Things I'm Not Looking Forward to in 2009

So I was thinking this morning about the things that I am not looking forward to in 2009, and its a pretty grim list.

1. Changes in our employer provided health care. Don't get me wrong, it still beats a poke in the eye with a sharp stick, but it is quite a step down from what we have had the last three years.

2. Additional changes to the rules regarding ex parte proceedings in the local courts. Everyone is cash-strapped these days, and the courts are no exception. However, as of Jan. 1, 2009, we can no longer present ex parte matters directly ourselves. Now, if we have orders for ex parte signature, we present them to the Clerk's Office, with an additional fee, and they present the orders for signature. If we are willing to pay an additional fee to expedite the orders, which means we can cool our heels in the Clerk's Office for 20 minutes or so and leave with our signed documents. Why is this bad? First, the clients already pay more for the non-participation of our court system in seeking settlements to their disputes. Second, once more, we are removing attorneys from the process. I usually enjoy taking documents to ex parte, because I learn new things, from the judges, commissioners, and other attorneys gathered there. Third, many times judges and commissioners have additional questions, which they used to be able to ask about face-to-face. Not any more, so in addition to making sure that the documents are legally sufficient, we also now have to anticipate questions and have the answers incorporated into the documents. More delays, complications, costs and fees. It becomes easier with each passing day to understand the growing disillusionment that non-lawyers have with the system.

3. Increased gas prices. I'm fairly certain they're coming. The Dems seem to think that they should dictate the price of gas instead of the market, and that raising the tax on gas will help force us all in to alternative fuels, and other technologies that still do not exist, or are still so expensive that most of us peasants, who will already be straining under the extraordinary taxation necessary to support the coming nanny state, will not be able to afford them. That isn't even taking into account the coming THUMP that will be administered to Iran by us or Israelis very shortly. That will probably cause prices to double overnight.

4. Democratic Leadership in the House, Senate, and White House. Touchy-feely leadership, concerned with "world opinion", "climate change", and "corporate excesses", and all the legislation necessary to address these "pressing concerns", which will sufficiently intrude upon all personal choices, large and small until we reach the point where we really don't have any choices. I moved away from home for a reason. How do I resist my government when it has made up its mind to be mother and father for me? Funny how we'll all be expected to work for our government. "Birthright? What birthright? Get back to work, slave. There are a whole bunch of 10 year olds who want abortions and they aren't going to pay for themselves, you know."

5. The Fairness Doctrine. Liberal Fascism at its finest. Squelch any remaining avenue of media that they do not control...for the good of the people, and all in the name of fairness, of course. Musn't have the little peasants exposed to any information other than the official party line, because we know that they simply are not capable of properly discerning the truth in any given matter, which of course is what ever we tell them the truth is. Kinda funny when you read some of the original cases on the subject before it was done away with. More avenues of media available to the public than any time in human history, and when given the choice, the old guard, which sold its soul to liberal agenda, is being abandoned in record numbers, and yet the answer isn't perceived to be a return to the appearance of impartial reporting with the obvious bias confined to the editorial pages. Instead, the idea is to restrict the speech and freedom of association of the newly successful mediums by imposing the requirement that they tie themselves to voices discredited and rejected by many consumers of information.

6. More bailouts. Somewhere, in the deepest, hottest circles of Hell, between each penetration suffered at the hands of the demons assigned to his torment, V.I. Lenin is laughing. The idea that government HAS to interfere in the market to save businesses victimized by their own stunning lack of foresight, inability to adapt, and piss-pour management is as about as communist as they come. Especially in light of the slavery that makes such an intervention possible. The only way the government can raise the capitol necessary is to raise taxes. A lot of them. Then the government takes our tax money, and invests it in these failing businesses. So, for the money I didn't want to spend, I am a silent investor in a company I didn't want to own, and now the government has an incentive in seeing these businesses succeed, probably at the expense of others. By even going down this road, government has now started to decide who wins and who loses. And how can it efficiently prosecute anti-trust laws when it has a stake in some of the players in the market place? Yeah, that's what I thought. Let me know when it will be time for the adults to take over and restore the Republic.