Down with the Drive-By's

• What's Behind Wal-Mart Backing Obamacare?
  Wal-Mart announced yesterday that it would be backing Obamacare. Why, you might ask, is Wal-Mart doing this when almost every other business interest is against it? The bottom line is your answer.
  Obama's plan calls for a mandate that businesses either offer health benefits to their employees or pay into the public plan. Wal-Mart stated yesterday in a letter to Congress that they will back this plan as long as the mandate is based on a profit per employee basis, and not a per employee basis. Wal-Mart is the largest employer in the US. Having that many employees drives the per employee profit way down.
  In case you didn't know, I work for Wal-Mart. I have worked there going on thirteen years. Among my friends and family, a lot of whom lean or have fallen over to the left, I have been Wal-Mart's greatest defender. After all, who among us has taken better advantage of our free market society?
  A few months ago, I remember hearing Rush Limbaugh quote from a book about Wal-Mart. The author had set out to really get them. They were evil and he was going to show the world. For research sake, he applied for a job there. Once he was in, he changed his tune. When he got involved in the culture, when he found out that department managers there were running their own little businesses inside of a Wal-Mart building (the Wal-Mart lingo for that is "Store Within A Store" or SWAS) he could not say enough good things about them and the book he intended to write never materialized, while a pro-WM book did.
  Lately, though, Wal-Mart has changed. Gone are the days of SWAS. Department managers at store level used to be able to say, "This is a good item for my department/community. I think I'll order a couple of hundred of them and promote the heck out of it!" Now, just like our government, WM has centralized all of its power at its corporate office. Your local Wal-Mart is no longer allowed to order in items that it thinks will sell well in your community. That is all dictated by Bentonville now.
  I recently commented on this to a co-worker. "Every day," I said. "Wal-Mart is becoming more like Washington." We both laughed a little, then sighed because we knew it was true. Strong central office, strong central government.
  Now we have WM backing the most liberal president ever and his ridiculous attempt at nationalizing health care. Wal-Mart's reason behind this is quite devious, however. Wal-Mart is looking at the public option. When O gets his way, and we have his precious public option, many of WM's employees will opt out of their paid plans and go on the government dole. When they do this, costs for providing health benefits for its employees will plummet, even after they pay their profit-per-employee based fee to the government. Basically, every other business in the country will be paying the tab for WM's employees. Since the public option will most likely be means-based, many of Wal-mat's lower paid employees will qualify.
  Mr. Sam, as the long-timers at Wal-Mart call him, is turning in his grave!
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
• A great iPhone App
  Posted at my new blog App-lesauce:
  
  
  
  By: iPhone FLOSS
  Site: http://www.iphonefloss.com
  Release Date: June 2, 2009
  Click on the icon to download app.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Being a part-time political blogger(read amateur) myGovernment is one of the more amazing apps that I have come across. It will live on my iPod long afer I have forgotten about other "favorite" apps. The scope of the information that you can get from this app is amazing.
  The app is divided into four tabs: Congress, Bills, Spending, and Community.
  
  
  
  Screenshots:
  
  
  
  
  The Congress tab lists all of the members of congress separated by House and Senate. Clicking on the name of the representative gives you quick links to call, email, mention on Twitter, or post a comment in the built in community. Clicking on the blue arrow next to the name gives you all contact information, Info Stream, which is a list of websites in which the rep participates(website, youtube, facebook, etc.). You will also get any committee assignments for the rep and any recent news activity.
  The Bills tab functions just like the Congress tab. Clicking on a bill will allow you to get sponsor info, the full text of the bill, a Twitter mention button, and a comment button for the community. The blue arrow provides you with a link to the bill text, sponsor and co-sponsor information, and the history of the bill.
  The Spending tab allows you to see spending by state, congressional district, or contractor. (I could never get the contractor info to load, though. Clicking on the state or district allows you to contact the representatives, or Twitter mention on the spending of that district/state. Clicking on the blue arrow gives you a breakdown of how much the district/state is spending, who the representatives are, and for which contractor the money was spent.
  The Community tab lets you see and post messages/replies to the community forum.
  This app is full of information for citizens to make informed decisions on election day. It is also a good tool for the poilitcal bloggers out there. I will give myGovernment a 10 out of 10.
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
• Top 5 Flubs of First 100 Days
  Obama celebrates his 100th day in office today, so in honor of that DWTDBs would like to commemorate the event with the top 5 Obama flubs:
  
  Number 5
  Obama Cannot Nominate Anyone Who Paid Their Taxes
  

  President Obama admitted he made a "mistake" in his handling of Tom Daschle's Cabinet nomination, telling FOX News on Tuesday that he takes full responsibility for a process that ended in Daschle withdrawing his name amid tax problems. 02-03-09

  He also nominated Timothy Geithner, Nancy Killefer, and Hilda Solis. Killefer's and Solis' problems were relative small, but tax cheat Geithner would go on to run the economy carte blanche with the authority of a little line from TARP "NECESSARY ACTIONS.—The Secretary is authorized to take such actions as the Secretary deems necessary to carry out the authorities in this Act, including, without limitation, the following: Designating financial institutions as financial agents of the Federal Government, and such institutions shall perform all such reasonable duties related to this Act as financial agents of the Federal Government as may be required."
  
  
  
  Number 4
  Released Guantanamo Detainees Return to Terrorism
  

  WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama says the U.S. hasn’t done a good job sorting out who should be released from the Guantanamo Bay detention center.
  Obama says in a broadcast interview that some of the people released from the facility in Cuba have rejoined terrorist groups. He also says U.S. officials have not always been effective in determining which prisoners will be a danger once they are let go.

  
  The current proposal has Obama placing the terrorists in American jails where they will be granted American rights. There has even been talk of having to release some of them onto American soil because no other country will have them.
  
  Number 3
  Obama White House Stages 9-11 Re-enactment
  
  

  Federal officials knew that sending two fighter jets and a 747 from the presidential fleet to buzz ground zero and Lady Liberty might set off nightmarish fears of a 9/11 replay, but they still ordered the photo-op kept secret from the public.
  
  In a memo obtained by CBS 2 HD, the Federal Aviation Administration's James Johnston said the agency was aware of "the possibility of public concern regarding DOD (Department of Defense) aircraft flying at low altitudes" in an around New York City. But they demanded total secrecy from the NYPD, the Secret Service, the FBI and even the mayor's office and threatened federal sanctions if the secret got out.

  Causing thousands of New Yorkers to relive the horror of 9-11 is definitely worth $328,000, isn't it?
  
  Number 2
  Obama Chooses His Brackets
  

  Duke Coach Mike Krzyazewski didn’t care for President Obama’s picks for the Final Four after he was told that his team wasn’t chosen. Coach K said that Obama should focus more on the economy than brackets. Obama replied by saying that Duke wasn’t picked because they have no inside game.
  Here is what Coach K said to the AP about Obama’s bracket, "Somebody said that we're not in President Obama's Final Four, and as much as I respect what he's doing, really, the economy is something that he should focus on, probably more than the brackets.” Of course, I think the coach might have a different reaction if Obama would have chosen his team instead of hated rival North Carolina to win it all . 03-19-09

  There is a kind of a sub-flub to go along with this that he only got one team right.
  
  And the award for Number 1 Flub of the First 100 Days goes to:
  Obama Bowls Like He is in the Special Olympics
  
  

  And then, fatally, he visibly relaxed. The arms waved around more, he made camp little asides to the rapturous audience. Leno asked, laughing, about the bowling alley he inherited at the White House, first built as a birthday present for Truman in 1947, upgraded by the Nixons — paid for by friends — in 1969, and upgraded again by Bush.
  
  "I imagine the bowling alley has just been burned and closed down?" Leno asked.
  
  "No, no," Obama protested, "I have been practising bowling, I bowled" — fluttering his eyelashes with mock modesty, to audience whoops, "a 129."
  
  "Oh no, that's very good, yeah," Leno said sarcastically, "that's very good — Mr President."
  
  "Like Special Olympics or something ..." Obama said, laughing.
  Replaying the clip — as people did endlessly today — it sounded more a response to Leno's mock patronising fulsome praise than his own bowling skills. But the cameras also caught a nanosecond flicker of shock on the faces of both men, knowing that the damage was done. 03-19-09

  
  Really! One would think that the most liberal senator, now the most liberal President would be a little more caught up on PC things to say on a talk show. Then again, I don't think guests on the Tonight Show get a teleprompter.
  
  Honorable Mention goes to this teleprompter failure at a recent speech to the National Academy of Science:
  
  
  
  Mr. President, if I may offer you some advice, and since you are asking for ideas that will work: "Have a Plan B. Buy some notecards."
  
  One more thought - If Bush was learning how to be President from Cheney, then it appears that Obama is indeed learning from Biden.
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
• Here a Hundred Million, There a Hundred Million
  
  Every where a hundred million...
  
  President Obama is asking every department to cut $100 million from its budget. An article over at The Heritage Foundation has an excellent graphic of what $100 million looks like next to the porkulus bill and the even more enormous federal budget for 2010.
  
  I just wanted to give some more comparisons to show how minute these cuts really are:
  
  $100 Million is to $3.69 trillion as the population of Wyoming is to the population of China.
  
  
  
  $100 million is to $3.69 trillion as Earth is to the sun...
  
  
  

  
  
  

  ...if the sun were 342 times as big as it is now.
  
  

  $100 million is to $3.69 trillion as a sockeye salmon is to a blue whale.
  
  
  

  
  
  Laid end to end, $3.69 trillion in thousand dollar bills would circle the earth 2.34 times.
  
  Laid end to end, $100 million in thousand dollar bills would run for 9.46 miles roughly the distance from the White House to Falls Church, Virginia.
  
  If the government found $100 million to cut every day, it would take them over thirty years to pay off the current national debt.
  
  The current share of the national debt for every man, woman and child in the United States is $36,558.
  
  The $3.69 trillion 2010 budget is equal to $12,056 for every man, woman, and child in the United States.
  
  A $100 million dollar cut would equal 32 cents for every man, woman, and child in the United States.
  
  To paraphrase Heritage, asking the government to cut $100 million from its budget is like asking a family bringing in $100,000 to cut out one cup of Starbuck's coffee. Not per day, per year.

  

  
  

  
  
  
  
• How the Left Cuts Government
  President Obama announced plans (really just intentions, not plans) to cut dozens of government programs deemed inefficient. How is he going to do that? By creating two new positions of course!

  President Obama said Saturday that he would soon announce “the elimination of dozens of government programs shown to be wasteful or ineffective,” and he used his weekly radio address to name two new high-level officials to assist him in that effort.

  If I were running a business, and had to cut my workforce, you can bet I wouldn't do it by hiring someone else. The city of Alexandria tried the same thing when they hired Michael Gillette, an ethicist, to make the decisions of what programs to cut. In case you are geographically challenged, Alexandria is very much a beltway town. How's that change working out for you?