Is President Obama the Master of Diversion?

I went to see the Magician David Copperfield a few weeks ago when he was in town... and I ended up really upset. You see, I had heard about his big illusion where he walks through a moving fan and I was prepared to not be amazed... unfortunately he disappeared and then reappeared right behind my seat... I missed the whole thing!!! How did he get right behind me without me noticing it? There was a lot of activity on stage, lights, (I'm sure mirrors!), people, moving props etc. I am sure he managed to divert not only me, but the entire audience, to create the successful illusion.

And now, we seem to have another master illusionist, our President. Does anyone else find it interesting that he has created a major stage show with his National Healthcare program by having ABC Television Network broadcast what many believe will be an upaid infomercial? Whether it will be a fair broadcast on an important issue is almost irrelevant. What is interesting to me is what a complete diversion the Healthcare Broadcast has become. What is it diverting us from noticing? Ahhh, now that is the magic!

Friday, Congress will be voting on the Cap and Trade legislation, or as some more properly identify it, the Cap and Tax legislation. This is a potentially life changing piece of legislation (as is the Healthcare proposal), but no one is paying much attention to it due to the timing and activity on the President's stage and the national media's apparent buy-in to the illusion.

Cap and Trade, er Tax, is simply one of the worst pieces of legislation to be presented in a long time and that is saying something when we talk about the U.S. Congress. President Obama's assertion that only the "polluting" companies will pay the "trade" costs or the tax belies basic economic reality. Let's see, our public utlities will pay for the cost of emitting carbons into the atmosphere, (I'd love to see where all that money will go... maybe Al Gore's carbon tax credit buddies will get some...). The utilities are guaranteed a certain return for being regulated by the government as a utility, and even if they weren't, they'd still have to raise their rates to their customers (that would be you and me) to maintain their viability. If you live in a state with coal burning power plants, let's just say you are in really deep trouble. Cap and Trade, sorry, Tax is perhaps the most regressive of taxes because everyone uses power regardless of economic status and will be hit mercilessly.

It is estimated that Utah alone will see an increase of nearly $300 per month per household. That will certainly hurt the consumer (that's you and me) but, what will it do to small business and to all businesses in general? This is such a bad idea that I cannot see how someone as intelligent as the President is supposed to be, can be so blind to the obvious. But maybe it really is an illusion... or someone is being disingenous.

One thing that is clear from all the smoke and mirrors of this administration; they intend to pass the most liberal and unconstitutional legislation since FDR, and they appear to be doing it by diverting our attention from what they are really doing. We cannot afford to "miss the whole thing" and then get really upset afterwards.