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Awesome and Excellent
7.28.15

Years ago I was shopping for a used trampoline. I went to look at one that was in the classifieds. When the lady showed me the trampoline I was surprised to see that it had two big L-shaped tears in the mat. I had never seen that before.

The trampoline was unusable.

I thought maybe I was confused about which ad I was answering, and I asked her the price. She verified that she was asking about what a new trampoline cost. Then she said . . .

"As you can see, it's in excellent condition."

Uh . . .

That's one of those moments when your brain experiences a cognitive dissonance. It's like looking at a gauge in an airplane that gives a completely different picture from what you're seeing out of the window and feeling in the seat of your pants.

I thanked the lady for her time and said I'd have to think about it, then left.

I had a similar moment Tuesday morning when I heard Obama say "I think I'm an awesome President."

Really? Well, that's make one of us.

You will never needed any more proof of the man having horrible judgment than his view that he is anything but a complete useless sack of crap as a President. In fact, I can't think of anything that he's not a useless sack of crap at. Can you?

The context of the remarks was him lamenting that the Constitution prohibited him from running for a third term. As horrifying as it is to hear him 1) mention four more years of him in office, and 2) openly express his disdain for the Constitution, he has no intention of trying to abolish the 22nd Amendment or doing anything like unto it. He was just making the point that he thinks he's pretty cool. To construe his (admittedly creepy and unsettling) remarks as a foreboding of chicanery is just stupid.

If you cared you already knew how he feels about the Constitution being flawed, which he has expressed on multiple occasions.

See, I used to think you undermined your credibility by saying things like "useless sack of crap," or "that's just stupid." But now that Trump can do it, hey . . .

That's the whole Medved vs. Levin deal, propriety vs. honestly, straight shooting vs. political correctness discussion. That's for another blog post.

Just kidding. Even contemplating discussing that drivel right now makes me tired and bored.

A close personal friend of mine is an engineer who designs teeth for asphalt milling machines. He is constantly getting requests from the field—we should do this, why don't we do that, this is too hard to do, we need a better way to do that. They are good ideas, all of them, but my close personal friend has a lot to do and they don't always get to the top of his priority list.

Then my close personal friend goes out in the field.

When he comes back after personally being under the machine hammering teeth in and out, he has a different perspective. He's felt the pain and he's more motivated. Engineers should spend a lot of time using the products they design.

You know I'm not talking about engineers sitting in ivory towers.

Here's what I'm talking about. That same close personal friend opened a letter from a collection agency this morning. This particular friend gets an average of three medical bills in the mail every single day of his life. He has wiped out his entire life's savings paying income tax and medical bills. Wiped out. There is no more water in that well. Not one drop. And the bills keep coming.

Do you think President Obama cares when you get a letter in the mail from a debt collector? Of course not. It doesn't affect him in the least.

None of the pain that you feel from his economic policies gives him any stress over his economic situation. His existence is not affected in the least by the fact that the economy is trash. It doesn't affect whether his family can fly around vacationing in Europe or whether he can buy carbon fiber golf clubs or whether his kids get the best possible medical care known to man.

The man's not necessarily heartless. It just doesn't affect him. It has absolutely zero impact on his lifestyle or financial well-being. He does not care.

I don't think my close personal friend holds President Obama personally responsible for his financial woes, in spite of the fact that Obama's economic philosophies lead to exactly that kind of misery. The point is that, just like the engineer sitting at his computer, Barack Obama will never feel the effects of his economic policies.

Did I say "Obama doesn't feel the effect of his policies" enough times?

That's one side of the coin. Doesn't care. Yin and Yang deal here.

You've heard me flap my gums relentlessly about Evil/stupid. What that is is really Heart/Mind.

In his heart he doesn't care. He can't. It doesn't affect him. But in his mind he doesn't believe that his policies can be wrong. He is incapable of understanding that his policies are wrong.

You've heard the BS from the White House about unemployment. It's at 5.3% or whatever number they are feeding you today. The number doesn't matter. You know it's a completely true 100% accurate representation of what they are measuring. Trouble is, it's meaningless. Irrelevant gauge readings about oil pressure don't help you when the plane is spiraling out-of-control into the ground.

You read the article by David Stockman. The real number is more like 42%. This economic disaster is a direct result of the socialist policies of the man sitting in the biggest ivory tower of them all—the White House.

I honestly don't think the man is heartless. I do think he's evil, but what that means is a really boring discussion for another day. But I don't think he's incapable of feeling compassion. But that's very different from caring.

Barack Obama doesn't care that you can't pay your bills. Your pain doesn't affect him in the least.

I don't know what the hell I'm trying to say in this post. I'm not proposing that the President be some common dolt who can't pay his bills. I'm just saying, from where he's sitting he has no clue how devastating his policies are to real people.

He's no different than Bill Clinton in that he doesn't care about people's misery, but he cares a great deal about appearing that he cares about people's misery. They use people in misery as pawns in their political game to persuade people to come around to their way of thinking.

Here's the deal: Let's say Barack Obama cares deeply about his fellow Americans and wants nothing more than to dedicate his life and energy to easing their burden and providing them a means to live happy and fulfilled lives.

Yeah, let's just say that.

His little advisers will always be able to dig up somebody and trot them out in front of him to say "Look, Mr. President! Here's Sally Ann Cavanaugh, of Shady Pastures Minnesota who would have died if not for your visionary socialized medicine program!"

Obama trots out people to illustrate this or that point. In a country of over 300 million people you can always find someone to illustrate whatever point you want to make. Americans have one blue eye and one brown eye. Want proof? Just look at Louisa Adamson from Peoria, Illinois sitting on the stand right next to me here!

You've seen him use his pawns (they look almost like people!) to show how great Obamacare is. "I don't know what you're talking about, all this talk about premiums going up and people losing their insurance. Look! Here's a person right here that is actually paying less. What more proof do you need?!"

Wanna know what else was great? The Great Depression.

No, it's true! I can cite examples of many people who made their fortunes during the Depression. By Obama's logic, the Great Depression was a wonderful thing for people. For a select few it spells economic opportunity. Just look at this person and that person and that one over there.

What's that? What do you mean what about the millions who were in misery? Look at these people that I'm using as an example!

I know I've mentioned this at least 997 times. But since all my talking about it so far has not had any effect whatsoever on the economic policies of the United States, I guess I'll just have to bring it up again.

My wife scratches her head. "Why in the world would someone trash the very economy he has to live under?" she wonders. She doesn't get it.

I do.

I've never lived in Castro's Cuba. I've never lived in Iraq. But I have lived in Mexico and Argentina and that has given me an insight that she lacks.

The almost universal poverty in Cuba and Iraq have no deleterious effect on the regal lifestyle the dictators of those countries enjoy. Quite to the contrary. Paradoxically, the existence of the poverty is exactly what allows them to live like kings.

In a thriving economy where everyone has opportunity, they would have to compete. In the United States Castro would be working the night shift at Circle K (actually, he'd be running drugs and numbers rackets in Miami, but you get the point). Completely contrary to its claims, the whole purpose of socialism is to elevate a few to lavish wealth by devastating the middle class.

Now, charitable souls like Michael Medved would say that Obama truly believes that his misguided policies will make the economy better. He maintains that Obama is stupid, not evil, and is trying his best to make things better based on his deeply flawed understanding.

I'm afraid this whole examination isn't going to fit in a 140-character tweet. The Evil/Stupid debate as it applies to the President may never be resolved.

I don't believe he thinks his policies are the best way for America to thrive economically. I don't think he cares. I don't necessarily thing he wants to destroy America or the economy. But I honestly don't think he cares. It just plain doesn't mean anything to him.

At the same time, I don't believe he's smart enough to fully understand that the end result of his economic philosophy is the elevate his class at the expense of the masses. He does know that he and his ilk get to live like kings, but his intellectual understanding and cunning don't extend to orchestration of a system that creates that like it is in Cuba.

Well, I'm bored of this. We're done.

One of the most telling statements Obama has ever made was during the 2012 election when he said "But Mitt Romney didn't start companies because he wanted to give people jobs!"

Think about that for a minute.

Obama was talking about the fact that Romney has provided thousands people with jobs. Thousands of people. How many companies has Barack Obama started to give people jobs?

In round numbers . . . zero.

Mitt Romney has created companies that have provided thousands of people with work. Barack Obama has never created one single company. And Obama is bashing on Romney for his motives.

Holy crap I don't know why I waste my time venting about this. Either you already understand this or you never will.

Mitt Romney did not sit down and say "I want to provide people with jobs. How do I do that?"

Oh! By the way . . . uncomfortable truth here: Neither did Barack Obama!

Romney created companies to be profitable, and one of the key by-products of that that is that thousands of people were provided with jobs and wealth was created. Wealth was created specifically because Romney created profitable companies. Companies that are not viable do not provide jobs. Companies that exist to grow themselves and make profit provide jobs and create wealth.

This is just an illustration of how Barack Obama simply does not --can not-- understand how the system is designed to work.

Okay, there it is. The wall. If you get it you don't need me to explain it. If you don't, you never will.

A common maxim in legal circles states that you only tell them what they ask.

Lawyers on cross-examination are always trying to get witnesses to spill extra information. One of the more effective techniques for doing that is to just stay quiet. People often have a natural tendency to try to fill in the void.

So when the lawyer asks Tony if he saw Guido taking the ledger from the restaurant, Tony just says no. He doesn't volunteer that Guido doesn't really use the ledger and does everything on his smart phone. Tony's smart enough not to give anyone questioning him an entry into things he hasn't thought of that might steer him in the right direction.

Okay. So, you know that principle. Now, think about taking the opening when you're given it.

I remember a Tae Kwon Do guy I used to work out with. He was sparring with a Green Beret and the guy kept dropping his guard. I remember the way my friend described it with a shrug, like, well, okay, if you want, and kicked him upside the head. It's like when the pitcher puts one low and slow and outside. What else are you going to do? Knock it out of the park.

Rachel Dolezal set herself up perfectly.

(Do you remember who Rachel Dolezal is? That was a dozen news cycles ago).

She said . . . "You can't prove I'm white. I've never had a DNA test."

I'm going to pause here and give you the opportunity to take the swing. Discovery is such a thrilling sensation . . .

Oh, that's a great idea.
"What is?"
You want to take a DNA test to prove you're black.
"Well, I didn't mean that . . ."
No, you're absolutely right. You said that a DNA test would clear this up. That's a great idea.
"I'm . . . but I . . . "
The network will pay for it. I'll get it all set up. I'll have my producer take care of that right away. We'll read the results live on the air, it'll be great. You can be here and have all your friends and family and it'll be a whole big event!
(Mumbles) "I don't think those tests are very reliable . . ."

Okay, I'm even more bored about it than I was when it was news, but read this anyway. It's a deal Chicks on the Right wrote about Dolezal suing a university for discrimination back when she was white.

Then, you probably heard her interview where she said . . .

the discussion is really about what it is to be human," she said. "I hope that that can drive at the core of definitions of race, ethnicity, culture, self-determination, personal agency and, ultimately, empowerment."

Hey, I've got an idea! Let's string together a bunch of meaningless words!

No, really. If that doesn't just encapsulate the meaninglessness of liberalism. Let's just spray a bunch of lofty sounding words and people will think we're enlightened. It's like watching an episode of Star Trek. "We can amtabulate the peripheral axiocratical hyperbolators to bring the main warp engines back online." You just register "That person is a lot smarter than I am, so I'm glad they know what they're talking about."

Also, it was hilarious how she stuck to her claim that Albert Wilkerson, a black man, was her father.

"Albert Wilkerson is my dad. Any man can be a father, not every man can be a dad."

I'm sorry, what?

It had shades of that bizarre episode when snopes defended Barack Obama's claim that his "father" fought in WWII.

". . . ignoring the fact that Barack Obama's complicated family tree encompasses multiple fathers . . ."

Geez. What is Phil Hendrie going to do now that reality is crazier than any scenario he can make up?

You remember the way little muslim kids are lied to about the Jews. From the cradle, or whatever they put their unfortunate offspring in over in Trashcanistan, their children are told tales about how Jews take little muslim children to use their blood for their religious rituals. It's no wonder the kids grow up hating Jews. How could they not?

From childhood they are fed a false view of what the world is. They base their understanding of the world on that because that is what they’ve always been told.

Well, that same sort of thing is happening in many households in America.

Blacks are being lied to about the cops, that they are the enemy, that they are out to get black kids . . .

It's a lie and masses of people are structuring their view of the world around it because it's being inculcated into them.