How would you like this?

How would you like this?  The Canadian single-payer healthcare system is frequently held up by progressives as an example of what we (in the U.S.) should aspire to.

Take a careful look at the chart at right (click on it to embiggen).  Note that the time axis is in weeks, not hours.

It's from this report on wait times for healthcare in Canada.  I don't know about you, but I find that graph shocking and depressing...

Oh, goody, look what's coming...

Oh, goody, look what's coming...  When you want to know what the environmentalist wackos are going to do next over here, just look to Europe.  They banned high-wattage incandescent bulbs over there, then a few years later over here.  Now they've banned high-wattage appliances – I own at least 3 that would not make the grade.  You can bet our home-grown wackos will be demanding parity within a year or two.  Like your Shop-Vac?  Well, that's just too bad.  You can't keep it!

A vision...

A vision...  I watched the video at right, and as I did, an idea formed in my mind.  Imagine a few hundred men and women with this Rufus' skill.  Then imagine them deployed as the citizens' motivational army for bureaucrats.  They'd have the responsibility to make sure that bureaucrats kept the citizens best interests to heart, and not their own.

Wouldn't that be awesome?

The job is beneath him...

The job is beneath him...  Via my mom, Michael Goodwin, writing at the New York Post, on The One's behavior during the government shutdown (this is clipped from the middle of a longer piece at the link):

America has had some great presidents, many mediocre ones and a few bad ones. But we’ve never had one like Barack Obama. He’s the first who thinks the job is beneath him.

He’s the first who turns political give-and-take into a crisis by refusing to negotiate with Congress.

He’s the first who thinks the way to more power is to inflict pain on ordinary people.

The move to barricade the World War II memorial reveals the mentality of a tin-pot dictator. The limited government shutdown did not need to affect the memorial because it is open 24 hours, without gates and often without guards.

But to turn public opinion in his favor, Obama’s goons trucked in barricades to keep out World War II vets and other visitors. By one estimate, the barricades and workers cost $100,000.

The same punish-the-people attitude led to shutdowns of other parks and historic sites that get no federal funding.

“We’ve been told to make life as difficult for people as we can. It’s disgusting,” a Park Service ranger told The Washington Times.

The ranger cited the order to close the parking lot at George Washington’s home in Mount Vernon so visitors couldn’t use it. The cheap trick captured the contrast between a revered president and the current one.

I’ve been saying for a while that there is no bottom to Obama. He’s not just ruthless. He’s without scruples and honor.

However the shutdown ends, it will bring only a temporary respite from the crisis atmosphere in Washington. When it comes to his countrymen, Obama always chooses conflict over cooperation.

Meanwhile, Jimmy Carter can rest easy. We have a new worst president.

The new worst president.  I wonder if he'll still look that way 20 or 30 years from now?  With the likes of Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, and Elizabeth Warren being the front runners for the Democrats, there's a reasonable chance the bar will be set even lower a few years from now – so The One may not hold this particular record for long...

Optical illusions in a car ad...

Optical illusions in a car ad...   Watch the ad at right first, then the making of the ad at the left.  These illusions are particularly well done...