We Are the 1%!

We here at Glib & Superficial sometimes have problems interpreting the Universe, because there seems to be so much stuff that Everybody Knows of which we're ignorant. For example, there's a television commercial for Burger King featuring Some Handsome Guy, who is unidentified in the ad. Apparently Everybody Knows that SHG is actually David Beckham, who apparently plays "football" (presumably because he can't hit a curve ball).

Whatever.

We had the same experience when we saw a recent advertisement that has something to do with President Obama's reelection campaign, and is narrated by someone who identifies herself as "Anna Wintour."  Here's the ad:

As it turns out, this is even worse than our experience with the Burger King ad.  There, if the Handsome Guy had said "Hi!  I'm David Beckham," we'd have known that this was some guy who played soccer, because we've certainly heard of "David Beckham," even if we remained unable to pick him out of a police lineup.

But we had to google "Anna Wintour" before we knew that Everybody Knows that she's been the editor-in-chief of Vogue magazine for, like, 25 years or something.  Without Google, we'd have been left knowing only that she was some middle-aged woman with a really creepy accent that she's obviously been practicing for a long time.  [Don't misunderstand: speaking English would be simpler if there weren't so many sounds you have to be able to make, and deleting "R", as Ms. Wintour has done, has advantages.]

Which is to say that our whole experience with this piece started out oddly.  But while still confused about who this woman was, we learn that she's from another planet, only visiting here on earth, because, in her universe, two of "the most incredible women in the world" are Sarah Jessica Parker and Michelle Obama.  In fact, on the subject of "the most incredible women in the world," those are the only two examples proffered by "Anna Wintour."

This caused us to pause the ad, and take out pencil and paper and start sketching Venn Diagrams, trying to figure out what qualities and life experiences were shared by Sarah Jessica Parker and Michelle Obama, which overlap might be the basis of their being "the most incredible women in the world."

But we digress.

Fortunately, we now see that someone at the Romney campaign also saw the ad, and also thought it was awfully strange:

Which still leaves us with a question: what percentage of registered voters in the United States can afford to buy anything that's ever been mentioned in Vogue magazine?

Off Message

Let me Google that for you: Cartagena hookers.

Suicidal Stupidity

HERE is a genuinely heart-wrenching story by the mother of a 14-year-old with a brain tumor.  But the message isn't social or emotional -- it's political.  Because, you see, with the evil, heartless insurance companies in charge, not only might their insurance be cancelled, and not only do they face the fact that their policy had a lifetime benefit limit of $5 million (almost certainly inadequate in the event), but the family had to repeatedly deal with limitations and pre-approvals by the insurance company -- decisions that often didn't mesh with what the family thought was the best treatment available.

Now let's be clear:  I'm with them.  I understand the problem, and it's a real problem.  They're confronting rationing, pure and simple.  Their insurance company -- ANY insurance company -- simply cannot pay for the best (most expensive) medical care in every instance because, if they did, their premiums would be through the roof, or they'd be out of business.  And neither of those options would be much help either to the story's author, or the hundreds of thousands of OTHER insureds whose kid DIDN'T have brain cancer.

But here's what's scary and sickening: the underlying assumption here is that now, with Obamacare (or, even better, with single-payer Government health insurance) all of these problems will melt away.  There won't be any limitations, you'll get whatever medical care you think is best, and there won't be any rationing -- no medical decisions will be made by the Government.  It's gonna be all rainbows and unicorns. Everyone will be treated at the Cleveland Clinic for as long as they think that would be a good thing.

When we're all wearing Government Issue gray jumpsuits, and trudging out to tend the turnips on the Farmers' Collective, THEN will these people realize that this is NOT a solution to all of their problems?

No.  They won't.  They'll explain that the system is a grossly flawed implementation of True Progressivism and that, with just a little tinkering, the Millennium will be ushered in.

Because if you're already perfect . . . .

Flag of Our Fathers

Let us begin today's lesson by observing that, inasmuch as this is the United States, you're pretty much free (or ought to be) to do anything you damn well please, so long as you're not actually injuring someone else (like killing them or stealing their car, for example). This is, or ought to be, particularly true if the thing you damn well please to do is anywhere in the neighborhood of expressing an opinion. And it's most true of all if the opinion you're expressing has anything to do with politics.

It follows that if the Democrats of Lake County, Florida, want to take the flag, replace the field of stars in the canton with a picture of Barack Obama, and fly it outside of their headquarters in Tavares, they'll get no push-back from me. Even if they then fly it from the same staff as the Flag of the United States, in violation of generally understood flag etiquette, it makes no never-mind to me.

But it does raise an interesting question: what lame-brain thought that this was a good idea?

More HERE.

Chevy Volt: "I'm sorry, do you smell something?"

Chevy Volt - Building a Better Tomorrow from Ben Howe on Vimeo.

I get SO confused

It's illegal for an Amish farmer to sell unpasteurized milk.

But it's ok to sell guns to Mexican drug cartels.

Next thing you know, the President will propose to continue funding failing "green power" companies, but cut off money for vouchers so that poor kids in Washington, D.C. can get a chance to go to a better school.

Oh, wait.

Why DOES Rick Santorum hate women?

It's almost as if David Gregory is reading from memos sent out by the Democratic National Committee.  Or maybe he's just drawing on his wealth of personal experience, which tells him that "everybody knows" Catholic guys hate women; you know, the whole "patriarchy" thing.  In an ideal world, Santorum isn't our candidate, but you've got to love a guy who laughs in Gregory's face.

I guess this is the "Change" part

Outrage!

The New York Times has uncovered an outrage that threatens the very existence of the Republic: "Banks Quietly Ramping Up Costs to Consumers." Which is to say, banks charge their customers to do stuff, like replacing a lost debit card, or wiring money to your account. Underlying this huffing and puffing seems to be the notion that a business should price its goods or services based on what it costs that business to produce or deliver them.

We're pretty sure that the New York Times doesn't set its advertising charges based on what it costs them to hit a few computer keys and roll the presses.

If you don't like your bank nickel-and-diming you to death -- or if you lose your debit card regularly -- your remedy is to find a bank that makes its money some other way, and take your business there. But that's becoming more and more difficult to do. If you don't much like JPMorgan-Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, or Citigroup, you may be out of luck.

Of course, that's a story you're not going to read in the New York Times: "Obama Administration Encourages, Finances, Historic Bank Consolidation, Campaign Receives Big Bucks From Bankers."

Wherein we learn that Government regulations create jobs, because SOMEBODY has to do the paperwork

No, really. I'm not making this up. Minnesota Congressman Keith Ellison thinks new regulations create new jobs, because businesses need to hire people to do the work necessary to comply with the new regulations.  It's not a bug, it's a feature!

So here's our Jobs Plan: According to Democrats, the Federal Government can order you to buy something you don't want -- that's what the "individual mandate" in Obamacare is all about. So let's just pass a law requiring all employers to hire somebody who's unemployed. How simple is that? For every 10 people a business now employs, it's required to hire one new person tomorrow. Unemployment solved.

I think we're done here.

It's never a good sign . . .

. . . when they start making fun of you. Try to imagine a similar parody in the Spring of 2008, poking fun at the Sun King's narcissistic, over-the-top, null-content rhetoric. Not funny. Then, our media was literally enthralled, atwitter with leg tingles. Now the image of the President wandering the White House in a bathrobe is funny.

Diagnosis?

To a gifted diagnostician, the patient's symptoms speak. But seldom do they do so with such eloquence.

As Jonah Goldberg observes:

Seriously, in 2008 we elected a community organizer, state senator, college instructor first term senator over a guy who spent five years in a Vietnamese prison. And now he’s lecturing us about how America’s gone “soft”? Really?

This must be the "change" part

August, 2009:

September, 2011:

WASHINGTON (AP) -- In a blunt rejoinder to congressional Republicans, President Barack Obama called for $1.5 trillion in new taxes Monday . . . .

In case you missed it . . . .

. . . . here's the President's speech stripped down to its essentials.

Creative Investments

Ouch:

On Feb. 17, 2009 — the day Obama signed into law his $787 billion stimulus bill — gold was selling at $970 an ounce. For a mere $600 billion, we could have bought two ounces of gold for every man, woman and child in America, and the value of that investment would today be more than $1 trillion, or $3,514 per capita, a net gain of 81 percent.

Unpatriotic! I'd vote for this guy.

Hope & Change

First comes the Hope!

Back in April, 2009, this White House release touted "The Obama-Biden economic plan: creating jobs, strengthening the economy for Massachusetts families." Within the showcase of Massachusetts Miracles produced by the Federal Government's stimulus grants was Evergreen Solar, and the White House quoted the Boston Globe:

"Evergreen Solar, the Marlborough-based maker of solar panels, also is hoping to hire 90 to 100 people at a manufacturing plant in Devens, said Gary Pollard, vice president of human resources. The plant, which opened last summer, is expected to employ more than 800 when it reaches full capacity."

New jobs, green energy, buckets of federal tax credits and grants to customers, and federal cash to the state for direct grants to the company.

Then comes the Change!

Today's Boston Globe reports:

Evergreen Solar Inc., the once promising alternative energy company that received millions in state subsidies, revealed today that that it has voluntarily filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Headquartered in Marlborough, Evergreen makes solar cells. Struggling with low-price competition from Chinese rivals, it shut its manufacturing plant in Devens in March and cut hundreds of jobs at the facility.

As part of its reorganization activities, Evergreen Solar said it will reduce its US and European workforce by about 65 people, including suspension of operations at its facility in Midland, Mich.

Money ---> toilet ---> flush ---> repeat.

Hard Core

Contributed by Uncle Michael.

More Debt Crisis Fallout

Bullshit market plunges.

From Mashable, via Iowahawk.