Articles in Folder “Moderately Irritated Rants”:
2550.\\ Don't Mess With Rhode Island
Failing schools, poor community and students at risk. Bleak picture to be sure. In one Rhode Island town the school superintendent saw an opportunity to increase the role of education in solving the social ills of the community.
She asked the teachers (who make 3 times the median income of the town) to help tutor the kids a bit and give them an extra 25 minutes per day. The unions revolted. So the superintendent fired them. All of them. Every last person at the school.
One suspects the replacements will be more than happy to help the kids out a bit.
Best bits:
"However, it's hard not to draw the conclusion that the teachers and administration at this school are a big part of the problem. Asking teachers making three times the average of the town's median income to contribute an extra 25 minutes a day to rescue students in obvious failure does not seem like an outrageous request. The two-week summer training period may have infringed on their vacation plans, but their school faced an existential crisis, and their students were being doomed to a lifetime of competitive handicaps. One may have thought that teachers and administrators would have a sense of mission, rather than a sense of entitlement, especially considering the failure to which they had all contributed at least in part."
Another good example of why the government shouldn't be in the business of educating our children. It is the role of parents and local communities. To paraphrase Hillary Clinton.
TAGGED AS: Education, Public Sector, Rhode Island, Ronald Reagan, Schools, Unions
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PERMANENT LINK2542.\\ Value Proposition
Mr. Sowell has entered the building. And with him comes an overall elevation of the intellectual discourse of the day.
Best bit:
"Since the only resources that the government has are the resources it takes from the private sector, using those resources to create jobs means reducing the resources available to create jobs in the private sector."
Which is why government is almost never the answer to any problem involving the market.
TAGGED AS: Barack Obama, Economy, Health Care, Insurance, Thomas Sowell
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PERMANENT LINK2538.\\ It's Your Fault, America
Fresh from blaming George Bush for just about everything he thinks is wrong with the universe, Barry O pivots and blames... the American people for their failure to think big.
Nice.
TAGGED AS: Barack Obama, Messiah
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PERMANENT LINK2529.\\ Henry Liu Makes Krugman His Bitch
Read Krugman's article here first, then read Henry Liu's total smackdown, raw.
The article also happens to be a great historical recounting of monetary policy. Fantastic read for the day. And frankly, any time Paul Krugman is revealed as the fraud that he is it is a good day for me.
TAGGED AS: America, China, Economy, Henry Liu, Paul Krugman, Smackdown
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PERMANENT LINK2522.\\ China on the March as West Continues Collapse
The bad news keeps rolling in here, here and here.
The question is, will we get our groove back and climb out of this ditch? Or is western liberal democracy destined to be permanently overcome by oriental autocracy?
****UPDATE:
Even more... read this and this and this and this
TAGGED AS: America, China, Decline and Fall, Democracy, Oligarchy
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PERMANENT LINK2520.\\ I'm Loathe to Say I'm Right...
But, well, I am. China is the antagonist for the century. We've had nonsensical policy toward them for the past 20 years. Read this and this and this and this and this and this. Among others.
TAGGED AS: America, China, War
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PERMANENT LINK2518.\\ Hiding Data From the People
Why are our taxpayer-funded institutions deliberately hiding information from inquiring minds? More to the point, why has science become so dogmatic and overtly ideological? Scientists are supposed to be skeptics by nature, using a reliable and repeatable process to prove hypotheses. It isn't science if you simply leap from hypothesis to conclusion and then fiddle with some numbers to justify your logic. They've revealed themselves to be no better than the medieval church that kept literacy from the masses in order to preserve their all-knowing advantage. It amounts to power and control, not science.
At the very least the revelations behind climategate demand a ground up, independent reassessment of the data by all concerned parties. Eco-Crusaders are asking us to return to the stone age and submit to abject poverty for the remainder of our time on this planet. The least they can do is release the data they used.
I wonder why they won't? Doesn't the scientific method require it? Or has the climate science community decided to revel in mysticism and myths, guarding their supposed knowledge like some phony group of oracles? It seriously reminds me of the ancient priestly classes that took unto themselves the sole power to speak to the Gods. How different are modern scientists that wrap themselves in the same cloak of secrecy?
TAGGED AS: Climate Change, Enlightenment, Government, Religion, Science, Taxes
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PERMANENT LINK2509.\\ Economics of Failure
Excellent article in the Journal today. I encourage you to read it. Leave out all the pro-Reagan stuff and take the article on the merit of its central argument: that you do not promote long term, broad based growth by spending so far into debt that you can't get out.
Read it. And think about it when you hear about the tens of trillions of dollars that 'reform' is going to cost us.
TAGGED AS: Congress, Economy, Finance, GDP, Health Care, Ronald Reagan, Spending
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PERMANENT LINK2501.\\ Total Shit and Getting Worse
The Obama Economy at work. The only solution, is of course, total socialism, astronomic taxes, unending entitlements and nationalization of every industry. Replace the Individual with Unionized collectivization and all will function as it should in the enlightened thinker's model of economics.
TAGGED AS: Barack Obama, Economy, Socialism, Unemployment
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PERMANENT LINK2500.\\ Holding Holder Accountable
My Alma Mater finally joins the ranks of the right thinking. The Dean Emeritus of the BU School of Law penned an article in which he points out the inherent danger of allowing KSM to be tried as if he were a common criminal.
Put one more up on the board under 'Lesson Not Learned' for the Obama Administration.
The most chilling part of the discussion, which I hadn't even considered (stressed and obsessed as I was with the granting of US Constitutional Rights to an unlawful combatant and a terrorist while I, a legal immigrant, sit without the same Rights), is the notion that 9/11 was in part successful because of the intelligence al-Qaeda obtained from the trial of the 1993 WTC Bomber in regular court. Doesn't this just seem to set up the obvious question of whether or not we're helping some other group plan another attack against us by lifting our kimono?
****UPDATE
And Thomas Sowell weighs in with his usual thoughtful take on the situation.
TAGGED AS: Al Qaeda, Barack Obama, Boston University, Eric Holder, KSM, Law, New York, Terrorists, Thomas Sowell
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PERMANENT LINK2499.\\ Even China Doesn't Believe It
When the world's finest purveyors of lies, propaganda, misdirection and outright fraud don't believe the snake oil you're peddling will work, then you've got a major, major problem.
What is more frustrating and depressing is that we're not even having the discussion of whether we SHOULD be doing this kind of health care reform at all. We're simply arguing over minute details about how MUCH we should mortgage, piss away, dump in the toilet. The debate in America isn't about our decline, but how fast we want it to happen.
TAGGED AS: Barack Obama, China, Debt, Deficit, Health Care
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PERMANENT LINK2496.\\ Making the Constitution Support a Power Grab
There hasn't been too much talk of whether or not the Congress has any power at all to require individuals to purchase goods or services. I mean, I know I've talked about it but nobody else seems to care.
Except a few Senators like Orrin Hatch. Now sometimes he's a bit flaky, sometimes way to right wing, sometimes not. On this topic, I totally agree with his view on the limits of Federal power.
Unfortunately nobody will care about this issue until someone brings a lawsuit to the Supreme Court about the topic.
Best bit:
"If buying fuel-efficient cars is so important for the economy, Congress could just require people to buy them. Why does Congress need complicated bailouts when it could simply order people to deposit their paychecks in certain banks, invest in certain companies or purchase certain products?"
TAGGED AS: Congress, Constitution, Health Care, Orrin Hatch, Senate, Supreme Court
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PERMANENT LINK2494.\\ For All Our Sakes
Let's hope the pronouncements of the Greatest Deliberative Body in the World are reflective of the general mood of the Senate.
If any final legislation resembled the House bill, it would mean the end of western liberal democracy, the end of American supremacy and the end of the greatest economic engine the world has ever seen.
I don't typically invoke God to help deal with the legislative process, but... God help us.
TAGGED AS: Democracy, Health Care, Liberty, Senate
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PERMANENT LINK2493.\\ Losing Turkey
This should send shudders down the spine of anyone remotely concerned about islamic extremism and theocracies run amok.
TAGGED AS: America, Islamism, NATO, Turkey
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PERMANENT LINK2491.\\ Three Reasons to Reject Obamacare
As a rule, I don't believe insurance is the right model to pay for health care. I don't use auto insurance to pay for my gas each week, why should I expect to have health insurance pay for drugs I decide to take? Insurance implies a financial hedge against catastrophic events for which the expense is so high that I cannot pay it and therefore I need to spread that expense amongst other policy holders. It isn't a thing I use for routine events.
That being said, I don't believe in the direction the entire health care debate is taking. It should be about reducing the cost of procedures and making those costs transparent to me, the consumer, so that I can decide where to allocate my funds. I'm purchasing a good and/or a service. I deserve to know why it costs $25k for my wife to have a baby. Instead the true cost is hidden in premiums and deductibles and bureaucracy and regulation. If consumers knew the costs to them of various services provided by doctors, competition and Adam Smith's invisible hand would come to the fore and the system would self-regulate.
There's a shitload more to say on that topic and more explanation as to why treating the entire industry the same as any other goods/services industry makes sense. But I digress. While I may have dozens of reasons for rejecting Obamacare, the National Review gives you just three. Frankly they are the only three you need. What are the reasons? The reason you should reject Obamacare is that it doesn't meet any of Obama's own stated requirements. Pretty simple.
TAGGED AS: Barack Obama, Congress, Health Care, Nancy Pelosi, Socialism
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PERMANENT LINK2490.\\ Jobless rate tops 10 pct. for first time since '83 - Yahoo! Finance
Oh yeah. The porkulus...er...stimulus really seems to be working well. I mean, why would anyone believe the AP or the Labor Department over the White House? That just downright un-American. I'll have to report you if you believe that unemployment is at 10.2% and/or that it has anything to do with Obama. This is clearly still Bush's fault.
TAGGED AS: Economy, Finance, Propaganda, Socialism, Taxes, Unemployment
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PERMANENT LINK2486.\\ As If There Were Any Doubt...
David Harsanyi deconstructs the 2000 page omnibus health bill in an article from the Denver Post last week.
I just don't understand how something with a $1.2 Trillion price tag will reduce our deficit. I also fail to see how half a million words outlining new regulations, taxes, fees, mandates, penalties and bureaucracy could possibly make health care faster, cheaper and better (hell I'd settle for any one of those three).
Best bit:
As you flip through the pages of the House bill, you will notice the word "regulation" appears 181 times. "Tax" is there 214 times. "Fees," 103 times. As we all know, nothing says "affordability" like higher taxes and fees. The word "shall" - as in "must" or "required to" - appears over 3,000 times.
God help us. Although I suppose in the near future I'll be required to say "Government help us".
TAGGED AS: David Harsanyi, Health Care, Nancy Pelosi, Orwellian, Taxes
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PERMANENT LINK2485.\\ Made Up Metric
I'd love to know how you calculate a 'saved' job. We've known of course that the 'created or saved' metric is total bunk made up of phony estimates and outright lies (as the Wall Street Journal recalls for us today). But I'd like to ask a new question. If the wizardry behind the stimulus created or saved 650k jobs so far this year, what do we call the 4 million jobs lost in the first 9 months of the year? Were those jobs just 'unsavable' ?
They were probably all dissenters and therefore it was determined by the jobs czar that they didn't need jobs.
TAGGED AS: Barack Obama, Economy, Jobs, Lies, Unemployment, Wall Street Journal
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PERMANENT LINK2483.\\ Even Orwell Would Be Horrified
The march to a gaggle of unelected bureaucrats in Brussels micromanaging the daily lives of citizens in Britain took another step forward this week. Unfortunately for the people of the various European states, their freedom and liberty has been exchanged for a Pan European superstate ruled by an oligarchic elite of unelected intellectuals who use doubletalk and newspeak to put the people under the thumb of social engineering.
It is the end of France, the end of Germany, the end of Britain. The nations that took their inheritance from the great Mesopotamian civilizations, the Greeks and then the Romans, have abdicated their responsibility in carrying Western Civilization forward. They've decided that democracy and individual freedoms are not the ultimate expression of human liberty. It has become the State itself that is the Alpha and Omega.
It is truly a depressing day for any lover of history and Western Civilization.
2482.\\ $160,000 Per Stimulus Job?
Well that certainly seems worth it. Who could begrudge low-paying blue collar jobs created for $160k a pop on the taxpayer's dime? Surely there was no better way to generate (or save!) all those jobs. Of course, the one example given in the article suggests you should take the number of new jobs with a grain of salt (or perhaps just divide the 'official' number by 4).
Amazing that state-run ABC would dare to publish such a story in the first place. Their dissent is un-American and I'm afraid I'll have to report them so that the White House can reeducate the reporter.
Taken together with this week's fictitious GDP number, we are surely almost par with full-blown propaganda machines like Pravda or the former Iraqi Information Ministry.
Don't worry, your economy is fine! We create jobs all over! There is no recession!
TAGGED AS: Economy, Finance, GDP, Jobs, Lies, Propaganda, State Run Media
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PERMANENT LINK2478.\\ Miscalculations on Health Care
There is a thoughtful analysis by Robert Robb of the Arizona Republic on what impact the House Democrats' bill would have on the Health Care industry. I can't say I agree with him. I happen to increasingly believe that the leftists in this country don't give a damn about the people. They are motivated by some utopian dream of manipulating the entire society and remaking it according to intellectual theory dreamed up in a bubble. It is a dangerous ideological crusade they are on and it is little different in its use of philosophy than Jihad, little different in its tactics than Mao's Cultural Revolution and destined to be little different in its results than Lenin's experiments. Theory and practice in the realm of social engineering rarely collide. The inevitable endgame is Orwellian.
Read it for yourself here.
TAGGED AS: America, Democrats, Dictatorship, Health Care, Jihad, Lenin, Mao, Orwellian, Socialism
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PERMANENT LINK2477.\\ Mandated Shopping
Congress cannot legislate the purchase of goods or services. It cannot force the people to buy a particular product. It cannot force the people to buy anything. This includes health insurance. In fact, the very notion of Congress forcing everyone in the nation to purchase a service is unconstitutional and therefore illegal.
"But aren't we already forced to purchase auto insurance policies?" you ask. Well of course, but that is different on two levels. First off, it is a State government, the first sovereign power under our form of government that is legislating this requirement. The Constitution specifically allocates the necessary powers to States to make and enforce such laws. Secondly, and obviously, the law only applies to people who choose to purchase a vehicle. Since owning a car is not a right (as of this writing at least - who knows, that could change any day now), there is minimal infringement upon individual liberty. It is also a key role of State government to protect our individual freedoms (including our property) from the unlawful or harmful activities of others.
If Congress is allowed to force every one of us to buy health policy, why stop there? Why not legislate that everyone must purchase an automobile from a US automaker? Or why not simply legislate directly which goods and services we are required to purchase each week and from whom we are to purchase it? Naturally to ensure 'competition' the Government itself will soon be producing goods and services and subsidizing them. And why stop there? Why not simply legislate the private sector away completely? Surely it is unfair to someone someplace that I can buy something that they cannot. We should all be forced to buy exactly the same things in the approved quantities from the approved vendors...
It is absurd, of course. Yet this is the logical extension of the argument being used to foist subpar services on us at higher prices. It is un-American, unconstitutional and represents the worst of social engineering.
TAGGED AS: Congress, Constitution, Health Care, Liberty, Socialism
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PERMANENT LINK2476.\\ What Kind of Car Would YOU Buy for $24k?
My list starts with the new Camero. Course I'd have to spring for the Autobot upgrade kit. I'd definitely not be buying anything through this program. Looks like that went totally as planned. Or not, as the case may be. Next time, just give every person with an automobile the $24,000 in cash.
TAGGED AS: Barack Obama, Failure, Government, Socialism
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PERMANENT LINK2475.\\ Pelosi Denies Public Access to Public Space for Public Plan Announcement
Only those who don't dissent are permitted to enjoy an America rationed out by those who know best. You're not on that list.
TAGGED AS: Congress, Elitist, Fascism, Health Care, Nancy Pelosi
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PERMANENT LINK2467.\\ How's That Economic Philosophy Working Out For You?
I guess taxing the shit out of the rich and small businesses and redistributing it all to the poor isn't working out all that well. Obamanomics in action. Coming soon to a State near you.
TAGGED AS: Economy, Obamanomics, Socialism, Taxes
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PERMANENT LINK2464.\\ Slagging Off Americans
It is one thing if you call your own countrymen a bunch of rednecks and/or racists and denigrate various states based on your own regional sympathy. However, it is another thing entirely when foreigners do it, ESPECIALLY the English/French/Other Former Power.
Most offensive bit:
"I didn't want to wake up tied to a tree, being invited to squeal like a little piggy for the entertainment of a 20-year-old psychopath in giant dunÂgaÂrees, with three teeth in his head and a bitter hatred of anyone who wasn't also a 30-stone homophobic racist who shot at things he didn't understand."
I find it ironic that a minor British television personality would mock the dental work of foreigners. Especially when he's making zero effort to understand the people he feels perfectly in the right to mock and insult.
My favorite comment: "Oh, come on, let the Brits have their little laugh. After all, a sense of humor is really all they have left."
LOL.
TAGGED AS: Alabama, Arrogant, Britain, Former Power, Haughty, Rednecks, Teeth
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PERMANENT LINK2457.\\ Well Everything's Going Fine...
Unemployment at nearly 10%, the highest in 26 years. Looks like Obamanomics is going swimmingly. Just like Stalin's, Mao's and Castro's state control of the means of production, our leftist economic policies are doomed to failure (as the French, Germans and British have begun to realize).
TAGGED AS: Barack Obama, Economy, Leftist, Obamanomics, Socialism, Unemployment
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PERMANENT LINK2456.\\ The Morality of Health Care
Far be it from me to dispute morality with a professor of ethics, but I would offer up the basic notion that humans don't form governments in order to legislate morality. It does not, can not, has not ever worked when the State takes on the role of father/mother/nanny.
Perhaps his argument that collectivization in support of the weakest among us is indeed the Christian and moral thing to do. And I encourage his efforts to rally the public to voluntarily support that. But don't ever make the mistake of attempting to FORCE morality on the mob and COERCE them into following your ethos by way of legislation.
It will fail and it will fail spectacularly like every other social engineering attempt before it.
TAGGED AS: Christianity, Health Care, Morality, San Francisco Chronicle
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PERMANENT LINK2450.\\ Holding Out the Hand of Friendship
"...to everyone except your friends" should be the tagline. Daniel Henninger has a great analysis on Obama's peculiar outreach to thugs and dictators and his total neglect of legitimate friends, infant democracies looking for help and struggling democracy movements in critical parts of the world.
The critical bit:
"In trying to plumb why the U.S. won't promote or protect its own best idea, one starts with Mr. Obama's remarks at the "reset" visit in Moscow: "America cannot and should not seek to impose any system of government on any other country, nor would we presume to choose which party or individual should run a country."
Setting aside that no one is talking about the U.S. literally "imposing" a government in this day and age, what is one to make of a left-of-center American political leader taking such a diffident stance toward democratic movements? The people who live under the sway of the top dog in all the nations that have earned high-level Obama envoys are the world's poor, and one would expect the social-justice left to support them. That may no longer be true on the American or European left."
Good question. Why aren't we out there promoting the best thing about this nation? It is our greatest, original idea and we've thrown it in the dustbin. The world's poor and oppressed, the natural constituency of the liberal left, are thrown to the wolves and left to twist in the wind.
At least George Bush followed rhetoric with action by carpet bombing the African continent with billions in practical assistance to prevent the spread of AIDS and malaria and fund drug cocktails for those who already were living with HIV. Actions. Not just words.
When will America stand up for those that seek to attain our freedoms? When will we follow words of hope and change with action? We gin up these movements with rhetoric and grandiose speeches and then when the people actually rise against their overlords, we sit back and watch as they're mercilessly crushed.
At some point, the stock in Democracy and Freedom will fall so low that no one will bother listening to the words anymore.
TAGGED AS: Africa, Barack Obama, Democracy, Dictatorship, Freedom, Liberty, Rhetoric
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PERMANENT LINK2448.\\ Where's the Help Barry?
Why haven't we responded yet to the tsunami in the Samoas? The level of death and destruction in an American territory would seem to warrant overnight reaction. Where are the C130s and C-17s and C-5s full of relief? Where is the Navy?
Why are we moving so slow (if at all) while Washington promises an 'aggressive response'. As of this afternoon, we've only offered 'sympathy' to the American citizens that have lost everything.
Why has no one in the media asked this question?
TAGGED AS: American Samoa, Barack Obama, Disaster, Tsunami
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PERMANENT LINK2447.\\ Success No Matter What
John Stossel can be a bit of a prick sometimes. But he's got it bang on with this bit today on RCP.
Best part is his reference to an earlier, quite prescient article he wrote:
Given time, the economy, unless totally crippled by government intervention, will regenerate itself. That's because an economy is not a machine that needs jumpstarting. It is people who have objectives they want to achieve. They will not sit on their hands forever waiting for government to 'fix' things. Instead, they work to overcome obstacles to get what they want. Some banks are struggling, but there are still people who want to lend money and people who want to borrow it. They will find each other without government help
Hear hear. The only thing missing are some hard numbers on the colossal waste of Cash for Clunkers, the various bailouts, the nationalization of GM, etc.
Additionally, I would extend his argument by suggesting that this isn't just the standard WH spin on the economy we always see. No this is worse. This is an actual liberal elitist philosophy, a cynical world view, that says if we lie enough to the morons out there on topics they don't understand, we'll eventually convince them of our words. Provided the lie is big enough and the charisma is strong enough. It extends beyond the economy and into the realm of health care, Iran, international trade, the Unions, taxes, and on and on. It is Obama's governing philosophy and he uses it with everything. Tell them enough times and with the right intonation that everything is great because I'm good looking and charismatic and smarter than you are and you will eventually believe me.
TAGGED AS: Barack Obama, Economy, Finance, Jobs, John Stossel
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PERMANENT LINK2440.\\ Vivre Sarkozy!
Sarkozy takes it to Barry. When the President of France is tougher than you are, you might be a bit of a wuss.
Seriously though. In the dark days of the early 2000's, the French were weak and sniveling annoyances. Now they're leading the freaking charge while we read teleprompters and dream of futures where Americans are controlled from the District of Columbia to live and breathe and think in a manner consistent with the ideology of the ivory tower theorists.
TAGGED AS: Barack Obama, France, Iran, Nicolas Sarkozy, United Nations, US
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PERMANENT LINK2438.\\ Stimula-tastic!
Nice. So let me understand this, 4 million have LOST their jobs since March but the Federal government has GROWN by 25,000?. And you want them to choose and administer your health care? Fuck me.
TAGGED AS: Economy, Government, USA Today
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PERMANENT LINK2436.\\ Speak Softly and Tip Toe Around Your Enemies
What bothers me the most about this article is that it makes plain our weakness and a deliberate choice to remain weak. The proposal to shrink the Navy's carrier force in the face of current and emerging competitors who may resort to asymmetrical warfare may make sense in light of budget constraints. However, our current force projection doctrine centered as it is around carrier strike groups, must be REPLACED with something else. You don't simply pick up the ball and say, well I guess I can't compete anymore so I'm going home. The doctrine could change to smaller, stealthier, carriers, better defended carriers, space-based carriers, rock-solid missile defense systems, or a move away from carrier doctrine entirely.
Canceling the F22, canceling the Army's future combat systems program, canceling the space program, canceling missile defense; these make us look weak and vulnerable. The surest way to invite a rising competitor to do battle is give them every indication that you're old and tired and weak. This was a central theme in Germany's bid to compete with Britain in the late 1800's and early 1900s. That ended in disaster for both.
TAGGED AS: Aircraft Carriers, China, F22, Military, Missile Defense, Weakness
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PERMANENT LINK2433.\\ Disarming the Responsible
In a Wall Street Journal Opinion piece, Bret Stephens lays out why America is doomed. Not just America but all western peace loving nations.
I would differ in my long term predictions, however. Appeasement and weakness in the West historically invites war and turmoil. And so it will again. A nation or group of nations will attempt to exploit our perceived or actual weakness. The war will be long and brutal and ultimately we will prevail. We'll undergo decades of self-flagellation for ever having been so gullible and naive. I'm a historian. Mark my words that it will happen.
The best bit:
"In 1943, Walter Lippmann observed that the disarmament movement had been 'tragically successful in disarming the nations that believed in disarmament.' That ought to have been the final word on the subject."
TAGGED AS: America, Appeasement, Barack Obama, Economy, Wall Street Journal
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PERMANENT LINK2430.\\ Throughout this campaign...er...effort
I love this exchange. Since most people probably didn't see it (cause no one watches George's show), I invite you now. My favorite part is where Obama forgets he's President and thinks he's still on the campaign trail.
TAGGED AS: Barack Obama, Health Care, Liar
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PERMANENT LINK2429.\\ Andrew Breitbart is my new best friend
...and he's a superhero to boot.
TAGGED AS: Barack Obama, Liberals, NEA
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PERMANENT LINK2428.\\ ACORN on the Offense
Thank you Publius.
Read the CEO's bio at Politico after watching this video.
TAGGED AS: ACORN, Democrats
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PERMANENT LINK2424.\\ Pelosi Spouts Off (Again)
Apparently, opposing the left-wing agenda in this nation is now tantamount to assassination! According to Nancy Pelosi, if you dare speak out, that is the same thing as killing people.
I wonder if the Parliament had a similar view in 1775? Certainly the acts of opposition at that time were more severe than Joe Wilson verbally pointing out the obvious. I mean, they tarred and feathered government agents, boiling them in tar until they died.
Although she is totally ignorant of it, she is the modern day Lord North to many, many people in this country. There are parts of this country literally on the verge of armed rebellion and invoking Harvey Milk is like a three day waiting period for a serial killer. Totally irrelevant, misses the point and only further enrages.
TAGGED AS: Nancy Pelosi, Revolution
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PERMANENT LINK2420.\\ She Said it Best
Apparently, Nancy Pelosi is not at all focused on corruption in her own wing of the political spectrum while in the meantime she's demanding investigations into the previous Administration's alleged corruption.
HYPOCRITE.
But she said it best: I'm Clueless
TAGGED AS: Congress, Corruption, Nancy Pelosi
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PERMANENT LINK2419.\\ So the Gitmo Closure is Going Well
Now the Dems are blocking the closure of Gitmo
That whole 'change agenda' thing doesn't seem to be going so well. Except, you know, where placing Americans in danger is the goal (i.e. canceling Missile Defense, F22 Raptor).
Oh the irony.
TAGGED AS: Barack Obama, Guantanemo, Terrorists
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PERMANENT LINK2414.\\ Seems Like It's Going Well...
If you needed further proof that the current class of clowns has no idea what it is doing, read this story.
Obama's economic philosophy, borne of ivory tower theories and with a heavy dose of idealistic communal flower power, will end up God-Damning America just as his supporters desire.
TAGGED AS: Barack Obama, Economy, The Telegraph
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PERMANENT LINK2410.\\ So Basically He Did Lie
Facts are terrible things when they contradict the illusion you are trying to construct.
To wit, the President's assertions in his health care speech last week were false.
I believe that makes him a non-truth teller. Or, as some may say, a LIAR.
Best part (talking about Barry's claims that Alabama was an egregious example of how the evil insurance companies are killing Americans):
"In fact, the Birmingham News reported immediately following the speech that the state's largest health insurer, the nonprofit Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama, has about a 75% market share. A representative of the company indicated that its "profit" averaged only 0.6% of premiums the past decade, and that its administrative expense ratio is 7% of premiums, the fourth lowest among 39 Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans nationwide.
Similarly, a Dec. 31, 2007, report by the Alabama Department of Insurance indicates that the insurer's ratio of medical-claim costs to premiums for the year was 92%, with an administrative expense ratio (including claims settlement expenses) of 7.5%. Its net income, including investment income, was equivalent to 2% of premiums in that year.
In addition to these consumer friendly numbers, a survey in Consumer Reports this month reported that Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama ranked second nationally in customer satisfaction among 41 preferred provider organization health plans. The insurer's apparent efficiency may explain its dominance, as opposed to a lack of competition--especially since there are no obvious barriers to entry or expansion in Alabama faced by large national health insurers such as United Healthcare and Aetna. "
TAGGED AS: Barack Obama, Health Care, Liar, Wall Street Journal
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PERMANENT LINK2407.\\ Where Are You James Monroe?
He never would have let this happen.
TAGGED AS: Barack Obama, Economy, Hugo Chavez, Monroe Doctrine, Russia, Venezuala
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PERMANENT LINK2406.\\ Peter Ferrara: The Keynesians Were Wrong Again - WSJ.com
A ha! In a giant fuck you to the enlightened thought leaders (including Poobah Krugman himself) The Wall Street Journal presents a view opposite to that of the Keynesians and the other Ivory Tower elitists.
Good read.
TAGGED AS: Barack Obama, Economy, Keynes
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PERMANENT LINK2402.\\ Union Hell
Holy crap. Turns out that one of the bills under consideration to reform health care will force health workers in hospitals and doctor's offices around the country into labor unions.
Sorry, this is the 21st century isn't it? For a moment I thought we were back in the late 1800s.
Forced unionization did wonders for the auto industry in this country. And mining. And manufacturing. And the airlines. In fact, I can't think of a time or place (within living memory) where labor unions actually helped anything at all (besides helping themselves of course, enriching their members).
Not only is it unfair, it is un-American and anti-capitalistic. In the age of instant communication and universal distribution of knowledge, labor unions have long outlived any usefulness they once had. They are now no more than parasites, sucking the soul out of our economic bloodstream.
TAGGED AS: Health Care, Unions, Wall Street Journal
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PERMANENT LINK2400.\\ Barone Gets it Right (Again)
With his usual direct style, Michael Barone points out the increasing absurdity of the plan(s) to change how health care works in this country.
My favorite part:
"There is an element of convenient fantasy as well in Obama's health care statements to date. We are going to save money by spending money. We are going to solve our fiscal problems with a program that will increase the national debt by $1,000,000,000,000 over a decade. We are going to guarantee you can keep your current insurance with a bill that encourages your employer to stop offering it.
The list goes on. We are going to improve health care for seniors by cutting $500,000,000,000 from Medicare. We aren't going to insure illegal aliens, except that we won't have any verification provisions to see that they can't apply and get benefits."
TAGGED AS: Barack Obama, Economy, Health Care, Michael Barone, Washington Examiner
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PERMANENT LINK2397.\\ The Public Option
Seems to be going well in the UK as well as in France.
Yeah. I can't imagine why we don't want our system to emulate theirs.
Let me reiterate. Anything run by the Federal Government is wasteful, inefficient and costly. Oh and typically results in a piss poor product.
"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."
Sorry, I'm missing the part that says "Congress shall have the power to create, administer, fund and control Health Care" and I'm also missing the part of the Bill of Rights that lists health care as one of the enumerated rights...
TAGGED AS: Congress, Constitution, France, Health Care, Socialism, UK
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PERMANENT LINK2396.\\ Make Me World of Warcraft Czar
Oh great. We have a new, extra-constitutional government appointee this morning. Apparently Barry saw fit to put a union man in as manufacturing czar. Well. No one better than a union guy to oversee State control of the means of production in this dictatorship of the proletariat.
Marx would be proud.
TAGGED AS: Barack Obama, Communism, Dictatorship, Marxism, Unions
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PERMANENT LINK2395.\\ The Curious Case of the Missing Van Jones
In today's Washington Examiner, Byron York asks what I assume to be a rhetorical question. Why did the media, in particular the New York Times, totally ignore the Van Jones scandal. And what's more, why does the New York Times only print news that is favorable to Barack Obama? And why have they consistently not printed any news, ever, that was not favorable to him?
Again, I assume it is rhetorical and that Byron knows how corrupted, elitist and ideological the 'news' room is at the New York Times. That they don't report news at all. They are the modern day Hearsts who see their role as educating the dumb folk out there who can't see the truth. Their truth. That kind of ego maniacal, systematic lying is nothing short of yellow journalism without any positive side effects.
My favorite bit from the article:
"Times readers didn't know it, but the causes for Jones' departure included the fact that he signed a 2004 petition supporting the so-called '9/11 truther' movement; that he was a self-professed communist during much of the 1990s; that he supported the cop-killer Mumia abu-Jamal; that in 2008 he accused 'white polluters' of 'steering poison into the people of color communities'; and that earlier this year, speaking to a friendly crowd in Berkeley, Calif., he called Republicans 'a--holes.'"
So he's not only a first class dick, he's also a communist, a racist and prone to conspiracy theories. Bet you won't find any of that in the New York Times.
TAGGED AS: Barack Obama, Byron York, Elitist, Leftist, New York Times, Van Jones, Washington Examiner
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PERMANENT LINK2393.\\ LA Times and Editorializing the Absurd
If you can get through today's editorial in the LA Times without laughing then you've bested me. The naivete of the entire position is stunning and even more so from an alleged news organization.
The notion that any regime in Iran just wants to sit down and talk with us is absurd. The Iranian interest is not in making things smoother with the United States. If they do that and thaw the relations, the regime will topple under a groundswell of public pressure. The only way they cling to power is to paint the 'other' as an evil, interfering hegemon bent on the destruction of the Iranian people, culture and Islamic religion. If relations were to thaw, the nuclear program would come under international scrutiny which is not in the mullahs' interest.
Heeding Iran's call for talks at this juncture is no different than acquiescing to HItler's request for conference in 1938 in Munich. That went so well that surely we should give it another go. After all, talking to thugs and dictators has always worked out.
TAGGED AS: Iran, LA Times, Nonsense, Nuclear Weapons
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PERMANENT LINK2391.\\ Joe Biden, Super Pseudo President
I love the sardonic tone of this summary of Joe Biden's activities over the past couple weeks while Barry is MIA.
Be sure to read the second page for the best bit:
"Declaring that 95 percent of all 'working families' have received tax relief (check your mailbox), the vice president also noted that more than 54 million seniors and veterans 'received a one-time check of $250.' Mr. Biden also asserted that the program 'saved or created 150,000 jobs in the first 100 days,' and reiterated the administration's pledge to save or create another 600,000 in the second hundred days."
I'm a veteran and I didn't get a check. I have a working family of 5 and didn't receive a dime from Barry. I do, however, fondly recall the 3 separate times I got checks from the Treasury during the Bush Administration...
TAGGED AS: Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Nonsense
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PERMANENT LINK2390.\\ Things Could Be Worse...
You could be one of these people.
Yeah I'm sure going 100 grand into debt for a college degree is totally worth it. Or not.
Shouldn't a degree be free for everyone? Paid for by the rich? Guaranteed even to terrorists in Gitmo?
Or should it be something that you earn and value and leverage and pay for with your own sweat?
Frankly I think a degree and 4 years of college was a complete waste of time and money for me. But hey. I'm not Noble Prize winning economist. Sorry, wrong post.
2388.\\ How Did Krugman Get It So Wrong?
In a must read article of the day, Paul Krugman, self-anointed Economic Grand Pubah of the Republic, exhaustively analyzes the current fiscal crisis and what happened at a macro level of economic theory and philosophy to get us here.
It is a great article that lays out the opposing camps of economic theorists and their general belief systems. He then proceeds to draw the total opposite conclusion from his data than I did. Now granted, I'm not a 2008 Nobel Prize winner in Economic Science, but it seems to me that a simple return to pure Keynesian theory would simply lead us down the path of rehashing the past 60 years of US economic development. My argument is that the 21st Century is a different time and place with totally different challenges than the 20th Century. Keynesian economics failed during the latter half of the 20th, so why on Earth should it work at all in the 21st? It would make sense in a manufacturing economy based on exports with Unions and farmers and goods being exchanged. It seems hopelessly antiquated when dealing with a service based economy where knowledge is bought and sold.
But hey, what do I know. Read the article anyway, cause it is very very interesting.
TAGGED AS: Economy, Keynes, Paul Krugman, Politics, Taxes
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PERMANENT LINK2386.\\ Sentenced to death on the NHS - Telegraph
Yeah. I wonder how this is working out for the Brits? Clearly we need the same thing here. You know, to ensure 'competition' (as if State control somehow miraculously provides MORE competition than the free market containing hundreds of competing companies).
TAGGED AS: Daily Telegraph, Health Care, NHS, UK, US
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PERMANENT LINK2383.\\ Brown and Quadafi and Sex and Oil
Okay, no sex. But in the NY Daily News today, an Editorial basically lays out the absolute criminality of what's gone on with the release of the Lockerbie terrorist in exchange for Libyan oil.
Phrase of the day:
"Theirs has been a discreet relationship, conducted in private and lubricated by oil, an affair of convenience between a madman with blood on his hands, and a craven hypocrite with a price tag."
A craven hypocrite. God I love the English language.
TAGGED AS: Craven Hypocrite, Gordon Brown, Lockerbie, Moamar Quadafi, Oil, Terrorists
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PERMANENT LINK2381.\\ Canada Whores Itself Out to China
Forbes is reporting on a deal that gives PetroChina a majority controlling interest in one of Canada's largest oil companies that happens to be sitting on 5 billion barrels of oil in the tar sands of Alberta.
Aside from the fact that China now has national security interests in North America and will defend those interests with typical Chinese nationalistic fury, the Chinese environmental record promises to transform western Canada into a massive cesspool.
Way to go Canada! You've sold the goods for a pittance and in return doomed your ecology and chained your foreign policy to the whims of the world's largest, cruelest dictatorship bent on global domination.
I cannot, for the life of me, figure out who in Ottawa thought this was in Canadian national interest. Look for increasing, creeping, Chinese involvement not only in the Canadian economy but in local and national politics to secure and insure their investment in raping Alberta. Canadian politicians will increasingly seek to placate and suck up to their bosses in Beijing and further distance themselves from the United States.
When the showdown inevitably comes, which side will Canada choose?
TAGGED AS: Canada, China, Economy, Foreign Policy, Oil
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PERMANENT LINK2380.\\ Poor Panetta
After reading this article, I'm more convinced than ever that Barry & Co have no clue what they're doing.
I should temper that somewhat. I prefer to say instead that I am wavering between believing they're totally clueless and believing that they're utterly un-American and have a deliberate plan to destroy this country for some bizarre reason. For me, only either extreme can sufficiently explain the ongoing assault on the defense and intelligence capabilities of this nation.
TAGGED AS: Barack Obama, CIA, Eric Holder, Intelligence, Leon Panetta
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PERMANENT LINK2379.\\ And in Another Victory For Socialism...
Apparently we're going to declare that the due process of the Honduran Supreme Court is null and void. America is demanding a return of the socialist thug to power or else we'll suspend aid. That's right. We're suspending aid to a fellow democracy where the people rose up and threw out their leader. The military enacted it, the courts deemed it legal, but we don't care.
TAGGED AS: Honduras, Leftist, Socialism
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PERMANENT LINK2377.\\ Dear Eugene Robinson: WTF?
What constitutes 'moral clarity' for Mr. Robinson? Seems like to him morality is embodied by murdering a young woman, lifelong alcoholism, misogyny and ruthless self-absorption.
Well to me, that is the definition of immorality. So I suggest the article be renamed "Ted Kennedy: An Eternal Prince of Darkness"
Glad we have such objective journalists hard at work in our nation.
TAGGED AS: Eugene Robinson, Leftist, Ted Kennedy
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PERMANENT LINK2376.\\ How is this Right in Any Way?
TAGGED AS: Bias, FoxNews, Guns, Health Care, Leftist, MSNBC, Obama, Racist
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PERMANENT LINK2373.\\ Calling Jack Bauer
Marc Thiessen's piece in the Journal is right on in my opinion. There's got to be a more balanced dialogue about this topic. And the dialogue should be entirely out of the public (hence bitterly political) domain. Jack Bauer wouldn't have to put up with this shit.
TAGGED AS: CIA, Marc Thiessen, Torture, Wall Street Journal
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PERMANENT LINK2372.\\ Madeline,You Ignorant Slut
If nothing demonstrates the Left's approach to terrorism more than this video, then I don't know what will.
Here on that bastion of objectivity, MSNBC, Ms. Albright refers to the worst case of terrorism in British history as an 'accident'. Let's hope and pray that she meant to say 'incident'. No surprise that the apologist Andrea Mitchell didn't bother asking for clarification, she probably agrees with it being an accident.
WTF
TAGGED AS: Leftist, Libya, Lockerbie, Madeline Albright, MSNBC, WTF
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PERMANENT LINK2371.\\ You're the Imposter!
LOL. And here I thought that the Democratic Party was opposed to forcing people to show their ID's for any reason (i.e. for voting).
TAGGED AS: Congress, Democrats, Health Care, Town Halls
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PERMANENT LINK2370.\\ Watch Out Mr. Terrorist!
As if ignoring the release of a convicted Libyan mass murderer wasn't enough, now this absurdity.
That's right, we might, just might, do something to you that the State of California has identified to be potentially dangerous to pregnant mothers and contains chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer in monkeys.
Now, tell us who masterminded the Cole bombing or you might get cancer in a few years!
TAGGED AS: CIA, Obama, Terrorists
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PERMANENT LINK2365.\\ Rule Britannia...
I've never thought that our healthcare system is perfect here, or even particularly stellar. But by God anything produced by the private sector in terms of healthcare has got to be better than letting Joe Bureaucrat run things. The people that bring you the IRS want to dictate your medical treatment? No thanks.
Pundits frequently make hash of the fact that socialized medicine in countries with national health systems is crap. I'd hasten to point out that we have a national health system in the United States and it is called Medicare/Medicaid. I know people who use Medicare. My entire family works in the health sector. Nobody who uses Medicare would prefer Medicare over a comprehensive plan like many of us enjoy. In fact, I can't think of many services that the Federal Government manages and offers to its citizens that is superior to an equivalent private sector offering. Not even NASA seems to work that well anymore when compared to private companies like Bigelow, SpaceX or Rotary. Hell even the CIA has to bring in Blackwater in order to get some quality work done.
If you were ever a believer in the ability of the Federal Government to manage itself wisely, a few Google searches on the deficit and pork-stuffed appropriations bills ought to cure you of that. But in the event that you believe a Federal Government, which cannot even manage EXISTING national health programs well and provide quality care, ought to be granted executive authority over your well being, then allow me to disabuse you of that notion by providing this excellent overview of the effectiveness of the NHS in the motherland. Where I come from we call it crimes against humanity and while not on the order of Hitler's 20 million, Stalin's 60 million or Mao's 70 million, providing "cruel" healthcare for 1/60th of your citizens in an enlightened Liberal Democracy is criminal in my book. I wonder if the International Criminal Court should bring charges? Nah they're probably too busy trying to prosecute US government officials for doing their jobs.
TAGGED AS: Big Government, Bureaucracy, Crimes Against Humanity, Government, Health Care, Telegraph, UK, US
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PERMANENT LINK2362.\\ Step 1: Read Your Constitution
I laughed and laughed. I'm glad she doesn't represent me.
Congresswoman Shea-Porter is an Idiot
TAGGED AS: Congress, Constitution
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PERMANENT LINK2361.\\ On Death Panels
For any that missed my meme on Facebook that apparently led to a number of 'friends' deleting me.
"The chronically ill and those toward the end of their lives are accounting for potentially 80 percent of the total health care bill out there. It is very difficult to imagine the country making those decisions just through the normal political channels. That is why you have to have some independent group that can give you guidance." - Barack Obama, April 14, 2009.
No thanks. I don't want a bureau giving me guidance on making decisions about death and dying. I don't care if they are super educated doctors and government advisers acting in the best interest of the rest of society. No. The only "independent group" I need in order to make those kinds of decisions are in my family.
Political channels, panels and "the country" have no right to make medical decisions on my behalf. Nor should they advise, propose, guide or even have any knowledge whatsoever of my medical conditions, treatments, complaints or visits. They do not need to know what meds I'm taking or what my diet consists of or how much I weigh or if my ass itches. My information does not need to go into a gigantic database with cool analytics that allows a group of politicos to decide that I'm in the 80% Obama mentioned above and categorize me or anyone I care about as an end-of-lifer.
He can take his independent groups, his death panels, and go to hell. This is the material from which revolutions spring.
TAGGED AS: Congress, Death Panels, Health Care, Liberals
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PERMANENT LINK2360.\\ Talk of Death Panels
The reason talk of it won't go away is because it is in the damn language of the bills in Congress. Since it is IN THE BILL it can't creditably be called a "myth" can it?
TAGGED AS: Congress, Death Panels, Health Care, Liberals
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PERMANENT LINK2359.\\ Reaganism is Dead... Says The Great Poobah
He also refers to himself as the great "unabashed defender of the welfare state". I don't even know how to comment on that. Krugman The Great speaks
I will say that in no way can the economic success of the 1980s and 1990s be delinked from Reaganomics and I happen to believe that an unregulated market was not the primary reason for our current problems. But whatever. I don't have a Nobel prize in economics.
TAGGED AS: Economy, Liberals, New York Times, Paul Krugman, Reagan
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PERMANENT LINK2355.\\ Calling Leni Riefenstahl
Are you freaking kidding me? I feel like the lone Wiemar Democrat in January 1933 screaming "WHAT ARE YOU PEOPLE THINKING!?!" Where is the media criticism? Where are the intellectuals on this blatant group-think mindlessness?
TAGGED AS: Barack Obama, Children, Communism, Creepy, Liberals, Politics, Self-Righteousness, Socialism
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PERMANENT LINK2352.\\ Maxine Waters is a Liar
She's on America's Newsroom right this minute claiming that people were 'tricked' into signing mortgages. She's also asserting that nobody understands what is in a contract such as a mortgage and so you can't blame people for the housing crisis. Somehow it is because of deregulation, she claims, not Barney Frank and ACORN pushing subprime loans and encouraging people to put zero down that we've had a housing bubble. Deregulation caused a bubble? I think she means that manipulating the housing markets from a Congressional committee caused the bubble. The principle of the market has been working just fine for several hundred years, thank you very much.
She's a liar, a fraud and she has terrible hair. She clearly fits in with her district. But more importantly, this is just one more piece of evidence that she's off her rocker. See this gem from over the summer.
TAGGED AS: Capitalism, Congress, Economy, Liar, Liberals, Maxine Waters, Politics
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PERMANENT LINK2348.\\ W.W.A.H.D. ?
The notion that bureaucrats should be involved in manipulating the free market is noxious. That being said, the prospect of economic panic, credit drying up, a domino effect of failing institutions and the rest of the world gloating at our problems compels me to support an effort to extend financial protection at taxpayer expense.
We've done this type of thing before, of course: the Savings & Loan collapse of the late 80s, the collapse of Chrysler in the late 70s, the Home Owner's Loan Corp of the 30s and 40s, the JP Morgan rescue of the 1907, the panics in the 1870s, 1841, 1819 and 1809. Of course, the granddaddy of all rescues was the original one in 1792 engineered by arguably my favorite founder, Mr. Hamilton. You can go read about it if you like.
But would Mr. Hamilton be happy by the current approach? Having studied the man in some detail, I suspect not. Hamilton supported public debt and strong central government in the furtherance of American economic power. He wanted to supplement and complement the principles of Adam Smith, not restrain them or legislate them. He would not have recognized the concept of restrained, third-way market capitalism that seems to be creeping around the globe.
The notion that the Federal government should be involved in the economy was a given to him, as it is to us today. But that involvement was not to function as an economic entity somehow superior to the invisible hand, regulating, restricting, governing it. The role of the Federal government, he would say, is to enable the American worker to start a business, sell his wares, sell his services, produce his product. To the extent that a bailout enables positive economic activities and doesn't restrict the economy through microscopic regulatory control, then it is a good thing. If the Fed presumes to know better how to govern the economy than Capitalism itself, then a bailout is a bad thing.
So where do we sit? To be honest, I don't know. Injecting liquidity into the system in order to prop up otherwise failing institutions seems to be a bad use of taxpayer money. It substitutes the judgment of bureaucrats and legislators (campaigning for re-election) for the judgment of the market. That should scare anyone who has ever seen government judgment in action (i.e. the DMV, FEMA, the IRS). Should we trust the people with a 10% approval rating to legislate a $14 trillion economy? I suspect not. Alexander Hamilton, I can assure you, would be aghast.
At the end of the day, what would Hamilton do? I believe he would look at companies that are failing because of the risk they incurred and suggest that they be allowed to fail and not nationalized or otherwise artificially propped up. He would view Government Sponsored Entities such as Fannie and Freddie with disdain and recoil at the notion that trillions of dollars worth of housing was being exposed to high risk because everyone was overconfident in the unlimited support and blank check guarantee from the Federal Government (aka the American Taxpayer). The government should not be loaning money to credit risks and acting as a mortgage lender and backer, he would say. The government should act as an enabler to allow people to own houses they can afford and not guarantee mortgages to those who cannot.
The very concept of risk-reward, the foundation of capitalism, is threatened with the bill currently being tossed about on Capitol Hill. Restricting market capitalism at this juncture would not be something Mr. Hamilton would favor. It didn't work in 1932 and it won't work now. The solution is to unleash the market forces, not further legislate them.
TAGGED AS: Alexander Hamilton, Capitalism, Congress, Economy, Politics, Socialism
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PERMANENT LINK2345.\\ God Save the Republic
She makes me want to VOMIT with every fraudulent moment of her existence.
"Watch your future's end..."
TAGGED AS: Democrats, Hillary Clinton, Phony, Politics, Socialism
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PERMANENT LINK2344.\\ Stunned and Disgusted
It is a dark day for America. I'm not a liberal democrat by any definition. But I have to confess that I find Obama's candidacy exciting and different. I'm disgusted that the clinton machine has steamrolled him in New Hampshire. Everything about the clintons oozes phoniness and greasy self-absorbed self-righteousness. There is nothing at all about their character that balances the complete lack of moral guidance and complete lack of personal integrity. I find them to be the embodiment of everything that is wrong with American politics.
In stark contrast is Barack Obama. He is inspiring. He is someone I like watching. I don't agree with a thing he says, but I find him to be such a phenom and harbinger of difference that I cannot for the life of me understand why ANYONE would wish to travel back in time to 1992 and relive the depressing self-absorption and obsessive me-generation of the clintonian years.
The crying fit did it, I'm told. And yet no matter how many times I watch that performance, I can't figure out how any self-respecting American can observe clinton in all her fakeness complain that life for her is hard and actually believe she is genuine. Nothing about the clintons is genuine. Any of the advisers that have spoken candidly about the clintons note as a primary character trait their complete lack of honesty and that every single word and action is political in nature. Everything she does is engineered to play on emotion or place a doubt or raise a hope. She is the definition of fake. I hate her with such a passion that I would become a citizen and vote for Obama if I thought it would mean that no one named clinton would ever occupy the White House again.
Shock. Disgust.
How can machine politics so decisively overcome and defeat such a wave of hope and optimism? I don't think I'll ever understand people who support the clintons. People who think of the 1990s as the halcyon days. I just don't understand people who think of the clinton years with nostalgia. It doesn't make any sense at all to me.
They just won't go away.
I fear for the Republic when a hillary clinton can defeat a Barack Obama.
Now we have to suffer through her irrepressible 'comeback kid' nonsense where she talks about how she's a real person who has a heart and deeply wants to make a difference and how she has 35 years of experience and blah blah blah. God help us all.
Technorati: ChrisCam, webcam, Weblog, Blog, hillary, Obama, New Hampshire
TAGGED AS: Barack Obama, Clintonian, Democrats, Disgust, Hillary Clinton, Phony, Politics, Self-Righteousness
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PERMANENT LINK2343.\\ Social Engineering Redux
I heard this on BBC World this morning and nearly shat myself: Put carbon tax on babies: academic says.
Does this smack of failed social engineering projects of the last century or what? It is very thinly veiled attempt to force human civilization into a box of robotic obedience to crackpot theories. It is a truly dystopian future that looms ahead if we are going to seriously put ecological well being ahead of human existence.
It is the latest in a string of theoretical nonsense that seeks to manage the relationship between population and consumption of resources. It is also frequently the realm of science fiction.
"The seeds of the Little War were planted in a restless summer during the mid-1960s, with sit-ins and student demonstrations as youth tested its strength. By the early 1970s over 75 percent of the people living on Earth were under 21 years of age. The population continued to climb -- and with it the youth percentage.
In the 1980s the figure was 79.7 percent.
In the 1990s, 82.4 percent.
In the year 2000 -- critical mass."
It is Last Day!
Technorati: ChrisCam, webcam, Weblog, Blog, greens, children, crackpot theories, social experiment, dystopian future, Logan's Run
TAGGED AS: 1984, BBC, Children, Environazis, Logan's Run, Socialism
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PERMANENT LINK2342.\\ My Thoughts Exactly
After a disheartening start to the day wherein I sat bewildered in front of The Morning Joe listening to a bizarre argument over waterboarding (replete with Junior High School -esque types of arguments), I was happy to get to work and read Dennis Ross' latest: The Can't-Win Kids
As usual, for me he has captured the essence of this issue. Unfortunately, the next time anyone takes Iran's nuclear program seriously will be as a mushroom cloud rises over Tel Aviv.
Technorati: ChrisCam, webcam, Weblog, Blog, Iran, nuclear weapons, Dennis Ross, The Media, George Bush
TAGGED AS: Bewilderment, Democrats, Dennis Ross, Disgust, Iran, MSNBC, Nuclear Weapons, The Media, Waterboarding
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