Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Want to keep your doctor under Obamacare? Follow the directions in this chart
Source: Joint Economic Committee and Senate Republican caucus
Obama compares unfavorably to big-spender Bush
Obama
While President Obama is fond of promoting what he calls a "new ethic of responsibility" - he named his first budget, for fiscal 2010, "A New Era of Responsibility - that is a misrepresentation of his actual budget plan. For each of Obama’s years in office, the deficit is projected to be larger than any year during Bush’s terms.
Barack Obama, the me, me, me, me, me president
"I had hoped that the President would find his inner republican upon ascension to the office. I have been disappointed. His speeches are too full of references to himself. His omnipresence suggests a disregard for the people's tolerance levels, as well as for the idea that ours is a limited government and we are entitled to enjoy our lives without these constant executive impositions. Additionally, I share Michael Gerson's sentiments regarding his address to the U.N., which was typical of other speeches he has given to the international community:
'Obama's rhetorical method in international contexts -- given supreme expression at the United Nations this week -- is a moral dialectic. The thesis: pre-Obama America is a nation of many flaws and failures. The antithesis: The world responds with understandable but misguided prejudice. The synthesis: Me. Me, at all costs; me, in spite of all terrors; me, however long and hard the road may be. How great a world we all should see, if only all were more like...me.
On several occasions, Obama attacked American conduct in simplistic caricatures a European diplomat might employ or applaud. He accused America of acing "unilaterally, without regard for the interests of others" -- a slander against every American ally who has made sacrifices in Iraq and Afghanistan. He argued that, "America has too often been selective in its promotion of democracy" -- which is hardly a challenge for the Obama administration, which has yet to make a priority of promoting democracy or human rights anywhere in the world.'"
'Obama's rhetorical method in international contexts -- given supreme expression at the United Nations this week -- is a moral dialectic. The thesis: pre-Obama America is a nation of many flaws and failures. The antithesis: The world responds with understandable but misguided prejudice. The synthesis: Me. Me, at all costs; me, in spite of all terrors; me, however long and hard the road may be. How great a world we all should see, if only all were more like...me.
On several occasions, Obama attacked American conduct in simplistic caricatures a European diplomat might employ or applaud. He accused America of acing "unilaterally, without regard for the interests of others" -- a slander against every American ally who has made sacrifices in Iraq and Afghanistan. He argued that, "America has too often been selective in its promotion of democracy" -- which is hardly a challenge for the Obama administration, which has yet to make a priority of promoting democracy or human rights anywhere in the world.'"
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
The adoration of Obama is done in by the reality
"The White House is a risky place for on-the-job training, as Barack Obama and the rest of us are learning. But the president doesn't deserve all the blame for the installation of a handsome but unprepared matinee idol in the toughest job in the world. The adoring cult, the 53 percent of the giddily oblivious electorate that took a flyer on Election Day, deserves most of it.
Matinee idols only do what matinee idols do, look pretty and inveigle softly with practiced seductiveness. Trouble arrives when the matinee idol and his public confuse role with reality. Reality arrives with the surprise and impact of a lemon-cream pie in the face."
(snip)
"There are signs that the Europeans, so eager only a year ago to march to the music of the piper from Hyde Park, are sobering up like the millions of independent voters who have stepped out of the parade in America. The buzz about Barack Obama at international conferences is no longer about how strong and artful he is in the presidential role, but how naive and artless reality has revealed him to be. President Nicolas Sarkozy of France is said to have told confidants that he thinks the American president is "weak."
Matinee idols only do what matinee idols do, look pretty and inveigle softly with practiced seductiveness. Trouble arrives when the matinee idol and his public confuse role with reality. Reality arrives with the surprise and impact of a lemon-cream pie in the face."
(snip)
"There are signs that the Europeans, so eager only a year ago to march to the music of the piper from Hyde Park, are sobering up like the millions of independent voters who have stepped out of the parade in America. The buzz about Barack Obama at international conferences is no longer about how strong and artful he is in the presidential role, but how naive and artless reality has revealed him to be. President Nicolas Sarkozy of France is said to have told confidants that he thinks the American president is "weak."
As the U.S. veers left, Europe's socialist-weary voters favor the right
"A specter is haunting Europe — the specter of Socialism’s slow collapse.
Even in the midst of one of the greatest challenges to capitalism in 75 years, involving a breakdown of the financial system due to “irrational exuberance,” greed and the weakness of regulatory systems, European Socialist parties and their left-wing cousins have not found a compelling response, let alone taken advantage of the right’s failures.
German voters clobbered the Social Democratic Party on Sunday, giving it only 23 percent of the vote, its worst performance since World War II.
Voters also punished left-leaning candidates in the summer’s European Parliament elections and trounced French Socialists in 2007. Where the left holds power, as in Spain and Britain, it is under attack. Where it is out, as in France, Italy and now Germany, it is divided and listless"
(snip).
"...it is Europe’s right, not left, that is setting its political agenda."
Even in the midst of one of the greatest challenges to capitalism in 75 years, involving a breakdown of the financial system due to “irrational exuberance,” greed and the weakness of regulatory systems, European Socialist parties and their left-wing cousins have not found a compelling response, let alone taken advantage of the right’s failures.
German voters clobbered the Social Democratic Party on Sunday, giving it only 23 percent of the vote, its worst performance since World War II.
Voters also punished left-leaning candidates in the summer’s European Parliament elections and trounced French Socialists in 2007. Where the left holds power, as in Spain and Britain, it is under attack. Where it is out, as in France, Italy and now Germany, it is divided and listless"
(snip).
"...it is Europe’s right, not left, that is setting its political agenda."
Obama's masks - eloquent orator, brilliant scholar, centrist, literary sensation - keep falling
"It is now abundantly clear that the image of Barack Obama sold to the American electorate was tightly edited, air-brushed, and exaggerated. He has worn a series of masks -- eloquent orator, brilliant scholar, centrist, and literary sensation. All of these masks are coming off as he copes with a job for which image will not suffice. For instance, hiding behind the eloquent orator mask is a guy who says "uhh" a lot when he is winging it, and who makes lots of factual and grammatical mistakes.
Now, thanks to Jack Cashill, the literary mask has been removed. Obama is a literary pretender. Case closed. The evidence is overwhelming that Bill Ayers ghost-wrote Dreams from my Father, the book which established Obama's pose as a brilliant writer (and therefore a fine mind, in the estimation of many). The stylistic resemblance between the Dreams and Ayers' work is stunning. Now we know, thanks to Chris Andersen's new book,that Obama hit a brick wall trying to fulfill his contract to produce a book, and shipped off his notes and tapes to Ayers. That is the classic description of a ghost writer's assignment. And it complete fits the theories Cashill had inferentially reasoned from the data of his literary studies.
The revelation that Chris Andersen had two separate sources means that this fact meets the journalistic standard of reliability, provided by a respected, established bestselling author. Obama's dismissal of Ayers as "just a guy in the neighborhood" has been shown to be an outright lie."
Now, thanks to Jack Cashill, the literary mask has been removed. Obama is a literary pretender. Case closed. The evidence is overwhelming that Bill Ayers ghost-wrote Dreams from my Father, the book which established Obama's pose as a brilliant writer (and therefore a fine mind, in the estimation of many). The stylistic resemblance between the Dreams and Ayers' work is stunning. Now we know, thanks to Chris Andersen's new book,that Obama hit a brick wall trying to fulfill his contract to produce a book, and shipped off his notes and tapes to Ayers. That is the classic description of a ghost writer's assignment. And it complete fits the theories Cashill had inferentially reasoned from the data of his literary studies.
The revelation that Chris Andersen had two separate sources means that this fact meets the journalistic standard of reliability, provided by a respected, established bestselling author. Obama's dismissal of Ayers as "just a guy in the neighborhood" has been shown to be an outright lie."
Monday, September 28, 2009
Still belive our lawmakers are sane? Read this
"When Sally Harpold bought cold medicine for her family back in March, she never dreamed that four months later she would end up in handcuffs.
Now, Harpold is trying to clear her name of criminal charges, and she is speaking out in hopes that a law will change so others won’t endure the same embarrassment she still is facing.
“This is a very traumatic experience,” Harpold said.
Harpold is a grandmother of triplets who bought one box of Zyrtec-D cold medicine for her husband at a Rockville pharmacy. Less than seven days later, she bought a box of Mucinex-D cold medicine for her adult daughter at a Clinton pharmacy, thereby purchasing 3.6 grams total of pseudoephedrine in a week’s time.
Those two purchases put her in violation of Indiana law 35-48-4-14.7, which restricts the sale of ephedrine and pseudoephedrine, or PSE, products to no more than 3.0 grams within any seven-day period.
When the police came knocking at the door of Harpold’s Parke County residence on July 30, she was arrested on a Vermillion County warrant for a class-C misdemeanor, which carries a sentence of up to 60 days in jail and up to a $500 fine."
Now, Harpold is trying to clear her name of criminal charges, and she is speaking out in hopes that a law will change so others won’t endure the same embarrassment she still is facing.
“This is a very traumatic experience,” Harpold said.
Harpold is a grandmother of triplets who bought one box of Zyrtec-D cold medicine for her husband at a Rockville pharmacy. Less than seven days later, she bought a box of Mucinex-D cold medicine for her adult daughter at a Clinton pharmacy, thereby purchasing 3.6 grams total of pseudoephedrine in a week’s time.
Those two purchases put her in violation of Indiana law 35-48-4-14.7, which restricts the sale of ephedrine and pseudoephedrine, or PSE, products to no more than 3.0 grams within any seven-day period.
When the police came knocking at the door of Harpold’s Parke County residence on July 30, she was arrested on a Vermillion County warrant for a class-C misdemeanor, which carries a sentence of up to 60 days in jail and up to a $500 fine."
This seems, intuitively, right on
"Some people seem to think that the president is taking time away from more important things to go to Copenhagen to lobby for Chicago to get the 2016 games. They're wrong. He is taking time away from more important things to go get the credit for bringing the Olympics to Chicago. Does anyone seriously believe that the president would take a quick trip to Copenhagen with the possibility of coming back empty-handed? If the president is going, it's because he knows that Chicago has already won. He's going."
Was Barack Obama's "Dreams from My Father" ghost-written by radical pal Bill Ayers?
"In his new book, "Barack and Michelle: Portrait of an American Marriage," Best-selling celebrity journalist, Christopher Andersen, has blown a huge hole in the Obama genius myth without intending to do so.
Relying on inside sources, quite possibly Michelle Obama herself, Andersen describes how Dreams came to be published -- just as I had envisioned it in my articles on the authorship of Dreams. With the deadline pressing, Michelle recommended that Barack seek advice from "his friend and Hyde Park neighbor Bill Ayers."
To flesh out his family history, Obama had taped interviews with various family members. Andersen writes, "These oral histories, along with a partial manuscript and a truckload of notes, were given to Ayers." Andersen quotes a Hyde Park neighbor, "Everyone knew they were friends and that they worked on various projects together. It was no secret. Why would it be? People liked them both."
Andersen continues, "In the end, Ayers's contribution to Barack's Dreams From My Father would be significant--so much so that the book's language, oddly specific references, literary devices, and themes would bear a jarring similarity to Ayers's own writing."
Relying on inside sources, quite possibly Michelle Obama herself, Andersen describes how Dreams came to be published -- just as I had envisioned it in my articles on the authorship of Dreams. With the deadline pressing, Michelle recommended that Barack seek advice from "his friend and Hyde Park neighbor Bill Ayers."
To flesh out his family history, Obama had taped interviews with various family members. Andersen writes, "These oral histories, along with a partial manuscript and a truckload of notes, were given to Ayers." Andersen quotes a Hyde Park neighbor, "Everyone knew they were friends and that they worked on various projects together. It was no secret. Why would it be? People liked them both."
Andersen continues, "In the end, Ayers's contribution to Barack's Dreams From My Father would be significant--so much so that the book's language, oddly specific references, literary devices, and themes would bear a jarring similarity to Ayers's own writing."
White House "safe schools czar" was strangely silent about child sex case
"A teacher was told by a 15-year-old high school sophomore that he was having homosexual sex with an "older man." At the very least, statutory rape occurred. Fox News reported that the teacher violated a state law requiring that he report the abuse. That former teacher, Kevin Jennings, is President Obama's "safe school czar." It's getting hard to keep track of all of this president's problematic appointments. Clearly, the process for vetting White House employees has broken down.
In this one case in which Mr. Jennings had a real chance to protect a young boy from a sexual predator, he not only failed to do what the law required but actually encouraged the relationship."
In this one case in which Mr. Jennings had a real chance to protect a young boy from a sexual predator, he not only failed to do what the law required but actually encouraged the relationship."
Ration the fixes, let the health care overhaul die
Only 41 percent of us still support the three-headed bill intended to hand one-sixth of the American economy, along with the power to decide who livs and who dies, over to President Obama and the deranged party he represents.
According to Rasmussen Reports, 56 percent of us are opposed.
While I would love to see the Demorats push on and, by hook or crook, enact the hideous thing, since this would speed the party's demise, caution is in order.
I suggest that the Democrats treat their health care, power grab bill the way they plan to treat your unfortunate grandmother, who is 101 and suffers from Parkinson's. Withhold the medicine and let her go guickly and gently into the good night.
According to Rasmussen Reports, 56 percent of us are opposed.
While I would love to see the Demorats push on and, by hook or crook, enact the hideous thing, since this would speed the party's demise, caution is in order.
I suggest that the Democrats treat their health care, power grab bill the way they plan to treat your unfortunate grandmother, who is 101 and suffers from Parkinson's. Withhold the medicine and let her go guickly and gently into the good night.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Obama often disdains free markets, but he has yet to win over U.S. voters or the Chinese government
Reprint of a post dated Monday, September 29, 2008
Do we want a command economy?
The most persuasive evidence that Barack Obama is unfit for the presidency is the frequency with which he deploys one phrase, "I will invest." The implication is inescapable. He plans to install a command economy. He will decide which path to the future is the right one.
This is not what the framers had in mind, nor is it the formula the United States has followed in building the world's mightiest economy.
The president did not tell the Wright brothers to build an airplane.
The president did not tell Thomas Edison to design a light bulb.
The president did not tell Henry Ford to build a car.
The president did not tell Jonas Salk to find a remedy for polio.
The president did not tell Babe Ruth to hit 60 home runs in a season.
Each of these pioneers saw a potential market and tried to accommodate it, confident that rewards would follow.
There have been many other pioneers, some driven by benevolent impulses, others by a desire to get rich. Some got lucky and stumbled across useful products while working on something else.
It is comonplace now, especially among leftists, to disparage wealth-seeking, but without it we wouldn't be where we are.
Paradoxically, it seems to be acceptable among leftists to stuff one's pockets if one is doing so in a government office. Executives of Fannie Mae hauled in tens of millions of dollars each in a few years, at times by cooking the books to inflate profits.
Where are the howls of outrage about this form of wealth-seeking?
In writing the constitution, the framers were influenced by the initial publication of Adam Smith's "The Wealth of Nations" in 1776. The book highlighted the role of free markets and laid the foundation for modern capitalism. Its principles are woven into the law of the land.
The book remains relevant today, as was pointed out by Robert Reich, secretary of Labor in the Clinton administration, who wrote this in an introduction: "Smith's mind ranged over issues as fresh and topical today as they were in the late 18th Century - jobs, wages, politics, government, trade, education, business and ethics."
Elections are, of course, free market principles applied to politics.
It is not hard to find examples of a command economy. Cuba is one. Zimbabwe is another. Russia was a superb example until its empire collapsed and it had to adapt to the modern competitive world.
As the empire teetered, Time sent correspondents to Russia to take the pulse of the people.
When asked to describe the Russian system, a blue-collar worker said, "We pretend to work and they pretend to pay us."
Posted by TheRightFieldLine at 9:10 AM
Labels: Adam Smith, economics, Obama, politics, U.S. constitution,
Update:
Eight months into his presidency, Obama has made good on my worst fears. Through legislation and executive actions he has demonstrated across-the-board contempt for free markets.
He seized control of General Motors and Chrysler, ram-rodded a $787 billion "stimulus" that is largely a gigantic pile of earmarks targeted for Democrat interest groups and has refused to even consider markets as an antidote to rising medical costs.
Through legislation, Obama could restore competition to the medical insurance industry by allowing companies to market their products across state lines. Instead, he has brushed the idea aside in favor of more government controls on medicine and medical insurance. One of his objectives is a new government insurance option, which could forego profits, operate at lower costs, and eventually drive private insurers out of business.
Even in authoritarian countries, such as China, however, free markets have important fans, and China now is likely to deprive Obama of one of his most prized objectives.
Taking advantage of low production costs, China has become a trading giant and is regularly adding new coal-fired power plants to its industrial base. China rejects any suggestion that it damage its competetive advantage by assessing a tax on carbon emissions.
In Washington, a cap and trade scheme that would impose such a carbon tax has been passed by the House and is pending before the Senate. If Obama continues to push the cap and trade bill, and the Senate goes along, the U.S. government will have handed the Chinese a significant price advantage in international markets, and U.S. companies will take another hit.
My bet: markets will prevail. Obama will be deprived of at least one of his two must-pass bills. The other must pass bill, an overhaul of health care, remains on life support. The voter market does not like the seemingly inevitable rationing of health care under the reform proposal.
Do we want a command economy?
The most persuasive evidence that Barack Obama is unfit for the presidency is the frequency with which he deploys one phrase, "I will invest." The implication is inescapable. He plans to install a command economy. He will decide which path to the future is the right one.
This is not what the framers had in mind, nor is it the formula the United States has followed in building the world's mightiest economy.
The president did not tell the Wright brothers to build an airplane.
The president did not tell Thomas Edison to design a light bulb.
The president did not tell Henry Ford to build a car.
The president did not tell Jonas Salk to find a remedy for polio.
The president did not tell Babe Ruth to hit 60 home runs in a season.
Each of these pioneers saw a potential market and tried to accommodate it, confident that rewards would follow.
There have been many other pioneers, some driven by benevolent impulses, others by a desire to get rich. Some got lucky and stumbled across useful products while working on something else.
It is comonplace now, especially among leftists, to disparage wealth-seeking, but without it we wouldn't be where we are.
Paradoxically, it seems to be acceptable among leftists to stuff one's pockets if one is doing so in a government office. Executives of Fannie Mae hauled in tens of millions of dollars each in a few years, at times by cooking the books to inflate profits.
Where are the howls of outrage about this form of wealth-seeking?
In writing the constitution, the framers were influenced by the initial publication of Adam Smith's "The Wealth of Nations" in 1776. The book highlighted the role of free markets and laid the foundation for modern capitalism. Its principles are woven into the law of the land.
The book remains relevant today, as was pointed out by Robert Reich, secretary of Labor in the Clinton administration, who wrote this in an introduction: "Smith's mind ranged over issues as fresh and topical today as they were in the late 18th Century - jobs, wages, politics, government, trade, education, business and ethics."
Elections are, of course, free market principles applied to politics.
It is not hard to find examples of a command economy. Cuba is one. Zimbabwe is another. Russia was a superb example until its empire collapsed and it had to adapt to the modern competitive world.
As the empire teetered, Time sent correspondents to Russia to take the pulse of the people.
When asked to describe the Russian system, a blue-collar worker said, "We pretend to work and they pretend to pay us."
Posted by TheRightFieldLine at 9:10 AM
Labels: Adam Smith, economics, Obama, politics, U.S. constitution,
Update:
Eight months into his presidency, Obama has made good on my worst fears. Through legislation and executive actions he has demonstrated across-the-board contempt for free markets.
He seized control of General Motors and Chrysler, ram-rodded a $787 billion "stimulus" that is largely a gigantic pile of earmarks targeted for Democrat interest groups and has refused to even consider markets as an antidote to rising medical costs.
Through legislation, Obama could restore competition to the medical insurance industry by allowing companies to market their products across state lines. Instead, he has brushed the idea aside in favor of more government controls on medicine and medical insurance. One of his objectives is a new government insurance option, which could forego profits, operate at lower costs, and eventually drive private insurers out of business.
Even in authoritarian countries, such as China, however, free markets have important fans, and China now is likely to deprive Obama of one of his most prized objectives.
Taking advantage of low production costs, China has become a trading giant and is regularly adding new coal-fired power plants to its industrial base. China rejects any suggestion that it damage its competetive advantage by assessing a tax on carbon emissions.
In Washington, a cap and trade scheme that would impose such a carbon tax has been passed by the House and is pending before the Senate. If Obama continues to push the cap and trade bill, and the Senate goes along, the U.S. government will have handed the Chinese a significant price advantage in international markets, and U.S. companies will take another hit.
My bet: markets will prevail. Obama will be deprived of at least one of his two must-pass bills. The other must pass bill, an overhaul of health care, remains on life support. The voter market does not like the seemingly inevitable rationing of health care under the reform proposal.
Saturday, September 26, 2009
As Dem attacks on American values intensify, party's fund raising languishes
"Democratic political committees have seen a decline in their fundraising fortunes this year, a result of complacency among their rank-and-file donors and a de facto boycott by many of their wealthiest givers, who have been put off by the party's harsh rhetoric about big business.
The trend is a marked reversal from recent history, in which Democrats have erased the GOP's long-standing fundraising advantage. In the first six months of 2009, Democratic campaign committees' receipts have dropped compared with the same period two years earlier.
The vast majority of those declines were accounted for by the absence of large donors who, strategists say, have shut their checkbooks in part because Democrats have heightened their attacks on the conduct of major financial firms and set their sights on rewriting the laws that regulate their behavior.
As the battle over President Obama's effort to overhaul the health-care system reached a fever pitch this summer, the three national Republican committees combined to bring in $1.7 million more than their Democratic counterparts in August. The pair of Democratic committees tasked with raising money for House and Senate candidates -- and doing so at a time when the party holds its strongest position on Capitol Hill in a generation -- have watched their receipts plummet by a combined 20 percent with little more than a year to go before the November 2010 midterm elections."
The trend is a marked reversal from recent history, in which Democrats have erased the GOP's long-standing fundraising advantage. In the first six months of 2009, Democratic campaign committees' receipts have dropped compared with the same period two years earlier.
The vast majority of those declines were accounted for by the absence of large donors who, strategists say, have shut their checkbooks in part because Democrats have heightened their attacks on the conduct of major financial firms and set their sights on rewriting the laws that regulate their behavior.
As the battle over President Obama's effort to overhaul the health-care system reached a fever pitch this summer, the three national Republican committees combined to bring in $1.7 million more than their Democratic counterparts in August. The pair of Democratic committees tasked with raising money for House and Senate candidates -- and doing so at a time when the party holds its strongest position on Capitol Hill in a generation -- have watched their receipts plummet by a combined 20 percent with little more than a year to go before the November 2010 midterm elections."
Obama's coattails may hang Creigh Deeds
"Not so long ago, Democrats were thrilled by the long length of Barack Obama's coattails. Creigh Deeds would be a lot more thrilled today if he could just step off.
Mr. Deeds is the Democratic state senator running for governor of Virginia, and while he's at it, running away from his commander in chief. It ought to worry Democrats that their top recruit for the year already views their Washington agenda as a liability. It ought to worry Mr. Deeds that there seems no escape.
The Virginian's problem is that he's a little too important to party leaders. The Obama White House isn't half as worried about what Virginia means for next year's elections as it is what Virginia means for this year's health fight. A wipeout in the Old Dominion could send Blue Dogs scampering for cover. If health care isn't done by Nov. 3, it may not get done. Mr. Obama needs Mr. Deeds to win."
Mr. Deeds is the Democratic state senator running for governor of Virginia, and while he's at it, running away from his commander in chief. It ought to worry Democrats that their top recruit for the year already views their Washington agenda as a liability. It ought to worry Mr. Deeds that there seems no escape.
The Virginian's problem is that he's a little too important to party leaders. The Obama White House isn't half as worried about what Virginia means for next year's elections as it is what Virginia means for this year's health fight. A wipeout in the Old Dominion could send Blue Dogs scampering for cover. If health care isn't done by Nov. 3, it may not get done. Mr. Obama needs Mr. Deeds to win."
A look at the U.S. debt bomb
"U.S. consumers have finally stopped borrowing more money each quarter. In fact, they're actually starting to reduce their debts.
If this process continues--if consumers get their debts down to reasonable levels--it will eventually make the country's primary economic engine, shoppers, stronger and more sustainable.
Meanwhile, however, the economy is being sustained by one huge borrower that is taking on debt faster than it has anytime since World War 2: The government. Government spending and government lending is REPLACING private spending and lending. And if it wasn't, the economy would have collapsed.
The government can't keep borrowing like this forever, though, or we'll become Argentina. So the hope is that consumers and businesses will start borrowing BEFORE the government has to get itself under control. The history of financial crises suggests that this transition is unlikely to be smooth."
If this process continues--if consumers get their debts down to reasonable levels--it will eventually make the country's primary economic engine, shoppers, stronger and more sustainable.
Meanwhile, however, the economy is being sustained by one huge borrower that is taking on debt faster than it has anytime since World War 2: The government. Government spending and government lending is REPLACING private spending and lending. And if it wasn't, the economy would have collapsed.
The government can't keep borrowing like this forever, though, or we'll become Argentina. So the hope is that consumers and businesses will start borrowing BEFORE the government has to get itself under control. The history of financial crises suggests that this transition is unlikely to be smooth."
Friday, September 25, 2009
UN best known for its "propensity for scandals"
"As we all know, or should know, the United Nations is an organization distinguished chiefly by its propensity for scandals, for which its hospitality is legendary: to name just a few, the Congo sex scandal, the Iraqi Oil-for-Food scandal, the $5.2 billion UNDP (United Nations Development Program) scandal involving hiring irregularities and violation of financial controls and competitive bidding rules, and its having allowed the North Korean regime to use its bank account to transfer funds and, according to the Heritage Foundation, “to facilitate payments to a company that has ties to an entity involved in arms dealings.”
But the greatest scandal of all in its general proceedings is its treatment of the state of Israel, to which it devotes fully one third of its condemnatory resolutions and which it consistently attempts to marginalize and exclude. A case in point: from 1947 to the present, the UN has passed 146 resolutions dealing with the plight of the Palestinian refugees but not one referring to the ordeal of an even greater number of Jewish refugees expelled from their homes in Arab countries."
But the greatest scandal of all in its general proceedings is its treatment of the state of Israel, to which it devotes fully one third of its condemnatory resolutions and which it consistently attempts to marginalize and exclude. A case in point: from 1947 to the present, the UN has passed 146 resolutions dealing with the plight of the Palestinian refugees but not one referring to the ordeal of an even greater number of Jewish refugees expelled from their homes in Arab countries."
Barack Obama has just auditioned for a new grandiose role on the world stage
Having captured the U.S. presidency despite an accomplishment-free record, Barack Obama is now auditioning for a more grandiose future despite repeated missteps and failures in the Oval Office.
He is, in other words, a recidivist. Why not go for it? It's been working.
From the day he took the oath of office, Obama has repeatedly made clear that his primary audience is not the American electorate, but the wider world. He is a globalist. His apology tours were a signal to other globalists that he is one of them.
Now he has become the first American president to preside over the United Nations Security Council, another step in his ascension to worldwide adoration and office.
Trouble is, no office exists that would accommodate Obama's grandiosity. So, he'll have to see to it that one is established in the next few years, before his outlandish tenure as president runs its preposterous course. That project is now under way.
Both of Obama's must-pass proposals, overhaul of the U.S. health care system and demotion of the sun from its historic place as regulator of temperatures, are on life-support. His feverish, do this yesterday, style is mocked. His voter base is dwindling.
In response, Obama is turning his attention to the next stage - grandiosity on an international stage. This will necessarily entail a diminution of the influence and power of the United States. If you haven't noticed, Obama has already begun working on that.
The United States will have to relinquish status, influence and power so that the status, influence and power of an international organization - say, the United Nations - can be built up. To dedicated power seekers, such as Obama, power is a zero sum game. The United Sates has to be diminished in order that the UN be built up. And the UN must be built up so that it can accommodate the grandiosity of Barack Obama.
It's time for conservatives to derail Obama's strategy of upward failure. Here is a road map.
Obama has carefully cultivated stronger ties to the muslim world. But the United States remains largely Christian and anglo, and is just now breaking up another array of muslim terrorist schemes to blow up buildings and subways and kill Americans.
Republicans should call for a freeze on muslim immigration, and should push that issue especially hard in conservative congressional districts currently represented by blue dog Democrats. This will appeal broadly to conservatives and others who are upset not only by Obama's stance but by the fecklessness of the Bush administation in refusing to enforce immigration laws.
Moreover, such a call would force Obama to oppose it, identifying himself with pro-muslim, internationalist forces.that are viewed with suspicion, even contempt, by many American voters.
If, some day, the UN calls on Obama to become secretary-general of that organization, Republicans and conservatives should applaud the appointment with gusto.
The day after Obama is seated, the United States should stop paying dues and start withdrawing from the United Nations. UN potentates will then have to reassess the importance of the country that pays most of the bloated salaries they receive for staging lavish international conferences in poverty-stricken African countries.
He is, in other words, a recidivist. Why not go for it? It's been working.
From the day he took the oath of office, Obama has repeatedly made clear that his primary audience is not the American electorate, but the wider world. He is a globalist. His apology tours were a signal to other globalists that he is one of them.
Now he has become the first American president to preside over the United Nations Security Council, another step in his ascension to worldwide adoration and office.
Trouble is, no office exists that would accommodate Obama's grandiosity. So, he'll have to see to it that one is established in the next few years, before his outlandish tenure as president runs its preposterous course. That project is now under way.
Both of Obama's must-pass proposals, overhaul of the U.S. health care system and demotion of the sun from its historic place as regulator of temperatures, are on life-support. His feverish, do this yesterday, style is mocked. His voter base is dwindling.
In response, Obama is turning his attention to the next stage - grandiosity on an international stage. This will necessarily entail a diminution of the influence and power of the United States. If you haven't noticed, Obama has already begun working on that.
The United States will have to relinquish status, influence and power so that the status, influence and power of an international organization - say, the United Nations - can be built up. To dedicated power seekers, such as Obama, power is a zero sum game. The United Sates has to be diminished in order that the UN be built up. And the UN must be built up so that it can accommodate the grandiosity of Barack Obama.
It's time for conservatives to derail Obama's strategy of upward failure. Here is a road map.
Obama has carefully cultivated stronger ties to the muslim world. But the United States remains largely Christian and anglo, and is just now breaking up another array of muslim terrorist schemes to blow up buildings and subways and kill Americans.
Republicans should call for a freeze on muslim immigration, and should push that issue especially hard in conservative congressional districts currently represented by blue dog Democrats. This will appeal broadly to conservatives and others who are upset not only by Obama's stance but by the fecklessness of the Bush administation in refusing to enforce immigration laws.
Moreover, such a call would force Obama to oppose it, identifying himself with pro-muslim, internationalist forces.that are viewed with suspicion, even contempt, by many American voters.
If, some day, the UN calls on Obama to become secretary-general of that organization, Republicans and conservatives should applaud the appointment with gusto.
The day after Obama is seated, the United States should stop paying dues and start withdrawing from the United Nations. UN potentates will then have to reassess the importance of the country that pays most of the bloated salaries they receive for staging lavish international conferences in poverty-stricken African countries.
Obama is giving $400,000 of your money to Qaddafi
"The Obama administration has notified Congress of the State Department's intention to contribute $400,000 to foundations run by Muammar Qaddafi's two children — $200,000 each for daughter Aisha and son Saif. Saif, you may recall, is the son who escorted the Lockerbie terrorist Abdel Baset al-Megrahi home to a hero's welcome in Libya after President Obama sternly "warned" Qaddafi that there was to be no hero's welcome.
Illinois Republican congressman Mark Steven Kirk (House Appropriations Subcommittee on State/Foreign Operations) has sent Obama a letter asking him to rescind the funding.
Could somebody please tell this president that this is not just Annenberg Foundation cash he's passing out to his personal terrorist pals like Bill Ayers but American taxpayer dollars he's doling out to the terrorist tyrant behind the murder — in just that one incident — of 270 people, including 189 Americans.
Just 40 months to go. God help us."
Illinois Republican congressman Mark Steven Kirk (House Appropriations Subcommittee on State/Foreign Operations) has sent Obama a letter asking him to rescind the funding.
Could somebody please tell this president that this is not just Annenberg Foundation cash he's passing out to his personal terrorist pals like Bill Ayers but American taxpayer dollars he's doling out to the terrorist tyrant behind the murder — in just that one incident — of 270 people, including 189 Americans.
Just 40 months to go. God help us."
Thursday, September 24, 2009
If China, Japan stop buying U.S. bonds "it's almost Armagedden"
"The US is too dependent on Japan and China buying up the country's debt and could face severe economic problems if that stops, Tiger Management founder and chairman Julian Robertson told CNBC.
"It's almost Armageddon if the Japanese and Chinese don't buy our debt,” Robertson said in an interview. "I don't know where we could get the money. I think we've let ourselves get in a terrible situation and I think we ought to try and get out of it."
Robertson said inflation is a big risk if foreign countries were to stop buying bonds.
If the Chinese and Japanese stop buying our bonds, we could easily see [inflation] go to 15 to 20 percent,” he said. “It's not a question of the economy. It's a question of who will lend us the money if they don't. Imagine us getting ourselves in a situation where we're totally dependent on those two countries. It's crazy.”
"It's almost Armageddon if the Japanese and Chinese don't buy our debt,” Robertson said in an interview. "I don't know where we could get the money. I think we've let ourselves get in a terrible situation and I think we ought to try and get out of it."
Robertson said inflation is a big risk if foreign countries were to stop buying bonds.
If the Chinese and Japanese stop buying our bonds, we could easily see [inflation] go to 15 to 20 percent,” he said. “It's not a question of the economy. It's a question of who will lend us the money if they don't. Imagine us getting ourselves in a situation where we're totally dependent on those two countries. It's crazy.”
Independent voters turn against Obama
"Independent voters are turning away from President Obama and his fellow Democrats in droves. And if they can't find a way to get them back, the party could be in deep trouble for 2010 and beyond.
Independents gave Obama the White House last year with a vote for pragmatic competence. They have been repaid with partisanship and dithering. And unlike liberals who Obama has quickly re-energized after their summer doldrums, independents are devilishly hard to win back once they lose faith.
The latest Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll, the Rolls-Royce of public surveys, showed that for the first time, independents disapproved of the president's performance, 46 percent to 41 percent."
Independents gave Obama the White House last year with a vote for pragmatic competence. They have been repaid with partisanship and dithering. And unlike liberals who Obama has quickly re-energized after their summer doldrums, independents are devilishly hard to win back once they lose faith.
The latest Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll, the Rolls-Royce of public surveys, showed that for the first time, independents disapproved of the president's performance, 46 percent to 41 percent."
"The foreclosure wave is hotter than ever"
"All signs point to a new flood of real estate foreclosures that no amount of government sandbagging will prevent. Sources of trouble:
• A record 7.58 percent of U.S. homeowners with mortgages were at least 30 days late on payments in August, says Equifax, up from 7.32 percent in July. Delinquencies are not only rising from month to month, but rising at a faster pace. More than 41 percent of subprime mortgages are delinquent. (That's quite an increase from 2007, when I took heart from the fact that only 10 percent of subprime mortgages were in default. But, well, at least the glass is still more than half full, right?)
• About 1.2 million loans out there are in limbo: The borrower is in serious default yet the bank has not started the foreclosure process. Another 1.5 million are in early stages of the foreclosure process but the bank hasn't yet taken possession of the home. Counting these and loans that are highly likely to end up in default, one analyst estimates three million to four million foreclosed homes will come on the market over the next few years. And don't believe the freshwater economists when they tell you there's no such thing as a free lunch: Some 217,000 Americans have not made a mortgage payment in one full calendar year, but their lenders have yet to begin the foreclosure process.
(snip)
Put it all together, and throw in mainstream media outlets that as recently as June were calling for mortgage haircuts specifically to allow people to keep borrowing against their houses, and you've got the mother of all perfect storms mixed with the crack cocaine of third rails on steroids. The foreclosure wave may seem all tired and 2008, but it's hotter than ever."
• A record 7.58 percent of U.S. homeowners with mortgages were at least 30 days late on payments in August, says Equifax, up from 7.32 percent in July. Delinquencies are not only rising from month to month, but rising at a faster pace. More than 41 percent of subprime mortgages are delinquent. (That's quite an increase from 2007, when I took heart from the fact that only 10 percent of subprime mortgages were in default. But, well, at least the glass is still more than half full, right?)
• About 1.2 million loans out there are in limbo: The borrower is in serious default yet the bank has not started the foreclosure process. Another 1.5 million are in early stages of the foreclosure process but the bank hasn't yet taken possession of the home. Counting these and loans that are highly likely to end up in default, one analyst estimates three million to four million foreclosed homes will come on the market over the next few years. And don't believe the freshwater economists when they tell you there's no such thing as a free lunch: Some 217,000 Americans have not made a mortgage payment in one full calendar year, but their lenders have yet to begin the foreclosure process.
(snip)
Put it all together, and throw in mainstream media outlets that as recently as June were calling for mortgage haircuts specifically to allow people to keep borrowing against their houses, and you've got the mother of all perfect storms mixed with the crack cocaine of third rails on steroids. The foreclosure wave may seem all tired and 2008, but it's hotter than ever."
Where's the milk? The question of animal rights, revisited
"If animals could talk, a few cows in Burlington County might ask state legislators to hurry up and outlaw bestiality.
During a bizarre hearing there yesterday, a Superior Court judge dismissed animal-cruelty charges against a Moorestown police officer accused of sticking his penis into the mouths of five calves in rural Southampton in 2006, claiming a grand jury couldn't infer whether the cows had been "tormented" or "puzzled" by the situation or even irritated that they'd been duped out of a meal.
"If the cow had the cognitive ability to form thought and speak, would it say, 'Where's the milk? I'm not getting any milk,' " Judge James J. Morley asked.
Children, Morley said, seemed "comforted" when given pacifiers, but there's no way to know what bovine minds thought of Robert Melia Jr. substituting his member for a cow's teat.
"They [children] enjoy the act of suckling," the judge said. "Cows may be of a different disposition."
Burlington County Assistant County Prosecutor Kevin Morgan was certainly irritated by the ruling, claiming the grand jury didn't see the videos of the alleged incident, including one in which one hungry calf allegedly head-butts Melia in the stomach.
"I think any reasonable juror could infer that a man's penis in the mouth of a calf is torment," Morgan argued. "It's a crime against nature."
During a bizarre hearing there yesterday, a Superior Court judge dismissed animal-cruelty charges against a Moorestown police officer accused of sticking his penis into the mouths of five calves in rural Southampton in 2006, claiming a grand jury couldn't infer whether the cows had been "tormented" or "puzzled" by the situation or even irritated that they'd been duped out of a meal.
"If the cow had the cognitive ability to form thought and speak, would it say, 'Where's the milk? I'm not getting any milk,' " Judge James J. Morley asked.
Children, Morley said, seemed "comforted" when given pacifiers, but there's no way to know what bovine minds thought of Robert Melia Jr. substituting his member for a cow's teat.
"They [children] enjoy the act of suckling," the judge said. "Cows may be of a different disposition."
Burlington County Assistant County Prosecutor Kevin Morgan was certainly irritated by the ruling, claiming the grand jury didn't see the videos of the alleged incident, including one in which one hungry calf allegedly head-butts Melia in the stomach.
"I think any reasonable juror could infer that a man's penis in the mouth of a calf is torment," Morgan argued. "It's a crime against nature."
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
A call for a diagnosis of Sen. Robert Byrd, 91 and in poor health, by Dr. Death - Ezekiel Emanuel
"Senator Byrd's been in very poor health the past year and has only been able to make the Senate floor a few times the past session. He's back in the hospital now, and at 91 is surely having a tough time fighting old age maladies.
I can't help but wonder what the current health care proposals of the Dems would do if applied to Sen. Byrd's health problems the past few years. If he were an ordinary citizen, would his care be rationed or declared unnecessary because of age or life expectancy? What would the death panels say? At 91, how many "quality" years would they forecast he has left? Spend the money or thumbs down? It's a legitimate question."
I can't help but wonder what the current health care proposals of the Dems would do if applied to Sen. Byrd's health problems the past few years. If he were an ordinary citizen, would his care be rationed or declared unnecessary because of age or life expectancy? What would the death panels say? At 91, how many "quality" years would they forecast he has left? Spend the money or thumbs down? It's a legitimate question."
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Playing defense against feds, dozens of states pursue sovereignty
"There is a growing movement on the part of states to override federal laws and regulations under the 10th Amendment of the Constitution, which reserves powers not delegated to the federal government to the states. So far, the battle lines have been drawn at Real ID, medical marijuana and firearms, but federally mandated health insurance may not be far behind.
State sovereignty resolutions were introduced in 37 states this year; seven passed. Although the resolutions are not legally binding, Tenth Amendment Center founder Michael Boldin says they "serve notice" that states will no longer automatically enforce federal mandates in areas they believe the central government has no constitutional authority.
Montana's first-in-the-nation law reasserting state authority over the regulation of firearms manufactured and sold within state boundaries was soon followed by a similar law in Tennessee. Officials from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives have already sent letters to gun dealers and federal permit holders in both states, telling them to ignore the state law. A court battle is next.
Nearly 20 other states have similar legislation in the works, including directives to their governors to order National Guard troops home from Iraq and Afghanistan. Next year, Arizona will have a state constitutional amendment on the ballot that allows state citizens to opt out of any national health care program."
State sovereignty resolutions were introduced in 37 states this year; seven passed. Although the resolutions are not legally binding, Tenth Amendment Center founder Michael Boldin says they "serve notice" that states will no longer automatically enforce federal mandates in areas they believe the central government has no constitutional authority.
Montana's first-in-the-nation law reasserting state authority over the regulation of firearms manufactured and sold within state boundaries was soon followed by a similar law in Tennessee. Officials from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives have already sent letters to gun dealers and federal permit holders in both states, telling them to ignore the state law. A court battle is next.
Nearly 20 other states have similar legislation in the works, including directives to their governors to order National Guard troops home from Iraq and Afghanistan. Next year, Arizona will have a state constitutional amendment on the ballot that allows state citizens to opt out of any national health care program."
Did you unwittingly give to Obama's campaign through bailouts of defrauded banks
Are you one of those who think President Obama poses a threat to the future of the United States?
Are you one of those who attended Tea Party protests against reckless government spending?
Here's more bad news: you may have unwittingly financed Obama's presidential campaign.
News broke Tuesday morning that Hassan Nemazee had been indicted for defrauding Bank of America, Citibank and HSBC of at least $290 million. He is accused of falsifying documents and signatures to purportedly show he had hundreds of millions worth of collateral.
The U.S. Attorney in Manhattan and the FBI said he used the proceeds of the loans to make donations to the election campaigns of federal, state and local candidates, donations to political action committees and charities.
Nemazee, 59, typically donates more than $100,000 annually to Democratic political candidates. He is listed as one of the top "bundlers" of contributions to Obama's 2008 presidential campaign, according to OpenSecrets.org, a website run by the Center for Responsive Politics research group.
This is where you come in. The U.S. government bailed out Bank of America to the tune of $15 billion, and Citibank to the tune of $25 billion. HSBC also received a bailout, but the amount couldnot be immediately determined.
"For more than 10 years, Hassan Nemazee projected the illusion of wealth, stealing more than $290 million so that he could lead a lavish lifestyle and play the part of heavyweight political fundraiser," U. S. Attorney Preet Bharara in Manhattan said in a statement.
Nemazee was arrested at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey on August 23 as he was checking in for a flight to Italy, according to court papers. He was released on bail.
Are you one of those who attended Tea Party protests against reckless government spending?
Here's more bad news: you may have unwittingly financed Obama's presidential campaign.
News broke Tuesday morning that Hassan Nemazee had been indicted for defrauding Bank of America, Citibank and HSBC of at least $290 million. He is accused of falsifying documents and signatures to purportedly show he had hundreds of millions worth of collateral.
The U.S. Attorney in Manhattan and the FBI said he used the proceeds of the loans to make donations to the election campaigns of federal, state and local candidates, donations to political action committees and charities.
Nemazee, 59, typically donates more than $100,000 annually to Democratic political candidates. He is listed as one of the top "bundlers" of contributions to Obama's 2008 presidential campaign, according to OpenSecrets.org, a website run by the Center for Responsive Politics research group.
This is where you come in. The U.S. government bailed out Bank of America to the tune of $15 billion, and Citibank to the tune of $25 billion. HSBC also received a bailout, but the amount couldnot be immediately determined.
"For more than 10 years, Hassan Nemazee projected the illusion of wealth, stealing more than $290 million so that he could lead a lavish lifestyle and play the part of heavyweight political fundraiser," U. S. Attorney Preet Bharara in Manhattan said in a statement.
Nemazee was arrested at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey on August 23 as he was checking in for a flight to Italy, according to court papers. He was released on bail.
Big Dem contributor indicted in $290 million fraud
Hassan Nemazee, a fund-raiser for Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and other Democrats, has been indicted for defrauding Bank of America, HSBC and Citigroup Inc out of more than $290 million in loan proceeds, U.S. prosecutors said on Monday.
The announcement follows last month's indictment of Nemazee, head of a private equity firm and an Iranian American Political Action Committee board member, on one count of defrauding Citigroup's Citibank.
The new indictment adds allegations that he defrauded two other banks, Bank of America and HSBC Bank USA, in a similar fashion by falsifying documents and signatures to purportedly show he had hundreds of millions worth of collateral.
The office of the U.S. Attorney in Manhattan and the FBI said he used the proceeds of his scheme to make donations to election campaigns of federal, state and local candidates, donations to political action committees and charities.
The announcement follows last month's indictment of Nemazee, head of a private equity firm and an Iranian American Political Action Committee board member, on one count of defrauding Citigroup's Citibank.
The new indictment adds allegations that he defrauded two other banks, Bank of America and HSBC Bank USA, in a similar fashion by falsifying documents and signatures to purportedly show he had hundreds of millions worth of collateral.
The office of the U.S. Attorney in Manhattan and the FBI said he used the proceeds of his scheme to make donations to election campaigns of federal, state and local candidates, donations to political action committees and charities.
Obama's energy secretary insults Americans
When it comes to greenhouse-gas emissions, Energy Secretary Steven Chu sees Americans as unruly teenagers and the Administration as the parent that will have to teach them a few lessons.
Speaking on the sidelines of a smart grid conference in Washington, Dr. Chu said he didn’t think average folks had the know-how or will to to change their behavior enough to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions.
“The American public…just like your teenage kids, aren’t acting in a way that they should act,” Dr. Chu said. “The American public has to really understand in their core how important this issue is.” (In that case, the Energy Department has a few renegade teens of its own.)
(snip)
An update: Energy Department spokesman Dan Leistikow added: “Secretary Chu was not comparing the public to teenagers. He was saying that we need to educate teenagers about ways to save energy. He also recognized the need to educate the broader public about how important clean energy industries are to our competitive position in the global economy. He believes public officials do have an obligation to make their case to the American people on major legislation, and that’s what he’s doing.”
Speaking on the sidelines of a smart grid conference in Washington, Dr. Chu said he didn’t think average folks had the know-how or will to to change their behavior enough to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions.
“The American public…just like your teenage kids, aren’t acting in a way that they should act,” Dr. Chu said. “The American public has to really understand in their core how important this issue is.” (In that case, the Energy Department has a few renegade teens of its own.)
(snip)
An update: Energy Department spokesman Dan Leistikow added: “Secretary Chu was not comparing the public to teenagers. He was saying that we need to educate teenagers about ways to save energy. He also recognized the need to educate the broader public about how important clean energy industries are to our competitive position in the global economy. He believes public officials do have an obligation to make their case to the American people on major legislation, and that’s what he’s doing.”
Monday, September 21, 2009
Killing granny: the self-styled elite reach the abyss
"A virulent moral blindness has seized hold of a substantial slice of America's educated elite. Convinced they know better, they argue for a shallow, illogical, and horrifying vision of people as disposable.
I was wrong last week when I declared that Newsweek's cover showing a baby next to a headline declaring that we're all born racist was evidence that the mainstream media had hit bottom and destroyed itself. It was intellectual arrogance on my part that led me to underestimate the determination of Newsweek's editors to find new deeper bottoms to hit.
This week's Newsweek cover exceeds the sheer breathtaking ugliness of last week's cover: "The Case for Killing Granny." Alongside a photo of an electrical plug. The cover story is penned by Evan Thomas, (Andover, Harvard, Virginia Law), currently teaching at Princeton, alongside Peter Singer, who believes newborn infants can be killed because they lack "rationality, autonomy, and self-consciousness" and thus don't qualify for personhood."
I was wrong last week when I declared that Newsweek's cover showing a baby next to a headline declaring that we're all born racist was evidence that the mainstream media had hit bottom and destroyed itself. It was intellectual arrogance on my part that led me to underestimate the determination of Newsweek's editors to find new deeper bottoms to hit.
This week's Newsweek cover exceeds the sheer breathtaking ugliness of last week's cover: "The Case for Killing Granny." Alongside a photo of an electrical plug. The cover story is penned by Evan Thomas, (Andover, Harvard, Virginia Law), currently teaching at Princeton, alongside Peter Singer, who believes newborn infants can be killed because they lack "rationality, autonomy, and self-consciousness" and thus don't qualify for personhood."
Announcing the Generational Theft Calculator
Just starting your career?
The bad news is that you will pay $150,000 during your working life just to pay off that ugly stimulus bill, a thinly disguised payoff to Democrat interest groups.
This is one of the first findings of the Generational Theft Calculator devised for Pajamas TV. For a look, click on the headline link of this blog post.
The bad news is that you will pay $150,000 during your working life just to pay off that ugly stimulus bill, a thinly disguised payoff to Democrat interest groups.
This is one of the first findings of the Generational Theft Calculator devised for Pajamas TV. For a look, click on the headline link of this blog post.
Just in time: A 12-step program for racists
1. We are powerless over racism. We are white. It's in our DNA, and it's on display from infancy. Unpublished scientific studies show that when presented with a white ball and a black ball, the white infant will choose the white ball 99% of the time. In contrast, the black infant will choose the black ball exactly 50% of the time. To the black infant no race is preferable over another. It's in his DNA. The only known exception is the Reverend Jeremiah Wright. When presented with a black ball and a white ball the infant Jeremiah chose the black ball 100% of the time. Indeed, when he was strong enough, he picked up the black ball with both hands and used it to smash the white ball into pieces.
Michelle Malkin on Citibank-ACORN mortgage scam
"GOP California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger now wants an investigation. But neither the Terminator nor any other California public official raised a peep when the very same San Diego ACORN office publicly announced a partnership with Citibank to secure home loans for illegal aliens.
In 2005, Citibank and ACORN Housing Corporation — which received tens of millions of tax dollars under the Bush administration alone — began recruiting Mexican illegal aliens for a lucrative program offering loans with below-market interest rates, down-payment assistance and no mortgage insurance requirements. Instead of the Social Security numbers required of law-abiding citizens, the program allows illegal alien applicants to supply loosely monitored tax identification numbers issued by the IRS.
The San Diego Union-Tribune reported that "undocumented residents" comprise a vast market representing a potential sum of "$44 billion in mortgages." Citibank enlarged its portfolio of subprime and other risky loans. ACORN enlarged its membership rolls. The program now operates in Miami; New York City; Jersey City, N.J.; Baltimore; Washington, D.C.; Chicago; Bridgeport, Conn.; and at all of ACORN Housing's 12 California offices.
San Diego ACORN officials advised illegal alien recruits that their bank partners would take applicants who had little or no credit, or even "nontraditional records of credit, such as utility payments and documentation of private loan payments."
The risk the banks bear is the price they pay to keep ACORN protesters and Hispanic lobbyists from the National Council of La Raza screaming about "predatory lending" off their backs. These professional grievance-mongers have turned the 1977 Community Reinvestment Act — which forced lenders to sacrifice underwriting standards for "diversity" — into lucrative "business" opportunities. Or rather, politically correct blackmail."
In 2005, Citibank and ACORN Housing Corporation — which received tens of millions of tax dollars under the Bush administration alone — began recruiting Mexican illegal aliens for a lucrative program offering loans with below-market interest rates, down-payment assistance and no mortgage insurance requirements. Instead of the Social Security numbers required of law-abiding citizens, the program allows illegal alien applicants to supply loosely monitored tax identification numbers issued by the IRS.
The San Diego Union-Tribune reported that "undocumented residents" comprise a vast market representing a potential sum of "$44 billion in mortgages." Citibank enlarged its portfolio of subprime and other risky loans. ACORN enlarged its membership rolls. The program now operates in Miami; New York City; Jersey City, N.J.; Baltimore; Washington, D.C.; Chicago; Bridgeport, Conn.; and at all of ACORN Housing's 12 California offices.
San Diego ACORN officials advised illegal alien recruits that their bank partners would take applicants who had little or no credit, or even "nontraditional records of credit, such as utility payments and documentation of private loan payments."
The risk the banks bear is the price they pay to keep ACORN protesters and Hispanic lobbyists from the National Council of La Raza screaming about "predatory lending" off their backs. These professional grievance-mongers have turned the 1977 Community Reinvestment Act — which forced lenders to sacrifice underwriting standards for "diversity" — into lucrative "business" opportunities. Or rather, politically correct blackmail."
Obamacare is a tax disguised as insurance reform
"This bill is designed to force healthy people who don't have health insurance -- and may neither need nor want it -- to buy it anyway, in order to raise the money to subsidize those who do need it.
Obama has pledged only to increase taxes on the rich. But his program essentially taxes the core of the middle class (those making $30,000 to $80,000). It will make them overpay in order to pick up the slack for others who need the extra coverage.
In other words, health-care "reform" is a health-care tax dressed up as a program to cover the uninsured.
No matter how Democrats get the money to cover those who need insurance, they offend supporters that they need to pass the bill: "
Obama has pledged only to increase taxes on the rich. But his program essentially taxes the core of the middle class (those making $30,000 to $80,000). It will make them overpay in order to pick up the slack for others who need the extra coverage.
In other words, health-care "reform" is a health-care tax dressed up as a program to cover the uninsured.
No matter how Democrats get the money to cover those who need insurance, they offend supporters that they need to pass the bill: "
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Frank Luntz: Barack Obama, the new face of Washington, is disliked because of that fact
"As the former leader of the free world, Jimmy Carter deserves our respect. As a political analyst - attributing racism to the anger at President Obama - he is irresponsibly inaccurate.
Obama's popularity hasn't tumbled because he's black. It's tumbled because he has come to represent Washington instead of those who sent him there.
I know this because of a 6,400-person interview survey I conducted for my new book "What Americans Really Want ... Really." I sat down to write this book, conduct the poll and insisted that the second "really" be included in the title because I was fed up with opinion elites who ascribe opinions to Americans that simply do not exist.
The latest flareup over supposed racism is only the most recent example. America certainly isn't perfect, but as a society, we are intolerant of intolerance, and we'll immediately demonize anyone, anywhere who tries to play the race card. Just ask Bill Clinton.
The real reason why 72% of the people I interviewed say that they're "mad as hell and they're not going to take it anymore" has nothing to do with racism. No, their rage is about a lack of accountability, a lack of respect, and a lack of progress in the nation's capital."
Obama's popularity hasn't tumbled because he's black. It's tumbled because he has come to represent Washington instead of those who sent him there.
I know this because of a 6,400-person interview survey I conducted for my new book "What Americans Really Want ... Really." I sat down to write this book, conduct the poll and insisted that the second "really" be included in the title because I was fed up with opinion elites who ascribe opinions to Americans that simply do not exist.
The latest flareup over supposed racism is only the most recent example. America certainly isn't perfect, but as a society, we are intolerant of intolerance, and we'll immediately demonize anyone, anywhere who tries to play the race card. Just ask Bill Clinton.
The real reason why 72% of the people I interviewed say that they're "mad as hell and they're not going to take it anymore" has nothing to do with racism. No, their rage is about a lack of accountability, a lack of respect, and a lack of progress in the nation's capital."
If Jimmy Carter is the "national hemmorrhoid," what malfunction does Barack Obama represent?
"Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney reflects conservatives' growing confidence when he taunts Democrats, saying "I'll bet you never dreamed you'd look back at Jimmy Carter as the good old days."
Republicans at the Values Voter Summit Saturday talked of a growing political rebellion in the country, even as they acknowledged Democrats currently have the upper hand.
Romney recalled the euphoria among Democrats at the time President Barack Obama was elected.
'A year ago, there were quite a few people who were ready to write off this movement. They were enthralled by Barack Obama's promise of near-Biblical transformations,' Romney said in comments prepared for Saturday's meeting. 'Well, he can still spin a speech, but he can't spin his record.'"
My take: I think ridicule should play a prominent role in the effort to take down Barack Obama and the Democrats. After all, when have we seen such madcap power grabbing? Such outlandish overreaching,? Such relentless lying? Such buffoons pretending to restore order to a country that actually was going pretty well before dim-witted polticians like themselves screwed things up.
Rush Limbaugh showed the way with his takedown of Jimmy Carter, referring to the hapless former president as "the national hemmorrhoid," an insult befitting Carter's multi-layered incompetence.
There have been a few stabs at mockery of Obama - the "half-black prince" was one I liked - but nothing has stuck so far.
This is a great and noble cause. It deserves memorable mockery. Not to mention that mockery has a long and storied history as a tactic in American politics. Let the arrows fly.
Republicans at the Values Voter Summit Saturday talked of a growing political rebellion in the country, even as they acknowledged Democrats currently have the upper hand.
Romney recalled the euphoria among Democrats at the time President Barack Obama was elected.
'A year ago, there were quite a few people who were ready to write off this movement. They were enthralled by Barack Obama's promise of near-Biblical transformations,' Romney said in comments prepared for Saturday's meeting. 'Well, he can still spin a speech, but he can't spin his record.'"
My take: I think ridicule should play a prominent role in the effort to take down Barack Obama and the Democrats. After all, when have we seen such madcap power grabbing? Such outlandish overreaching,? Such relentless lying? Such buffoons pretending to restore order to a country that actually was going pretty well before dim-witted polticians like themselves screwed things up.
Rush Limbaugh showed the way with his takedown of Jimmy Carter, referring to the hapless former president as "the national hemmorrhoid," an insult befitting Carter's multi-layered incompetence.
There have been a few stabs at mockery of Obama - the "half-black prince" was one I liked - but nothing has stuck so far.
This is a great and noble cause. It deserves memorable mockery. Not to mention that mockery has a long and storied history as a tactic in American politics. Let the arrows fly.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Education - a bottomless pit for taxpayers
From American Thinker
"Every major education law passed since the 1960s has borne Kennedy's imprint, from Head Start to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. He has proven himself, time and again, to be a fighter for children and educators."
Reg Weaver, the immediate past President of the National Education Association President, as reported by Air America in listing the accomplishments of Senator Ted Kennedy.
"Every major education law passed since the 1960s has borne Kennedy's imprint, from Head Start to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. He has proven himself, time and again, to be a fighter for children and educators."
Reg Weaver, the immediate past President of the National Education Association President, as reported by Air America in listing the accomplishments of Senator Ted Kennedy.
Where's the love for the ACORN stingers?
"So when two scrappy DC journalists bring down a President, it’s turned into “All the President’s Men,” winning accolades and Oscars. When an unemployed single mother of three takes the fight to an energy giant, it becomes a blockbuster vehicle for Julia Robert’s cleavage. And when a former Vice President exposes man’s inhumanity toward Mother Earth – “An Inconvenient Truth” crowns him the most majestic whistle blower ever.
But when two amateur journalists (in their early twenties, poorly dressed as sex workers, with under two grand in their budget) casually take down a sleazy behomoth that leeches off American taxpayers, you’d think Hollywood and the media would be all over this. I mean, what Hannah Giles and James O’Keefe did to Acorn – leading to the House approving to cut off all their funding – is the whistle blowing film to end ALL whistle blowing films. These two kids did what Michael Moore could never come close to accomplishing: uncovering lurid incompetence, affecting policy, and saving Americans millions of dollars.
So where is Clooney? Soderberg? Moore? Shouldn’t Megan Fox be playing Hannah – with Daniel Radcliffe as O’Keefe? When Red Eye makes an appearance, will I be played by Verne Troyer?"
But when two amateur journalists (in their early twenties, poorly dressed as sex workers, with under two grand in their budget) casually take down a sleazy behomoth that leeches off American taxpayers, you’d think Hollywood and the media would be all over this. I mean, what Hannah Giles and James O’Keefe did to Acorn – leading to the House approving to cut off all their funding – is the whistle blowing film to end ALL whistle blowing films. These two kids did what Michael Moore could never come close to accomplishing: uncovering lurid incompetence, affecting policy, and saving Americans millions of dollars.
So where is Clooney? Soderberg? Moore? Shouldn’t Megan Fox be playing Hannah – with Daniel Radcliffe as O’Keefe? When Red Eye makes an appearance, will I be played by Verne Troyer?"
Friday, September 18, 2009
ACORN has received $12.5 million tax dollars
After checking a few federal spending reports, economist Chris Edwards has revealed exactly how much money ACORN received over the past few years from taxpayers.
According to the database, taxpayers supported ACORN to the tune of more than $12.5 million from 2003 to 2007.
Edwards says cutting off ACORN is only the beginning:
ACORN’s share of overall federal subsidies is tiny, but as thousands of similar organizations have become hooked on 1,800 different federal subsidy programs, a powerful lobbying force has been created that propels the $3.6 trillion spending juggernaut. ACORN’s own website touts its lobbying success in helping to pass various big government programs. So cutting off ACORN is a start, but just a small start at the daunting task of cutting back the giant federal spending empire.
According to the database, taxpayers supported ACORN to the tune of more than $12.5 million from 2003 to 2007.
Edwards says cutting off ACORN is only the beginning:
ACORN’s share of overall federal subsidies is tiny, but as thousands of similar organizations have become hooked on 1,800 different federal subsidy programs, a powerful lobbying force has been created that propels the $3.6 trillion spending juggernaut. ACORN’s own website touts its lobbying success in helping to pass various big government programs. So cutting off ACORN is a start, but just a small start at the daunting task of cutting back the giant federal spending empire.
ACORN helped illegals get billions in mortgages
"In 2005, Citibank and ACORN Housing Corporation -- which received tens of millions of tax dollars under the Bush administration alone -- began recruiting Mexican illegal aliens for a lucrative program offering loans with below-market interest rates, down-payment assistance and no mortgage insurance requirements. Instead of the Social Security numbers required of law-abiding citizens, the program allows illegal alien applicants to supply loosely monitored tax identification numbers issued by the IRS.
The San Diego Union-Tribune reported that "undocumented residents" comprise a vast market representing a potential sum of "$44 billion in mortgages." Citibank enlarged its portfolio of subprime and other risky loans. ACORN enlarged its membership rolls. The program now operates in Miami; New York City; Jersey City, N.J.; Baltimore; Washington, D.C.; Chicago; Bridgeport, Conn.; and at all of ACORN Housing's 12 California offices. San Diego ACORN officials advised illegal alien recruits that their bank partners would take applicants who had little or no credit, or even "nontraditional records of credit, such as utility payments and documentation of private loan payments."
The risk the banks bear is the price they pay to keep ACORN protesters and Hispanic lobbyists from the National Council of La Raza screaming about "predatory lending" off their backs. These professional grievance-mongers have turned the 1977 Community Reinvestment Act -- which forced lenders to sacrifice underwriting standards for "diversity" -- into lucrative "business" opportunities. Or rather, politically correct blackmail. "
The San Diego Union-Tribune reported that "undocumented residents" comprise a vast market representing a potential sum of "$44 billion in mortgages." Citibank enlarged its portfolio of subprime and other risky loans. ACORN enlarged its membership rolls. The program now operates in Miami; New York City; Jersey City, N.J.; Baltimore; Washington, D.C.; Chicago; Bridgeport, Conn.; and at all of ACORN Housing's 12 California offices. San Diego ACORN officials advised illegal alien recruits that their bank partners would take applicants who had little or no credit, or even "nontraditional records of credit, such as utility payments and documentation of private loan payments."
The risk the banks bear is the price they pay to keep ACORN protesters and Hispanic lobbyists from the National Council of La Raza screaming about "predatory lending" off their backs. These professional grievance-mongers have turned the 1977 Community Reinvestment Act -- which forced lenders to sacrifice underwriting standards for "diversity" -- into lucrative "business" opportunities. Or rather, politically correct blackmail. "
Good for us: John Stossel moves from ABC to Fox
"It's time for a change. Next month, I leave ABC News to start a weekly one-hour prime time show with Fox News.
When I announced that on my blog, plenty of viewers said they were happy to have me leave.
"Goodbye. You suck. You have found a much better home for your garbage reporting and backwards politics."
"Congratulations on the move to the network intellectually suited to your quasi-libertarian corporate-apologist hackery!"
Oh well, you can't please everyone. I don't expect that my libertarian beliefs will please everyone at Fox, either."
When I announced that on my blog, plenty of viewers said they were happy to have me leave.
"Goodbye. You suck. You have found a much better home for your garbage reporting and backwards politics."
"Congratulations on the move to the network intellectually suited to your quasi-libertarian corporate-apologist hackery!"
Oh well, you can't please everyone. I don't expect that my libertarian beliefs will please everyone at Fox, either."
Economy will recover despite government efforts
"Recessions don't peter out in 10 days, of course. But they do eventually end, with or without central bankers' help. According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, the US went through 32 recessions between 1854 and 2001, the average duration of which was about 17 months - or a few months shorter than the current recession, so far.
"Even a severe downturn can be followed by rapid recovery without aggressive central bank intervention. In the 1921 recession, wholesale prices, industrial production, and manufacturing employment all fell by 30 percent or more within a year. Yet by early 1922, the US economy had recovered fully from its mid-1921 low. What's more, it did so with no help from the Fed, which was determined to let the recession take its course, so as to hasten the restoration of the prewar gold standard.
Bernanke, in contrast, has been praised for taking bold, innovative measures to tame a supposedly unprecedented economic collapse. But his innovations included errors of both commission and omission that almost certainly deepened the recent downturn, making it last that much longer."
My take: As I have argued earlier, politicians rush to take ameliorative action early in recessions not to end the recessions but to position themselves to take credit for ending the recessions. They hurry because they don't know when the recessions will end through the normal workings of a free economy. Just as they are loathe to waste an economic calamity, so are they loathe to waste the return of better times.
The only departure from the pattern by the Obama administration lay in its resort to fascist policies, such as the takeover of General Motors and Chrysler and its unparalleled spending. If the past is prologue, the administration's self-congratulation will be unusually loud and especially offensive.
Chances are that economic historians will find that the frantic anti-recession efforts worsened the recession, as President Franklin Roosevelt's policies did in the early 1930s.
Markets work, but liberal politicians don't want to acknowledge that fact.
"Even a severe downturn can be followed by rapid recovery without aggressive central bank intervention. In the 1921 recession, wholesale prices, industrial production, and manufacturing employment all fell by 30 percent or more within a year. Yet by early 1922, the US economy had recovered fully from its mid-1921 low. What's more, it did so with no help from the Fed, which was determined to let the recession take its course, so as to hasten the restoration of the prewar gold standard.
Bernanke, in contrast, has been praised for taking bold, innovative measures to tame a supposedly unprecedented economic collapse. But his innovations included errors of both commission and omission that almost certainly deepened the recent downturn, making it last that much longer."
My take: As I have argued earlier, politicians rush to take ameliorative action early in recessions not to end the recessions but to position themselves to take credit for ending the recessions. They hurry because they don't know when the recessions will end through the normal workings of a free economy. Just as they are loathe to waste an economic calamity, so are they loathe to waste the return of better times.
The only departure from the pattern by the Obama administration lay in its resort to fascist policies, such as the takeover of General Motors and Chrysler and its unparalleled spending. If the past is prologue, the administration's self-congratulation will be unusually loud and especially offensive.
Chances are that economic historians will find that the frantic anti-recession efforts worsened the recession, as President Franklin Roosevelt's policies did in the early 1930s.
Markets work, but liberal politicians don't want to acknowledge that fact.
National Post: Death of markets exaggerated
While all around us are hailing the death of free markets and the end of capitalism, nobody seems to have noticed how ugly capitalists are now rekindling the global economy. For people who don't know how markets work and how self-interest drives business activity, two good examples of capitalist-like greed in action include the mini-boom in the North American auto market and the emerging bubblet in Canadian housing. More broadly, the U. S. financial sector, responding to market signals, is also back in the business of cranking out fancy investment instruments and paying bonuses to people who do. Business investment is picking up. Stock prices are rising, and gold is setting price records.
Capitalism is dead, eh? Well, long live capitalism--or at least as much capitalism as we are allowed to enjoy. It may be news to many, but the very market forces that allegedly triggered the financial crisis are now triggering recovery. As French President Nicolas Sarkozy ( "the markets are mad") and other leaders of the G20 gear up for their market-bashing Pittsburgh Summit next week, they do so surrounded by millions of people who are now chasing the new market signals offered up by changing market conditions and despite new government policy. Rather than bash free markets, the G20 should hold a one-minute prayer to give thanks that markets still work and that people respond in their own self-interested way to whatever economic signals they get.
Capitalism is dead, eh? Well, long live capitalism--or at least as much capitalism as we are allowed to enjoy. It may be news to many, but the very market forces that allegedly triggered the financial crisis are now triggering recovery. As French President Nicolas Sarkozy ( "the markets are mad") and other leaders of the G20 gear up for their market-bashing Pittsburgh Summit next week, they do so surrounded by millions of people who are now chasing the new market signals offered up by changing market conditions and despite new government policy. Rather than bash free markets, the G20 should hold a one-minute prayer to give thanks that markets still work and that people respond in their own self-interested way to whatever economic signals they get.
Krauthammer: Lies are for the unslick; Obama misleads and lmisdirects
"Obama doesn't lie. He merely elides, gliding from one dubious assertion to another. This has been the story throughout his whole health care crusade. Its original premise was that our current financial crisis was rooted in neglect of three things -- energy, education and health care. That transparent attempt to exploit Emanuel's Law -- a crisis is a terrible thing to waste -- failed for health care because no one is stupid enough to believe that the 2008 financial collapse was caused by a lack of universal health care.
So on to the next gambit: selling health care reform as a cure for the deficit. When that was exploded by the Congressional Budget Office's demonstration of staggering Obamacare deficits, Obama tried a new tack: selling his plan as revenue-neutral insurance reform -- until the revenue neutrality is exposed as phony future cuts and chimerical waste and fraud.
Obama doesn't lie. He implies, he misdirects, he misleads -- so fluidly and incessantly that he risks transmuting eloquence into mere slickness."
So on to the next gambit: selling health care reform as a cure for the deficit. When that was exploded by the Congressional Budget Office's demonstration of staggering Obamacare deficits, Obama tried a new tack: selling his plan as revenue-neutral insurance reform -- until the revenue neutrality is exposed as phony future cuts and chimerical waste and fraud.
Obama doesn't lie. He implies, he misdirects, he misleads -- so fluidly and incessantly that he risks transmuting eloquence into mere slickness."
Thursday, September 17, 2009
H.L Mencken's time has come - again
From National' Review's Corner
Feast of Gloom [John Derbyshire]
Paleocons, malcontents, and curmudgeons please note: the annual meeting of the H. L. Mencken Club on Halloween weekend is shaping up to be a magnificent feast of gloom, despair, cynicism, and rancor! Why would you not want to attend? I shall of course be giving an address, in the schedule there somewhere between the burning in effigy of Irving Kristol and the handing-out of suicide capsules
In our present straits … it is Mencken's loathing and contempt for our political classes that should most appeal. Mencken loved liberty and perceived that any politician more active than Coolidge — which is to say, wellnigh any politician at all — seeks to take liberty away from us, either in pursuit of some mad ideology, or, more often, just from the desire to be seen always busy at something. Public adoration of wonder-worker politicians like FDR excited Mencken's fiercest diatribes. He called FDR "the Führer," "the greatest president since Hoover," etc.
Feast of Gloom [John Derbyshire]
Paleocons, malcontents, and curmudgeons please note: the annual meeting of the H. L. Mencken Club on Halloween weekend is shaping up to be a magnificent feast of gloom, despair, cynicism, and rancor! Why would you not want to attend? I shall of course be giving an address, in the schedule there somewhere between the burning in effigy of Irving Kristol and the handing-out of suicide capsules
In our present straits … it is Mencken's loathing and contempt for our political classes that should most appeal. Mencken loved liberty and perceived that any politician more active than Coolidge — which is to say, wellnigh any politician at all — seeks to take liberty away from us, either in pursuit of some mad ideology, or, more often, just from the desire to be seen always busy at something. Public adoration of wonder-worker politicians like FDR excited Mencken's fiercest diatribes. He called FDR "the Führer," "the greatest president since Hoover," etc.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Monday, September 14, 2009
Obamacare would invite new tides of illegal immigration
From Vdare.com
"Like virtually every issue that faces the nation, our healthcare problem is greatly exacerbated by mass immigration—both legal and illegal. A total of 43% of non-citizens lack health insurance, compared to just 12.7% of native born Americans. These uninsured immigrants impose huge strains on our healthcare system that helped create the crisis we currently face.
Plenty of analysts and commentators have exposed how illegal aliens will receive healthcare under Obamacare. They point out that while the bill claims to prohibit illegal aliens from receiving benefits, the Democrats repeatedly blocked amendments that would screen for the illegals. Steve Camarota of the non-partisan Center for Immigration Studies recently estimated that 6.6 million illegal aliens will be eligible for public healthcare."
(snip)
"But the obvious intent, as well as the "subject to the jurisdiction thereof" clause, is ignored by federal policy that gives children of illegal aliens born in the United States automatic citizenship.
What does this have to do with the healthcare debate? Under the plan right now, only one family member needs to be eligible for government healthcare, then the whole family can get free healthcare.
The Congressional Research Service acknowledged,
"There could be instances where some family members would meet the definition of an eligible individual for purposes of the credit, while other family members would not… H.R. 3200 does not expressly address how such a situation would be treated. Therefore, it appears that the Health Choices Commissioner would be responsible for determining how the credits would be administered in the case of mixed-status families."
My take: As things stand, Obamacare would invite new tides of illegal immigration, with health care as the lure. Say, a Mexican wife is eight months pregnant. With her husband, she enters the United States illegally, hides out for a month, then gives birth in a hospital. The child is a citizen by birthright. Because the child is a citizen, the parents also are eligible for Obamacare.
"Like virtually every issue that faces the nation, our healthcare problem is greatly exacerbated by mass immigration—both legal and illegal. A total of 43% of non-citizens lack health insurance, compared to just 12.7% of native born Americans. These uninsured immigrants impose huge strains on our healthcare system that helped create the crisis we currently face.
Plenty of analysts and commentators have exposed how illegal aliens will receive healthcare under Obamacare. They point out that while the bill claims to prohibit illegal aliens from receiving benefits, the Democrats repeatedly blocked amendments that would screen for the illegals. Steve Camarota of the non-partisan Center for Immigration Studies recently estimated that 6.6 million illegal aliens will be eligible for public healthcare."
(snip)
"But the obvious intent, as well as the "subject to the jurisdiction thereof" clause, is ignored by federal policy that gives children of illegal aliens born in the United States automatic citizenship.
What does this have to do with the healthcare debate? Under the plan right now, only one family member needs to be eligible for government healthcare, then the whole family can get free healthcare.
The Congressional Research Service acknowledged,
"There could be instances where some family members would meet the definition of an eligible individual for purposes of the credit, while other family members would not… H.R. 3200 does not expressly address how such a situation would be treated. Therefore, it appears that the Health Choices Commissioner would be responsible for determining how the credits would be administered in the case of mixed-status families."
My take: As things stand, Obamacare would invite new tides of illegal immigration, with health care as the lure. Say, a Mexican wife is eight months pregnant. With her husband, she enters the United States illegally, hides out for a month, then gives birth in a hospital. The child is a citizen by birthright. Because the child is a citizen, the parents also are eligible for Obamacare.
Onward and upward in Sharialand
Indonesia’s province of Aceh has passed a new law making adultery punishable by stoning to death, a member of the province’s parliament has said. The law also imposes severe sentences for rape, homosexuality, alcohol consumption and gambling.
Opponents had tried to delay the law, saying more debate was needed because it imposes capital punishment.
Sharia law was partially introduced in Aceh in 2001, as part of a government offer to pacify separatist rebels. A peace deal in 2005 ended the 30-year insurgency, and many of the former rebels have now entered Aceh’s government, which enjoys a degree of autonomy from the central government in Jakarta.
The legislation was passed unanimously by Aceh’s regional legislature, said assembly member Bahrom Rasjid.
"This law will be effective in 30 days with or without the approval of Aceh’s governor," he said…
Married people convicted of adultery can be sentenced to death by stoning. Unmarried people can be sentenced to 100 lashes with a cane.
Opponents had tried to delay the law, saying more debate was needed because it imposes capital punishment.
Sharia law was partially introduced in Aceh in 2001, as part of a government offer to pacify separatist rebels. A peace deal in 2005 ended the 30-year insurgency, and many of the former rebels have now entered Aceh’s government, which enjoys a degree of autonomy from the central government in Jakarta.
The legislation was passed unanimously by Aceh’s regional legislature, said assembly member Bahrom Rasjid.
"This law will be effective in 30 days with or without the approval of Aceh’s governor," he said…
Married people convicted of adultery can be sentenced to death by stoning. Unmarried people can be sentenced to 100 lashes with a cane.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Mark Steyn: Obama skips small, easy health care fixes in favor of a sweeping leftist fix
Well, says the president, not so fast. Lots of people with insurance run into problems when they change jobs or move to another state. OK, In that case, why not ease the obstacles to health care portability?
Well, says the president, shuffling his cups and moving the pea under another shell, we're spending too much on health care. By "we're," he means you and you and you and you and millions of other Americans making individual choices over which he casually claims collective jurisdiction.
And that, ultimately, gets closer than anything else he says to giving the game away. For most of the previous presidency, the Left accused George W. Bush of using 9/11 as a pretext to attack Iraq. Since January, his successor has used the economic slump as a pretext to "reform" health care. Most voters don't buy it: They see it as Obama's "war of choice," and the more frantically he talks about it as a matter of urgency the weirder it seems. If he's having difficulty selling it, that's because it's not about "health." As I've written before, the appeal of this issue to him and to Nancy Pelosi, Barney Frank et al is that governmentalization of health care is the fastest way to a permanent left-of-center political culture – one in which elections are always fought on the Left's issues and on the Left's terms, and in which "conservative" parties no longer talk about small government and individual liberty but find themselves retreating to one last pitiful rationale: that they can run the left-wing state more effectively than the Left can. Listen to your average British Tory or French Gaullist on the campaign trail, pledging to "deliver" government services more "efficiently."
Well, says the president, shuffling his cups and moving the pea under another shell, we're spending too much on health care. By "we're," he means you and you and you and you and millions of other Americans making individual choices over which he casually claims collective jurisdiction.
And that, ultimately, gets closer than anything else he says to giving the game away. For most of the previous presidency, the Left accused George W. Bush of using 9/11 as a pretext to attack Iraq. Since January, his successor has used the economic slump as a pretext to "reform" health care. Most voters don't buy it: They see it as Obama's "war of choice," and the more frantically he talks about it as a matter of urgency the weirder it seems. If he's having difficulty selling it, that's because it's not about "health." As I've written before, the appeal of this issue to him and to Nancy Pelosi, Barney Frank et al is that governmentalization of health care is the fastest way to a permanent left-of-center political culture – one in which elections are always fought on the Left's issues and on the Left's terms, and in which "conservative" parties no longer talk about small government and individual liberty but find themselves retreating to one last pitiful rationale: that they can run the left-wing state more effectively than the Left can. Listen to your average British Tory or French Gaullist on the campaign trail, pledging to "deliver" government services more "efficiently."
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Navigating the brave new world of animal rights - a primer and preview of things to come
In its relentless effort to harness every individual and creature in America to its own designs, the Obama administration now threatens, perhaps unwittingly, to light up a dark corner that many don't even know exists.
The lonely farmhand is about to have his unwanted moment in the sunshine.
Until now, the lonely farmhand has been glimpsed only rarely, usually in a buried item in a rural weekly or small daily newspaper. Reporters don't like to write the stories, and editors don't like to publish them, so the notices tend to be short and well buried:
"The sherifff's office has charged a 45-year old farm hand with lewd and laschivious conduct after another farmer complained that his goat had been abused."
Sometimes the victim is a sheep, or even a cow. Whatever the case, the victim has never had a highly trained support group so the indelicate occurrence has quickly disappeared from public view.
Now, that is likely to change.
A collegue of President Obama, Cass Sunstein, is the new head of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), and has been confirmed by the Senate.
What is at issue here is Sunstein's forceful advocacy of animal rights, especially his recommendation that people should be enabled to file suit on behalf of animals that have been mistreated. His objective is to ameliorate some of the worst cruelties inflicted on amimals that are bred and processed for food.
In 2002, Sunstein traced the idea of animal rights to 18th Century economist and social reformer Jeremy Bentham, who likeneed animals to slaves and argued that an adult dog or a horse is more rational than a human infant and should therefore be granted similar rights.
In 1789, a time when France had freed its slaves but England still held its slaves captive, Bentham wrote a primer in which he stated, "The day may come, when the rest of the animal creation may acquire those rights which never could have been withholden from them but by the hand of tyranny. The French have already discovered that the blackness of the skin is no reason why a human being should be abandoned without redress to the caprice of a tormentor."
While I am not philosophically opposed to limited animal rights, I do foresee some difficulties.
Until now, odd matings between man and beast have been rare and little noted. That's as it should be. What would happen if bestiality became a frequent subject of courtroom proceedings? If the past is prologue, books will be written and movies made about the practice? Would bestiality then work its way into the American mainstream and become commonplace? Does anyone think that would be a good thing?
The mere thought of the first bestiality reality show on television makes me shudder.
Not to mention the fainting goats, which add another dimension to the problem. The ordinary goat is a tough, sturdy, stubborn creature. A farmer who wants to move a goat ordinarily carries a two-by-four in his hand.
Would the two-by-fours have to be coated with a soft material so as not to offend the faint-hearted?
Unlike ordinary goats, fainting goats are sensitive creatures who are known for only one thing - fainting. If you surprise the goat in any way, it faints. If you startle the goat it faints. If you look cross-eyed at the goat, it might faint.
Can you imagine the hay a trial lawyer could make if he had a fainting goat as a client? You give the goat an angry glance, the goat faints, and you spend the next two years in court defending yourself. The judge, having just navigated animal sensitivity training, fines you the entire wad you were planning to spend to set up a new meat processing plant.
In desperation, you borrow enough money to buy two fainting goats, then hire a trial lawyer. Within a year, you're a millionaire.
The lonely farmhand is about to have his unwanted moment in the sunshine.
Until now, the lonely farmhand has been glimpsed only rarely, usually in a buried item in a rural weekly or small daily newspaper. Reporters don't like to write the stories, and editors don't like to publish them, so the notices tend to be short and well buried:
"The sherifff's office has charged a 45-year old farm hand with lewd and laschivious conduct after another farmer complained that his goat had been abused."
Sometimes the victim is a sheep, or even a cow. Whatever the case, the victim has never had a highly trained support group so the indelicate occurrence has quickly disappeared from public view.
Now, that is likely to change.
A collegue of President Obama, Cass Sunstein, is the new head of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), and has been confirmed by the Senate.
What is at issue here is Sunstein's forceful advocacy of animal rights, especially his recommendation that people should be enabled to file suit on behalf of animals that have been mistreated. His objective is to ameliorate some of the worst cruelties inflicted on amimals that are bred and processed for food.
In 2002, Sunstein traced the idea of animal rights to 18th Century economist and social reformer Jeremy Bentham, who likeneed animals to slaves and argued that an adult dog or a horse is more rational than a human infant and should therefore be granted similar rights.
In 1789, a time when France had freed its slaves but England still held its slaves captive, Bentham wrote a primer in which he stated, "The day may come, when the rest of the animal creation may acquire those rights which never could have been withholden from them but by the hand of tyranny. The French have already discovered that the blackness of the skin is no reason why a human being should be abandoned without redress to the caprice of a tormentor."
While I am not philosophically opposed to limited animal rights, I do foresee some difficulties.
Until now, odd matings between man and beast have been rare and little noted. That's as it should be. What would happen if bestiality became a frequent subject of courtroom proceedings? If the past is prologue, books will be written and movies made about the practice? Would bestiality then work its way into the American mainstream and become commonplace? Does anyone think that would be a good thing?
The mere thought of the first bestiality reality show on television makes me shudder.
Not to mention the fainting goats, which add another dimension to the problem. The ordinary goat is a tough, sturdy, stubborn creature. A farmer who wants to move a goat ordinarily carries a two-by-four in his hand.
Would the two-by-fours have to be coated with a soft material so as not to offend the faint-hearted?
Unlike ordinary goats, fainting goats are sensitive creatures who are known for only one thing - fainting. If you surprise the goat in any way, it faints. If you startle the goat it faints. If you look cross-eyed at the goat, it might faint.
Can you imagine the hay a trial lawyer could make if he had a fainting goat as a client? You give the goat an angry glance, the goat faints, and you spend the next two years in court defending yourself. The judge, having just navigated animal sensitivity training, fines you the entire wad you were planning to spend to set up a new meat processing plant.
In desperation, you borrow enough money to buy two fainting goats, then hire a trial lawyer. Within a year, you're a millionaire.
Friday, September 11, 2009
Trial lawyers profit from jackpot justice; protect their domain with campaign contributions
From Wall Street Journal
"Tort reform is a policy no-brainer. Experts on left and right agree that defensive medicine—ordering tests and procedures solely to protect against Joe Lawyer—adds enormously to health costs. The estimated dollar benefits of reform range from a conservative $65 billion a year to perhaps $200 billion. In context, Mr. Obama's plan would cost about $100 billion annually. That the president won't embrace even modest change that would do so much, so quickly, to lower costs, has left Americans suspicious of his real ambitions.
It's also a political no-brainer. Americans are on board. Polls routinely show that between 70% and 80% of Americans believe the country suffers from excess litigation. The entire health community is on board. Republicans and swing-state Democrats are on board. State and local governments, which have struggled to clean up their own civil-justice systems, are on board. In a debate defined by flash points, this is a rare area of agreement.
The only folks not on board are a handful of powerful trial lawyers, and a handful of politicians who receive a generous cut of those lawyers' contingency fees. The legal industry was the top contributor to the Democratic Party in the 2008 cycle, stumping up $47 million. The bill is now due, and Democrats are dutifully making a health-care down payment."
(snip)
"Over in the House the discussion isn't about tort reform, but about tort opportunities. During the House Ways & Means markup of a health bill, Texas Democrat Lloyd Doggett ($1.5 million from lawyers) introduced language to allow freelance lawyers to sue any outfit (say, McDonald's) that might contribute to Medicare costs. Only after Blue Dogs freaked out did the idea get dropped, though the trial bar has standing orders that Democrats make another run at it in any House-Senate conference. "
"Tort reform is a policy no-brainer. Experts on left and right agree that defensive medicine—ordering tests and procedures solely to protect against Joe Lawyer—adds enormously to health costs. The estimated dollar benefits of reform range from a conservative $65 billion a year to perhaps $200 billion. In context, Mr. Obama's plan would cost about $100 billion annually. That the president won't embrace even modest change that would do so much, so quickly, to lower costs, has left Americans suspicious of his real ambitions.
It's also a political no-brainer. Americans are on board. Polls routinely show that between 70% and 80% of Americans believe the country suffers from excess litigation. The entire health community is on board. Republicans and swing-state Democrats are on board. State and local governments, which have struggled to clean up their own civil-justice systems, are on board. In a debate defined by flash points, this is a rare area of agreement.
The only folks not on board are a handful of powerful trial lawyers, and a handful of politicians who receive a generous cut of those lawyers' contingency fees. The legal industry was the top contributor to the Democratic Party in the 2008 cycle, stumping up $47 million. The bill is now due, and Democrats are dutifully making a health-care down payment."
(snip)
"Over in the House the discussion isn't about tort reform, but about tort opportunities. During the House Ways & Means markup of a health bill, Texas Democrat Lloyd Doggett ($1.5 million from lawyers) introduced language to allow freelance lawyers to sue any outfit (say, McDonald's) that might contribute to Medicare costs. Only after Blue Dogs freaked out did the idea get dropped, though the trial bar has standing orders that Democrats make another run at it in any House-Senate conference. "
Ralph Peters: "We've learned nothing."
From New York Post
"We resolved that we, the People, would never forget. Then we forgot.
We've learned nothing.
Instead of cracking down on Islamist extremism, we've excused it.
Instead of killing terrorists, we free them.
Instead of relentlessly hunting Islamist madmen, we seek to appease them.
Instead of acknowledging that radical Islam is the problem, we elected a president who blames America, whose idea of freedom is the right for women to suffer in silence behind a veil -- and who counts among his mentors and friends those who damn our country or believe that our own government staged the tragedy of September 11, 2001.
Instead of insisting that freedom will not be infringed by terrorist threats, we censor works that might offend mass murderers. Radical Muslims around the world can indulge in viral lies about us, but we dare not even publish cartoons mocking them."
"We resolved that we, the People, would never forget. Then we forgot.
We've learned nothing.
Instead of cracking down on Islamist extremism, we've excused it.
Instead of killing terrorists, we free them.
Instead of relentlessly hunting Islamist madmen, we seek to appease them.
Instead of acknowledging that radical Islam is the problem, we elected a president who blames America, whose idea of freedom is the right for women to suffer in silence behind a veil -- and who counts among his mentors and friends those who damn our country or believe that our own government staged the tragedy of September 11, 2001.
Instead of insisting that freedom will not be infringed by terrorist threats, we censor works that might offend mass murderers. Radical Muslims around the world can indulge in viral lies about us, but we dare not even publish cartoons mocking them."
No more underwater mortgages; Obama would let you buy insurance after your house is on fire
From New York Post
"In his Wednesday speech, President Obama fired up the troops on the urgency of reducing the number of uninsured in this country and achieving universal coverage via insurance regulations and forcing all Americans to buy insurance.
Under his plan, insurers would be faced with "guaranteed issue" and "community rating." In other words, they wouldn't be allowed to deny insurance based on a pre-existing condition, take coverage away in the middle of a treatment, set a premium based on one's medical history or set lifetime caps on coverage.
If there were a "guaranteed issue" law for fire insurance, no one would buy coverage unless his or her home was actually on fire. We'd see the same "negative selection" under the Obama plan: Lots of people would simply avoid buying insurance until they got sick. After all, if you can't be turned down when you are sick, why bother wasting money on insurance when you don't need it?
Sick patients cost more, of course. Insurance premiums would gradually get more and more expensive, because the only people in the insurance pool would be ill.
Community rating would have a similar impact, because insurers would be forced to charge the same prices to the sick and the healthy, to smokers and non-smokers, and to the obese and those who are fit.
Such measures guarantee that all customers will end up paying higher prices. The average state-level mandate for community rating hikes premiums by over 10 percent. The average guaranteed-issue ordinance drives up premiums a whopping 227 percent.
This has proved to be the case in the states of New York and New Jersey -- which have the highest insurance rates in the nation. As a result, the young and healthy forgo purchasing insurance because it is a bad deal for them as they have few assets and are not likely to face a catastrophic illness."
"In his Wednesday speech, President Obama fired up the troops on the urgency of reducing the number of uninsured in this country and achieving universal coverage via insurance regulations and forcing all Americans to buy insurance.
Under his plan, insurers would be faced with "guaranteed issue" and "community rating." In other words, they wouldn't be allowed to deny insurance based on a pre-existing condition, take coverage away in the middle of a treatment, set a premium based on one's medical history or set lifetime caps on coverage.
If there were a "guaranteed issue" law for fire insurance, no one would buy coverage unless his or her home was actually on fire. We'd see the same "negative selection" under the Obama plan: Lots of people would simply avoid buying insurance until they got sick. After all, if you can't be turned down when you are sick, why bother wasting money on insurance when you don't need it?
Sick patients cost more, of course. Insurance premiums would gradually get more and more expensive, because the only people in the insurance pool would be ill.
Community rating would have a similar impact, because insurers would be forced to charge the same prices to the sick and the healthy, to smokers and non-smokers, and to the obese and those who are fit.
Such measures guarantee that all customers will end up paying higher prices. The average state-level mandate for community rating hikes premiums by over 10 percent. The average guaranteed-issue ordinance drives up premiums a whopping 227 percent.
This has proved to be the case in the states of New York and New Jersey -- which have the highest insurance rates in the nation. As a result, the young and healthy forgo purchasing insurance because it is a bad deal for them as they have few assets and are not likely to face a catastrophic illness."
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Science czar Holdren prescribed a less prosperous future for the U.S.
In 2007, John Holdren, the Obama administration's science czar, said in an interview that the United States will have to be less prosperous in the future so the available wealth can be spread more evenly.
HOLDREN: There has been a strain of what many people call “US exceptionalism” in the United States, the notion that the United States is so big, so important, so powerful, so technologically advanced that it can and should do what it wants. I think this strain is misguided.
Q: Will Americans need to reduce their living standards? Is that politically viable, or will technology [unintelligible] do it?
H: I think ultimately that the rate of growth of material consumption is going to have to come down, and there’s going to have to be a degree of redistribution of how much we consume, in terms of energy and material resources, in order to leave room for people who are poor to become more prosperous.
HOLDREN: There has been a strain of what many people call “US exceptionalism” in the United States, the notion that the United States is so big, so important, so powerful, so technologically advanced that it can and should do what it wants. I think this strain is misguided.
Q: Will Americans need to reduce their living standards? Is that politically viable, or will technology [unintelligible] do it?
H: I think ultimately that the rate of growth of material consumption is going to have to come down, and there’s going to have to be a degree of redistribution of how much we consume, in terms of energy and material resources, in order to leave room for people who are poor to become more prosperous.
Ignorance is a big reason the media and political elites can’t think straight about medical care
"Sheer ignorance is a big reason the media and political elites can’t think straight about medical care. They just don’t understand even the basics. There are no scientists, no engineers, and few physicians in Congress.
We live in an amazingly arrogant age, at least in politics and the more self-indulgent fields of academia.
Obama is a product of the non-scientific academic world, where Marxist pseudo-philosophy is popular, as long as the colleges themselves can live off the fat of the (capitalist) land. Our academics are revolutionaries who never take a personal risk, just like our Democrats. That’s why the philosophy behind Obama’s Marxoid takeover of our health care seems to be:
Who cares if we do harm? We’ll fix it later! If it’s politically convenient! Whatever we do cannot hurt the apparatchiks, the ruling elite, who will have their own medical system.
Congress and federal bureaucrats will keep their current insurance plans. Academics will keep their tenure and their soft lifestyle at the expense of taxpayers. It’ll be a two-layered system straight out of Soviet Moscow: the nomenklatura versus the workers.
ObamaCare is really, really cheap compared to that one billion dollars for testing a single drug. The cost of testing and developing HR 3200, the current and ever-changing plan for ObamaCare, is zero dollars — because no testing and development has ever been done on more than 1,000 complicated pages. The bill has been thrown together in back-room deals between lobbyists and staffers in Congress. It’s like a hugely complex computer program that’s never been tested to see if it will run."
We live in an amazingly arrogant age, at least in politics and the more self-indulgent fields of academia.
Obama is a product of the non-scientific academic world, where Marxist pseudo-philosophy is popular, as long as the colleges themselves can live off the fat of the (capitalist) land. Our academics are revolutionaries who never take a personal risk, just like our Democrats. That’s why the philosophy behind Obama’s Marxoid takeover of our health care seems to be:
Who cares if we do harm? We’ll fix it later! If it’s politically convenient! Whatever we do cannot hurt the apparatchiks, the ruling elite, who will have their own medical system.
Congress and federal bureaucrats will keep their current insurance plans. Academics will keep their tenure and their soft lifestyle at the expense of taxpayers. It’ll be a two-layered system straight out of Soviet Moscow: the nomenklatura versus the workers.
ObamaCare is really, really cheap compared to that one billion dollars for testing a single drug. The cost of testing and developing HR 3200, the current and ever-changing plan for ObamaCare, is zero dollars — because no testing and development has ever been done on more than 1,000 complicated pages. The bill has been thrown together in back-room deals between lobbyists and staffers in Congress. It’s like a hugely complex computer program that’s never been tested to see if it will run."
Scheme to import underage girls for sex gets advice from ACORN
"Andrew Breitbart has established a new website, Big Government.com, a companion to his Big Hollywood.com, and on it you can see this video of Obama's buddies, ACORN, prepping two people posing as a pimp and a prostitute how to lie to the IRS to obtain public housing within which to carry out their trade:
Officials with the controversial community organizing group ACORN were secretly videotaped offering to assist two individuals posing as a pimp and a prostitute, encouraging them to lie to the Internal Revenue Service and providing guidance on how to claim underage girls from South America as dependents."
[snip]
"In the videotape, made on July 24, James O'Keefe, a 25-year-old independent filmmaker, posed as a pimp with a 20-year-old woman named "Kenya" who posed as a prostitute while visiting ACORN's office in Baltimore. The couple told ACORN staffers they wanted to secure housing where the woman could continue to maintain a prostitution business.
I still can't figure out why Attorney General Holder hasn't managed to institute a RICO investigation against this mult-state criminal enterprise."
(see two previous videos)
Officials with the controversial community organizing group ACORN were secretly videotaped offering to assist two individuals posing as a pimp and a prostitute, encouraging them to lie to the Internal Revenue Service and providing guidance on how to claim underage girls from South America as dependents."
[snip]
"In the videotape, made on July 24, James O'Keefe, a 25-year-old independent filmmaker, posed as a pimp with a 20-year-old woman named "Kenya" who posed as a prostitute while visiting ACORN's office in Baltimore. The couple told ACORN staffers they wanted to secure housing where the woman could continue to maintain a prostitution business.
I still can't figure out why Attorney General Holder hasn't managed to institute a RICO investigation against this mult-state criminal enterprise."
(see two previous videos)
Obama was right in his defense of Obamacare; so was the guy who called him a liar
In his appearance before Congress, President Barack Obama said this: "The reforms I am proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally."
To which, I reply, "So what? You answered a question, but you ducked the issue."
Illegal aliens have been getting health care, often at no cost, for years by merely showing up at hospital emergency rooms and complaining of illness or injury. National policy requires that those who show up at emergency rooms of American hospitals can not be turned away.
There is no reason to believe that that policy will be changed any time soon.
This means that Obama was technically correct in his argument.
Sow was the congressman who called Obama a "liar."
This means that, whether Obamacare is enacted or defeated, illegal aliens will continue to receive health care.
To which, I reply, "So what? You answered a question, but you ducked the issue."
Illegal aliens have been getting health care, often at no cost, for years by merely showing up at hospital emergency rooms and complaining of illness or injury. National policy requires that those who show up at emergency rooms of American hospitals can not be turned away.
There is no reason to believe that that policy will be changed any time soon.
This means that Obama was technically correct in his argument.
Sow was the congressman who called Obama a "liar."
This means that, whether Obamacare is enacted or defeated, illegal aliens will continue to receive health care.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
U.S. likely to lose most of $23 billion bailout of GM and Chrysler
"Taxpayers face losses on a significant portion of the $81 billion in government aid provided to the auto industry, an oversight panel said in a report to be released Wednesday.
The Congressional Oversight Panel did not provide an estimate of the projected loss in its latest monthly report on the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program. But it said most of the $23 billion initially provided to General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC late last year is unlikely to be repaid.
"I think they drove a very hard bargain," said Elizabeth Warren, the panel's chairwoman and a law professor at Harvard University, referring to the Obama administration's Treasury Department. "But it may not be enough."
The prospect of recovering the government's assistance to GM and Chrysler is heavily dependent on shares of the two companies rising to unprecedented levels, the report said. The government owns 10 percent of Chrysler and 61 percent of GM. The two companies are currently private but are expected to issue stock, in GM's case by next year."
The Congressional Oversight Panel did not provide an estimate of the projected loss in its latest monthly report on the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program. But it said most of the $23 billion initially provided to General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC late last year is unlikely to be repaid.
"I think they drove a very hard bargain," said Elizabeth Warren, the panel's chairwoman and a law professor at Harvard University, referring to the Obama administration's Treasury Department. "But it may not be enough."
The prospect of recovering the government's assistance to GM and Chrysler is heavily dependent on shares of the two companies rising to unprecedented levels, the report said. The government owns 10 percent of Chrysler and 61 percent of GM. The two companies are currently private but are expected to issue stock, in GM's case by next year."
Dems don't have votes to pass health care in House
From Drudge Report
"At least 44 more moderate Members of the Democrat Caucus have gone on the record in opposition to the current health care bill in the House, Hill source claims. Likewise, at least 57 liberal Members of the Democrat Caucus have gone on the record saying they will vote against a health care bill without a strong public option.
In other words, unless multiple Democrats flip on their stated position on health care, Speaker Pelosi lacks the votes to pass a bill through the House on the strength of Democrat votes alone."
"At least 44 more moderate Members of the Democrat Caucus have gone on the record in opposition to the current health care bill in the House, Hill source claims. Likewise, at least 57 liberal Members of the Democrat Caucus have gone on the record saying they will vote against a health care bill without a strong public option.
In other words, unless multiple Democrats flip on their stated position on health care, Speaker Pelosi lacks the votes to pass a bill through the House on the strength of Democrat votes alone."
Camille Paglia: Dems are "elegantly detatched from ordinary Americans"
"An example of the provincial amateurism of current White House operations was the way the president's innocuous back-to-school pep talk got sandbagged by imbecilic support materials soliciting students to write fantasy letters to "help" the president (a coercive directive quickly withdrawn under pressure). Even worse, the entire project was stupidly scheduled to conflict with the busy opening days of class this week, when harried teachers already have their hands full. Comically, some major school districts, including New York City, were not even open yet. And this is the gang who wants to revamp national healthcare?"
(snip)
"Why has the Democratic Party become so arrogantly detached from ordinary Americans? Though they claim to speak for the poor and dispossessed, Democrats have increasingly become the party of an upper-middle-class professional elite, top-heavy with journalists, academics and lawyers (one reason for the hypocritical absence of tort reform in the healthcare bills). Weirdly, given their worship of highly individualistic, secularized self-actualization, such professionals are as a whole amazingly credulous these days about big-government solutions to every social problem. They see no danger in expanding government authority and intrusive, wasteful bureaucracy. This is, I submit, a stunning turn away from the anti-authority and anti-establishment principles of authentic 1960s leftism."
(snip)
"Why has the Democratic Party become so arrogantly detached from ordinary Americans? Though they claim to speak for the poor and dispossessed, Democrats have increasingly become the party of an upper-middle-class professional elite, top-heavy with journalists, academics and lawyers (one reason for the hypocritical absence of tort reform in the healthcare bills). Weirdly, given their worship of highly individualistic, secularized self-actualization, such professionals are as a whole amazingly credulous these days about big-government solutions to every social problem. They see no danger in expanding government authority and intrusive, wasteful bureaucracy. This is, I submit, a stunning turn away from the anti-authority and anti-establishment principles of authentic 1960s leftism."
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Yes, but who, or what, is being satirized? You be the judge
From American Thinker
dear presadint obama,
how r u? i hope ur ok. thx 4 speaking 2 us in schl 2day. ms smith sed u wanted 2 no how u enspire us. well its alot!
1 thing u enspird me is 2 get better grades. i told ms smith it ain fair some kids get better grades then others. ms smith is cool she just outta collaj so she sed ok whacha gonna do. i sed we need a grade zar. i dont even no what a zar is but i lernt it from u. ms smith sed thats a grate idea an it correc injustis and so on so she axd me who shud be the grade zar an i was like my buddy brian cuz he smart an stuff.
so we got brian 4 grade zar an then we all got bs cuz the smart kids had 2 give the rest of us there xtra points an my mom was proud of me in schl an its all cuz of u mr presadint.
an whats so funny is some smart kids got jellis an all mad an stuff an there parents took em outta schl an we started making cs. ms smith sed there wasnt enuf points 4 bs an thats when u enspird me agin.
i sed ms smith cain we get grade points from someone els an she sed hmmm ok who u mean an i sed i dont no. but me an brian thot an then we was like we need stimulas 4 grades. so we axd ms smith an she sed thats a good idea 2.
so we got this kid owen 4 stimulas zar an he an ms smith talked an they sed we can get grade points from nex month. so then we all got bs agin but ms smith sed we gonna need 2 work harder nex month cuz we gonna all loose points remember but this wud stimalate us 2 do it cuz we ain gonna get discurraj. an this was good cuz my mom was proud agin.
dear presadint obama,
how r u? i hope ur ok. thx 4 speaking 2 us in schl 2day. ms smith sed u wanted 2 no how u enspire us. well its alot!
1 thing u enspird me is 2 get better grades. i told ms smith it ain fair some kids get better grades then others. ms smith is cool she just outta collaj so she sed ok whacha gonna do. i sed we need a grade zar. i dont even no what a zar is but i lernt it from u. ms smith sed thats a grate idea an it correc injustis and so on so she axd me who shud be the grade zar an i was like my buddy brian cuz he smart an stuff.
so we got brian 4 grade zar an then we all got bs cuz the smart kids had 2 give the rest of us there xtra points an my mom was proud of me in schl an its all cuz of u mr presadint.
an whats so funny is some smart kids got jellis an all mad an stuff an there parents took em outta schl an we started making cs. ms smith sed there wasnt enuf points 4 bs an thats when u enspird me agin.
i sed ms smith cain we get grade points from someone els an she sed hmmm ok who u mean an i sed i dont no. but me an brian thot an then we was like we need stimulas 4 grades. so we axd ms smith an she sed thats a good idea 2.
so we got this kid owen 4 stimulas zar an he an ms smith talked an they sed we can get grade points from nex month. so then we all got bs agin but ms smith sed we gonna need 2 work harder nex month cuz we gonna all loose points remember but this wud stimalate us 2 do it cuz we ain gonna get discurraj. an this was good cuz my mom was proud agin.
Thomas Sowell looks at the extreme urgency of Barack Obama
"He tried to rush Congress into passing a massive government takeover of the nation's medical care before the August recess-- for a program that would not take effect until 2013!"
(snip)
"...he wanted to get this massive government takeover of medical care passed into law before the public understood what was in it.
Moreover, he wanted to get re-elected in 2012 before the public experienced what its actual consequences would be."
(snip)
"...he wanted to get this massive government takeover of medical care passed into law before the public understood what was in it.
Moreover, he wanted to get re-elected in 2012 before the public experienced what its actual consequences would be."
(snip)
"...he wanted to get this massive government takeover of medical care passed into law before the public understood what was in it.
Moreover, he wanted to get re-elected in 2012 before the public experienced what its actual consequences would be."
(snip)
"...he wanted to get this massive government takeover of medical care passed into law before the public understood what was in it.
Moreover, he wanted to get re-elected in 2012 before the public experienced what its actual consequences would be."
Monday, September 7, 2009
Is China more capitalist than the United States?
From American Thinker
"Why is GM, a capitalist firm, so successful in Communist China and a failure in Capitalist USA? Apparently, the Chinese learned from the economic failures of socialism while the US Congress learned nothing and actively intervenes in the decision-making of American capitalist firms, imposing environmental restrictions few of which would pass the economic test that benefits should be equal to or greater than cost. It subsidizes energy-saving activities like insulating buildings, buying energy-saving autos and even light bulbs, none of which would survive the light of day as producers of net benefits. It orders banks to make bad loans, e.g., the Community Reinvestment Act. Through the EPA, it regulates factory emissions. It proposes a socialist solution to health care. It has declared its policy to replace fossil fuels with renewable alternative fuels. It pays a large portion of the costs of wind turbines and solar panels."
(snip)
"We have urged China to join us in our quixotic attempt to prevent global warming. She has refused, arguing that her per capita consumption of energy is the lowest of any industrial country. Except for the leftist economists, economics tells us that we should let the prices of different energy sources determine when a new source is ready for development. No subsidy would be required if we let the market make the decision. Totalitarian China accepts this approach; free market U.S. takes the Soviet prescription."
(snip)
"Then, to top it off, we invite foreign governments to socialize our economic system in order to serve their purposes. We let the Chinese government fix the price at which the dollar is exchanged for the yuan at a rate that allows their producers to steal market share from ours. And we give foreign governments a tax break (no tax on interest or dividends earned) when they buy ownership in American businesses and thus turn our businesses into socialist enterprises serving foreign governments.
China learned the lessons of socialism's failure in Russia and is prospering. Congress did not."
"Why is GM, a capitalist firm, so successful in Communist China and a failure in Capitalist USA? Apparently, the Chinese learned from the economic failures of socialism while the US Congress learned nothing and actively intervenes in the decision-making of American capitalist firms, imposing environmental restrictions few of which would pass the economic test that benefits should be equal to or greater than cost. It subsidizes energy-saving activities like insulating buildings, buying energy-saving autos and even light bulbs, none of which would survive the light of day as producers of net benefits. It orders banks to make bad loans, e.g., the Community Reinvestment Act. Through the EPA, it regulates factory emissions. It proposes a socialist solution to health care. It has declared its policy to replace fossil fuels with renewable alternative fuels. It pays a large portion of the costs of wind turbines and solar panels."
(snip)
"We have urged China to join us in our quixotic attempt to prevent global warming. She has refused, arguing that her per capita consumption of energy is the lowest of any industrial country. Except for the leftist economists, economics tells us that we should let the prices of different energy sources determine when a new source is ready for development. No subsidy would be required if we let the market make the decision. Totalitarian China accepts this approach; free market U.S. takes the Soviet prescription."
(snip)
"Then, to top it off, we invite foreign governments to socialize our economic system in order to serve their purposes. We let the Chinese government fix the price at which the dollar is exchanged for the yuan at a rate that allows their producers to steal market share from ours. And we give foreign governments a tax break (no tax on interest or dividends earned) when they buy ownership in American businesses and thus turn our businesses into socialist enterprises serving foreign governments.
China learned the lessons of socialism's failure in Russia and is prospering. Congress did not."
Waging war against Afghanistan's poppy plants
From Reason
"If the goal is to establish a stable government to fill the vacuum created by our ousting of the Taliban and al-Qaida, we've done quite a job. Most Americans can accept a Marine's risking life and limb to safeguard our freedoms. But when that Marine is protector of a corrupt and depraved foreign parliament—one that recently legalized marital rape and demands women ask permission from male relatives to leave their homes—it is not a victory worth celebrating.
You know, idealism regarding Afghanistan's future begins to dissipate the first time we read the words "why don't we negotiate with the moderate Taliban?"
But while strict Shariah law is acceptable, illicit drugs are not. If most of us agree that America has no business foisting its notions of wrong and right on other cultures, why, then, did we spend hundreds of millions of dollars eradicating poppy crops (one of the only productive crops of the Afghan farmers)? Was it because our own war on drugs has gone so splendidly?"
(snip)
"...if every military engagement includes an open-ended plan for nation building that pins our fortunes on the predilections of a backward nation, we are, indeed, setting ourselves up for failure."
"If the goal is to establish a stable government to fill the vacuum created by our ousting of the Taliban and al-Qaida, we've done quite a job. Most Americans can accept a Marine's risking life and limb to safeguard our freedoms. But when that Marine is protector of a corrupt and depraved foreign parliament—one that recently legalized marital rape and demands women ask permission from male relatives to leave their homes—it is not a victory worth celebrating.
You know, idealism regarding Afghanistan's future begins to dissipate the first time we read the words "why don't we negotiate with the moderate Taliban?"
But while strict Shariah law is acceptable, illicit drugs are not. If most of us agree that America has no business foisting its notions of wrong and right on other cultures, why, then, did we spend hundreds of millions of dollars eradicating poppy crops (one of the only productive crops of the Afghan farmers)? Was it because our own war on drugs has gone so splendidly?"
(snip)
"...if every military engagement includes an open-ended plan for nation building that pins our fortunes on the predilections of a backward nation, we are, indeed, setting ourselves up for failure."
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