republicans from their insanely stupid, "Defund Obamacare" debate in the House and Senate.  First it is technically impossible to "Defund" the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and second, the move actually hurts the effort to fix or even repeal this monstrosity of a law.

Democrats know full well the law must be massively altered to become remotely functional.  But they don't dare allow any bill to come to the floor fearing (quite correctly) such a bill would bring about nearly complete repeal of the President's most important legislative victory.  And, so far, protecting the President is more important than serving the best interests of the American public.

So we continue the slow slog down the hill to a medical insurance disaster.  Virtually everyone loses.  Two important news articles this week illustrate the misguided nature of the ACA, it's ill conceived provisions and the unintended consiquences of passing a 1,900 page bill without even bothering to read it.

Late last week, the 22,000-member United Union of Roofers, Waterproofers and Allied Workers withdrew its support for the Affordable Care Act and went one step further and demanded its full repeal.  Several other unions have also withdrawn support or demanded exemptions from the law.

The Roofer's Union issue hit the very core of the problem with the ACA.  The insanely mercurial ACA forces everyone in America into a one size fits absolutely no one policy and penalizes severely anyone who dares to have better health insurance.  This is the dumbing down of American Healthcare.  The bottom line is that the Roofers are deemed to have a "Cadillac" plan and must pay a penalty premium in taxes for their hard earned union benefits.

While President Obama said "If you love your plan, you can keep it," that was simply untrue.  What he should have said is "Many Americans will be forced to accept inferior insurance at much higher rates than they've had in the past."  And he might have added, "My bill will favor non-union workers and give then tax subsidies while taxing Unions for their negotiating skills."  That's exactly what ObamaCare (the ACA) does.

On the flip side of the coin the ACA is even a worse disaster for America's creative culture, hitting artists, musicians, photographers and "gasp" even writers hard by taking away their insurance entirely.

Here I have to quote Nancy Pelosi, the real architect of the ACA (it should be called PelosiCare) who said, "Think of an economy where people could be an artist or a photographer or a writer without worrying about keeping their day job in order to have health insurance."  The sad joke here is that before Pelosi dumped this rotten fish onto the canvas of unsuspecting artists, they had achieved that goal. PelosiCare took it all away.

Once again the enemy is the ACA's dogged determination to create a one size fits absolutely no one insurance template.  But for loosely knit groups likes artists or photographers, Congress made it much worse.  Ignoring the pleas of Democrat Senator Ron Wyden, Congress outlawed insurance plans from operating across state lines and demanded each individual purchase only through his or her State Insurance Exchange in each individual state.  Hence group policies that served creative artists across state lines were made illegal!!!  Virtually every policy serving loose knit groups will end this December, forcing artists and musicians and other independent professionals to purchase significantly more expensive policies from their state exchanges.

In reality Nancy Pelosi should have said, "Under my Affordable Care Act, artists and creative people will be forced into the workplace to accept mundane labor jobs and will no longer be allowed to pursue their dreams. Creativity, whether in Insurance or in the arts will no longer be allowed to exist."

I'll leave you today with this terribly funny ObamaCare parody video produced by the extremely evil Karl Rove Crossroads group.   Laugh while you still can because, like it or not, the ACA takes over on January 1st.

Dan Quayle Was Right, Dammit!

In the age of Joe Biden it's hard to believe that Dan Quayle was easily the most mocked and ridiculed Vice President of all time.  Quayle's gaffs, misstatements and foibles make Joe Biden look like a Rhodes Scholar (although based on some recent Rhodes Scholars, that's no high praise).

Dan Quayle was the ill chosen Vice Presidential nominee of George H.W. Bush (the elder).  Improperly vetted and hastily chosen for all the wrong reasons, Quayle spend four torturous years bouncing from one gaffe to another.  And if Quayle didn't misspeak, the press dutifully made up stories and situations to keep Quayle looking bad.

No moment is Dan Quayle's failed Vice Presidency is more famous than his attack on the fictional television character "Murphy Brown" on May 19, 1992.  It really was not so much an attack on the Brown character as on the "Hollywood" values that put unmarried mother's on a pedestal to be praised, revered and even emulated.  His reference to the Brown Character was brief, and not even by name, but Hollywood turned on Quayle and attacked him with a ferocity never seen before or since.

The "Liberal Media" certainly joined in and, in fact, the most respected journalists actually appeared on the fictional television series AS THEMSELVES to point with pride and passion to the fictional Brown as a role model for all modern women. Among the icons who lent their strong voices and integrity to the ideal of the unmarried mother were Katie Couric, Joan Lunden, Paula Zahn, Mary Alice Williams and Faith Daniels, a veritable who's who of women in journalism.  All appeared on the series!

Feminist leaders loved the character of Murphy Brown as an example of how "a woman can have it all," a career, children and a wonderful fulfilling life without needing to be married.

And Dan Quayle the buffoon was, well, Dan Quayle the buffoon.

Fast forward twenty years and the Murphy Brown legacy (among  many other factors affecting our social fabric) can be seen in our society where many if not most children are born to single women.  In the black community the birth rate to single mothers is today nearly 80%.  As a society we made men unnecessary except for the actual act of procreation.

A friend of mine just told me just yesterday,  "Men only want one thing....  and in today's society they only have to do that one thing."

If you go back and read Dan Quayle's speech to the Commonwealth Club in 1992 he actually never mentioned Murphy Brown by name and spoke only of the need to have a father figure in a child's life to help rear, guide and financially support the child.

Dan Quayle was right.  And today we reap as a society the seeds we sewed in the sexual and feminist revolution.  Without the financial and personal time investment by the father, single mother's are stretched to the absolute limit in their effort to raise a child.  Many are simply unable to do it.


Today many children are actually left to raise themselves.  I'm guessing no one in a position of power or responsibility in our society today ever read or learned the lesson of the book "Lord of the Flies." You know that book was required reading back when I was in high school, but I digress.

Real life examples abound this week.  Most horrific was the bludgeoning murder of the 88 year old World War II hero Delbert Belton by two 16 year old children.  And the murder of the Australian baseball player Christopher Lane in Duncan, Oklahoma by three teens who were "bored" has captured International attention with Australia actually threatening a tourism boycott.

In both cases (and hundreds more each month), the murderers were children with virtually no parental supervision.  Fathers are not in the picture for any of these kids.

I'm not looking for a return to the 1950's era of "Leave it to Beaver." Feminists were right, we DON'T NEED to condemn unmarried mothers, but we do need to educate the next generation to avoid the pitfalls of the single mother fairy tale.  We now need to increase the self image and self worth of young women and the responsibility of young men.

Children need parents. Two or more parents.  Men or women.  The child can grow only with guidance, supervision and love.  Dan Quayle was right.

Hillary Clinton? "Baffling" says Camille Paglia

For forty years there has been no Liberal I appreciate more than Camille Paglia.  Readers of this blog have seen me quote or cite her more than once. In fact, she epitomizes everything this blog stands for, she's a free and independent thinker who is never swayed by political party or cults of personality.  She calls it like she sees it.

Certainly we often disagree.  In fact I disagree with her more often than not, but my respect for her is boundless.

She has recently been interviewed by Salon Magazine and that interview is causing a great deal of controversy because of her views of Hillary Clinton.  And on this topic she and I agree completely.  In fact her words concerning Hillary Clinton are so accurate, so profound, so spot on correct, I cannot improve on them by one sentence.

Reprinted below is just a small portion of her interview.  Be sure to read the entire article here: Camille Paglia: “It remains baffling how anyone would think that Hillary Clinton is our party’s best chance”

As a registered Democrat, I am praying for a credible presidential candidate to emerge from the younger tier of politicians in their late 40s. A governor with executive experience would be ideal. It’s time to put my baby-boom generation out to pasture! We’ve had our day and managed to muck up a hell of a lot. It remains baffling how anyone would think that Hillary Clinton (born the same year as me) is our party’s best chance. She has more sooty baggage than a 90-car freight train. And what exactly has she ever accomplished — beyond bullishly covering for her philandering husband? She’s certainly busy, busy and ever on the move — with the tunnel-vision workaholism of someone trying to blot out uncomfortable private thoughts.

I for one think it was a very big deal that our ambassador was murdered in Benghazi. In saying “I take responsibility” for it as secretary of state, Hillary should have resigned immediately. The weak response by the Obama administration to that tragedy has given a huge opening to Republicans in the next presidential election. The impression has been amply given that Benghazi was treated as a public relations matter to massage rather than as the major and outrageous attack on the U.S. that it was.

Throughout history, ambassadors have always been symbolic incarnations of the sovereignty of their nations and the dignity of their leaders. It’s even a key motif in “King Lear.” As far as I’m concerned, Hillary disqualified herself for the presidency in that fist-pounding moment at a congressional hearing when she said, “What difference does it make what we knew and when we knew it, Senator?” Democrats have got to shake off the Clinton albatross and find new blood. The escalating instability not just in Egypt but throughout the Mideast is very ominous. There is a clash of cultures brewing in the world that may take a century or more to resolve — and there is no guarantee that the secular West will win.

The Streets Run Red With Blood

"The streets run red with blood...."

We could be talking about the tragedy and violence in Cairo this weekend, but we're not.  The above quote comes from right here in the United States, right here in Chicago, where gun violence, shootings and murder continue in epidemic proportions year round.  The six murders and twenty-eight other shootings are this weekend's toll on Chicago's South Side, our own mid-east microcosm of murder.

President Obama and the State Department issued warnings to Americans not to travel to Egypt and to leave the country as quickly as possible.  Similar warnings should be issued to Chicago's South Side, where the police are both incapable and unwilling to stop the rampant violence.

In spite of the fact that Chicago has one of the strictest gun control laws anywhere in the United States, the law is basically unenforced and, many say, unenforceable.  This is in part because courts strictly limit or outright forbid "Stop and Frisk" practices by the police as racist or otherwise unlawful.

In a broad, sweeping and scathing ruling this past week, Federal Judge Shira Scheindlin severely restricted New York City's practice of "Stop, Question and Frisk."  The long and thoroughly documented ruling will eliminate most of the stops and appoints a Federal Monitor to oversee NYC Police tactics.  

NYC Police Commissioner Ray Kelly defended the practice and claimed it had saved over 7,000 lives and removed thousands of illegal guns from the streets.

The fact the courts chose to ignore is that while only 60% of the people stopped by police where black or Hispanic, 97% of the murder victims are black and Hispanic.  

The real racism is in the murders.  Courts routinely and purposely overlook this fact.  

Meanwhile Kelly predicted New York would become another Detroit or Chicago if the judge's ruling is not overturned.

"Stop and Frisk" is rarely used in Chicago.  But blacks are murdered in genocidal numbers.  Someone needs to file a racism suit against the Chicago Mayor, government and Police for their failure to protect blacks.  After all there are relatively few white murders in Chicago.  The police MUST be discriminating by protected whites disproportionately while allowing blacks to die.