Ex-Representative Eric Massa (D-NY) revealed to the public that the shower curtains are missing from the Congressional Gym. Just when we thought the Congress cannot get any lower Massa broke the NakedGate on his weekly radio show on NY WKPQ Power 105 FM.

I’m … naked as a jay bird, and here comes Rahm Emanuel, not even with a towel wrapped around his tush, poking his finger in my chest, yelling at me because I wasn’t going to vote for the president’s budget. Do you know how awkward it is to have a political argument with a naked man?

Big Bureaucracy created few designs that would be nice to implement in the House Gym to remind the people’s reps what their mission is and prevent another Nakedgate.

Is it the War on Obesity or the cookies are now luxury in America? The sugar and the cookies are running inflation higher than the health care industry. Food prices were generally down last year. According to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for December 2009 the food prices were down half point comparing to the same period in 2008. Unfortunately the deflation is absent when sugar is involved. Cookies were 4.3% more expensive that the year before (compare with 3.4% yearly inflation of the health care). Cakes and cupcakes prices were up 2.7%.
Generally the foods that make you feel guilty if you are trying to fit in your Oscars outfit are getting more and more expensive. Spices, sauces and gravies were up 3.6%. Take that!

Curiously the school lunches cost the parents 2.8% more. Ouch! This doesn’t make much sense unless the schools feed the kids with cookies and gravy which I doubt to be the case.

Sugar and salt can’t beat the cigarettes though. If you have any doubt that the Obama sin-tax hikes were sent down to the consumers have doubt no more. Cigarettes were 30.5% more expensive and the other tobacco products were up 22.1%. Glad I quit smoking. The rest of you who still do – hope it makes you feel better that the tobacco tax-hikes pay for the children health care in America. I wonder if President Obama who admits to be still smoking pays for his cigarettes out of his own pocket or with tax-money. Or maybe there is always somebody around ready to provide the President with a bum for free.

The highest inflation though is run by the gasoline 53.5%. Let’s see! Gasoline 53% – Health Care 3.4%. May be the Big Administration has its priority backwards. May be the Energy Independence should be right there at the top with the jobs.

Education is also becoming more expensive (it is right there with the cookies at 4.7%). College textbooks were up 7.4%. May be it is all that money that we are pouring into the education system or folks are going back to school for the lack of jobs and the colleges take advantage of the wave. It is just speculation. The CPI numbers do not give us the cause of the inflation – just point to it.

Now let’s take the magnifying glass and look closer at the health care inflation.

In 2009 medical care became 3.5% more expensive. Inside the number is the surprise though: while the hospital related services were 7.5% more expensive, the health insurance services became 2.9% cheaper! Really? The evil health insurance? Cheaper? The rates of inflation in 2008 were similar (hospital and related services 5.7% up, health insurance 3.5% down).

In fact since 2005 (when the CPI first started to measure the health insurance input in the index) the hospital services became 30.1% more expensive (December 2005-December 2009), while the health insurance for the same period had only 8.33% inflation. No wonder the health insurance premiums go up. The health costs are out of control.

The fact is so embarrassing that the government bureaucrats had to come up with a new formula to measure the health insurance business in 2010.
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The Department of Energy was created by President Jimmy Carter in 1977 after the oil crisis. The idea was to end the United States dependence on foreign oil. How’s that working out for you, America?

Carter and every President after him promised Energy independence and never kept his promise. If the same old Department of Energy is not doing the job – it is time to reform the thing and hopefully save some bucks in the process.

The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget has a blog named the Bottom Line. Big Bureaucracy entered their “spending challenge”. So far we identified savings in bureaucracy cuts, stimulus money cuts and education cuts.

Let’s take the hatchet and go line by line through the 2011 budget of the Department of Energy proposed by President Obama.

There are certain activities performed by the DOE that should be transferred back to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers where they originally started. That would be the following:

- Strategic Petroleum Reserve;
- Science;
- Environmental Clean-up (Defense and non-defense);
- Power Marketing Administration.

Atomic Energy Defense Activities (weapons, naval reactors and defense non-proliferation) should be transferred to Department of the Army.

Energy Information Administration should be transferred to Economics and Statistics Administration (Department of Commerce).

The budget for the Departmental Administration should be transferred to Department of Defense for the transition.

Loans that were already made by the Department of Energy should be transferred to the Treasury to be serviced until paid.

Tax-payer already appropriate 5 billion dollars for science each year for the Department of Energy. All energy research related to the national security should be performed under the science programs that will be transferred to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. All DOE extra research programs that are not in the science budget should be abolished and the free market and the private sector should be able to take care of those issues. Scrap the following programs:

- Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy – $2.4 billion
- Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability – $186 million
- Nuclear Energy – $824 million
- Fossil Energy Research and Development – 587 million
- Energy Transformation Acceleration Fund – 300 million
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In-Sync with the VP

Generals Odierno and Petraeus with their Commander-in-Chief

Annapolis Naval Academy: Obama greets McCain Jr, Bush greets the family of a cadet

Standing with the troops

Paparazzi

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Sarah Palin opens the Tonight Show for Jay and tells some jokes.

The White House official photos represent the way each US President wants to be seen, so let’s compare the style of Barack Obama and George W Bush in similar situation. On the left will be the vision of the current President and on the right (pun intended) will be the photographs of the former one.

Starting with War on Terror – George Bush is standing upon the ashes of the worst terrorist attack on American soil. He pledges that the voices calling for justice from across the country will be heard. Responding to the Presidents’ words, rescue workers cheer and chant, “U.S.A, U.S.A.” Sept 14, 2001
On the left President Obama gave a speech during the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in Raadhuset Main Hall at Oslo City Hall, Dec. 10, 2009. Barack Obama explained that sometimes war is a necessary tool to defeat evil and bring peace.

Presidents Obama and Bush are meeting their advisers in the Oval Office.

Baseball attendance gives us a chance to compare the First Pitch.

Photographers chose differnt perspectives for the 4th of July fireworks.

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The evil heath insurance companies took a lot of beating in the public square during the debates over Obama Care. They have been painted as the bad guys that make tons of money without providing services. It is time to stop the bashing of the industry. Every client receives the insurance policy terms and conditions upfront and by signing a contract they agree on it. Yes it is ugly that claims are denied, but most of the times the policy to which the customer agrees state those limits. In most of the cases the customers receive the service they paid for. If the policy has cap limits, the customer should not be angry at the insurance company when the money limit is reached. The caps and limits are clearly stated in the contracts and the customers should continue to shop around before they sign if the policy they are looking at does not suit them. The insurance companies do not force anybody to buy their product. They are legally responsible to provide the services outlined in the contract.

Three quarters of those who file bankruptcy had health insurance. Apparently they had insufficient to their needs insurance. Is this the insurance companies fault? No. They provide the coverage they stated they will in their policies. Then whose responsibility it is to care for sick in America?

Tax-payers already have established safety nets for poor, disabled, children and seniors through Medicaid, Emergency Medicaid, Social Security Disability insurance, Medicare, CHIP (Children’s Health Insurance).
Almost everybody who made irresponsible choices when picking their health coverage will be serviced through one of the safety nets paid with tax-payer dollars. It is the Democratic Party lie that we the tax-payers have not done enough for the people who are sick and cannot afford care. ER are required by law to provide emergency services, Medicaid covers 100% of the health bill for the poor of all ages, Medicare part A covers 100% of hospital stay for all seniors, Social Security provides services for the qualified people with disabilities, the tax-code gives tax-deductions for your health coverage and credits for dependents and caregivers.

From the 30 million who does not have health insurance – 6 million live abroad, another 7 million are eligible for Medicaid, but did not apply, 6 million have income of $50 000 and more and can afford insurance if they want to. It is a very small percentage of folks that fall in between the cracks of the system and their needs should be addressed. The Obama Trillion Dollar Health Care Bill does not address the needs of those people – most of them are folks that are stuck without insurance and with preexisting conditions in between jobs. There are two things that will solve their problems and they are not in the two thousand pages of the health care bill.

1. Portability – people should be able to carry their insurance with them when they switch jobs;

2. To make portability possible the insurance should be valid across the state lines – so the folks can move freely within the USA carrying their health insurance with them.

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Desiree Rogers will say goodbye to the White House and all that jazz in a month according to her announced resignation. President Obama and the First Lady issued a statement expressing no hard feelings between the first couple and the Social Secretary. Desiree Rogers came to the White House with her fancy MBA degree and taste for organizing parties. Below is an attempt to sum up her service illustrated with official White House photos.

“We are enormously grateful to Desiree Rogers for the terrific job she’s done as the White House Social Secretary. When she took this position, we asked Desiree to help make sure that the White House truly is the People’s House, and she did that by welcoming scores of everyday Americans through its doors, from wounded warriors to local schoolchildren to NASCAR drivers. She organized hundreds of fun and creative events during her time here, and we will miss her. We thank her again for her service and wish her all the best in her future endeavors.”

Desiree Rogers described her time at the White House with the following words:

The greatest joy that this job affords – and there are many – is the chance to throw open the doors and invite Americans into the White House and expose them to the talents of their fellow Americans. One of the ways that the First Lady has been doing is this is through the White House Music Series.

The series brought to the White House a string of celebrities that gave Desiree Rogers the opportunity to mingle with the stars. At the same time the First Lady Michelle Obama was stuck in her vegetable garden and the WH kitchen (I mean that not literally but image wise). Desire Rogers made it on few fancy magazine covers. That made the Washington DC rumor machine to circulate the idea that the Social Secretary is overshadowing the First Lady trying to keep her in the kitchen while Rogers was star rubbing.

The question was even asked at a White House briefing. The member of the press insisted that there are rumors that Desiree is becoming “the belle of the ball, overshadowing the First Lady at the beginning” of the President’s term. Press Secretary Robert Gibbs insisted the rumors are false and the first family is happy with her work and consider her a family friend.

Desiree tried to create a policy of an Open to the public White House. The PR strategy was very popular until the moment when the USA realized the policies are so open that a couple without invitation was able to attend the first State Dinner.

The Salahis Party Crashers made it all the way to the President in one of the most high profile breaches of security during the new administration.

The Congress subpoenaed Desiree Rogers to explain why she did not send a staffer with a list of the guest to assist the Secret Service at the entry points. The White House stood by her and did not let her testify. The public will remember Desiree’s fancy outfit at the dinner where she went partying instead of doing her Social Secretary job.

The whole set-up of the state dinner was a disaster. Instead of using the convenient dining and ball rooms available to the US government – the White House party geniuses decided to raise a special tent for the occasion. The country was just getting over the fact that Muammar Gaddafi was able to pitch a tent on US soil and having a tent state dinner was not a popular idea. It also costs extra than using the White House dining halls and the tax-payer’s sensitivity for spending and waste doomed the dinner setting long before the event started.
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President Obama has to deal with two wars and an economic recession, but the biggest hurdle that makes his governing stumble time and time again is the fact that… the folks pay attention.

At the health care summit Obama said many times: people are not interested in congressional procedures like reconciliation. The President probably wishes it was true. Unfortunately for him and luckily for the country folks show very lively interest in learning how their government works in recent months. The historical Obama Presidency draws the folks to the screen or to the net and they keep learning about the federal bureaucracy. Folks who didn’t care about it before are now experts on the Senate procedures.

Part of the reason for such public interest to politics is the recession – the feeling of insecurity in the time of crashing markets, high unemployment and low consumer confidence make the people zoom in on their government. The Big Bureaucracy is under the magnifying glass of the crowd that expects a solution for their problems. Despite the charm of the President it is not his persona that keeps the folks attached to the news – they really don’t care about Obama – they care about their own life and the life of their family and kids.

Obama’s presidential campaign set the hopes unrealistically high. Folks quickly figured it out that Obama is just another politician and not a messiah. All it took was one bill full with nine thousand earmarks and the gigantic Stimulus package that couldn’t stop the unemployment reaching double digits. The Obama Greek columns turned to be a just a setting that fits the political elite while the rest of the country folks were left to make their paths through the boondocks. The rhetoric full of hope turned out to be empty promises. The King was naked and behind him the people saw the dysfunctional family of the Washington DC bureaucracy.
Two parties clam to know the answers to the country’s problems.

Team D’s solution: give me your tax-money and I will fix all problems – stop whining for your money – there are other people who need it more than you do.

Team R solution: keep your money, but you are on your own – don’t come to me whining about your problems – take responsibility for your life.

Suddenly people realize they don’t like either of those teams. Common sense tells them that if you leave everything on the person’s responsibility there will be those who are simply irresponsible who will need help. Folks also realize that if you reward the irresponsible you will incentivize and create more irresponsible behavior.
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After scraping the plans of building a missile defense shield in Poland and Czech Republic President Obama is working now on deploying defense missiles to another part of Eastern Europe: the Balkans.

Romania and Bulgaria are both members of NATO and the EU. Last week Romania’s top defense body had approved Washington’s plan to deploy interceptor missiles.
Bulgarian PM Boiko Borisov said Sofia should show solidarity and consider the Washington deal after negotiations with NATO and EU.

After humiliating Poland the Obama administration realized they still need the land based defense structures designed to protect against current and emerging ballistic missile threats from Iran. According to the regime in Teheran the Islamic Republic is already in possession of missiles that can reach the Balkan countries like Greece and Bulgaria that are members of NATO and EU.

The idea behind stopping the Czech-Poland missile defense project was that US will count on cheaper and faster to implement water based mobile missile defense. Apparently the recent Iranian behavior made President Obama to change heart again. Poland and Czech Republic apparently are not willing to play the game again so the White House has focused their attention on the Balkans.

Russia expects NATO to ask Moscow for approval on such actions. You bet Moscow is not happy about the new shield talks. Bulgaria and Romania will likely face pressure from Russia. The country is heavily dependent on Russian oil.
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