As noted, I’m traveling. But if you are a new reader and feeling deprived, I've left you a few older posts that may be of interest:
Why the Future Looks Bleak
http://tartanmarine.blogspot.com/2009/10/why-future-looks-bleak.html
Helping Obama
http://tartanmarine.blogspot.com/2009/10/helping-obama.html
A skeptical take on Global Warming
http://tartanmarine.blogspot.com/2009/09/skeptical-take-on-global-warming.html
The next terrorist attack on America
http://tartanmarine.blogspot.com/2009/09/essay-next-terrorist-attack-on-america.html
Economic facts of life
http://tartanmarine.blogspot.com/2009/08/economic-facts-of-life.html
Just doing my part to save the environment. Think of the millions of electrons that are saved by recycling old posts!
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Political Digest November 5, 2009
I post articles because I think they are of interest. Doing so doesn’t mean that I necessarily agree with every—or any—opinion in the posted article.
This will be my last post for a few days. I’ll be on the road until next week without Internet access or time, and swamped when I return, so won’t be able to read much on my incoming e-mail, which is between 100 and 200 a day. (Delete! Delete! Delete!) So you get a break for a bit from my musings.
Election 2009
The results are in, and both parties are now trying to spin them, while pollsters try to prove they were right all along. I don’t usually see elections as referendums on people not on the ballot. In 1972, I defeated a Massachusetts Democrat incumbent state senator—by nine votes—in a 4-1 Democrat district, which had last elected a Republican in 1938, while Nixon was losing to McGovern at the top of the ticket (in Massachusetts—Yahoos need not write in, I know Nixon won the election.) In 1974, the big Democrat sweep year after Nixon resigned, I was re-elected by 10,000 votes, carrying every city and town in the district. I even carried Ward Five in Fitchburg, which my Democrat opponent represented on the City Council.
People not on the ballot do have some effect, but you’d have to be in the head of every voter to really know how much.
WWW.fivethirtyeight.com (“538” below) has a reputation for good polling, though the commentary seems to be leftist, which may color their conclusions. I was surprised by the results in Virginia, New Jersey and New York-23, for different reasons.
VA: It was clear weeks ago that barring a fumble, the Republican was going to win—the surprise was that he won by 18% points and that for only the second time in history, Republicans carried all three top offices. The White House threw the Democrat under the bus back when the polls showed him losing by 10 points. 538 had the R winning, but by 13 points. He won by 18. Turnout among Obama supporters was dismal. 66% of independents went for the R, and independents broke for Obama last year. Will Obama be able to energize them in 2010—or 2012?
NJ: The polls had this one tied, and Obama campaigned heavily for the Democrat in the last week. 538 called it for the Republican, saying they thought he had a 57% chance of winning. He jumped out in front at the start and never trailed, winning by 5 points in a blue state Obama won by 15 pints, that hasn’t elected a statewide Republican since I think 1997, and a conservative Republican in a much longer time. Both the Democrat and the Republican had high negatives, and NJ, being a Dem controlled state has high taxes and health insurance costs. Polls were calling it a tie, but giving the Independent as much as 15%. Faced with re-electing Corzine, the Independent’s support collapsed and it appears those voters broke heavily for the Republican. Lean Corzine’s decision to make an issue of Christie’s weight probably didn’t help, given the obesity in the electorate.
That Republicans won seniors in both states is bad news for the Dems--better get those "DeathPanels" cranked up.
NY-23. Good news here for Democrats, who elected their first Congressman in a century. The Republican was an ACORN/Gay Marriage supporter. When her support collapsed, she pulled out. At that point polls had the Conservative slightly ahead of the Democrat. The wisdom was that with her out, the Conservative had a clear path to victory, and 538 called it for him. But the Democrat won by 4 points, never trailed. 538 called it for the conservative on election eve, and was way off. (They also said it was a 70% change that Gay marriage would win in Maine—it lost.)
Hearing both candidates on TV, the Democrat came across as a regular guy, the Conservative as a bit of a policy geek. The district is moderate Republican, but the Democrat is said to be a moderate. The Republican was far too liberal for many Republicans to stomach, so a seat has been handed to Pelosi. He may not vote with her on everything, but will vote for her for Speaker, the key vote. If he votes independently and works the district, I think he’ll be re-elected next year, which hurts the GOP’s chances of taking over the House. If he becomes an Obot and the Republicans can patch things up behind a decent candidate, maybe.
Here’s the math the liberal Democrats figured out in 2006, which escapes conservative Republicans still.
Assume there are 45 conservative Republican Senators and 210 Conservative Republican House Members, 45 liberal Democrat Senators and 210 liberal Democrat House Members. If the remaining 10 Senators and 15 Congressmen are moderate or liberal Republicans, Conservative Republicans control the Congress and the agenda. If they are moderate or Blue Dog Democrats, liberal Democrats control the Congress and the agenda. Every time a hated RINO switches to the Democrat party or is defeated by a liberal Democrat, it strengthens liberal control of the Congress. We see the results now in the deficit and the legislation moving this year.
Sorting through the numbers in Va., N.J., and N.Y.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/morning-fix/morning-fix-12.html?wprss=thefix
Interesting look at exit polls.
Lessons from the 2009 election results
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/Lessons-from-the-2009-election-results-69054827.html
Excerpt: The 2009 election results are certainly not going to make it easy for Speaker Nancy Pelosi to round up the needed 218 votes for Democrats’ health care bills.
Red States’ take
http://www.redstate.com/erick/2009/11/03/the-love-affair-is-over-in-2008-independents-proved-they-werent-racist-by-voting-obama-in-2010-independents-vote-gop-to-prove-they-arent-socialist/
Excerpt: In every state in which Barack Obama campaigned for a candidate, the candidate lost. Too bad he did not make it up to NY-23. More importantly, according to political expert Larry Sabato, there have only been two occasions when Virginia and New Jersey so thoroughly flipped to the opposite party: in 1993, before the GOP take over of Congress in 1994, and in 2005, before the Democrats took back Congress in 2006.
MoveOn.org threatens Blue Dog Dems
http://commonamericanjournal.com/?p=5570
Excerpt: In the politics of health care, MoveOn.org is playing hardball with Blue Dog Democrats. Yesterday MoveOn raised an astounding $2 million in less than 24 hours in support of a primary challenge against any Democratic senator who helps Republicans block an up-or-down vote on health care reform.
Contests serve as warning to Democrats: It's not 2008 anymore
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/03/AR2009110304333.html?wpisrc=newsletter
Excerpt: Off-year elections can be notoriously unreliable as predictors of the future, but as a window on how the political landscape may have changed in the year since President Obama won the White House, Tuesday's Republican victories in Virginia and New Jersey delivered clear warnings for the Democrats. Neither gubernatorial election amounted to a referendum on the president, but the changing shape of the electorates in both states and the shifts among key constituencies revealed cracks in the Obama 2008 coalition and demonstrated that, at this point, Republicans have the more energized constituency heading into next year's midterm elections.
Gallup: GOP would win the House of Representatives http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2009/11/gallup_gop_would_win_the_house.html
Excerpt: Gallup's daily tracking shows that the spike in the polls from Obama's photo-op saluting fallen soldiers returned from Afghanistan was apparently short-lived. The cynically orchestrated visuals of Obama saluting fallen troops at Dover Air Force Base helped Obama climb briefly to 55%, but Gallup says Obama's job approval rating has quickly slid back to its lowest level, 50% -- one point lower than it was last week. Perhaps more importantly, one year before the public heads to the polls to elect all 435 members of the House of Representatives, Gallup says their generic congressional numbers are at levels which would give Republicans a majority in the House if the election were held today.
Washington Post features editor (and retired Marine) punches colleague over 'charticle' http://www.dailyfinance.com/2009/11/02/washington-post-features-editor-70-punches-colleague-over-cha/?icid=main|main|dl3|link4|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailyfinance.com%2F2009%2F11%2F02%2Fwashington-post-features-editor-70-punches-colleague-over-cha%2F
Old school journalism. Excerpt: In the incident, which took place directly in front of executive editor Marcus Brauchli's office, features editor Henry Allen lived up to his reputation of being tough on his beat, issuing a smack-down on feature writer Manuel Roig-Franzia. Brauchli rushed to separate the two journalists. Allen, nearly 70, a Pulitzer Prize-winner, and a retired Marine who served in Vietnam, was reportedly "revolted" by a feature package put together by one of his writers.
Stimulus Jobs=Bigger Government
http://biggovernment.com/2009/11/02/stimulus-job-creation-bigger-government/
Imagine that. Most of the jobs created are in government. So they have to support the big government party to insure employment and raises.
Obama on Export-Driven Growth; Donohue on How To Get It http://www.chamberpost.com/2009/11/obama-on-export-driven-growth-donohue-on-how-to-get-it.html
Free Trade Grows Jobs. Trade Barriers, like Smoot-Hawley in the 1930s, kill jobs.
Health bills too timid on cutting costs, experts say
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/03/AR2009110303804.html?wpisrc=newsletter
Ya think?
The True Cost of the House Health Bill: $1.5 Trillion
http://blog.heritage.org/2009/11/03/the-true-cost-of-the-house-health-bill-15-trillion/
My guess: Even this is too low. I base that on past predictions about new entitlement programs.
The "Costs" of Medical Care: Part II by Thomas Sowell http://townhall.com/columnists/ThomasSowell/2009/11/04/the_costs_of_medical_care_part_ii
Excerpt: Yet, when it comes to medical care, there seems to be remarkably little attention paid to questions of both quantity and quality, in the rush to "bring down the cost of medical care." There is no question that you can reduce the payments for medical care by having either a lower quantity or a lower quality of medical care. That has already been done in countries with government-run medical systems. In the United States, the government has already reduced payments for patients on Medicare and Medicaid, with the result that some doctors no longer accept new patients with Medicare or Medicaid. That has not reduced the cost of medical care. It has reduced the availability of medical care, just as buying a pint of milk reduces the payment below what a quart of milk would cost.
Another Vapor Bill
http://www.redstate.com/dan_perrin/2009/11/03/another-vapor-bill-rises-senator-reid-admits-%E2%80%9Cthere-is-no-bill%E2%80%A6it-does-not-exist%E2%80%9D/
Excerpt: On Friday, every Republican Senator sent U.S. Senate Majority Leader Reid a letter which said, where is the bill text? Here is an excerpt from the letter: “The American people and every member of Congress should be allowed to read the bill that was sent to CBO. The bill should be made available for taxpayers to read and learn how the federal government is spending their money. We are writing to request that you immediately make all materials sent to CBO publicly available on the internet.” Senator Reid’s response was — uh, the bill “does not exist.” So, yet another Senate Vapor Bill Rises
70 Percent of Young Americans Are Unfit for Military Duty
http://www.sphere.com/2009/11/03/70-percent-of-young-americans-are-unfit-for-military-duty/
Excerpt: Are America's youth too fat, dumb or dishonest to defend the nation against its enemies? The latest Army statistics show a stunning 70 percent of military-age youth are ineligible to join the military because they are overweight, can't pass entrance exams, have dropped out of high school or had run-ins with the law. So many young people between the prime recruiting ages of 17 and 24 cannot meet minimum standards that a group of retired military leaders is calling for more investment in early childhood education to combat the insidious effects of junk food and inadequate education.
Chertoff: Illegals degrade the environment
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-10-01-1156407265_x.htm
Whoops. Politically Incorrect Truth. BO will take him to the woodshed. Excerpt: Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff on Monday defended the construction of a fence along the southwest border, saying it's actually better for the environment than what happens when people illegally cross the U.S.-Mexico line. "Illegal migrants really degrade the environment. I've seen pictures of human waste, garbage, discarded bottles and other human artifact in pristine areas," Chertoff said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. "And believe me, that is the worst thing you can do to the environment."
Obama and the Liberal Paradigm (a Must Read) http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703932904574511250528884932.html?mod=djemITP
Excerpt: Valerie Jarrett, senior adviser to President Barack Obama, recently explained the White House war on Fox News as an example of "speaking truth to power." Much of the American political world collapsed in laughter, pointing out that her boss was president of the United States, the most powerful man on earth. His every word is news around the world. Fox News is a cable channel rarely watched by more than a few million people at a time. How could she have so blithely said something completely out-of-sync with reality?
Fox news way ahead in NPR poll
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2009/10/in_white_house_vs_fox_news_war.html
Vote early and often
Disaster flick filmmaker decides to destroy Christ statue rather than Mecca in new film, for fear of drawing death threats
http://www.jihadwatch.org/2009/11/disaster-flick-filmmaker-decides-to-destroy-christ-statue-rather-than-mecca-in-new-film-for-fear-of.html
We must live in fear of the Religion of Peace.
Bear kills militants in Kashmir
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8339549.stm
As we say in Chicago, Go Bears!
Saudi court upholds child rapist crucifixion ruling
http://in.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idINIndia-43639120091103
Under Islamic Shari’a law, a girl has to be nine to marry and have sex with an old man. Three year old boys are out. Excerpt: A Saudi court of cassation upheld a ruling to behead and crucify a 22-year-old man convicted of raping five children and leaving one of them to die in the desert, newspapers reported on Tuesday. The convict was arrested earlier this year after a seven-year old boy helped police in their investigation. The child left in the desert after the rape was three years old, Okaz newspaper said. International rights groups have accused the kingdom, the birthplace of Islam, of applying draconian justice, beheading murderers, rapists and drug traffickers in public. So far this year about 40 people have been executed in Saudi Arabia. In Saudi Arabia, crucifixion means tying the body of the convict to wooden beams to be displayed to the public after beheading.
Quotes
Patrick Henry railed against taxation without representation. He should see it with representation. – Saul Landau
The real destroyer of the liberties of the people is he who spreads among them bounties, donations and benefits. --Greek historian Plutarch (c. 46-120 A.D.)
This will be my last post for a few days. I’ll be on the road until next week without Internet access or time, and swamped when I return, so won’t be able to read much on my incoming e-mail, which is between 100 and 200 a day. (Delete! Delete! Delete!) So you get a break for a bit from my musings.
Election 2009
The results are in, and both parties are now trying to spin them, while pollsters try to prove they were right all along. I don’t usually see elections as referendums on people not on the ballot. In 1972, I defeated a Massachusetts Democrat incumbent state senator—by nine votes—in a 4-1 Democrat district, which had last elected a Republican in 1938, while Nixon was losing to McGovern at the top of the ticket (in Massachusetts—Yahoos need not write in, I know Nixon won the election.) In 1974, the big Democrat sweep year after Nixon resigned, I was re-elected by 10,000 votes, carrying every city and town in the district. I even carried Ward Five in Fitchburg, which my Democrat opponent represented on the City Council.
People not on the ballot do have some effect, but you’d have to be in the head of every voter to really know how much.
WWW.fivethirtyeight.com (“538” below) has a reputation for good polling, though the commentary seems to be leftist, which may color their conclusions. I was surprised by the results in Virginia, New Jersey and New York-23, for different reasons.
VA: It was clear weeks ago that barring a fumble, the Republican was going to win—the surprise was that he won by 18% points and that for only the second time in history, Republicans carried all three top offices. The White House threw the Democrat under the bus back when the polls showed him losing by 10 points. 538 had the R winning, but by 13 points. He won by 18. Turnout among Obama supporters was dismal. 66% of independents went for the R, and independents broke for Obama last year. Will Obama be able to energize them in 2010—or 2012?
NJ: The polls had this one tied, and Obama campaigned heavily for the Democrat in the last week. 538 called it for the Republican, saying they thought he had a 57% chance of winning. He jumped out in front at the start and never trailed, winning by 5 points in a blue state Obama won by 15 pints, that hasn’t elected a statewide Republican since I think 1997, and a conservative Republican in a much longer time. Both the Democrat and the Republican had high negatives, and NJ, being a Dem controlled state has high taxes and health insurance costs. Polls were calling it a tie, but giving the Independent as much as 15%. Faced with re-electing Corzine, the Independent’s support collapsed and it appears those voters broke heavily for the Republican. Lean Corzine’s decision to make an issue of Christie’s weight probably didn’t help, given the obesity in the electorate.
That Republicans won seniors in both states is bad news for the Dems--better get those "DeathPanels" cranked up.
NY-23. Good news here for Democrats, who elected their first Congressman in a century. The Republican was an ACORN/Gay Marriage supporter. When her support collapsed, she pulled out. At that point polls had the Conservative slightly ahead of the Democrat. The wisdom was that with her out, the Conservative had a clear path to victory, and 538 called it for him. But the Democrat won by 4 points, never trailed. 538 called it for the conservative on election eve, and was way off. (They also said it was a 70% change that Gay marriage would win in Maine—it lost.)
Hearing both candidates on TV, the Democrat came across as a regular guy, the Conservative as a bit of a policy geek. The district is moderate Republican, but the Democrat is said to be a moderate. The Republican was far too liberal for many Republicans to stomach, so a seat has been handed to Pelosi. He may not vote with her on everything, but will vote for her for Speaker, the key vote. If he votes independently and works the district, I think he’ll be re-elected next year, which hurts the GOP’s chances of taking over the House. If he becomes an Obot and the Republicans can patch things up behind a decent candidate, maybe.
Here’s the math the liberal Democrats figured out in 2006, which escapes conservative Republicans still.
Assume there are 45 conservative Republican Senators and 210 Conservative Republican House Members, 45 liberal Democrat Senators and 210 liberal Democrat House Members. If the remaining 10 Senators and 15 Congressmen are moderate or liberal Republicans, Conservative Republicans control the Congress and the agenda. If they are moderate or Blue Dog Democrats, liberal Democrats control the Congress and the agenda. Every time a hated RINO switches to the Democrat party or is defeated by a liberal Democrat, it strengthens liberal control of the Congress. We see the results now in the deficit and the legislation moving this year.
Sorting through the numbers in Va., N.J., and N.Y.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/morning-fix/morning-fix-12.html?wprss=thefix
Interesting look at exit polls.
Lessons from the 2009 election results
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/Lessons-from-the-2009-election-results-69054827.html
Excerpt: The 2009 election results are certainly not going to make it easy for Speaker Nancy Pelosi to round up the needed 218 votes for Democrats’ health care bills.
Red States’ take
http://www.redstate.com/erick/2009/11/03/the-love-affair-is-over-in-2008-independents-proved-they-werent-racist-by-voting-obama-in-2010-independents-vote-gop-to-prove-they-arent-socialist/
Excerpt: In every state in which Barack Obama campaigned for a candidate, the candidate lost. Too bad he did not make it up to NY-23. More importantly, according to political expert Larry Sabato, there have only been two occasions when Virginia and New Jersey so thoroughly flipped to the opposite party: in 1993, before the GOP take over of Congress in 1994, and in 2005, before the Democrats took back Congress in 2006.
MoveOn.org threatens Blue Dog Dems
http://commonamericanjournal.com/?p=5570
Excerpt: In the politics of health care, MoveOn.org is playing hardball with Blue Dog Democrats. Yesterday MoveOn raised an astounding $2 million in less than 24 hours in support of a primary challenge against any Democratic senator who helps Republicans block an up-or-down vote on health care reform.
Contests serve as warning to Democrats: It's not 2008 anymore
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/03/AR2009110304333.html?wpisrc=newsletter
Excerpt: Off-year elections can be notoriously unreliable as predictors of the future, but as a window on how the political landscape may have changed in the year since President Obama won the White House, Tuesday's Republican victories in Virginia and New Jersey delivered clear warnings for the Democrats. Neither gubernatorial election amounted to a referendum on the president, but the changing shape of the electorates in both states and the shifts among key constituencies revealed cracks in the Obama 2008 coalition and demonstrated that, at this point, Republicans have the more energized constituency heading into next year's midterm elections.
Gallup: GOP would win the House of Representatives http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2009/11/gallup_gop_would_win_the_house.html
Excerpt: Gallup's daily tracking shows that the spike in the polls from Obama's photo-op saluting fallen soldiers returned from Afghanistan was apparently short-lived. The cynically orchestrated visuals of Obama saluting fallen troops at Dover Air Force Base helped Obama climb briefly to 55%, but Gallup says Obama's job approval rating has quickly slid back to its lowest level, 50% -- one point lower than it was last week. Perhaps more importantly, one year before the public heads to the polls to elect all 435 members of the House of Representatives, Gallup says their generic congressional numbers are at levels which would give Republicans a majority in the House if the election were held today.
Washington Post features editor (and retired Marine) punches colleague over 'charticle' http://www.dailyfinance.com/2009/11/02/washington-post-features-editor-70-punches-colleague-over-cha/?icid=main|main|dl3|link4|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailyfinance.com%2F2009%2F11%2F02%2Fwashington-post-features-editor-70-punches-colleague-over-cha%2F
Old school journalism. Excerpt: In the incident, which took place directly in front of executive editor Marcus Brauchli's office, features editor Henry Allen lived up to his reputation of being tough on his beat, issuing a smack-down on feature writer Manuel Roig-Franzia. Brauchli rushed to separate the two journalists. Allen, nearly 70, a Pulitzer Prize-winner, and a retired Marine who served in Vietnam, was reportedly "revolted" by a feature package put together by one of his writers.
Stimulus Jobs=Bigger Government
http://biggovernment.com/2009/11/02/stimulus-job-creation-bigger-government/
Imagine that. Most of the jobs created are in government. So they have to support the big government party to insure employment and raises.
Obama on Export-Driven Growth; Donohue on How To Get It http://www.chamberpost.com/2009/11/obama-on-export-driven-growth-donohue-on-how-to-get-it.html
Free Trade Grows Jobs. Trade Barriers, like Smoot-Hawley in the 1930s, kill jobs.
Health bills too timid on cutting costs, experts say
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/03/AR2009110303804.html?wpisrc=newsletter
Ya think?
The True Cost of the House Health Bill: $1.5 Trillion
http://blog.heritage.org/2009/11/03/the-true-cost-of-the-house-health-bill-15-trillion/
My guess: Even this is too low. I base that on past predictions about new entitlement programs.
The "Costs" of Medical Care: Part II by Thomas Sowell http://townhall.com/columnists/ThomasSowell/2009/11/04/the_costs_of_medical_care_part_ii
Excerpt: Yet, when it comes to medical care, there seems to be remarkably little attention paid to questions of both quantity and quality, in the rush to "bring down the cost of medical care." There is no question that you can reduce the payments for medical care by having either a lower quantity or a lower quality of medical care. That has already been done in countries with government-run medical systems. In the United States, the government has already reduced payments for patients on Medicare and Medicaid, with the result that some doctors no longer accept new patients with Medicare or Medicaid. That has not reduced the cost of medical care. It has reduced the availability of medical care, just as buying a pint of milk reduces the payment below what a quart of milk would cost.
Another Vapor Bill
http://www.redstate.com/dan_perrin/2009/11/03/another-vapor-bill-rises-senator-reid-admits-%E2%80%9Cthere-is-no-bill%E2%80%A6it-does-not-exist%E2%80%9D/
Excerpt: On Friday, every Republican Senator sent U.S. Senate Majority Leader Reid a letter which said, where is the bill text? Here is an excerpt from the letter: “The American people and every member of Congress should be allowed to read the bill that was sent to CBO. The bill should be made available for taxpayers to read and learn how the federal government is spending their money. We are writing to request that you immediately make all materials sent to CBO publicly available on the internet.” Senator Reid’s response was — uh, the bill “does not exist.” So, yet another Senate Vapor Bill Rises
70 Percent of Young Americans Are Unfit for Military Duty
http://www.sphere.com/2009/11/03/70-percent-of-young-americans-are-unfit-for-military-duty/
Excerpt: Are America's youth too fat, dumb or dishonest to defend the nation against its enemies? The latest Army statistics show a stunning 70 percent of military-age youth are ineligible to join the military because they are overweight, can't pass entrance exams, have dropped out of high school or had run-ins with the law. So many young people between the prime recruiting ages of 17 and 24 cannot meet minimum standards that a group of retired military leaders is calling for more investment in early childhood education to combat the insidious effects of junk food and inadequate education.
Chertoff: Illegals degrade the environment
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-10-01-1156407265_x.htm
Whoops. Politically Incorrect Truth. BO will take him to the woodshed. Excerpt: Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff on Monday defended the construction of a fence along the southwest border, saying it's actually better for the environment than what happens when people illegally cross the U.S.-Mexico line. "Illegal migrants really degrade the environment. I've seen pictures of human waste, garbage, discarded bottles and other human artifact in pristine areas," Chertoff said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. "And believe me, that is the worst thing you can do to the environment."
Obama and the Liberal Paradigm (a Must Read) http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703932904574511250528884932.html?mod=djemITP
Excerpt: Valerie Jarrett, senior adviser to President Barack Obama, recently explained the White House war on Fox News as an example of "speaking truth to power." Much of the American political world collapsed in laughter, pointing out that her boss was president of the United States, the most powerful man on earth. His every word is news around the world. Fox News is a cable channel rarely watched by more than a few million people at a time. How could she have so blithely said something completely out-of-sync with reality?
Fox news way ahead in NPR poll
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2009/10/in_white_house_vs_fox_news_war.html
Vote early and often
Disaster flick filmmaker decides to destroy Christ statue rather than Mecca in new film, for fear of drawing death threats
http://www.jihadwatch.org/2009/11/disaster-flick-filmmaker-decides-to-destroy-christ-statue-rather-than-mecca-in-new-film-for-fear-of.html
We must live in fear of the Religion of Peace.
Bear kills militants in Kashmir
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8339549.stm
As we say in Chicago, Go Bears!
Saudi court upholds child rapist crucifixion ruling
http://in.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idINIndia-43639120091103
Under Islamic Shari’a law, a girl has to be nine to marry and have sex with an old man. Three year old boys are out. Excerpt: A Saudi court of cassation upheld a ruling to behead and crucify a 22-year-old man convicted of raping five children and leaving one of them to die in the desert, newspapers reported on Tuesday. The convict was arrested earlier this year after a seven-year old boy helped police in their investigation. The child left in the desert after the rape was three years old, Okaz newspaper said. International rights groups have accused the kingdom, the birthplace of Islam, of applying draconian justice, beheading murderers, rapists and drug traffickers in public. So far this year about 40 people have been executed in Saudi Arabia. In Saudi Arabia, crucifixion means tying the body of the convict to wooden beams to be displayed to the public after beheading.
Quotes
Patrick Henry railed against taxation without representation. He should see it with representation. – Saul Landau
The real destroyer of the liberties of the people is he who spreads among them bounties, donations and benefits. --Greek historian Plutarch (c. 46-120 A.D.)
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Political Digest November 4, 2009
I post articles because I think they are of interest. Doing so doesn’t mean that I necessarily agree with every—or any—opinion in the posted article.
No more Jeep Commander
I see that Chrysler, now owned by Fiat, will be making small cars instead of the Jeep Commander. This is very clever of the Obama Administration Small cars have a much higher fatality rate. The more Americans killed on the highways, the less gas they can use, the fewer healthcare dollars they will use in later life, and they will have smaller carbon footprints. The younger the mangled corpses, the greater the benefit. And Obama, Gore, Clinton, Biden et al will continue to drive in nice, safe limos, so it won’t impact them. Pun intended. The late Swine Flu vaccine helps for the same reason. Dead Kids equals a lower carbon footprint and fewer healthcare dollars they’d spend when old.
Democrats' concerns over abortion may imperil health bill
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/02/AR2009110203232.html?wpisrc=newsletter
If they ram the bill through, I think they will lose the House in 2010 due to the backlash.
Palin as politically charged lightning rod
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/03/AR2009110300024.html?wpisrc=newsletter
Book Reviews: SARAH FROM ALASKA: The Sudden Rise and Brutal Education of a New Conservative Superstar by Scott Conroy and Shushannah Walshe and THE PERSECUTION OF SARAH PALIN: How the Elite Media Tried to Bring Down a Rising Star by Matthew Continetti.
Bullets are speeding faster out of gun shops in U.S.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/02/AR2009110202712.html?wpisrc=newsletter
Barack Obama, Gun Salesman of the Year. Excerpt: In a year of job losses, foreclosures and bag lunches, Americans have spent record-breaking amounts of money on guns and ammunition. The most obvious sign of their demand: empty ammunition shelves. At points during the past year, bullets have been selling faster than factories could make them. Gun owners have bought about 12 billion rounds of ammunition in the past year, industry officials estimate. That's up from 7 billion to 10 billion in a normal year. (Guy asked his stock broker what he was buying. “Canned goods and ammo” was the reply.)
The Most Important Number in Politics Today
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/most-important-number/the-most-important-number-in-p-59.html?wprss=thefix
Excerpt: 5: That's the number of times that a new Republican National Committee ad running in New York's 23rd district uses the word "conservative", evidence that establishment GOPers are trying to wrangle the energy of the party base for their political purposes. "Do you believe in Republican conservative values, like thrift, personal responsibility, and family," asks the ad's narrator. "Let's tell the liberals, enough is enough." Later in the commercial, the narrator touts the need to vote for "proven conservative ideas" and closes the commercial by saying: "Vote conservative, it matters like never before." The short-term play here by the RNC is a simple one. After Republican-endorsed state Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava dropped from the special election race and endorsed Democrat Bill Owens, the national Republican party quickly moved to embrace Conservative party nominee Doug Hoffman who, according to polling released today, is the favorite heading into tomorrow's vote.
The "Costs" of Medical Care by Thomas Sowell, PhD (A must-read) http://townhall.com/columnists/ThomasSowell/2009/11/03/the_costs_of_medical_care
Excerpt: We are incessantly being told that the cost of medical care is "too high"-- either absolutely or as a growing percentage of our incomes. But nothing that is being proposed by the government is likely to lower those costs, and much that is being proposed is almost certain to increase the costs. There is a fundamental difference between reducing costs and simply shifting costs around, like a pea in a shell game at a carnival. Costs are not reduced simply because you pay less at a doctor's office and more in taxes-- or more in insurance premiums, or more in higher prices for other goods and services that you buy, because the government has put the costs on businesses that pass those costs on to you. Costs are not reduced simply because you don't pay them. It would undoubtedly be cheaper for me to do without the medications that keep me alive and more vigorous in my old age than people of a similar age were in generations past…. If doctors' incomes were cut in half, that would not lower the cost of producing doctors through years of expensive training in medical schools and hospitals, nor the overhead costs of running doctors' offices. What it would do is reduce the number of very able people who are willing to take on the high costs of a medical education when the return on that investment is greatly reduced and the aggravations of dealing with government bureaucrats are added to the burdens of the work
(111) New Federal Bureaucracies Created in Pelosi Health Care Bill
http://www.gop.gov/policy-news/09/11/02/new-federal-bureaucracies-created-in
Yup. That’ll save us all money. You can bet your declining dollar on it.
How Come The Democrats Health Care Bill Won’t Actually Kick In For Three Years?
http://commonamericanjournal.com/?p=5418
Excerpt: There are two reasons for the delay. First, it’s a tacit acknowledgment that prompt implementation would destroy Obama’s reelection chances in 2012. Second, it’s an outright financial scam authored by the Statist Democrats: ” The CBO has scored the bill at $1.055 trillion [which] does not take into consideration that fact that the ten-year window contains ten years of revenue and only three to eight years of major payouts –- meaning that the bill will bleed red ink in subsequent years.”
NYT: Gore’s Global Warming Financial Windfall
http://commonamericanjournal.com/?p=5490
Excerpt: Former Vice President Al Gore thought he had spotted a winner last year when a small California firm sought financing for an energy-saving technology from the venture capital firm where Mr. Gore is a partner. The company, Silver Spring Networks, produces hardware and software to make the electricity grid more efficient. It came to Mr. Gore’s firm, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, one of Silicon Valley’s top venture capital providers, looking for $75 million to expand its partnerships with utilities seeking to install millions of so-called smart meters in homes and businesses. (Surprise!)
Ditherer-in-Chief
http://townhall.com/columnists/KenBlackwell/2009/11/03/ditherer-in-chief
Excerpt: There's a vicious rumor being reported in Washington. It says President Obama was holding off his announcement of new troop movements into Afghanistan not until after Hamid Karzai's election runoff that had been scheduled for November 8, but until after today's closely-watched off-year elections. The basis for that rumor is the idea that Obama would not want to depress his own base, discourage "peace" voters from voting in Virginia, New Jersey, and New York's 23rd congressional district. I reject that rumor. I do not believe this President, or any President, would so callously disregard the lives of the soldiers, sailors, and airmen whom he has sent into harm's way. My point is something else entirely. Such rumors would not have a chance to circulate, to get "legs" if you will, if President Obama were not so publicly agonizing over his decision to send in more troops. (Unfortunately, I think it’s quite possible. God help us.)
Great Britain loses one of its finest
http://www.michaelyon-online.com/great-britain-loses-one-of-its-finest.htm
While President Wobbly thinks….and thinks…revising the “bold new strategy” he announce way back in March about this “war of necessity.”
The American Way of Abandonment http://townhall.com/columnists/PatBuchanan/2009/11/03/the_american_way_of_abandonment
Excerpt: When America is about to throw an ally to the wolves, we follow an established ritual. We discover that the man we supported was never really morally fit to be a friend or partner of the United States. (Why I don’t have a “These Colors Don’t Run” tee shirt—slinking away while those who trusted America is no better.)
Arizona woman run down by her father is dead in honor killing http://www.jihadwatch.org/2009/11/arizona-woman-run-down-by-her-father-is-dead-in-honor-killing.html
Tell me again how Islam is good for women. I keep forgetting.
Obama ties GWB on golf
http://commonamericanjournal.com/?p=5403
Excerpt: President Barack Obama has only been in office for just over nine months, but he’s already hit the links as much as President Bush did in over two years. (Remember how the Leftstream Media criticized Bush for any time off?)
Obama marks election anniversary with sabbatical http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columns/Obama-marks-election-anniversary-with-sabbatical-8474443.html
Satire: President Obama marked the one-year anniversary of his election by announcing he would take a nine-month sabbatical "to rest and refresh after a grueling year of staggering accomplishment." …During his sabbatical, Obama said he plans to challenge himself intellectually by re-reading his previous memoirs and by writing a much-anticipated third autobiography. "A president, like a college professor, has to keep his mind sharp," he said. "That's why I'm going to go back and study the works of one of the brightest minds of our generation. I know I still have much to learn from those pages."
Uncle Jay is back
http://unclejayexplains.com/2009/11/01/uncle-jay-explains-nov-2-2009/
Humor.
No more Jeep Commander
I see that Chrysler, now owned by Fiat, will be making small cars instead of the Jeep Commander. This is very clever of the Obama Administration Small cars have a much higher fatality rate. The more Americans killed on the highways, the less gas they can use, the fewer healthcare dollars they will use in later life, and they will have smaller carbon footprints. The younger the mangled corpses, the greater the benefit. And Obama, Gore, Clinton, Biden et al will continue to drive in nice, safe limos, so it won’t impact them. Pun intended. The late Swine Flu vaccine helps for the same reason. Dead Kids equals a lower carbon footprint and fewer healthcare dollars they’d spend when old.
Democrats' concerns over abortion may imperil health bill
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/02/AR2009110203232.html?wpisrc=newsletter
If they ram the bill through, I think they will lose the House in 2010 due to the backlash.
Palin as politically charged lightning rod
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/03/AR2009110300024.html?wpisrc=newsletter
Book Reviews: SARAH FROM ALASKA: The Sudden Rise and Brutal Education of a New Conservative Superstar by Scott Conroy and Shushannah Walshe and THE PERSECUTION OF SARAH PALIN: How the Elite Media Tried to Bring Down a Rising Star by Matthew Continetti.
Bullets are speeding faster out of gun shops in U.S.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/02/AR2009110202712.html?wpisrc=newsletter
Barack Obama, Gun Salesman of the Year. Excerpt: In a year of job losses, foreclosures and bag lunches, Americans have spent record-breaking amounts of money on guns and ammunition. The most obvious sign of their demand: empty ammunition shelves. At points during the past year, bullets have been selling faster than factories could make them. Gun owners have bought about 12 billion rounds of ammunition in the past year, industry officials estimate. That's up from 7 billion to 10 billion in a normal year. (Guy asked his stock broker what he was buying. “Canned goods and ammo” was the reply.)
The Most Important Number in Politics Today
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/most-important-number/the-most-important-number-in-p-59.html?wprss=thefix
Excerpt: 5: That's the number of times that a new Republican National Committee ad running in New York's 23rd district uses the word "conservative", evidence that establishment GOPers are trying to wrangle the energy of the party base for their political purposes. "Do you believe in Republican conservative values, like thrift, personal responsibility, and family," asks the ad's narrator. "Let's tell the liberals, enough is enough." Later in the commercial, the narrator touts the need to vote for "proven conservative ideas" and closes the commercial by saying: "Vote conservative, it matters like never before." The short-term play here by the RNC is a simple one. After Republican-endorsed state Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava dropped from the special election race and endorsed Democrat Bill Owens, the national Republican party quickly moved to embrace Conservative party nominee Doug Hoffman who, according to polling released today, is the favorite heading into tomorrow's vote.
The "Costs" of Medical Care by Thomas Sowell, PhD (A must-read) http://townhall.com/columnists/ThomasSowell/2009/11/03/the_costs_of_medical_care
Excerpt: We are incessantly being told that the cost of medical care is "too high"-- either absolutely or as a growing percentage of our incomes. But nothing that is being proposed by the government is likely to lower those costs, and much that is being proposed is almost certain to increase the costs. There is a fundamental difference between reducing costs and simply shifting costs around, like a pea in a shell game at a carnival. Costs are not reduced simply because you pay less at a doctor's office and more in taxes-- or more in insurance premiums, or more in higher prices for other goods and services that you buy, because the government has put the costs on businesses that pass those costs on to you. Costs are not reduced simply because you don't pay them. It would undoubtedly be cheaper for me to do without the medications that keep me alive and more vigorous in my old age than people of a similar age were in generations past…. If doctors' incomes were cut in half, that would not lower the cost of producing doctors through years of expensive training in medical schools and hospitals, nor the overhead costs of running doctors' offices. What it would do is reduce the number of very able people who are willing to take on the high costs of a medical education when the return on that investment is greatly reduced and the aggravations of dealing with government bureaucrats are added to the burdens of the work
(111) New Federal Bureaucracies Created in Pelosi Health Care Bill
http://www.gop.gov/policy-news/09/11/02/new-federal-bureaucracies-created-in
Yup. That’ll save us all money. You can bet your declining dollar on it.
How Come The Democrats Health Care Bill Won’t Actually Kick In For Three Years?
http://commonamericanjournal.com/?p=5418
Excerpt: There are two reasons for the delay. First, it’s a tacit acknowledgment that prompt implementation would destroy Obama’s reelection chances in 2012. Second, it’s an outright financial scam authored by the Statist Democrats: ” The CBO has scored the bill at $1.055 trillion [which] does not take into consideration that fact that the ten-year window contains ten years of revenue and only three to eight years of major payouts –- meaning that the bill will bleed red ink in subsequent years.”
NYT: Gore’s Global Warming Financial Windfall
http://commonamericanjournal.com/?p=5490
Excerpt: Former Vice President Al Gore thought he had spotted a winner last year when a small California firm sought financing for an energy-saving technology from the venture capital firm where Mr. Gore is a partner. The company, Silver Spring Networks, produces hardware and software to make the electricity grid more efficient. It came to Mr. Gore’s firm, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, one of Silicon Valley’s top venture capital providers, looking for $75 million to expand its partnerships with utilities seeking to install millions of so-called smart meters in homes and businesses. (Surprise!)
Ditherer-in-Chief
http://townhall.com/columnists/KenBlackwell/2009/11/03/ditherer-in-chief
Excerpt: There's a vicious rumor being reported in Washington. It says President Obama was holding off his announcement of new troop movements into Afghanistan not until after Hamid Karzai's election runoff that had been scheduled for November 8, but until after today's closely-watched off-year elections. The basis for that rumor is the idea that Obama would not want to depress his own base, discourage "peace" voters from voting in Virginia, New Jersey, and New York's 23rd congressional district. I reject that rumor. I do not believe this President, or any President, would so callously disregard the lives of the soldiers, sailors, and airmen whom he has sent into harm's way. My point is something else entirely. Such rumors would not have a chance to circulate, to get "legs" if you will, if President Obama were not so publicly agonizing over his decision to send in more troops. (Unfortunately, I think it’s quite possible. God help us.)
Great Britain loses one of its finest
http://www.michaelyon-online.com/great-britain-loses-one-of-its-finest.htm
While President Wobbly thinks….and thinks…revising the “bold new strategy” he announce way back in March about this “war of necessity.”
The American Way of Abandonment http://townhall.com/columnists/PatBuchanan/2009/11/03/the_american_way_of_abandonment
Excerpt: When America is about to throw an ally to the wolves, we follow an established ritual. We discover that the man we supported was never really morally fit to be a friend or partner of the United States. (Why I don’t have a “These Colors Don’t Run” tee shirt—slinking away while those who trusted America is no better.)
Arizona woman run down by her father is dead in honor killing http://www.jihadwatch.org/2009/11/arizona-woman-run-down-by-her-father-is-dead-in-honor-killing.html
Tell me again how Islam is good for women. I keep forgetting.
Obama ties GWB on golf
http://commonamericanjournal.com/?p=5403
Excerpt: President Barack Obama has only been in office for just over nine months, but he’s already hit the links as much as President Bush did in over two years. (Remember how the Leftstream Media criticized Bush for any time off?)
Obama marks election anniversary with sabbatical http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columns/Obama-marks-election-anniversary-with-sabbatical-8474443.html
Satire: President Obama marked the one-year anniversary of his election by announcing he would take a nine-month sabbatical "to rest and refresh after a grueling year of staggering accomplishment." …During his sabbatical, Obama said he plans to challenge himself intellectually by re-reading his previous memoirs and by writing a much-anticipated third autobiography. "A president, like a college professor, has to keep his mind sharp," he said. "That's why I'm going to go back and study the works of one of the brightest minds of our generation. I know I still have much to learn from those pages."
Uncle Jay is back
http://unclejayexplains.com/2009/11/01/uncle-jay-explains-nov-2-2009/
Humor.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Political Digest November 3, 2009
I post articles because I think they are of interest. Doing so doesn’t mean that I necessarily agree with every—or any—opinion in the posted article.
Democrats challenged on cost of health bill
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/30/AR2009103002026.html?wpisrc=newsletter
Hey, lots of government programs come in on budget. There was, ah, let’s see. Give me a minute.
The only challenger to President Hamid Karzai withdrew from next week's runoff election
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/01/AR2009110100323.html?wpisrc=newsletter
Another excuse for President Wobbly to vote “Present.”
Israel putting forth 'unprecedented' concessions, Clinton says But Palestinians reject Netanyahu's offer on settlements
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/31/AR2009103102460.html?wpisrc=newsletter
Nothing will satisfy them but the death of all Jews, the total destruction of Israel and everyone in the world brought under a Muslim Caliphate. Then they’ll kill each other over doctrine. Such is the “Religion of Peace.”
Militants blow up Pakistan girls school
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iUI3_jsG1_VI7A_IE2QlqD27VUgQ
Tell me again how Islam respects women.
Egypt: Christians hide in homes after Muslims distribute leaflets saying "burn, vandalize and clean the country of these evil immoral infidels"
http://www.jihadwatch.org/2009/11/egypt-christians-hide-in-homes-after-muslims-distribute-leaflets-saying-burn-vandalize-and-clean-the.html
Tell me again how tolerant Islam is.
Muslim unrest hits US Homes http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/muslim_unrest_hits_us_homes_swfI0VrpBFYtz0nsxzOpoJ#ixzz0VkHpJ9Sn
Excerpt: The vast majority of honor killings do appear to be cases where there is some attempt to violate or leave [Muslim] cultural norms,” says David Bryan Cook, associate professor of religious studies at Rice University. “They’ve been going on in the US and Britain for a number of years, but in the recent past they’ve gotten a lot more publicity.”
H1N1 Vaccinations to Be Offered To Guantanamo Bay Detainees
http://www.wibw.com/nationalnews/headlines/67784717.html
Excerpt: The Pentagon will offer the H1N1 vaccination to detainees at the U.S. facility at Guantanamo Bay, officials there said Friday. The Pentagon made the decision based on U.S. government assessments that people held in detention facilities are at high risk for the pandemic, said Maj. Diana R. Haynie, a spokeswoman for Joint Task Force Guantanamo Bay, which is in charge of holding the suspected terrorists. (If we didn’t, they’d accuse us of murder. Now they will accuse us of poisoning them with the shots. Meanwhile, somewhere, someone’s child will die so a terrorist gets his shot. I’d give them a shot, had I the chance.)
Study calls Md. smart growth a flop
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/01/AR2009110102470.html?wpisrc=newsletter
Gee, Government Planning for economic activity didn’t work out. Economist Thomas Sowell points out in his books that these planning schemes are often designed to preserve green spaces, thus enhancing the value of the properties of the elites, while making housing for the poor much more expensive—see San Francisco.
Climate bill faces hurdles in Senate
DEMOCRATS DEEPLY SPLIT
Deal on nuclear plants offered to court Republicans
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/01/AR2009110102593.html?wpisrc=newsletter
Gee, what could be controversial about wrecking our economy to do miniscule good as China and India grow their carbon footprints almost as large as Al Gore’s.
The Take: The grass roots prevail in N.Y. http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2009/11/02/the_take_the_grass_roots_preva.html?wprss=44
Excerpt: Significant battles sometimes take place in obscure places. Until the past month, New York's 23rd Congressional District was known mostly for its cold climate, its history of electing Republicans to the House and its relatively moderate politics. The GOP has held the district for more than a century. As a result of a surprise announcement on Saturday, Republicans are likely to continue to hold it for the time being. But the developments that put Republicans back in a stronger position to win a special House election on Tuesday will reverberate unpredictably far beyond the district's boundaries. By the time this fight is over, several questions will be front and center heading into the 2010 midterm elections. One is who really controls the Republican Party. Another is whether grass-roots anger is now the driving force in politics. A third is whether all this is a wise and winning strategy for Republicans or a great gamble by what has been a beleaguered party.
NY-23: Scozzafava Endorses Owens
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/house/ny-23-scozzafava-endorses-owen.html?wprss=thefix
She claimed to be a centrist, but clearly her heart was to the left.
Morning Fix: A ground war in New Jersey
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/morning-fix/morning-fix-11.html?wprss=thefix
Both the D and the R have high negatives. Depends on the turnout and how many people can’t stomach either and cast a protest vote for the Independent. I don’t really think highly Democrat NJ will be a referendum on Obama, but whichever party wins will try to spin it that way.
The Worst Bill Ever
Epic new spending and taxes, pricier insurance, rationed care, dishonest accounting: The Pelosi health bill has it all.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703399204574505423751140690.html
I donno. I still think Smoot-Hawley which locked in the great depression by starting a trade war in 1931 may have been worse.
CO2’s Political Fingerprint
http://blog.heritage.org/2009/10/30/co2s-political-fingerprint/
That’ll teach them. Excerpt: Unless they had explicitly named them, the Senate’s Kerry-Boxer and the House’s Waxman-Markey global warming bills could not have been better designed to inflict more pain on the states that swung red in the last election than on those that went blue. The American Clean Energy and Security Act in the Senate and House’s Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act both call for dramatic reductions in carbon dioxide emissions, eventually 83%. (Isn’t it curious that neither bill is titled after the impending global warming catastrophe that they are supposedly designed to avert?)
Stimulus jobs overstated by thousands
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20091029/D9BKMVMG0.html
He lies. Excerpt: An early progress report on President Barack Obama's economic recovery plan overstates by thousands the number of jobs created or saved through the stimulus program, a mistake that White House officials promise will be corrected in future reports.
Bad news for Democrats in revelation of ethics probes
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/01/AR2009110102088.html?wpisrc=newsletter
Excerpt: After years of criticism that congressional lawmakers were reluctant to investigate their colleagues, the disclosure in recent days of a sensitive document from the House ethics committee offers the contradictory portrait of a panel actively pursuing a range of probes even as Democrats under scrutiny remain in positions of power. The 22-page document revealed that the ethics committee, as of late July, was looking into the activities of at least 19 lawmakers, including reviews of home mortgages and interviews about corporate-backed trips for members of Congress to Caribbean resorts. Combined with the inquiries being conducted by a new ethics office, the document showed a far more robust set of investigations than previously revealed. But the document also brings potential political peril for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), whose party claimed the majority in November 2006 after she promised to "drain the swamp" of corruption on Capitol Hill. Two and a half years into Pelosi's reign, more than 25 Democrats have been targeted for ethics reviews by the two ethics bodies, while just seven Republicans appeared to be under scrutiny, according to the document. (Much as I enjoy seeing Nancy Pork Pelosi have to eat her “Republican Culture of Corruption” words, we need to understand that members of any party or political philosophy may be corrupt and root it out. See the next item.)
Ex-N.Y. (Republican) Senate leader faces corruption trial
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/31/AR2009103101777.html?wpisrc=newsletter
Corruption is the only thing truly bi-partisan, and must be rooted out regardless of party. For Republicans to defend this guy would be as bad as Democrats defending Rangel, Murtha, Burris, Blagojevich, et. al.
Could America go broke? A “Must Read.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/01/AR2009110101704.html?wpisrc=newsletter
Excerpt: The idea that the government of a major advanced country would default on its debt -- that is, tell lenders that it won't repay them all they're owed -- was, until recently, a preposterous proposition. Argentina and Russia have stiffed their creditors, but surely the likes of the United States, Japan or Britain wouldn't. Well, it's still a very, very long shot, but it's no longer entirely unimaginable. Governments of rich countries are borrowing so much that it's conceivable that one day the twin assumptions underlying their burgeoning debt (that lenders will continue to lend and that governments will continue to pay) might collapse. What happens then? (Maybe BO apologizes to everyone?)… Debt is ballooning from already high levels. The Congressional Budget Office reckons the Obama administration's planned budgets would increase the debt-to-GDP ratio from 41 percent in 2008 to 82 percent in 2019. Higher interest rates would aggravate the debt burden. Anticipating higher rates, the CBO estimates annual interest payments on the federal debt at $799 billion in 2019, up from $170 billion in 2009. Even the size of exposed debt is unclear; adding Fannie Mae's and Freddie Mac's debts (effectively guaranteed by the government) to Treasury debt would raise the total sharply. But containing debt by spending cuts or tax increases would involve wrenching and unpopular measures that might, perversely, weaken the economy and worsen deficits. In Japan, the existing value-added tax (national sales tax) of 5 percent would have to go to 12 percent, says JPMorgan, along with deep spending cuts. Against choices like that, some advanced country might decide that a partial or complete default, though dire, would be less damaging economically and politically than the alternatives. Deprived of international or domestic credit, defaulting countries in the past have suffered deep economic downturns, hyperinflation, or both. The odds may be against a wealthy society tempting that fate, but even the remote possibility underlines the precariousness and the novelty of the present situation. The arguments over whether we need more "stimulus" (and debt) obscure the larger reality that past debt increasingly constricts governments' economic maneuvering room.
Will We Lose It All?
http://www.americanthinker.com/printpage/?url=http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/11/will_we_lose_it_all.html
Excerpt: This is such a unique thing we possess, this free way of life. Power granted to the government by the consent of the governed, not taken by force. The default setting for societies has always been a brutal mash of exploitation, oppression and unfettered greed. Whether couched in religion, geography, or tribe, the strong have always ruled the weak, and the wily take their cut off the top. But now we have leaders and laws chosen by process and debate, rather than the former staples of noble birth, graft, brute force, and intimidation. To be sure, a fair measure of those same flaws remain with us in our politics and governance, but they are not the norm, and they're usually driven out when discovered. This alone is enough to separate us from all previous attempts by man to bring order to human interaction...but wait, there's more.
Democrats challenged on cost of health bill
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/30/AR2009103002026.html?wpisrc=newsletter
Hey, lots of government programs come in on budget. There was, ah, let’s see. Give me a minute.
The only challenger to President Hamid Karzai withdrew from next week's runoff election
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/01/AR2009110100323.html?wpisrc=newsletter
Another excuse for President Wobbly to vote “Present.”
Israel putting forth 'unprecedented' concessions, Clinton says But Palestinians reject Netanyahu's offer on settlements
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/31/AR2009103102460.html?wpisrc=newsletter
Nothing will satisfy them but the death of all Jews, the total destruction of Israel and everyone in the world brought under a Muslim Caliphate. Then they’ll kill each other over doctrine. Such is the “Religion of Peace.”
Militants blow up Pakistan girls school
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iUI3_jsG1_VI7A_IE2QlqD27VUgQ
Tell me again how Islam respects women.
Egypt: Christians hide in homes after Muslims distribute leaflets saying "burn, vandalize and clean the country of these evil immoral infidels"
http://www.jihadwatch.org/2009/11/egypt-christians-hide-in-homes-after-muslims-distribute-leaflets-saying-burn-vandalize-and-clean-the.html
Tell me again how tolerant Islam is.
Muslim unrest hits US Homes http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/muslim_unrest_hits_us_homes_swfI0VrpBFYtz0nsxzOpoJ#ixzz0VkHpJ9Sn
Excerpt: The vast majority of honor killings do appear to be cases where there is some attempt to violate or leave [Muslim] cultural norms,” says David Bryan Cook, associate professor of religious studies at Rice University. “They’ve been going on in the US and Britain for a number of years, but in the recent past they’ve gotten a lot more publicity.”
H1N1 Vaccinations to Be Offered To Guantanamo Bay Detainees
http://www.wibw.com/nationalnews/headlines/67784717.html
Excerpt: The Pentagon will offer the H1N1 vaccination to detainees at the U.S. facility at Guantanamo Bay, officials there said Friday. The Pentagon made the decision based on U.S. government assessments that people held in detention facilities are at high risk for the pandemic, said Maj. Diana R. Haynie, a spokeswoman for Joint Task Force Guantanamo Bay, which is in charge of holding the suspected terrorists. (If we didn’t, they’d accuse us of murder. Now they will accuse us of poisoning them with the shots. Meanwhile, somewhere, someone’s child will die so a terrorist gets his shot. I’d give them a shot, had I the chance.)
Study calls Md. smart growth a flop
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/01/AR2009110102470.html?wpisrc=newsletter
Gee, Government Planning for economic activity didn’t work out. Economist Thomas Sowell points out in his books that these planning schemes are often designed to preserve green spaces, thus enhancing the value of the properties of the elites, while making housing for the poor much more expensive—see San Francisco.
Climate bill faces hurdles in Senate
DEMOCRATS DEEPLY SPLIT
Deal on nuclear plants offered to court Republicans
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/01/AR2009110102593.html?wpisrc=newsletter
Gee, what could be controversial about wrecking our economy to do miniscule good as China and India grow their carbon footprints almost as large as Al Gore’s.
The Take: The grass roots prevail in N.Y. http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2009/11/02/the_take_the_grass_roots_preva.html?wprss=44
Excerpt: Significant battles sometimes take place in obscure places. Until the past month, New York's 23rd Congressional District was known mostly for its cold climate, its history of electing Republicans to the House and its relatively moderate politics. The GOP has held the district for more than a century. As a result of a surprise announcement on Saturday, Republicans are likely to continue to hold it for the time being. But the developments that put Republicans back in a stronger position to win a special House election on Tuesday will reverberate unpredictably far beyond the district's boundaries. By the time this fight is over, several questions will be front and center heading into the 2010 midterm elections. One is who really controls the Republican Party. Another is whether grass-roots anger is now the driving force in politics. A third is whether all this is a wise and winning strategy for Republicans or a great gamble by what has been a beleaguered party.
NY-23: Scozzafava Endorses Owens
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/house/ny-23-scozzafava-endorses-owen.html?wprss=thefix
She claimed to be a centrist, but clearly her heart was to the left.
Morning Fix: A ground war in New Jersey
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/morning-fix/morning-fix-11.html?wprss=thefix
Both the D and the R have high negatives. Depends on the turnout and how many people can’t stomach either and cast a protest vote for the Independent. I don’t really think highly Democrat NJ will be a referendum on Obama, but whichever party wins will try to spin it that way.
The Worst Bill Ever
Epic new spending and taxes, pricier insurance, rationed care, dishonest accounting: The Pelosi health bill has it all.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703399204574505423751140690.html
I donno. I still think Smoot-Hawley which locked in the great depression by starting a trade war in 1931 may have been worse.
CO2’s Political Fingerprint
http://blog.heritage.org/2009/10/30/co2s-political-fingerprint/
That’ll teach them. Excerpt: Unless they had explicitly named them, the Senate’s Kerry-Boxer and the House’s Waxman-Markey global warming bills could not have been better designed to inflict more pain on the states that swung red in the last election than on those that went blue. The American Clean Energy and Security Act in the Senate and House’s Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act both call for dramatic reductions in carbon dioxide emissions, eventually 83%. (Isn’t it curious that neither bill is titled after the impending global warming catastrophe that they are supposedly designed to avert?)
Stimulus jobs overstated by thousands
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20091029/D9BKMVMG0.html
He lies. Excerpt: An early progress report on President Barack Obama's economic recovery plan overstates by thousands the number of jobs created or saved through the stimulus program, a mistake that White House officials promise will be corrected in future reports.
Bad news for Democrats in revelation of ethics probes
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/01/AR2009110102088.html?wpisrc=newsletter
Excerpt: After years of criticism that congressional lawmakers were reluctant to investigate their colleagues, the disclosure in recent days of a sensitive document from the House ethics committee offers the contradictory portrait of a panel actively pursuing a range of probes even as Democrats under scrutiny remain in positions of power. The 22-page document revealed that the ethics committee, as of late July, was looking into the activities of at least 19 lawmakers, including reviews of home mortgages and interviews about corporate-backed trips for members of Congress to Caribbean resorts. Combined with the inquiries being conducted by a new ethics office, the document showed a far more robust set of investigations than previously revealed. But the document also brings potential political peril for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), whose party claimed the majority in November 2006 after she promised to "drain the swamp" of corruption on Capitol Hill. Two and a half years into Pelosi's reign, more than 25 Democrats have been targeted for ethics reviews by the two ethics bodies, while just seven Republicans appeared to be under scrutiny, according to the document. (Much as I enjoy seeing Nancy Pork Pelosi have to eat her “Republican Culture of Corruption” words, we need to understand that members of any party or political philosophy may be corrupt and root it out. See the next item.)
Ex-N.Y. (Republican) Senate leader faces corruption trial
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/31/AR2009103101777.html?wpisrc=newsletter
Corruption is the only thing truly bi-partisan, and must be rooted out regardless of party. For Republicans to defend this guy would be as bad as Democrats defending Rangel, Murtha, Burris, Blagojevich, et. al.
Could America go broke? A “Must Read.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/01/AR2009110101704.html?wpisrc=newsletter
Excerpt: The idea that the government of a major advanced country would default on its debt -- that is, tell lenders that it won't repay them all they're owed -- was, until recently, a preposterous proposition. Argentina and Russia have stiffed their creditors, but surely the likes of the United States, Japan or Britain wouldn't. Well, it's still a very, very long shot, but it's no longer entirely unimaginable. Governments of rich countries are borrowing so much that it's conceivable that one day the twin assumptions underlying their burgeoning debt (that lenders will continue to lend and that governments will continue to pay) might collapse. What happens then? (Maybe BO apologizes to everyone?)… Debt is ballooning from already high levels. The Congressional Budget Office reckons the Obama administration's planned budgets would increase the debt-to-GDP ratio from 41 percent in 2008 to 82 percent in 2019. Higher interest rates would aggravate the debt burden. Anticipating higher rates, the CBO estimates annual interest payments on the federal debt at $799 billion in 2019, up from $170 billion in 2009. Even the size of exposed debt is unclear; adding Fannie Mae's and Freddie Mac's debts (effectively guaranteed by the government) to Treasury debt would raise the total sharply. But containing debt by spending cuts or tax increases would involve wrenching and unpopular measures that might, perversely, weaken the economy and worsen deficits. In Japan, the existing value-added tax (national sales tax) of 5 percent would have to go to 12 percent, says JPMorgan, along with deep spending cuts. Against choices like that, some advanced country might decide that a partial or complete default, though dire, would be less damaging economically and politically than the alternatives. Deprived of international or domestic credit, defaulting countries in the past have suffered deep economic downturns, hyperinflation, or both. The odds may be against a wealthy society tempting that fate, but even the remote possibility underlines the precariousness and the novelty of the present situation. The arguments over whether we need more "stimulus" (and debt) obscure the larger reality that past debt increasingly constricts governments' economic maneuvering room.
Will We Lose It All?
http://www.americanthinker.com/printpage/?url=http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/11/will_we_lose_it_all.html
Excerpt: This is such a unique thing we possess, this free way of life. Power granted to the government by the consent of the governed, not taken by force. The default setting for societies has always been a brutal mash of exploitation, oppression and unfettered greed. Whether couched in religion, geography, or tribe, the strong have always ruled the weak, and the wily take their cut off the top. But now we have leaders and laws chosen by process and debate, rather than the former staples of noble birth, graft, brute force, and intimidation. To be sure, a fair measure of those same flaws remain with us in our politics and governance, but they are not the norm, and they're usually driven out when discovered. This alone is enough to separate us from all previous attempts by man to bring order to human interaction...but wait, there's more.
Monday, November 2, 2009
Political Digest for November 2, 2009
I post article because I believe they will be of interest, not because I agree with every—or even any—opinion in them.
Short list today. I’m in Madison, WI. Took the granddaughter trick or treating last Saturday night. Fellow in an Obama mask was giving out phony dollars bills. Maybe they are catching on even here. Will be on the road for business later this week, so there will likely be no posts for several days. Sorry, but the income from the blog, being zero, doesn’t put food on the table.
ObamaCare Vs. The Hippocratic Oath
http://biggovernment.com/2009/11/01/obamacare-vs-the-hippocratic-oath/#more-23582
A Doctor’s Take
Thailand: "More than 3900 people have died in shootings, bomb blasts, beheadings and crucifixions" since 2004
http://www.jihadwatch.org/2009/10/thailand-more-than-3900-people-have-died-in-shootings-bomb-blasts-beheadings-and-crucifixions-since.html
Someone needs to tell them Islam is a “Religion of Peace.”
I Hope Jesus Thinks Larry David is Funny http://townhall.com/columnists/DougGiles/2009/10/31/i_hope_jesus_thinks_larry_david_is_funny
Excerpt: Larry David joined the ranks of the rank this week when he whizzed on an image of Jesus Christ on his unfunny HBO show. I think this one will come back to bite you, LD. Yep, Larry, you should have indeed curbed your enthusiasm when you were contemplating POing Protestants and Catholics who watch HBO and buy your Seinfeld DVDs. FYI to ludicrous Larry: We “goofy” religious folks who number in the millions in the flyovers take our God seriously and don’t take a shinin’ to tools like you urinating on that which reps our Savior. Heck, we don’t even take kindly to people like Ozzy Osbourne peeing on the Alamo. (I heard he also whizzed on a picture of Mohammad. Tell all your Muslim friends.)
RNC-backed Scozzafava drops out of NY #23 Congressional race
http://commonamericanjournal.com/?p=5316
Makes this race winnable for a conservative. Stay tuned.
Comprehensive List of Taxes In House Democrat Health Bill
http://commonamericanjournal.com/?p=5313
I’m not worried. President Wobbly promised if he was elected no one making under $250,000 would pay a penny more in taxes. I was surprised to discover that smokers were all in that income category. Who knew?But BO wouldn’t lie to us, right?
NY Post: The Pelosi-Reid train wreck
http://commonamericanjournal.com/?p=5307
Excerpt: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi unveiled a 2,000-page health-care bill Thursday — complete with a “public option” — cobbled together from competing versions passed by separate committees. At this point, she and her Senate counterparts are crafting their bills in ways to secure votes for passage rather than to produce good policy. But their attempts may backfire on both fronts.
Short list today. I’m in Madison, WI. Took the granddaughter trick or treating last Saturday night. Fellow in an Obama mask was giving out phony dollars bills. Maybe they are catching on even here. Will be on the road for business later this week, so there will likely be no posts for several days. Sorry, but the income from the blog, being zero, doesn’t put food on the table.
ObamaCare Vs. The Hippocratic Oath
http://biggovernment.com/2009/11/01/obamacare-vs-the-hippocratic-oath/#more-23582
A Doctor’s Take
Thailand: "More than 3900 people have died in shootings, bomb blasts, beheadings and crucifixions" since 2004
http://www.jihadwatch.org/2009/10/thailand-more-than-3900-people-have-died-in-shootings-bomb-blasts-beheadings-and-crucifixions-since.html
Someone needs to tell them Islam is a “Religion of Peace.”
I Hope Jesus Thinks Larry David is Funny http://townhall.com/columnists/DougGiles/2009/10/31/i_hope_jesus_thinks_larry_david_is_funny
Excerpt: Larry David joined the ranks of the rank this week when he whizzed on an image of Jesus Christ on his unfunny HBO show. I think this one will come back to bite you, LD. Yep, Larry, you should have indeed curbed your enthusiasm when you were contemplating POing Protestants and Catholics who watch HBO and buy your Seinfeld DVDs. FYI to ludicrous Larry: We “goofy” religious folks who number in the millions in the flyovers take our God seriously and don’t take a shinin’ to tools like you urinating on that which reps our Savior. Heck, we don’t even take kindly to people like Ozzy Osbourne peeing on the Alamo. (I heard he also whizzed on a picture of Mohammad. Tell all your Muslim friends.)
RNC-backed Scozzafava drops out of NY #23 Congressional race
http://commonamericanjournal.com/?p=5316
Makes this race winnable for a conservative. Stay tuned.
Comprehensive List of Taxes In House Democrat Health Bill
http://commonamericanjournal.com/?p=5313
I’m not worried. President Wobbly promised if he was elected no one making under $250,000 would pay a penny more in taxes. I was surprised to discover that smokers were all in that income category. Who knew?But BO wouldn’t lie to us, right?
NY Post: The Pelosi-Reid train wreck
http://commonamericanjournal.com/?p=5307
Excerpt: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi unveiled a 2,000-page health-care bill Thursday — complete with a “public option” — cobbled together from competing versions passed by separate committees. At this point, she and her Senate counterparts are crafting their bills in ways to secure votes for passage rather than to produce good policy. But their attempts may backfire on both fronts.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Political Digest November 1, 2009
I post article because I believe they will be of interest, not because I agree with every—or even any—opinion in them.
AMERICA IS ME - Anthem for "We the People" by Mack Hayes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXAcHtdU3nY
Worth watching. The credits are touching.
Driving while on cell phone
http://ut.zerofatalities.com/texting.php
Second Amendment
http://biggeekdaddy.com/miscvideos/TedNugent.html
Chinese-Made Turbines to Fill U.S. Wind Farm
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125683832677216475.html
Obama administration creates green jobs in China. Excerpt: The Obama administration is hoping a shift to renewable energy will inject new life into the U.S. manufacturing base and provide high-paying jobs, making up for losses in other sectors. But while the U.S. has poured money into renewable energy through tax credits and other subsidies, China has positioned itself to reap many of the benefits by ramping up its export machine.
Health Care Reform Plan That Will Prove To Be The Game Changer
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/note.php?note_id=163531118434&ref=mf
Don’t think so. The Leftstream Media has its narrative—the GOP is the party of No and has proposed nothing—and they’ve successfully ignored GOP proposals to date. Impossible to break through to the mass of uninformed cool-aide drinkers. Excerpt: Mark my words - tomorrow is the game changer! Tune in to hear common sense solutions that bury the false accusations that conscientious members of Congress have no solutions to meet America's health care challenges. If you're like me, shaking your head wondering why all the miscommunication between Washington and the American people who have been saying, "Please hear what we're saying about our desire for health care reform," then tomorrow will be a refreshing time of clarity for all. All Americans, and especially colleagues of House Republican Leader John Boehner: please listen to tomorrow's weekly GOP national address. Rep. Boehner will highlight a common sense alternative to Speaker Pelosi's 1,990-page government takeover of health care. I urge you to watch for it. For a preview, go to: http://HealthCare.GOP.gov You'll hear solutions. You'll hear of real choices based on America's proven free-market principles. You'll know once and for all what the GOP and Independents have been saying all along about alternatives to another big government take over. After tomorrow, you'll know that accusations against the GOP and Independents for not providing solutions are false. Those claims are bogus. There are alternatives. Tune in to Rep. Boehner's address tomorrow to hear them. I look forward to the game changer! - Sarah Palin
New Brighton wife tried to kill husband over Muslim principles, cops allege
http://www.silive.com/northshore/index.ssf/2009/10/new_brighton_wife_tried_to_kil.html
Islamic Equal Rights. Excerpt: STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — A 37-year-old wife from New Brighton tried to slit her husband’s throat as he slept because he was not the devout Muslim she believed she married, and pressured her to eat pork and drink alcohol, authorities allege. In a rambling, four-page handwritten confession, Rabia Sarwar laid out the “mental and emotional cruelty” that led to her trying to kill her husband, Susan Wagner High School teacher Sheikh Naseem, early yesterday morning, a law enforcement source said. “I tried my best to cut his throat,” Ms. Sarwar admitted, according to court papers. Except Naseem woke up during the attempt, and took the knife from her, authorities said. (Guess she missed the part about Islam being a Religion of Peace.)
A Salute to Denmark...Keep Her Free!
http://www.authorsden.com/visit/viewarticle.asp?id=38180
Old but worth reading. Excerpt: In Denmark, once-liberal immigration policies have forced huge governmental change and zero tolerance for Muslim immigrants intent on turning Denmark into an Islamic welfare haven.
Somali women beaten for violating Islamic law, officials say
http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/africa/10/29/somalia.women.flogged/index.html
The horror. They weren’t wearing socks! Excerpt: "Just today, Al-Shabaab dispatched men with whips to the streets around Bakara market and they are flogging any woman who is found not wearing socks," according to a female maize trader at the Mogadishu market, who spoke Thursday.
African-American Muslims question leader's death
http://www.freep.com/article/20091029/NEWS01/91029049/1322/African-American-Muslims-question-leader-s-death
When a guy can’t open fire on FBI agents in his own Mosque, clearly racism is involved!
CNN Uses Interview With Valerie Jarrett To Boast Of Its Objectivity
http://newsrealblog.com/2009/10/30/cnn-uses-interview-with-valerie-jarrett-to-boast-of-its-objectivity/
Gee if the White House says they are unbiased, maybe I’ve been wrong.
The right to petition Congress for redress of grievances
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPXTZ0ZVNUE&feature=player_embedded
Another right gone?
The Attorney Enrichment Act of 2009
http://oraculations.blogspot.com/2009/10/attorney.html
Excerpt: I am a patient at a socialized medical facility known as The VA. The government picks up most of the tab for most things and covers most things other than cosmetic surgery, self inflicted wounds, and diseases connected with drug abuse and alcoholism (but not drug abuse and alcoholic abuse), and will not prescribe medical marijuana. The VA was forced to curtail many many services due to the huge numbers of indigent drifters and mentally disturbed persons claiming ills that were mostly imaginary. The crowds grew til basically the VA system couldn't function. It is these "untouchable" patients that will multiply by the millions and overrun any system in the U.S. until we are forced into health care rationing. Worse, is the ill tempers and psychotic behavior of these "poor" people who threaten doctors, nurses, and staff with continual physical violence. These mobs finally got so bad at the VA facility that real live armed guards were posted at all entrances and stationed in many hallways. Only the sudden curtailment of funds in the early part of this century caused the VA to act and actually remove these vets with non-service connected illnesses from all premises. It is impossible to treat people adequately when hordes of smelly and filthy unemployable people with limited intelligence, sponsored by various political pressure groups when the "patients" become organized mobs that clog the halls around and within any health facility. I have no proof that ACORN or other community activist groups were agitating and organizing these quasi criminals trying to get VA treatment, but they were always in possession of lists of legal opinions backing up their near terrorist activities. Things became so bad that one night when I was taken to emergency because of a heart attack I was amazed to find the "holding" area of the emergency room clogged to the walls with violent mostly drug addled vets demanding to be taken care of. The result was that the medical staff was sealed off behind heavy metal fencing material in fear for their safety. The staff was actually relieved to see me because out of the fifty or so screaming dirty men I was one of only two or three people in the facility who were actually sick and therefore could be treated for an actual medical condition. When the government cracked down (rationed care) and finally expelled people who did not have VA ID cards the care at the facility improved to the point where it has become one of the better VA hospitals in the U.S.
Sharpton's ex & kid cuffed in 'cop rage'
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/sharpton_daughter_cuffed_in_cop_tWI25Z55GhjI9wqq06Q1JK
Excerpt: The rabble-rousing Rev should give his daughter a sermon about road rage. The Rev. Al Sharpton’s ex-wife and daughter were arrested last night after berating a pair of Harlem cops who pulled them over for running a red light in the wrong lane to get around their slow-moving, unmarked cruiser, sources told The Post. Kathy Jordan, 53, and her daughter, Dominique Sharpton, 23, were handcuffed and hauled to a precinct, where the raging reverend’s daughter tried to no avail to get off the hook because of her family ties, the sources said.
Obama the Cat gets confronted
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnY6k1ybTHg&feature=player_embedded
Humor
AMERICA IS ME - Anthem for "We the People" by Mack Hayes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXAcHtdU3nY
Worth watching. The credits are touching.
Driving while on cell phone
http://ut.zerofatalities.com/texting.php
Second Amendment
http://biggeekdaddy.com/miscvideos/TedNugent.html
Chinese-Made Turbines to Fill U.S. Wind Farm
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125683832677216475.html
Obama administration creates green jobs in China. Excerpt: The Obama administration is hoping a shift to renewable energy will inject new life into the U.S. manufacturing base and provide high-paying jobs, making up for losses in other sectors. But while the U.S. has poured money into renewable energy through tax credits and other subsidies, China has positioned itself to reap many of the benefits by ramping up its export machine.
Health Care Reform Plan That Will Prove To Be The Game Changer
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/note.php?note_id=163531118434&ref=mf
Don’t think so. The Leftstream Media has its narrative—the GOP is the party of No and has proposed nothing—and they’ve successfully ignored GOP proposals to date. Impossible to break through to the mass of uninformed cool-aide drinkers. Excerpt: Mark my words - tomorrow is the game changer! Tune in to hear common sense solutions that bury the false accusations that conscientious members of Congress have no solutions to meet America's health care challenges. If you're like me, shaking your head wondering why all the miscommunication between Washington and the American people who have been saying, "Please hear what we're saying about our desire for health care reform," then tomorrow will be a refreshing time of clarity for all. All Americans, and especially colleagues of House Republican Leader John Boehner: please listen to tomorrow's weekly GOP national address. Rep. Boehner will highlight a common sense alternative to Speaker Pelosi's 1,990-page government takeover of health care. I urge you to watch for it. For a preview, go to: http://HealthCare.GOP.gov You'll hear solutions. You'll hear of real choices based on America's proven free-market principles. You'll know once and for all what the GOP and Independents have been saying all along about alternatives to another big government take over. After tomorrow, you'll know that accusations against the GOP and Independents for not providing solutions are false. Those claims are bogus. There are alternatives. Tune in to Rep. Boehner's address tomorrow to hear them. I look forward to the game changer! - Sarah Palin
New Brighton wife tried to kill husband over Muslim principles, cops allege
http://www.silive.com/northshore/index.ssf/2009/10/new_brighton_wife_tried_to_kil.html
Islamic Equal Rights. Excerpt: STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — A 37-year-old wife from New Brighton tried to slit her husband’s throat as he slept because he was not the devout Muslim she believed she married, and pressured her to eat pork and drink alcohol, authorities allege. In a rambling, four-page handwritten confession, Rabia Sarwar laid out the “mental and emotional cruelty” that led to her trying to kill her husband, Susan Wagner High School teacher Sheikh Naseem, early yesterday morning, a law enforcement source said. “I tried my best to cut his throat,” Ms. Sarwar admitted, according to court papers. Except Naseem woke up during the attempt, and took the knife from her, authorities said. (Guess she missed the part about Islam being a Religion of Peace.)
A Salute to Denmark...Keep Her Free!
http://www.authorsden.com/visit/viewarticle.asp?id=38180
Old but worth reading. Excerpt: In Denmark, once-liberal immigration policies have forced huge governmental change and zero tolerance for Muslim immigrants intent on turning Denmark into an Islamic welfare haven.
Somali women beaten for violating Islamic law, officials say
http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/africa/10/29/somalia.women.flogged/index.html
The horror. They weren’t wearing socks! Excerpt: "Just today, Al-Shabaab dispatched men with whips to the streets around Bakara market and they are flogging any woman who is found not wearing socks," according to a female maize trader at the Mogadishu market, who spoke Thursday.
African-American Muslims question leader's death
http://www.freep.com/article/20091029/NEWS01/91029049/1322/African-American-Muslims-question-leader-s-death
When a guy can’t open fire on FBI agents in his own Mosque, clearly racism is involved!
CNN Uses Interview With Valerie Jarrett To Boast Of Its Objectivity
http://newsrealblog.com/2009/10/30/cnn-uses-interview-with-valerie-jarrett-to-boast-of-its-objectivity/
Gee if the White House says they are unbiased, maybe I’ve been wrong.
The right to petition Congress for redress of grievances
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPXTZ0ZVNUE&feature=player_embedded
Another right gone?
The Attorney Enrichment Act of 2009
http://oraculations.blogspot.com/2009/10/attorney.html
Excerpt: I am a patient at a socialized medical facility known as The VA. The government picks up most of the tab for most things and covers most things other than cosmetic surgery, self inflicted wounds, and diseases connected with drug abuse and alcoholism (but not drug abuse and alcoholic abuse), and will not prescribe medical marijuana. The VA was forced to curtail many many services due to the huge numbers of indigent drifters and mentally disturbed persons claiming ills that were mostly imaginary. The crowds grew til basically the VA system couldn't function. It is these "untouchable" patients that will multiply by the millions and overrun any system in the U.S. until we are forced into health care rationing. Worse, is the ill tempers and psychotic behavior of these "poor" people who threaten doctors, nurses, and staff with continual physical violence. These mobs finally got so bad at the VA facility that real live armed guards were posted at all entrances and stationed in many hallways. Only the sudden curtailment of funds in the early part of this century caused the VA to act and actually remove these vets with non-service connected illnesses from all premises. It is impossible to treat people adequately when hordes of smelly and filthy unemployable people with limited intelligence, sponsored by various political pressure groups when the "patients" become organized mobs that clog the halls around and within any health facility. I have no proof that ACORN or other community activist groups were agitating and organizing these quasi criminals trying to get VA treatment, but they were always in possession of lists of legal opinions backing up their near terrorist activities. Things became so bad that one night when I was taken to emergency because of a heart attack I was amazed to find the "holding" area of the emergency room clogged to the walls with violent mostly drug addled vets demanding to be taken care of. The result was that the medical staff was sealed off behind heavy metal fencing material in fear for their safety. The staff was actually relieved to see me because out of the fifty or so screaming dirty men I was one of only two or three people in the facility who were actually sick and therefore could be treated for an actual medical condition. When the government cracked down (rationed care) and finally expelled people who did not have VA ID cards the care at the facility improved to the point where it has become one of the better VA hospitals in the U.S.
Sharpton's ex & kid cuffed in 'cop rage'
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/sharpton_daughter_cuffed_in_cop_tWI25Z55GhjI9wqq06Q1JK
Excerpt: The rabble-rousing Rev should give his daughter a sermon about road rage. The Rev. Al Sharpton’s ex-wife and daughter were arrested last night after berating a pair of Harlem cops who pulled them over for running a red light in the wrong lane to get around their slow-moving, unmarked cruiser, sources told The Post. Kathy Jordan, 53, and her daughter, Dominique Sharpton, 23, were handcuffed and hauled to a precinct, where the raging reverend’s daughter tried to no avail to get off the hook because of her family ties, the sources said.
Obama the Cat gets confronted
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnY6k1ybTHg&feature=player_embedded
Humor
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Political Digest October 31, 2009
500 Followers today! yea! Thank you for reading and for your comments.
I post articles because I think they are of interest. Doing so doesn’t mean that I necessarily agree with every—or any—opinion in the posted article.
In White House Vs. Fox News War Of Words, Who Gets Your Vote?
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2009/10/in_white_house_vs_fox_news_war.html
NPR poll. These things aren’t scientific, but keep everyone’s blood flowing. Just not to their brains.
Gullible eager-beaver planet savers
http://www2.macleans.ca/2009/10/29/gullible-eager-beaver-planet-savers/
Excerpt: Hold that thought: “They deal with every aspect of our life.” Did you know every aspect of your life was being negotiated at Copenhagen? But in a good way! So no need to worry. After all, we all care about the environment, don’t we? So we ought to do something about it, right? And, since “the environment” isn’t just in your town or county but spreads across the entire planet, we can only really do something at the planetary level. But what to do? According to paragraph 38 on page 18 of the latest negotiating text, the convention will set up a “government” to manage the “new funds” and the “related facilitative processes.” Tim Flannery’s disarmingly honest characterization passed almost without notice, reported as far as I can tell only by Brian Lilley of CFRB Toronto and CJAD Montreal. But professor Flannery has it right. Government transport policy is about transport, and government education policy is about education, but environmental policy is about everything, because everything’s part of “the environment”: your town, your county, your planet—and you. “We are the environment. There is no distinction,” declared another renowned expert, David Suzuki, last year. And just as the government now monitors air and water quality so it’s increasingly happy to regulate your quality.
The Nationalization of Your Children
http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ZDYwZGIyYmQ2YWQxMDRkOGJiYzI1M2I1NWViNmNlZTk=
Excerpt: I keep getting e-mails saying, "People will reach a tipping point and they'll no longer put up with this stuff." I doubt it. Right now the way to bet is that once free societies will retreat incrementally, one trivial step after another, into a totalitarian hell.
Omar’s Girls
http://www.steynonline.com/content/view/2535/30
Great 2001 column from Mark Steyn, relevant again: Unfortunately, this thesis, while it may get you a Federal grant from Hedy Fry, took a bit of a knock after the fall of Kabul, when to the surprise of the Worldwide Sisterhood the Afghan sisters began emerging from their hoods. Momentarily stunned, the feminists nimbly discovered a whole new set of grievances. Oh, sure, Bush is making a big deal about women’s rights in Afghanistan now, but where was he five years ago when the Taliban first showed up? Well, five years ago, he was in Austin, Texas, and the guy with his feet under the desk in the White House never did a thing - though, if ever there was a fellow with a vested interest in ensuring that impenetrable facial hoods for ladies never caught on, it was surely Mr. Clinton.
Obama: A Man Apart
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=34159
Excerpt: At the risk of drawing literary comparisons, I am persuaded based on his performance that President Obama is a man apart. He seems to equate power with arrogance; pride with willfulness and exceptionalism with dominance. As a consequence, he has changed foreign policy perceptions. The America he leads is a nation like any other -- no more, no less. In fact, as a Nobel laureate, he is considered by the Europeans as a man of the world, not merely a citizen of the United States. When asked if the United States is exceptional, President Obama said America is exceptional and England is exceptional and Greece is exceptional. That the United States is sui generis didn’t cross his mind. How could it? He is pledged to a scenario in which America opts out of its traditional role as peace keeper, the balance wheel in maintaining international equilibrium. The war against terrorists is over along with the nation’s hegemonic role. Unfortunately the war fatigue President Obama embodies is not embraced by our global enemies who see this shift in his policy attitude as a sign of weakness and retreat. I believe President Obama actually thinks that unilateral concessions to our real and putative enemies will result in reciprocal responses. But as his bizarre overtures to the Olympic Committee demonstrated, gestures directed at multilateralism and celebrity status do not result in favorable results. Real power as opposed to soft power still has meaning on the world stage.
Dozens in Congress under ethics inquiry
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/29/AR2009102904597.html?wpisrc=newsletter
Interesting reading. Excerpt: House ethics investigators have been scrutinizing the activities of more than 30 lawmakers and several aides in inquiries about issues including defense lobbying and corporate influence peddling, according to a confidential House ethics committee report prepared in July. The report appears to have been inadvertently placed on a publicly accessible computer network, and it was provided to The Washington Post by a source not connected to the congressional investigations. The committee said Thursday night that the document was released by a low-level staffer.
Seven on defense panel scrutinized
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/29/AR2009102904699.html?wpisrc=newsletter
Nancy Pelosi came to power in the 2006 election promising to end the “Republican Culture of Corruption” and to “Drain the Swamp.” How’s that working out, Nance? As I’ve said many times, neither party has a monopoly on virtue or vice. And, sadly, BOTH parties protect their bums. Excerpt: Nearly half the members of a powerful House subcommittee in control of Pentagon spending are under scrutiny by ethics investigators in Congress, who have trained their lens on the relationships between seven panel members and an influential lobbying firm founded by a former Capitol Hill aide. The investigations by two separate ethics offices include an examination of the chairman of the Appropriations subcommittee on defense, John P. Murtha (D-Pa.), as well as others who helped steer federal funds to clients of the PMA Group. The lawmakers received campaign contributions from the firm and its clients. A document obtained by The Washington Post shows that the subcommittee members under scrutiny also include Peter J. Visclosky (D-Ind.), James P. Moran Jr. (D-Va.), Norm Dicks (D-Wash.), Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) , C.W. Bill Young (R-Fla.) and Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan.).
VIP Democratic donors have big federal interests
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/oct/30/vip-donors-have-big-federal-interests/?source=newsletter_must-read-stories-today_headlines
Excerpt: When UBS Americas CEO Robert Wolf stepped out on the golf links at Martha's Vineyard this past summer as part of President Obama's foursome, his firm had plenty to celebrate. A few days earlier, the Swiss parent of his company had resolved a long-running dispute with the IRS over undeclared offshore accounts. The sticky legal case was one of several matters involving the financial giant where huge sums of money could hinge on the action taken by the federal government. But as they strolled the fairways, the topic never came up. Mr. Wolf, like many of the influential Americans who raised more than $500,000 to help get Mr. Obama elected in 2008, has adamantly maintained that he has never let the interests of his company creep into his relationship with the president. (Ain’t it wonderful how President Wobbly has changed they way they do business in Washington, just as he promised?)
Top Obama fundraisers get posts
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2009-10-28-bundlers_N.htm
Excerpt: WASHINGTON — More than 40% of President Obama's top-level fundraisers have secured posts in his administration, from key executive branch jobs to diplomatic postings in countries such as France, Spain and the Bahamas, a USA TODAY analysis finds. Twenty of the 47 fundraisers that Obama's campaign identified as collecting more than $500,000 have been named to government positions, the analysis found. Overall, about 600 individuals and couples raised money from their friends, family members and business associates to help fund Obama's presidential campaign. USA TODAY's analysis found that 54 have been named to government positions, ranging from Cabinet and White House posts to advisory roles, such as serving on the economic recovery board charged with helping guide the country out of recession. Nearly a year after he was elected on a pledge to change business-as-usual in Washington, Obama also has taken a cue from his predecessors and appointed fundraisers to coveted ambassadorships, drawing protests from groups representing career diplomats. A separate analysis by the American Foreign Service Association, the diplomats' union, found that more than half of the ambassadors named by Obama so far are political appointees, said Susan Johnson, president of the association. An appointment is considered political if it does not go to a career diplomat in the State Department.
Dismantling America: Part II by Dr. Thomas Sowell
http://townhall.com/columnists/ThomasSowell/2009/10/29/dismantling_america_part_ii
Excerpt: The memory of that long-ago episode has come back more than once while observing both the actions of the Obama administration and the fierce reactions of its supporters to any questioning or criticism. Almost never do these reactions include factual or logical arguments against the administration's critics. Instead, there is indignation, accusations of bad faith and even charges of racism. Here too, it seems as if so many people have invested so much hope and trust in Barack Obama that it is intolerable that anyone should come along and stir up any doubts that could threaten their house of cards…. Internationally, Barack Obama has made every mistake that was made by the Western democracies in the 1930s, mistakes that put Hitler in a position to start World War II-- and come dangerously close to winning it. At the heart of those mistakes was trying to mollify your enemies by throwing your friends to the wolves. The Obama administration has already done that by reneging on this country's commitment to put a missile defense shield in Eastern Europe and by its lackadaisical foot-dragging on doing anything serious to stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons. That means, for all practical purposes, throwing Israel to the wolves as well. Countries around the world that have to look out for their own national survival, above all, are not going to ignore how much Obama has downgraded the reliability of America's commitments.
A Leadership Vacuum
http://posuerpresident.blogspot.com/2009/10/leadership-vacuum.html
Excerpt: In the Summer and Fall of 2008 we were reliably reminded by all and sundry, and particularly by Candidate Obama, that the conflict in Iraq was an illegal and immoral war, drawing American resources from the "war of necessity" in Afghanistan. Indeed, if memory serves, Candidate Obama proudly proclaimed that he had voted against the war in Iraq, although he had not been in the US Senate at the time. It is now clear that the war in Afghanistan was a "necessity" only to the extent that Candidate Obama needed a stick with which to beat the outgoing Bush administration. Had Afghanistan been a genuine priority for Team Obama, surely they would have developed a number of possible policies over the course of the campaign.
Where the girls are not
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/oct/30/where-the-girls-are-not/?source=newsletter_opinion_headlines
Excerpt: These are vexed times. The country is at war on two fronts. Rogue states are edging toward acquiring strategic nuclear weaponry. We have been through a very serious recession from which we may not emerge into the bright morn of economic health for years. The dollar is frail. The future of national health care, finance and corporate governance is in doubt. Yet that is not all. Over at the New York Times an issue that continues to torment the bien pensants is.... Well, let me quote the first sentence of a front-page tocsin that began the controversy on Sunday: "Does the White House feel like a frat house?" The proximate cause for this troubling query was that President Obama had hosted "a high-level basketball game with no female players." Yet there was more. Apparently, there are anonymous women on the White House staff who feel uncomfortable in the presence of the president and his male associates even when they are fully dressed and not playing basketball. (Women uncomfortable around a black jock. Say, wouldn’t that be racism?)
In Russia, an intensifying insurgency
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/29/AR2009102904842.html?wpisrc=newsletter
Excerpt: Moscow declared an end to military operations in Chechnya in April, a decade after then-President Vladimir Putin sent troops into the breakaway republic. But violence has surged in the mountains of Russia's southwest frontier since then, with the assassination of several officials, explosions and shootouts occurring almost daily, and suicide bombings making a comeback after a long lull. On Sunday, a popular Ingush opposition leader was fatally shot, months after the slaying of Chechnya's most prominent human rights activist. The insurgency is a key reason Russia has been reluctant to support sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program; diplomats say the Kremlin is worried Tehran might retaliate by setting aside sectarian differences and backing the rebels in Muslim solidarity. Washington, meanwhile, is concerned that the area is becoming a recruiting ground for militias in Pakistan and Afghanistan. At least 519 people were killed in rebel attacks and clashes with government forces from May to September, up from 299 during the same period last year, according to a study by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. The fighting is concentrated in the largely Muslim eastern part of the North Caucasus, an area the size of Oregon with 14 million people from as many as 50 ethnic groups.
John Kerry to the Rescue
http://patriotpost.us/opinion/ken-blackwell/2009/10/26/john-kerry-to-the-rescue/
Excerpt: Kerry made his career as an outspoken advocate for the Nuclear Freeze of the 1980s. We now know that the Freeze movement was largely financed by the Kremlin. But even back then, American advocates of the Nuclear Freeze had the satisfaction of knowing they wanted the U.S. to back down in the face of Soviet threats while Britain's Margaret Thatcher, West Germany's Helmut Kohl, and even France's Francois Mitterrand wanted us to stand firm. With a record of being wrong on virtually every issue involving American interests and national security, there is only one question left about the gaunt Massachusetts senator: How has John Kerry managed to avoid winning a Nobel Peace Prize?
The Byzantine Doctrine
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/017/131xyleq.asp
Long, but worth reading discussion of strategy. What the United States could learn from the military and foreign policy of the Byzantine Empire.
What NY-23 means
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/morning-fix/morning-fix-what-ny-23-means.html?wprss=thefix
This would be a shock. Excerpt: Two things have become abundantly clear about the special election in New York's 23rd district over the past week. The first is that Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman could win the special election next Tuesday. The second is that neither major party knows what to think about the Hoffman candidacy and both are trying to adjust their spin to accommodate what a victory by the Conservative Party candidate would say about the national political field…. So, while Republicans will cast a Hoffman win as a victory for them (it shows an energized GOP base) and Democrats will tout it as victory for their side (it shows a deeply divided Republican party), the truth is that a Hoffman win should send shivers up the spine of anyone who carries "Representative", "Senator" or "Governor" before their name.
The WellPoint Revelation
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703567204574499034177212064.html
My dad used to tell an old joke, with the punch line, “Brace yourself Harry—here comes the bull.” Excerpt: In all of the 14 states WellPoint scrutinized, ObamaCare would drive up premiums for the small businesses and individuals who are most of WellPoint's customers. (Other big insurers, like Aetna, focus on the market among large businesses.) Young and healthy consumers will see the largest increases—their premiums would more than triple in some states—though average middle-class buyers will pay more too.
CBO Underestimates Benefits of Malpractice Reform
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703573604574491690229571588.html
Excerpt: Earlier this month, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) said medical-liability reforms could save about $11 billion annually. This assessment is a gross underestimate of the potential benefits of reform and was intended to give cover to congressional Democrats who say malpractice-liability costs are trifling. But a full accounting shows the benefits would be a hefty $242 billion a year, more than 10 percent of America's health expenditures. Last year alone, damage awards for medical-malpractice claims reached $5.9 billion. Adding in legal costs, underwriting costs, and administrative expenses, total med-mal tort costs were nearly three times higher — $16 billion. From 1986 through 2002, the average insurance payment for a malpractice claim more than tripled to $320,000. The average jury award for medical liability was $637,134 in 2006. Getting sued is now part of the job description for physicians. Each year, up to 25 percent of them face lawsuits. Doctors are found innocent in 90 percent of cases, but they lose even then — average defense costs per claim approach $100,000. Fear of lawsuits causes most doctors to practice "defensive medicine," meaning they order unnecessary tests, referrals, and procedures to protect themselves against allegations of medical negligence.
Voting Present on Illegal Immigration
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/1009/hanson.php3
Excerpt: Already, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has derided federal sweeps of illegal aliens as "un-American." And recently the Obama administration stripped the federal authority of Arizona's controversial Maricopa County sheriff, Joe Arpaio, to make immigration arrests. Yet expect the public to oppose any so-called comprehensive immigration reform even more vehemently than it did George Bush's 2007 doomed proposals. Why? Conditions on the ground have changed drastically in the last two years. First, the nation's unemployment is now over 9 percent. It may be peak beyond 10 percent. In many western states, such as California, the jobless rate may climb even higher. The old notion that "illegal immigrants pick the lettuce that Americans refuse to" is an ossified stereotype. In fact, today less than one out of 20 illegal aliens currently do farm labor. Most are engaged in construction or the service industry, or are homemakers with childcare responsibilities. While plenty of unemployed American citizens may still not yet wish to pick oranges, the jobless might consider taking jobs like hammering nails or working in restaurants. Second, many states are broke. Taxes are rising. The public is questioning all sorts of government entitlement expenditures. In California, the latest budget crisis saw a $26 billion shortfall -- at a time when some studies put the state's net health, housing, education and criminal justice costs for some 3 million illegal aliens at over $10 billion a year. (Look for the Obama administration to reclassify inner city drug dealers as “Undocumented Pharmacists.”)
Homeland Security Department Gags Local Law Enforcement to Protect 'Privacy' of Illegal Aliens
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/56351
Excerpt: Homeland Security Department Secretary Janet Napolitano has said she will concentrate on 'criminal aliens' when enforcing federal immigration law. (If they are here illegally, doesn’t that make them all criminals? What part of “illegal” doesn’t she understand?)
The three envelopes
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/29/AR2009102903920.html?wpisrc=newsletter
Excerpt: In the Barack Obama version, there are 50 or so such blame-Bush free passes before the gig is up. By my calculation, Obama has already burned through a good 49. Is there anything he hasn't blamed George W. Bush for? The economy, global warming, the credit crisis, Middle East stalemate, the deficit, anti-Americanism abroad -- everything but swine flu. It's as if Obama's presidency hasn't really started. He's still taking inventory of the Bush years. Just this Monday, he referred to "long years of drift" in Afghanistan in order to, I suppose, explain away his own, well, yearlong drift on Afghanistan.
Income Redistribution: Public Option Phones
Bill Clinton may have declared in 1996, "The era of big government is over," but Obama must have missed the message. Never in American history has the era of big government encroached on so many areas of our lives -- and with more on the docket. We can now add another one to the list: Safelink Wireless, a "government supported program that provides a free cell phone and airtime each month for income-eligible customers," all paid for with "Obama money" -- and you know where that comes from. SafeLink is an extension of or adjunct to the FCC program known as "Lifeline and Link-up." In a nutshell, "poor" people, often already on the dole with other state and federal welfare programs, can apply to receive a free cell phone and 70 minutes of airtime per month from TracFone Wireless, Inc. The Lifeline program pays one-half (up to $30) of installation costs for wired telephone service at a primary residence and provides up to a $10 per month discount for basic monthly service. Oh well, at least these recipients are required to pay some of the costs from their bi-monthly "county" checks. The program uses funds from those little universal service fund (USF) charges that show up on our phone bills. Of course, Lifeline program participants are exempt from USF charges on their bills. Once again, we're left scratching our heads and searching for the Article and Section of the Constitution under which free phones can be found. The Patriot Post (www.patriotpost.us/subscribe/)
Knoxville Murder Update: Another Guilty Verdict
Just as the ink was drying from Barack Obama's signature on so-called "hate crimes" legislation, a jury found Lemaricus Davidson guilty of premeditated murder, felony murder, robbery, kidnapping, rape and theft in the 2007 deaths of University of Tennessee student Channon Christian and her boyfriend Christopher Newsom. Davidson, who is black, was the ringleader of four blacks who gruesomely murdered the white couple. In August, Davidson's brother Letalvis Cobbins was convicted of murder and other counts and was sentenced to life in prison without parole, while George Thomas and Vanessa Coleman await trial. Davidson faces the death penalty. While the Obama administration and its Leftist ilk have repeatedly invoked the names of Matthew Shepard and James Byrd of late, it's no surprise that they've yet to utter a single syllable about the victims of this particular hate crime. The Patriot Post (www.patriotpost.us/subscribe/).
I post articles because I think they are of interest. Doing so doesn’t mean that I necessarily agree with every—or any—opinion in the posted article.
In White House Vs. Fox News War Of Words, Who Gets Your Vote?
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2009/10/in_white_house_vs_fox_news_war.html
NPR poll. These things aren’t scientific, but keep everyone’s blood flowing. Just not to their brains.
Gullible eager-beaver planet savers
http://www2.macleans.ca/2009/10/29/gullible-eager-beaver-planet-savers/
Excerpt: Hold that thought: “They deal with every aspect of our life.” Did you know every aspect of your life was being negotiated at Copenhagen? But in a good way! So no need to worry. After all, we all care about the environment, don’t we? So we ought to do something about it, right? And, since “the environment” isn’t just in your town or county but spreads across the entire planet, we can only really do something at the planetary level. But what to do? According to paragraph 38 on page 18 of the latest negotiating text, the convention will set up a “government” to manage the “new funds” and the “related facilitative processes.” Tim Flannery’s disarmingly honest characterization passed almost without notice, reported as far as I can tell only by Brian Lilley of CFRB Toronto and CJAD Montreal. But professor Flannery has it right. Government transport policy is about transport, and government education policy is about education, but environmental policy is about everything, because everything’s part of “the environment”: your town, your county, your planet—and you. “We are the environment. There is no distinction,” declared another renowned expert, David Suzuki, last year. And just as the government now monitors air and water quality so it’s increasingly happy to regulate your quality.
The Nationalization of Your Children
http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ZDYwZGIyYmQ2YWQxMDRkOGJiYzI1M2I1NWViNmNlZTk=
Excerpt: I keep getting e-mails saying, "People will reach a tipping point and they'll no longer put up with this stuff." I doubt it. Right now the way to bet is that once free societies will retreat incrementally, one trivial step after another, into a totalitarian hell.
Omar’s Girls
http://www.steynonline.com/content/view/2535/30
Great 2001 column from Mark Steyn, relevant again: Unfortunately, this thesis, while it may get you a Federal grant from Hedy Fry, took a bit of a knock after the fall of Kabul, when to the surprise of the Worldwide Sisterhood the Afghan sisters began emerging from their hoods. Momentarily stunned, the feminists nimbly discovered a whole new set of grievances. Oh, sure, Bush is making a big deal about women’s rights in Afghanistan now, but where was he five years ago when the Taliban first showed up? Well, five years ago, he was in Austin, Texas, and the guy with his feet under the desk in the White House never did a thing - though, if ever there was a fellow with a vested interest in ensuring that impenetrable facial hoods for ladies never caught on, it was surely Mr. Clinton.
Obama: A Man Apart
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=34159
Excerpt: At the risk of drawing literary comparisons, I am persuaded based on his performance that President Obama is a man apart. He seems to equate power with arrogance; pride with willfulness and exceptionalism with dominance. As a consequence, he has changed foreign policy perceptions. The America he leads is a nation like any other -- no more, no less. In fact, as a Nobel laureate, he is considered by the Europeans as a man of the world, not merely a citizen of the United States. When asked if the United States is exceptional, President Obama said America is exceptional and England is exceptional and Greece is exceptional. That the United States is sui generis didn’t cross his mind. How could it? He is pledged to a scenario in which America opts out of its traditional role as peace keeper, the balance wheel in maintaining international equilibrium. The war against terrorists is over along with the nation’s hegemonic role. Unfortunately the war fatigue President Obama embodies is not embraced by our global enemies who see this shift in his policy attitude as a sign of weakness and retreat. I believe President Obama actually thinks that unilateral concessions to our real and putative enemies will result in reciprocal responses. But as his bizarre overtures to the Olympic Committee demonstrated, gestures directed at multilateralism and celebrity status do not result in favorable results. Real power as opposed to soft power still has meaning on the world stage.
Dozens in Congress under ethics inquiry
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/29/AR2009102904597.html?wpisrc=newsletter
Interesting reading. Excerpt: House ethics investigators have been scrutinizing the activities of more than 30 lawmakers and several aides in inquiries about issues including defense lobbying and corporate influence peddling, according to a confidential House ethics committee report prepared in July. The report appears to have been inadvertently placed on a publicly accessible computer network, and it was provided to The Washington Post by a source not connected to the congressional investigations. The committee said Thursday night that the document was released by a low-level staffer.
Seven on defense panel scrutinized
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/29/AR2009102904699.html?wpisrc=newsletter
Nancy Pelosi came to power in the 2006 election promising to end the “Republican Culture of Corruption” and to “Drain the Swamp.” How’s that working out, Nance? As I’ve said many times, neither party has a monopoly on virtue or vice. And, sadly, BOTH parties protect their bums. Excerpt: Nearly half the members of a powerful House subcommittee in control of Pentagon spending are under scrutiny by ethics investigators in Congress, who have trained their lens on the relationships between seven panel members and an influential lobbying firm founded by a former Capitol Hill aide. The investigations by two separate ethics offices include an examination of the chairman of the Appropriations subcommittee on defense, John P. Murtha (D-Pa.), as well as others who helped steer federal funds to clients of the PMA Group. The lawmakers received campaign contributions from the firm and its clients. A document obtained by The Washington Post shows that the subcommittee members under scrutiny also include Peter J. Visclosky (D-Ind.), James P. Moran Jr. (D-Va.), Norm Dicks (D-Wash.), Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) , C.W. Bill Young (R-Fla.) and Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan.).
VIP Democratic donors have big federal interests
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/oct/30/vip-donors-have-big-federal-interests/?source=newsletter_must-read-stories-today_headlines
Excerpt: When UBS Americas CEO Robert Wolf stepped out on the golf links at Martha's Vineyard this past summer as part of President Obama's foursome, his firm had plenty to celebrate. A few days earlier, the Swiss parent of his company had resolved a long-running dispute with the IRS over undeclared offshore accounts. The sticky legal case was one of several matters involving the financial giant where huge sums of money could hinge on the action taken by the federal government. But as they strolled the fairways, the topic never came up. Mr. Wolf, like many of the influential Americans who raised more than $500,000 to help get Mr. Obama elected in 2008, has adamantly maintained that he has never let the interests of his company creep into his relationship with the president. (Ain’t it wonderful how President Wobbly has changed they way they do business in Washington, just as he promised?)
Top Obama fundraisers get posts
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2009-10-28-bundlers_N.htm
Excerpt: WASHINGTON — More than 40% of President Obama's top-level fundraisers have secured posts in his administration, from key executive branch jobs to diplomatic postings in countries such as France, Spain and the Bahamas, a USA TODAY analysis finds. Twenty of the 47 fundraisers that Obama's campaign identified as collecting more than $500,000 have been named to government positions, the analysis found. Overall, about 600 individuals and couples raised money from their friends, family members and business associates to help fund Obama's presidential campaign. USA TODAY's analysis found that 54 have been named to government positions, ranging from Cabinet and White House posts to advisory roles, such as serving on the economic recovery board charged with helping guide the country out of recession. Nearly a year after he was elected on a pledge to change business-as-usual in Washington, Obama also has taken a cue from his predecessors and appointed fundraisers to coveted ambassadorships, drawing protests from groups representing career diplomats. A separate analysis by the American Foreign Service Association, the diplomats' union, found that more than half of the ambassadors named by Obama so far are political appointees, said Susan Johnson, president of the association. An appointment is considered political if it does not go to a career diplomat in the State Department.
Dismantling America: Part II by Dr. Thomas Sowell
http://townhall.com/columnists/ThomasSowell/2009/10/29/dismantling_america_part_ii
Excerpt: The memory of that long-ago episode has come back more than once while observing both the actions of the Obama administration and the fierce reactions of its supporters to any questioning or criticism. Almost never do these reactions include factual or logical arguments against the administration's critics. Instead, there is indignation, accusations of bad faith and even charges of racism. Here too, it seems as if so many people have invested so much hope and trust in Barack Obama that it is intolerable that anyone should come along and stir up any doubts that could threaten their house of cards…. Internationally, Barack Obama has made every mistake that was made by the Western democracies in the 1930s, mistakes that put Hitler in a position to start World War II-- and come dangerously close to winning it. At the heart of those mistakes was trying to mollify your enemies by throwing your friends to the wolves. The Obama administration has already done that by reneging on this country's commitment to put a missile defense shield in Eastern Europe and by its lackadaisical foot-dragging on doing anything serious to stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons. That means, for all practical purposes, throwing Israel to the wolves as well. Countries around the world that have to look out for their own national survival, above all, are not going to ignore how much Obama has downgraded the reliability of America's commitments.
A Leadership Vacuum
http://posuerpresident.blogspot.com/2009/10/leadership-vacuum.html
Excerpt: In the Summer and Fall of 2008 we were reliably reminded by all and sundry, and particularly by Candidate Obama, that the conflict in Iraq was an illegal and immoral war, drawing American resources from the "war of necessity" in Afghanistan. Indeed, if memory serves, Candidate Obama proudly proclaimed that he had voted against the war in Iraq, although he had not been in the US Senate at the time. It is now clear that the war in Afghanistan was a "necessity" only to the extent that Candidate Obama needed a stick with which to beat the outgoing Bush administration. Had Afghanistan been a genuine priority for Team Obama, surely they would have developed a number of possible policies over the course of the campaign.
Where the girls are not
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/oct/30/where-the-girls-are-not/?source=newsletter_opinion_headlines
Excerpt: These are vexed times. The country is at war on two fronts. Rogue states are edging toward acquiring strategic nuclear weaponry. We have been through a very serious recession from which we may not emerge into the bright morn of economic health for years. The dollar is frail. The future of national health care, finance and corporate governance is in doubt. Yet that is not all. Over at the New York Times an issue that continues to torment the bien pensants is.... Well, let me quote the first sentence of a front-page tocsin that began the controversy on Sunday: "Does the White House feel like a frat house?" The proximate cause for this troubling query was that President Obama had hosted "a high-level basketball game with no female players." Yet there was more. Apparently, there are anonymous women on the White House staff who feel uncomfortable in the presence of the president and his male associates even when they are fully dressed and not playing basketball. (Women uncomfortable around a black jock. Say, wouldn’t that be racism?)
In Russia, an intensifying insurgency
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/29/AR2009102904842.html?wpisrc=newsletter
Excerpt: Moscow declared an end to military operations in Chechnya in April, a decade after then-President Vladimir Putin sent troops into the breakaway republic. But violence has surged in the mountains of Russia's southwest frontier since then, with the assassination of several officials, explosions and shootouts occurring almost daily, and suicide bombings making a comeback after a long lull. On Sunday, a popular Ingush opposition leader was fatally shot, months after the slaying of Chechnya's most prominent human rights activist. The insurgency is a key reason Russia has been reluctant to support sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program; diplomats say the Kremlin is worried Tehran might retaliate by setting aside sectarian differences and backing the rebels in Muslim solidarity. Washington, meanwhile, is concerned that the area is becoming a recruiting ground for militias in Pakistan and Afghanistan. At least 519 people were killed in rebel attacks and clashes with government forces from May to September, up from 299 during the same period last year, according to a study by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. The fighting is concentrated in the largely Muslim eastern part of the North Caucasus, an area the size of Oregon with 14 million people from as many as 50 ethnic groups.
John Kerry to the Rescue
http://patriotpost.us/opinion/ken-blackwell/2009/10/26/john-kerry-to-the-rescue/
Excerpt: Kerry made his career as an outspoken advocate for the Nuclear Freeze of the 1980s. We now know that the Freeze movement was largely financed by the Kremlin. But even back then, American advocates of the Nuclear Freeze had the satisfaction of knowing they wanted the U.S. to back down in the face of Soviet threats while Britain's Margaret Thatcher, West Germany's Helmut Kohl, and even France's Francois Mitterrand wanted us to stand firm. With a record of being wrong on virtually every issue involving American interests and national security, there is only one question left about the gaunt Massachusetts senator: How has John Kerry managed to avoid winning a Nobel Peace Prize?
The Byzantine Doctrine
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/017/131xyleq.asp
Long, but worth reading discussion of strategy. What the United States could learn from the military and foreign policy of the Byzantine Empire.
What NY-23 means
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/morning-fix/morning-fix-what-ny-23-means.html?wprss=thefix
This would be a shock. Excerpt: Two things have become abundantly clear about the special election in New York's 23rd district over the past week. The first is that Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman could win the special election next Tuesday. The second is that neither major party knows what to think about the Hoffman candidacy and both are trying to adjust their spin to accommodate what a victory by the Conservative Party candidate would say about the national political field…. So, while Republicans will cast a Hoffman win as a victory for them (it shows an energized GOP base) and Democrats will tout it as victory for their side (it shows a deeply divided Republican party), the truth is that a Hoffman win should send shivers up the spine of anyone who carries "Representative", "Senator" or "Governor" before their name.
The WellPoint Revelation
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703567204574499034177212064.html
My dad used to tell an old joke, with the punch line, “Brace yourself Harry—here comes the bull.” Excerpt: In all of the 14 states WellPoint scrutinized, ObamaCare would drive up premiums for the small businesses and individuals who are most of WellPoint's customers. (Other big insurers, like Aetna, focus on the market among large businesses.) Young and healthy consumers will see the largest increases—their premiums would more than triple in some states—though average middle-class buyers will pay more too.
CBO Underestimates Benefits of Malpractice Reform
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703573604574491690229571588.html
Excerpt: Earlier this month, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) said medical-liability reforms could save about $11 billion annually. This assessment is a gross underestimate of the potential benefits of reform and was intended to give cover to congressional Democrats who say malpractice-liability costs are trifling. But a full accounting shows the benefits would be a hefty $242 billion a year, more than 10 percent of America's health expenditures. Last year alone, damage awards for medical-malpractice claims reached $5.9 billion. Adding in legal costs, underwriting costs, and administrative expenses, total med-mal tort costs were nearly three times higher — $16 billion. From 1986 through 2002, the average insurance payment for a malpractice claim more than tripled to $320,000. The average jury award for medical liability was $637,134 in 2006. Getting sued is now part of the job description for physicians. Each year, up to 25 percent of them face lawsuits. Doctors are found innocent in 90 percent of cases, but they lose even then — average defense costs per claim approach $100,000. Fear of lawsuits causes most doctors to practice "defensive medicine," meaning they order unnecessary tests, referrals, and procedures to protect themselves against allegations of medical negligence.
Voting Present on Illegal Immigration
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/1009/hanson.php3
Excerpt: Already, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has derided federal sweeps of illegal aliens as "un-American." And recently the Obama administration stripped the federal authority of Arizona's controversial Maricopa County sheriff, Joe Arpaio, to make immigration arrests. Yet expect the public to oppose any so-called comprehensive immigration reform even more vehemently than it did George Bush's 2007 doomed proposals. Why? Conditions on the ground have changed drastically in the last two years. First, the nation's unemployment is now over 9 percent. It may be peak beyond 10 percent. In many western states, such as California, the jobless rate may climb even higher. The old notion that "illegal immigrants pick the lettuce that Americans refuse to" is an ossified stereotype. In fact, today less than one out of 20 illegal aliens currently do farm labor. Most are engaged in construction or the service industry, or are homemakers with childcare responsibilities. While plenty of unemployed American citizens may still not yet wish to pick oranges, the jobless might consider taking jobs like hammering nails or working in restaurants. Second, many states are broke. Taxes are rising. The public is questioning all sorts of government entitlement expenditures. In California, the latest budget crisis saw a $26 billion shortfall -- at a time when some studies put the state's net health, housing, education and criminal justice costs for some 3 million illegal aliens at over $10 billion a year. (Look for the Obama administration to reclassify inner city drug dealers as “Undocumented Pharmacists.”)
Homeland Security Department Gags Local Law Enforcement to Protect 'Privacy' of Illegal Aliens
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/56351
Excerpt: Homeland Security Department Secretary Janet Napolitano has said she will concentrate on 'criminal aliens' when enforcing federal immigration law. (If they are here illegally, doesn’t that make them all criminals? What part of “illegal” doesn’t she understand?)
The three envelopes
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/29/AR2009102903920.html?wpisrc=newsletter
Excerpt: In the Barack Obama version, there are 50 or so such blame-Bush free passes before the gig is up. By my calculation, Obama has already burned through a good 49. Is there anything he hasn't blamed George W. Bush for? The economy, global warming, the credit crisis, Middle East stalemate, the deficit, anti-Americanism abroad -- everything but swine flu. It's as if Obama's presidency hasn't really started. He's still taking inventory of the Bush years. Just this Monday, he referred to "long years of drift" in Afghanistan in order to, I suppose, explain away his own, well, yearlong drift on Afghanistan.
Income Redistribution: Public Option Phones
Bill Clinton may have declared in 1996, "The era of big government is over," but Obama must have missed the message. Never in American history has the era of big government encroached on so many areas of our lives -- and with more on the docket. We can now add another one to the list: Safelink Wireless, a "government supported program that provides a free cell phone and airtime each month for income-eligible customers," all paid for with "Obama money" -- and you know where that comes from. SafeLink is an extension of or adjunct to the FCC program known as "Lifeline and Link-up." In a nutshell, "poor" people, often already on the dole with other state and federal welfare programs, can apply to receive a free cell phone and 70 minutes of airtime per month from TracFone Wireless, Inc. The Lifeline program pays one-half (up to $30) of installation costs for wired telephone service at a primary residence and provides up to a $10 per month discount for basic monthly service. Oh well, at least these recipients are required to pay some of the costs from their bi-monthly "county" checks. The program uses funds from those little universal service fund (USF) charges that show up on our phone bills. Of course, Lifeline program participants are exempt from USF charges on their bills. Once again, we're left scratching our heads and searching for the Article and Section of the Constitution under which free phones can be found. The Patriot Post (www.patriotpost.us/subscribe/)
Knoxville Murder Update: Another Guilty Verdict
Just as the ink was drying from Barack Obama's signature on so-called "hate crimes" legislation, a jury found Lemaricus Davidson guilty of premeditated murder, felony murder, robbery, kidnapping, rape and theft in the 2007 deaths of University of Tennessee student Channon Christian and her boyfriend Christopher Newsom. Davidson, who is black, was the ringleader of four blacks who gruesomely murdered the white couple. In August, Davidson's brother Letalvis Cobbins was convicted of murder and other counts and was sentenced to life in prison without parole, while George Thomas and Vanessa Coleman await trial. Davidson faces the death penalty. While the Obama administration and its Leftist ilk have repeatedly invoked the names of Matthew Shepard and James Byrd of late, it's no surprise that they've yet to utter a single syllable about the victims of this particular hate crime. The Patriot Post (www.patriotpost.us/subscribe/).
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