Summary of Decrees

The Emperor has issues a number of decrees throughout the year and has summarized them for the convenience of his loyal subjects. Readers may see the original decrees by referring to the post on the date specified.

27 Oct - Socialism declared optional for all subjects

6 Nov - Religions advocating violence against non-believers banned

8 Nov - Flat income tax rate of 15% applied to all except poor

10 Nov - Murderers denied all publicity and their names stricken from public record

11 Nov - Muslims banned from armed forces

17 Nov - Subjects get 5% tax deduction for charitable contributions to poor

24 Nov - Revealing war strategy to public declared treasonable

28 Dec - Increased security procedures applied to Muslims and other enemies of realm

The New Year

The Emperor is very worried about the coming new year. While 2009 was a slight improvement economically for the realm, the Emperor believes the improvement will be short lived. The individual provinces are the bellwether. The individual states already grapple with overburdened budgets and revenues from state sales taxes and property taxes will not be able keep up with the difference. Individual states are slashing public services to try and stem the flood of spending on Federally mandated yet unfunded entitlement programs and state government payrolls. The states are at the point where they are going to have to terminate essential services to have any hope of surviving. The other option is to increase taxation, however, the people are in no mood for this and states will not be able to pass the required legislation. Look for the states to call for massive bailouts from the Federal government which will, in turn, cause an increase in federal income taxes. The Order of the Donkeys, who hold supreme power in Washington at the moment, know this is their last year to pass their liberal agenda. The November elections will remove their unassailable majority in Congress so time is of the essence. Having just mortgaged the future of the American economy with the new health care bill, the Donkeys must act quickly to impose their environmental initiatives on the economy and release the remaining terrorists from Guantanamo Bay. The costs of both of these legislative initiatives combined with the effects of the health care bill will likely drive the American economy back into recession. Look for increased costs in Homeland Security as the Federal government tries to solve it's security problems through more procedures and expensive, but useless, technology. Look for increased energy costs as the Donkeys try to force the nation to use inefficient and unreliable energy sources. Look for increased health care costs as insurance companies and medical equipment manufacturers jack up prices to cover the costs mandated by the new health care bill and the number of people on Medicare increases exponentially. In short, be ready for increased taxation at all levels of government combined with a sudden rise in inflation. All of this will likely stall and possibly reverse the recovery in 2010.

PC Kills

The Emperor is amazed at the willingness of his beloved subjects to die for political correctness. The Fort Hood massacre and the latest attempt by a Nigerian muslim to destroy an aircraft in flight highlights the problem. Despite warning signs from these individuals indicating that they intended to carry out jihad against Americans, the government was too concerned about the sensitivities of the "good" muslims to take the necessary precautions.

During the Second World War, after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, many Japanese, Italians, and German citizens were placed in internment camps for the safety of American citizens. The internment camps have long been held up as an example of racism and the trampling of the rights of citizens in the name of national security. However, Japan and Germany did have spy rings, sabateurs, and enemy sympathisers in America during the war which were part of the motivation for the "profiling" of specific American immigrants.

The Niihau incident on Hawaii during the Pearl Harbor attack was an example of how quickly Japanese Americans switched allegence to their homeland when it appeared America might fall. The incident as well as the activities of the Tachibana spy ring (a group of Japanese Nationals) was cited in the US Navy reports advocating the internment of the Japanese-Americans living on the west coast.

While the Emperor believes that the internment of the Japanese was excessive it is interesting to note that the extremes the government would once go to to protect its citizens from a meager threat. Whereas today, the government is much more willing to expose its citizens to unbelievable inconvenience and even death to protect the rights of people who openly despise us and threaten us.

Rather than risk insulting muslims with "profiling" during air travel, the American people are subjected to every sort of inconvenience short of body cavity searches as they try to travel by air. Despite these endless humiliations, the government still can not protect its people. The jihadists will always find a way to thwart security procedures and policies and will cry loudly if they are subjected to anything that even hints of "profiling."

To end this madness, the Emperor hearaby declares martial law throughout the realm and subjects muslims and other known enemies of America to increased security procedures that will not be inflicted on other travelers. While this may be unfair to those muslims who are not jihadists or apologists for jihadists, it is better for them to be inconvenienced that it is for even one more American to die for Political Correctness.

The Health Care Check

The Emperor has noted with skepticism the Obamanites claim that the Health Care bill in Congress will only cost $1.2 trillion over 10 years. The House version of the plan claims to provide health insurance to an additional 13% of the population below 65. Assuming the realm has a population of 308 million people and that the percentage of my subjects who are under 65 years of age is 87.2 that means the new plan will cover an additional 35 million people.

If the cost of the plan is $1.2 trillion, then the plan will only cost $34,000 per person for the first 10 years. However, the cost per person is a little misleading as the benefits don't kick in until after 2014. Thus, the $1.2 trillion really only covers about six years and costs about $200 billion per year.

Of course, the Emperor believes that the actual figures will be much higher. The costs are based on figures from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) which, based on their past efforts, will be grossly underestimated. In 1965 the CBO estimated that the firs-year cost of Medicaid would be $238 million. The actual cost was $1 billion--four times as high. In 1965 the CBO also estimated the cost of Medicare would be $12 billion by 1990. The actual cost was $90 billion--7.5 times as high!

The Emperor thinks it is laughable that the CBO thinks it has any idea what this new Health Care bill will cost. All that my beloved subjects can be certain of is that it will cost much, much, more than the Obamanites say it will.

Fouling One Into the Stands

The Thin Skinned One has taken another swing at a cause near and dear to his heart and again has come up empty. As you may recall, Obama struck out with the effort to get the Olympics in Chicago. He also missed with his attempts to get a democrat elected to the governorship of New Jersey. This time he has fouled the ball into the stands with his attempt to salvage the Climate Conference in Copenhagen. The goals of the Obamonites at the conference represented an impossible dream. Despite lofty rhetoric about saving the planet it all came down to money. The "developing" countries, like China and India, want the developed countries (the US and western Europe) to bear the burden of reducing planetary pollution without having to do anything themselves. China and India are producing more CO2 than the rest of the world could ever hope to cut. China and India, of course, have no intention of reducing or hamstringing the industries that sustain their economies. The US and other western nations are not so stupid (at least not yet) as to voluntarily destroy their own industry while providing billions of dollars to the developing countries to help them deal with the effects of global warming. The Baroness of State had previously tried to sell the deal with a promise to supply 100 billion dollars to a world wide fund to help developing countries build seawalls to stop the supposedly rising seas caused by global warming. No one bought it though as everyone knows that the US is broke and getting broker every minute. And in case, $100 billion wasn't enough. Oh well, back to the drawing board.

The Donkeys Weigh The Risks

The Emperor has viewed with interest the struggles of the Order of the Donkey as they wrestle with the Health Care Bill. The liberal base demands universal health care at all costs but the more moderate Donkeys are worried about the long term consequences to their careers as they instinctively know this bill will cause an economic disaster. The Blue Dog guild within the Donkey Order is seizing on various details of the bill to stonewall their vote. However, it is a facade since, as we have seen already, the leaders of Donkey Order are quite willing to grant concessions and later reverse them once they have advanced the bill. The Blue Dogs know this. The bill will eventually pass but the less liberal Donkeys want as much political cover as they can get so when the economy crashes under the weight of this monstrosity they can claim they did their part to stave off the disaster. It won't work though. Anyone who votes for this bill will eventually be punished for doing so. The American people are already opposed to the bill and will be vengeful when the magnitude of this disaster is fully felt. While the Order of the Donkey seems fragmented now, it will be nothing compared to what happens after the effects of this bill are realized.

Lying and Tiger and Bare It All--Oh my!

It is with great dismay that the Emperor has learned of the fall of the Great Tiger. When the story first broke it seemed odd at first that he would be driving his automobile into objects in his neighborhood at 2:30 in the morning. Later, when the incident was tied to a story about an affair it seemed to be a little more understandable and, somewhat, mundane. The Great Tiger at first claimed innocence and requested privacy. Soon, however, his many concubines began to emerge from the shadows and the story entered a new phase. It was no longer merely a case of rare sexual indiscretion by an otherwise chaste man on a sweaty night in Orlando; it turned out to be the full blown, long-term, serial, sex campaign of a man who had lost all sense of personal dignity. His cries of innocence and privacy now ring hollow in the wake of his huge fall from grace. If he had stayed single and carried on like a rutting moose no one would have paid him any attention other than to admire him. However, he married and had children. His wife, a beautiful woman, has been cruelly betrayed by a man who let his great wealth and fame turn him into a monster. He has sacrificed his family on the alter of personal pleasure. The Emperor suspects that the star of the Great Tiger will never shine again and he will forever be the butt of jokes on late-night television and circulating e-mail messages. The Emperor, alas, has no sympathy for a man who had everything and threw it away on cheap sexual pleasure. He deserves his fate.

Return to the Throne

Your beloved Emperor has returned to his rightful place on the throne. He appreciates the agony of his loyal subjects who waited patiently for some news of their beloved king and yearned to sup at his fount of wisdom yet again. Alas, the Emperor is not immune, despite his great power, to the mundane troubles associated with poorly designed computers. He appreciates the loyalty and prayers of his beloved subjects and promises to soon shed his righteous light upon the dark happenings within the realm. There are tigers in the woods and bills on the floor that must be dealt with.