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President Obama’s joint-session, prime time, pass-it-now jobs speech was so feckless that even Jon Stewart’s ridiculing it.

The American people aren’t all that impressed, either.

Obama becoming a late-night punchline and subject of ridicule might be the most glaring example of how much trouble he’s really in. The easier the jokes are to write and deliver, the more of “a joke” the subject becomes. Watch the first clip of Conan O’Brien. All he has to say is “jobs plan” to get a laugh.

The very idea that President Obama can create jobs has become a joke — which is as it should be.

Tina Korbe at Hot Air has more.

Mayor Cedric Glover may be a Democrat, but he is a great conservative when it comes to business.  He helped us in many ways when we were building the studio including helping us in the land acquisition and facilitating a loan from the city when the economy collapsed and we needed a little extra cash to make sure the project did not fall apart.

This whole project started as an idea when I was in Shreveport shooting “Mad Money” in the Spring of 2007.   During that time I became acquainted with Cedric Glover and his city council.  My colleague and I, Michael Flannigan, spent a good deal of time working with the city during the production of “Mad Money” and Mayor Glover started talking about how he wanted to support the film industry and help it grow in Shreveport.  At that time, Louisiana had a 40% entertainment industry infrastructure tax credit in place.  We decided that if the City had land that was not being used, maybe we could lease it and take advantage of the tax credit to develop and build a movie studio.

Michael and I discussed this idea with the owners of Millennium Films, and with the encouragement of all three of them, especially Avi Lerner, we proceeded to identify some land that the city had available.  Michael and I then filed the application for the State Infrastructure Tax Credit and it was approved.  We then proceeded to negotiate a lease with the City for the aforementioned land along with the help of our Shreveport Attorney Dannye Malone.

Now, it was time to finance the construction.  Unfortunately, the Stock Market collapsed in September, 2008 and the financing became impossible.  No bank would even consider a real estate development deal in late 2008, let alone a movie studio.  This is when we saw the true power and dedication of, not only Mayor Glover, but the entire municipal government in Shreveport.  They, along with Avi Lerner, would not let the project die.

After exhausting what we thought were all possibilities, a financing package came together, which included a partial loan from the City of Shreveport.  Construction began in late 2009.  And, yesterday, we had the grand opening of the first phase of the studio which is now fully operational.  When all of the phases are complete, the Shreveport facility will be a 20 acre studio with a complete back lot that will include various facades representing exteriors in different parts of the world.

Right now, in the initial phase, we have two fully soundproofed stages, production offices for two films, an integrated CGI visual EFX house, storage, commissary and a screening room.  Phase two includes the building of some storage warehouses and, as mentioned earlier, some facades.

This studio represents an example of what government can do when it’s pro-business and really wants to create jobs.  Between the State of Louisiana Department of Economic Development, through its representative, Chris Stelly and the City of Shreveport, this package came together with a relatively small investment in taxpayer dollars.  Already, it has created more than 80 full time jobs in Shreveport and approximately 150 part time or seasonal jobs.  The area of the city where the studio was built is now going through gentrification and will become an active and productive part of the city.  It will no longer be a blight on the city where drug dealers and prostitutes sold there wares.

The economic benefit to the city and the State is already being seen.  The jobs created will bring more tax revenue in the form of income taxes from the already employed.  In addition, the area will attract other businesses which will generate more tax revenues.  This is real stimulus.   It is government aid in the creation of job in the private sector, not the public sector.  This represents an actual example of Republican theory at work.

It is not the stimulus the Obama Administration gave us in 2009 which included longer unemployment benefits, the creation of temporary jobs, the creation of public sector jobs which will require constant tax dollars to maintain, and massive union payoffs, etc.  And, the cost of the Millennium Studios project was born at the state level, not federal.  It is small government doing what it does best.  Not the gigantic federal monster which the Obama Administration would like to have take over the economy.  It is proof that Federalism works.

If only the Obama Administration would realize this and keep out of the economy.  Had the stimulus and bailouts not gone forward, the country would be completely out of recession at this point.  The economy would have taken care of itself.  Now, instead, our children are burdened with another four trillion dollars of debt.  The still-in-power Democratic Senate refuses to listen to the Republican House on ways to curtail the ridiculous Federal spending.

In the meantime, congratulations to Millennium Studios and to my colleagues, Avi Lerner, Trevor Short and Danny Dimbort.  And, one more time, thank you to the City of Shreveport, its Mayor, Cedrick Glover and the State of Louisiana for backing and supporting business and industry in the private sector.

Yep, instead of joining the work force, grads are turning their Ipods up, and flip flops homeward, to sponge off mom and dad, because, according to the Times, “the work offered doesn’t match their self-assessed market value.”

Meaning, they’re special, so their jobs must be special. I mean, you can’t have a precious one-of-a-kind snowflake working in the mailroom! Snowflakes can’t open packages! Snowflakes can’t make coffee! Snowflakes are there to be appreciated, as snowflakes!

And so the job becomes another spoke in the wheel of self-fulfillment, something to accentuate the belly button ring and Asian lettered tattoo on your pelvis (which reads “stupid white person”).

You could say this is the ultimate consequence of self-love buoyed by a safety net. It’s not the kid who’s doing this, but the parents who indulge them. Kick ‘em out, they’ll find work.

But to me, by not accepting work, they’re missing out on a key part of life: having a job you hate. A rotten first job teaches you to love the better jobs that come later. Plus, they can be fun! A rotten job means you can invent new ways to pass time, i.e. drinking rum in the bathroom. And the best part: you won’t care, because the job doesn’t matter. You won’t have sleepless nights – just boring afternoons. In a real sense, taking the job you don’t want creates a freedom other people envy.

And also, it’ll get you out of the house. Which you owe your parents.

And if you disagree with me, you’re worse than Helen Thomas.

Tonight, we have John Gibson, the lovely Brooke Goldstein, the hilarious Joe Devito.

And Sharlto Copley (the star of “District 9,” and the new “A-Team”!)

**************

Scene 14: Christmas Eve, inside Bedford Falls Town Hall. Senator George Bailey confronts an angry mob of constituents protesting his vote on the new health care bill.
MAN #1
Come on Bailey, you can’t hide forever! Let us in!

WOMAN #1
Yeah, what is this mandatory insurance nonsense? Stop cowering behind that podium George! We want answers!

crowd erupts into shouting

GEORGE BAILEY
Now now now, everybody calm down, see? If you’ll, well, see, just let me explain…

MAN #2
You should’ve explained these death panels before we elected you! Let’s get ‘em!

WOMAN #2 (shaking pitchfork)
Yeah!

MAN #3
Hey, pipe down youse mugs, let the man talk. It’ll be 15 minutes before the tar is hot enough to pour. Out with it Bailey!

GEORGE BAILEY
Well well, thank you for that Pete. Now folks, see, you just gotta understand how Washington works. Remember how you, you sent me there to bring back free things to Bedford Falls, like free heath care and jobs and that new George S. Bailey retractable midnight basketball court for the high school gym?

MAN #4
Hey Bailey, do know how many kids drowned at the prom last year from that stupid thing?

GEORGE BAILEY
Well, now now now, Clem, sure a few kids drowned. But look at all the jobs it created down at the Potter Retractable Basketball Floor factory. And that’s my point. Now, see, down in Washington there’s a whole Senate full of regular guys like you and you, and me, and we represent thousands of places just like Bedford Falls. And all of those places want their own jobs and healthcare and retractable basketball courts. And it turns out all of this costs money, so we have to get, well, revenues…

WOMAN #3
You mean taxes?

GEORGE BAILEY
Well, yeah, Helen, if that’s how you want to put it. See, we put all those revenues in a, a, a, big pile there in Washington, and then we start making deals and such, to make sure we can all bring some home. Sometimes we run out, and have to make up for it with other fees…

MAN #2
You mean taxes? Why don’t you get it from Old Man Potter?

WOMAN #2
Yeah! Get it from Potter!

GEORGE BAILEY
Now, now, I hate old man Potter just as much as the rest of you. Maybe more. He lives in that cold old mansion up there on Beacon Hill, while you’re getting laid off and trying to make ends meet. It just isn’t right, and that’s why I organized the big ACORN march against him last year. But I’m telling you, even if we confiscated every penny he has, we couldn’t pay for your free universal health care. That’s why we have to charge you for some of it, and make sure you don’t use too much. But don’t worry, I sent my top trade representative Uncle Billy over to China to get a payday loan for the rest.

WOMAN #5
But won’t we have to pay them back?

GEORGE BAILEY
Well, Marge, yeah, technically, but only until you’re all dead. After that it’ll just be your kids.

MAN #4
Stop your malarkey, Bailey! Keep your ridiculous health care bill. We want our money back!

CROWD
Yeah! Give it back!

GEORGE BAILEY
Now now now, Clem, let’s take it easy there. Sure it’s your money. And yours, Violet. And yours too, Reverend Larson. It’s everybody’s money, and belongs to everybody. Especially me because I’m a Senator. We need that money to make the deals to make the legislation to make sure you get the things you want. Now if you’ll all be patient, I’m sure that Uncle Billy will be getting back from Peking any time now…

MAN #1
I’ve heard enough of this! Let’s get ‘em!

CROWD
Yeah!

MAN #2
Tar’s ready!

GEORGE BAILEY
Gulp!

George runs flailing through the snowy streets of Bedford Falls, the torch-weilding mob in hot pursuit
*************
Scene 15: A bridge outside Bedford Falls. George, breathless, peers dead-eyed into the icy river 100 feet below.

GEORGE BAILEY
I… I wish I was never elected!

George swings his leg over the side of the bridge, but he is tackled by a kindly old stranger

CLARENCE
Phew, that was a close one, George. I thought for sure you were a goner!

GEORGE BAILEY
Who… who are you? How did you know my name?

CLARENCE
Well that’s a mighty interesting question, Senator Bailey. I guess you could say… well, let’s say I’m sort of your protector. Clarence is the name. Clarence Odbody.

GEORGE BAILEY
You mean some kind of guardian angel? From heaven?

CLARENCE
Yessir, straight from lobbyist row on K Street. But I’m not an official angel as yet. Before I can earn my wings I have to stop you from this fool idea of yours. Honestly, George — political suicide? It’s just plain sinful.

GEORGE BAILEY
Did you see that crowd? Have you seen my approval ratings? This town would have been better off if I had never been elected.

CLARENCE
Stop saying such a thing! Do you really feel that way George?

GEORGE BAILEY
I, I, I, I… yeah! Well, see, yeah! See.

CLARENCE
Alright George, I’ll grant you your wish. But you may not like what you see.

swirling screen, blaring staccato strings

GEORGE BAILEY
Where, uh, where are we Clarence?

CLARENCE
Don’t you recognize it, George? It’s Bedford Falls.

GEORGE BAILEY
But but, now see, it doesn’t look anything like Bedford Falls…

CLARENCE
Of course not George. Don’t you remember I granted your wish? This is Bedford Falls… except you’ve never been elected. Let’s see what’s happening over at the High School.

George and Clarence try to enter the gymnasium.

GEORGE BAILEY
Hey, it’s locked!

CLARENCE
That’s right George. Because you weren’t around to pass your midnight basketball bill, all the kids are down at the malt shop and the library.

GEORGE BAILEY
But what about the retractable floor?

CLARENCE
It isn’t there George. Because you weren’t there to insert that earmark. And that means more than 20 men from the Retractable Basketball Floor Workers Union couldn’t contribute to your re-election fund.

GEORGE BAILEY
You’re lying!

CLARENCE
I’m afraid not George. Let’s walk downtown.

George and Clarence walk down the snowy sidewalks of Bedford Falls

GEORGE BAILEY
There’s something strange Clarence… where are all the potholes?

CLARENCE
Potholes? Without your Stimulus Bill, Bedford Falls ended up hiring their own non-union pavement contractor.

GEORGE BAILEY
I think I need a drink.

CLARENCE
Whatever you say, George. Let’s pop into Joe’s Tavern.

GEORGE BAILEY
Hey, what happened to my Smoke Free Tavern Act? Why… why.. It’s Ed! Ed Flenderson! President of the Retractable Basketball Floor Workers Union! Ed, it’s me, George! Senator George Bailey! Don’t you know me Ed? Can I count on your support for the next campaign contribution cycle?

ED FLENDERSON
Get away from me you, crazy wino! The Potter Basketball Floor Plant closed down years ago.

GEORGE BAILEY
But Ed, that means you’re out of a job…

ED FLENDERSON
What are you, nuts? After I left that dead-end job I started my own business. FlenderCo, the third biggest snow removal company in Bedford Falls. I’m my own boss, make more money, and no more splinters.

JOE THE BARTENDER
Hey, scram, you crazy hobo! Stop bothering my customers!

George and Clarence cross the street to the Malt Shoppe. George peers through the foggy glass to see teenagers reveling.

GEORGE BAILEY
There’s something familiar about that soda jerk… yeah… why that’s Tommy O’Reilly! But he was… he was…

CLARENCE
…decapitated by the retractable basketball court at prom? I’m afraid not, George. Tommy and those eight other casualties are in there right now, Lindy Hopping.

GEORGE BAILEY
But what about that big class action suit?

CLARENCE
It never happened, George. And your friends at the Bedford Falls Trial Lawyers Association never got their contingency fees.

GEORGE BAILEY
And I never got their contribution bundle?

CLARENCE
No George. Why would you? After all, you’re not a Senator.

GEORGE BAILEY
I… I… I…

CLARENCE
It’s time to move on George. Let’s go over to the Bedford Falls Police Station.

At the booking desk

GEORGE BAILEY
What are we doing here Clarence?

CLARENCE
Just wait George. You’ll see.

Two cops roll in an old man in a wheelchair, wearing a dress

MR. POTTER
Let me go! I know my rights!

COP #1
Caught him red handed, Sarge. He was trying to book a flight to Rio at the Bedford Falls Municipal Airport.

DESK SERGEANT
Good job boys! Well, well, well. if it isn’t Mr. Potter. 31 counts of illegal mortgage lending, 8 counts of embezzelment, and 28 counts of investment fraud in that retractable basketball court Ponzi scheme. Looks like you’ll be spending the holidays upstate at the Big House.

GEORGE BAILEY
Mr. Potter! Mr. Potter!

CLARENCE
Save it George. He doesn’t know you. You were never Senator, remember? You never got to use Mr. Potter as a villain in your campaign ads, he never bought you that secret vacation condo in St. Martins, and you never passed that $12 billion emergency stimulus supplement to bail him out.

MR. POTTER
Do I know you, young man?

GEORGE BAILEY
Well, yes… I, I mean no…

MR. POTTER
Say, do you think you could lend an old man $300 for bail? It is Christmas after all.

GEORGE BAILEY (rummaging through pocket)
Well, sure Mr. Potter, you’ve always helped me when I got in a jam. Let me see what I have in my emergency legal defense fund… what the heck?! Noooo!

DESK SERGEANT
Hey pal, get the heck out of here before I bust you for loitering. G’wan, beat it!

George and Clarence walk by empty welfare centers and boarded-up ACORN offices

CLARENCE
You see George, Bedford Falls is a mighty different place without you in Washington.

GEORGE BAILEY
I guess what they say is right – one man can make a difference. Clarence, but what about the heath care bill? The health care bill, Clarence!

CLARENCE
You weren’t there to vote for cloture, George. It died in committee. America never got its healthcare bill, and Bedford Falls never got that Federal Snow Museum.

GEORGE BAILEY
Take me to Doc Bradford’s medical clinic Clarence! I wanna see what happened!

CLARENCE
But George, I don’t think you’ll want to see it, it’s just…

GEORGE BAILEY
Take me there Clarence! Take me, darn it! I wanna see it, see?

CLARENCE
Sigh. Alright, as you wish.

Inside Doc Bradford’s clinic

DOC BRADFORD
That was quite a nasty spill you took on the ice, Mrs. Foster. I’m scheduling you for an artificial hip replacement Tuesday. In the meantime, stay off your feet and fill this prescription for pain relievers.

GEORGE BAILEY
Just like that? What about getting approval from the hip procedure rationing board?

CLARENCE
There is no rationing board, George. It’s completely up to Doc and Mrs. Foster.

MRS. FOSTER
Oh, bother. How much is this going to cost me?

DOC BRADFORD
Medicare will pick up most of it, but looks like you’ll have a $200 deductible.

MRS. FOSTER
Well I guess I always can skip my AARP dues.

GEORGE BAILEY
Noooooo! Hey… now, now, now, who who’s that woman over there? Why that’s… that’s…

CLARENCE
Yes, George. It’s Mary. Your Mary.

DOC BRADFORD
Mary? Mary Hatch? Your prescription is ready.

GEORGE BAILEY
Mary ‘Hatch’? Why, why, that’s Mary’s maiden name! You mean she never…

CLARENCE
No, George, she never married. Because you never became Senator, you never met her through that escort service. Mary remained here in Bedford Falls working as a simple call girl, and now she has to pay for her chlamydia drugs from her own pocket.

DOC BRADFORD
Alright Mary, I’ll renew this one more time. But I’m warning you, this is the strongest antibiotic I can find.

MARY
Can you break a $100 bill?

GEORGE BAILEY
Mary! Mary! It’s me, George! Oh, Mary, don’t you know me? Speak to me Mary!

MARY
Hey, get your hands off me you creep! I charge a sawbuck for that kind of weirdo stuff.

CLARENCE
Come on George, it’s time to leave. We have to get back to the bridge by midnight.

GEORGE BAILEY
But.. but.. I I don’t want to do it, Clarence! I want to live! I want to live, in Washington! I want to legislate! I want to chair committees and live sweet precious life wherever it takes me!

CLARENCE
Are you sure George? But what about your approval ratings?

GEORGE BAILEY
It’ll all work out, I just know it! I’ll hire the best media consultants in DC. The voters will forget all about it by November, just you see!

CLARENCE
But what if you lose?

GEORGE BAILEY
Then I’ll set up my own lobbying firm on K Street! Ten times more money and I still get to write bills! Anything to avoid coming back to this shitty one horse town!

CLARENCE
Splendid, my boy. Absolutely splendid! That’s the true Christmas spirit of the Beltway! Oh George, I think you just may have earned me wings.

swirling screen, blaring staccato strings

**********************
Scene 16: George comes to on the icy bridge.

GEORGE BAILEY
Clarence? Clarence? Where am I? I think I better pinch myself… well how about that! I I I’m alive! I’m a Senator, I tell you! United States Senator from Bedford Falls George S. Bailey! You did it Clarence! You did it, you old lobbyist! Woo hoo!

George runs back into town, giddily skipping up the steps of the town hall, where he is spotted by the angry torch waving mob.

MAN #1
There he is! Let’s get him!

MAN #2
Hurry, the tar is getting cold!

Inside Bedford Fall Town Hall

MAN #3
Alright Bailey, say your prayers.

GEORGE BAILEY
Now, now Pete, put down that pitchfork. Let me tell you about the new agriculture appropriations bill I’m co-sponsoring.

MARY (entering the hall with their 3 children)
George? Are you alright? I’ve been worried sick about you.

BAILEY KIDS
Daddy!

GEORGE BAILEY
Oh Mary! You know me! You know me!

MARY
Well, of course I do, George. You’re my husband, and I’m your trophy wife.

GEORGE BAILEY
And your chlamydia is mostly cleared up!

MAN #3
Very touching Bailey. Now hand back our money nice and slow, or we start the tarring.

GEORGE BAILEY
Now now now now, just wait there, see. You need to be patient…

WESTERN UNION BOY
Telegram! Telegram for Senator George Bailey from Uncle Billy!

MARY
Well what is it? What does it say? Hush, everyone!

WESTERN UNION BOY
I have made success, stop. Pawned Hawaii to Chinese $1 trillion, stop. Rest of money can be printed at US Mint, stop. Health care is saved, stop. Merry Christmas Uncle Billy.

GEORGE BAILEY
Did you hear that folks? We’re saved! Free healthcare for everybody! Merry Christmas!

CROWD
Hooray! Should auld acquaintance be forgot, and ne’er brought to mind…

GEORGE BAILEY
Re-elect Bailey in ‘48!

LITTLE ZUZU BAILEY
Do you hear that Daddy? It’s bells ringing.

GEORGE BAILEY
By golly you’re right, sweetie. It is bells.

LITTLE ZUZU BAILEY
Teacher says that everytime a bell rings, a Washington angel gets his wings.

GEORGE BAILEY
That’s right, that’s right.

LITTLE ZUZU BAILEY
And everytime a Washington angel gets his wings, the national debt goes up one kazillion dollars.

GEORGE BAILEY
Attaboy Clarence.

CROWD
…should auld acquaintance be forgot, in days of auld lang syne…

Fade out, credits

Jobs.  Health care.  Economic justice.  Working families.  Income redistribution.  Fairness.

Words mean things.  Very specific things.  We on the Right tend to forget that.  By following the lead from the Left, we abdicate our arguments without even knowing it.  By using their terms, and in so doing, tacitly allowing their outrageous assertions to stand unchallenged, we surrender ground – one step, one phrase, one election at a time.

We are told the main issue on Americans’ minds in these perilous economic times, is ‘Jobs’.  The main problem is putting people back to work, dontcha know.  ‘Creating more jobs’.  And of course, this is a classic example of the cart before the horse.  It’s a tried-and-true ploy of the Collectivist to frame the problem as that which affects ‘the masses’ alongside the solution, which involves the central government.  (The people need jobs!   We’ve got to create more jobs!)   As if…in a free republic the purpose of government is to provide each citizen with a job.  As if…a job is merely this mystical anomaly that suddenly appears by fiat of a benevolent and elegant president.  As if…the very economic policies of the new administration aren’t doing everything they can to retard the growth of the economy and hence hamper and defeat the expansion of the work force.  As if…it’s not the stifling regulation, punitive taxation, and restriction of movement on business that prevents business from hiring new employees.

But the President drones on every other day about, “We need to create more jobs”.

As if…

But we on the Right surrender the argument every time we lead our point with, “Jobs”.   A job is a result of a need of a business to run effectively.  A business needs people to carry out various functions.  And…contrary to popular Leftist thinking…the purpose of a business is NOT providing people with jobs.  The purpose of a business is to create profit for its owners and shareholders by providing goods and/or services.  Job creation is a happy ancillary effect of a business as it grows.

Expansion of free-market businesses is a good thing.

Too often, Leftist redistribution thieves, Race Merchant poverty pimps, Envoys-of-Envy class warriors, and their toadies — the mainstream media — paint Business as the bad guy.  Sometimes their paint strokes are subtle…sometimes not.  Corporations, big and small, and those who head them are depicted as nothing more than greedy, selfish, bastards out to ‘screw the little guy’.  And we let them get away with this.  We allow these ‘shades of lie’ to live in our national lexicon.  And we do so by passively accepting…adopting…and eventually embracing their twisted phraseology.   They distort our beloved English language…and we wave the white flag, content that anyone even talks to us, happy to be invited to the table.

FTS!

Before we can restore our nation to its original intent, we need to take back the argument.  And that will take backbone – from all of us.  Don’t let them frame the argument.  Stand up for what you know is right!   Are we pussies – or are we Americans?  If our heroes didn’t fold at Normandy, Iwo Jima, Rumadi, Chosin, Lexington…then we shouldn’t reel when our Libtard buddies start waxing Alinsky and Zinn.  Stand and deliver!  Hit them with the truth.

They use innuendo and generalization as their major tools.  I say kick them square in their syntax!  Make them define their terms.  (They are loath to do it.)  Make them get specific; and if they won’t, dig your heels in and refuse to let the argument proceed until they do so.  “What do you mean, specifically, by ‘income redistribution’?  Do you mean you want to take my hard-earned salary and give it to someone who hasn’t worked for it, merely because you think he ‘needs’ it more?”  “And what are ‘working families’?  I have a family and I work.  Is mine not a ‘working family’?”  And…“What do you mean, ‘We need more jobs’?  Don’t you mean, we need to create an environment less hostile and more accommodating toward business and industry in the form of lower taxes and fewer regulations, so that they may expand and be able to afford to enlarge their work force?”

You on the Left are like the misguided farmer on the road with a broken-down horse.  You’re kicking him to get up…while you bash him in the head with a hammer.  A carrot and some grain could get him moving on down that road.

Memo to Government:  We in the business world can rebound and expand the economy if you will get out of our pockets and get out of our way!!!

Lift the crippling restrictions and heavy tax burden on small business.  Get out of bed with big corporations – stop the payoffs (with our money) of ‘go-along with it’ back room deals.  Stay out of Wall Street.  Your lust to control is leading us down the ruinous road to fascism.

What part of “The government has no business being in business” don’t you get?  Yes, that includes the ‘health care’ business.  And by the way, fellow Righties — to frame the argument over free-market vs. government controlled health care by calling it simply ‘Health Care’ is a losing gambit.   To abbreviate the very complex industry that involves one-fifth of the American economy, employs tens of millions of technicians, doctors, dentists, nurses, administrators, researches, salespeople, support staff, etc… as simply ‘Health Care’ is ludicrous.   But…I hear it repeatedly from the Right…. “We stand in opposition to Health Care.  We oppose Health Care.  We’ve got to stop Health Care from moving forward.”    Yes, most of us on the Right know what you mean…but stop and think a minute how that sounds to the uninitiated.   “You oppose health care?  You heartless morons!”

Words mean things.

It seems like a tedious, never-ending task…but make the Lefties do it; make them define and refine their terms.   It’s obnoxious, but play dumb, as if you truly don’t know what they’re talking about.  It’ll drive them nuts…but it will force them out of the clouds, it will force them to get specific.  And clarity is a good thing.

It is my firm belief that if we bring the Left out of the generalized fog of euphemism, innuendo and non-specificity, and force them to clearly illuminate their positions…the voters will reject them.   So many Americans right now are wishing they’d pursued this line of inquiry last year.  “What do you mean by ‘hope and change’?  Hope for what, specifically?  And you want to change this country?  What kind of change …specifically?”

The words we use are important.  Words can clarify and elucidate.  Or they can just as easily distort and obfuscate.   To seek the former is to come out into the bright warm sunlight.  And to flush out the latter is to send cockroaches scurrying for cover.

PS:  Don’t worry. Nobody actually swam in the Salton Sea during the making of this video. Well, a German tourist did, but I think he got shot.

Look at the issues that will potentially devastate your bank account. There, “raising awareness” no longer matters. It happened first with the stimulus bill.  It was far more important to push that mess through than it was to actually read it. Nationalized health care? Beyond knowing that we need it right now – what else is there? And what of this cap and trade muck? It’s way too dry – too bad there aren’t any Cliffs Notes.

The truth is – if you raise awareness about all this stuff, people realize it sucks. Hence, the folks pushing for this crap realize it’s better to cloud awareness until you’re left with nothing but noise masquerading as bumper stickers.

To incorrectly paraphrase a famous public service campaign – it’s the “less you know,” that really works.

And this is really why the modern progressive needs Obama so badly. With his endless charisma and hypnotic charm, Obama represents their only – and perhaps last – opportunity to sell the un-sellable, and remake the United States to fit their Utopian nightmare. It’s actually a testament to how destructive these ideas are: that even someone as gorgeous as Obama can’t even unload this crap.

Tonight we’ve got in studio: comedian Jesse Joyce, Andrew Breitbart and S.E. Cupp!

I heard today that the eighteen million jobs that are supposed to be created by the Obama Over-Stimulating Bill are to be paid at union wage. It is a small detail. Apparently it was in the fine print that nobody had the time to read because if the bill wasn’t passed quickly global warming, excuse me, climate change was going to gobble up the middle class which would collapse the banking industry and lead to the collapse of the American car industry. Who wants to be stuck driving a Honda made in Tennessee that might run flawlessly for three or four hundred thousand miles when you could get a Buick that will probably be dead before you finish paying for it?

So now that these jobs have to be paid at union wage instead of prevailing wage we know two things. First, there won’t be as many jobs created as predicted. The Obama administration has revised the number down to 346. Second, we know how the AFL-CIO could afford the Fontainebleau for a week. So much for unions not getting any money from the bailout as we have heard so many leftists claim. While I’m on the subject of jobs … exactly how do you tell if you “saved” a job?” Is there an objective standard like when a pitcher saves a game in baseball or can the administration simply say that any job which didn’t disappear was saved? I can see the headline now in whatever dinosaur newspaper still exists in a year or two: “Obama Saves Thirty-Six Million Jobs.”

Doubtlessly, we will soon hear the squawking from the left about raising the minimum wage again. There is a whole army of soft headed folks in government and in the community organizing business who believe that if you squandered your educational opportunities, made bad life decisions and feel that having cable and an iPhone is more important than buying health insurance you should still live the easy life. Let the person who busted his backside starting a McDonalds pay you $83 an hour. They call it “living wage.”

Here is how the theory goes; if these greedy people who own businesses would pay more soon poverty would disappear. Of course so would the McDonalds but let’s not let that little fact get in the way of a good redistribution of wealth scheme. The McDonalds owner could just raise the price of the dollar menu to sixteen dollars and see what happens.

I know what happens. The guy who runs the garage and Jiffy Lube down the street comes by for lunch and has a cheeseburger and fries and pays the 32 dollars, so far so good. The next morning the newly un-poor burger flipper takes his car in for an oil change and what do you know an oil change is now four hundred dollars. Keep raising the minimum wage, you do it often enough it could work but I don’t think so.

It reminds me of the old joke about the guy who invests $100,000 in mutual funds and then gets cryogenically frozen for two hundred years. He gets warmed up and runs to the nearest Internet café orders a coffee and goes to his account online, his balance; 300 million dollars! Overjoyed that his plan has turned out so well he get up to pay and the clerk says, “Latte and ten minutes of Internet time, that’s six million.” Or as the punch line to one of my favorite hillbilly jokes goes, “We gotta get a bigger truck!”

With apologies to John Lennon, everybody in California sing along:

Imagine there is no Government,
It’s easy if you try,
Just essential services
No bureaucratic lies
Imagine all the people keeping more of their dough,
You may say I’m a dreamer…

Unfortunately for the people of the former Golden State, the budget just passed. I love how absolutely apoplectic lawmakers get when they run out of money. I think their primal fear is that if the government does shut down people will realize how easily the vast majority of citizens can function without big brother. The really crazy thing is that when the government shuts down, the payroll doesn’t. The State of California passed a budget and state workers avoided being “laid off.” Being laid off for a government employee isn’t the same as being laid off in the real world. When a broke government sends people home, upon their return, government workers receive back pay. If I were a California state employee, I would have been praying for an impasse. In the real world we call that a paid vacation.

California RINO Governor Schwarzenegger has been like a “Star Wars” junkie camping out to be first in line for a handout from the feds. If GM and Chrysler have to submit a plan in order to get my money, then states that take federal bailouts should do the same. The problem with the California deficit is that there is no plan other than to raise taxes in a state that already has some of the highest taxes in the country.

If you make over $44,815, your California state income tax rate is 9.3 percent. Add into that a state and local sales tax that equals almost 10 percent, 63 cents a gallon gas tax, a federal tax rate of 25%, another 9% for social security and Medicare (sixteen percent if you’re self-employed) and suddenly you aren’t even the majority partner in your income anymore. That’s before we even think about property taxes, local income taxes, water district “fees,” sanitation “fees,” license and registration “fees,” and who knows what other hidden taxes and fees you pay.

Illegal aliens eat up about $10 billion a year of the California budget, and while that isn’t the whole problem it would be a start. Maybe everyone on the state payroll could take a five percent pay cut, and if you make over 100 grand make it 10 percent. Even with those two measures, California would still be running about $20 billion short for this budget cycle, which ends in June of 2010.

The California government has been trending towards socialism for twenty years now, so in a way what is happening is a preview of our national problem. So here’s my suggestion: Since we don’t seem to have the political will to make government smaller, let’s make it shorter! All government employees in California now get Fridays off! Close down the state government one day a week and adjust the payroll. If the workers don’t like it they can always go into the private sector and get a real job.