Who Are These Racists?

The charge du jour to stifle dissent has become "Racists" when it comes to disagreeing with the President and his policies. But the inanity of it all, had to be summed up by the Peanut Farmer Jimmah Carter who said:

JIMMY CARTER: I think an overwhelming portion of the intensely demonstrated animosity toward President Barack Obama is based on the fact that he is a black man, that he's African-American. And I think it's bubbled up to the surface because of a belief among many white people, not just in the south, but around the country that African-Americans are not qualified to lead this great country.

Holy Cow, do you mean to tell me that we elected a "BLACK MAN?!!!" This is obviously further evidence of media bias, in that so many people didn't learn his heritage. That would explain his fall in popularity from over 65% (more of a percentage than voted for him) to just over 45% from his inauguration to the present as more and more people discovered this cleverly hidden secret. It wouldn't have anything to do with his job performance, it has to be racism. And President Epic Failure is not alone in this regard. Commentators in our nation's capital discerned that Rep. Joe Wilson is actually a member of the KKK, (or is it Sons of the Confederacy? Not that it matters) and that is the only reason he shouted at the President. It has nothing to do with the lack of enforcement provisions at the time of Obama's speech.
But the funnier ones, are like MooDoo who subliminally project her own deepest racism onto others by putting words in the mouths of others. "You lie Boy!"
The obvious question has to be, why this sudden outpouring of racist allegations, when we as a nation have elected our first authentic black president? My answer is that it has nothing to do with race. This is the stuff straight out of the Alinsky playbook, in that you use the opponent's rules against him. Racism was and is a serious problem in this country, and good people don't want to be associated with those who are racists. By calling anyone who disagrees with them a racist, the Left has effectively reversed the argument from one of a factual dispute to one of trying to prove a negative. But it is starting to wear out. For the most part, people realize that opposition to policies is not the same as opposition to the person. Except for the Left.
They have internalized their hopes and dreams in the color of Obama's skin, so much so that they ignore his other failures to achieve their policy goals. So, rather than blame the tool of policy instrumentation, they blame others. After all, if they blame Obama, they would fall prey to their own racist ideology. And that would never do.
The protesters who are called racist are more the inheritors of Dr. King's exhortation measure a man by the content of his character and not the color of his skin. And they don't like his character. The Left only sees the color of his skin. And as proof, remember this little exchange:

Sen. Barbara Boxer accused of racism by head of Black Chamber o - Watch more Funny Videos
Barbara Boxer may not be the smartest Senator, but she is absolutely astounded that the black guy didn't notice how she was praising him for being black.
Color of skin again.

Obama: Al Bundy with a Tan

I couldn't resist when I read that line in this article about Obama "Jumping the Shark."

A Proposed Joe Wilson Concession Speech

I am not authorized, but if I could, I would write the following for Mr. Wilson in his sanctioning hearing that the Democrats are preparing to hold.
Madam Speaker, fellow members, I stand before you today to gladly accept the admonishment that this House has decided to bestow on me. Yes, I did call out during the President's address that he was a liar. I have apologized to the President for breaking decorum, that is not me. But I do not apologize for the sentiment. The President did lie, and he did it with the connivance of many in this august assembly. Yes, it's true, that nowhere did HR3200 actually say that illegal immigrants would reap the benefits of the hardworking families in getting free health care. But what people forget is, that this side of the aisle had proposed an amendment to HR3200 which would have specifically barred them from receiving taxpayer funded health care. But the majority rejected this amendment. Now, I would never call into question the motives of the majority, but it does seem curious that they would so specifically reject the amendment. Perhaps there is more to this story that needs to come out, but we will not know under this Congressional leadership. In some small measure, I wish that my actions would have been referred to the House ethics committee, because I am sure that with the appropriate donations to the right members of that committee, I would of course be exonerated. But this is not about you Madame Speaker, it is about me.
And while it would be easy to point out other instances of breach of decorum by the now majority, that would be pointless and not worthy of this body. If my censure for a breach of decorum is the start of a return to civility no matter which party controls the White House, I will be extremely gratified to accept your admonition.
On the other hand, if this admonition is because I spoke the truth, then I stand here not ashamed, but instead very proud. We need to show the American people that we are willing to speak the truth, because we have misled them for far too long. Censor me for speaking the truth Madame Speaker, but I invite any member of this House who also is willing to speak the truth to join me, here in the well of this house, and let the word go out, that yes, there are people who are willing to speak the truth to those who disrespect it.
Thank you Madame Speaker.

What are You Rebelling Against Johnny?

Asks the girl in the movie "The Wild One" starring Marlon Brando. "What do you got?" is the reply. In much the same vein, I am sure that the Left is wondering why there are protests against the policies of the Obama administration. After all, the Democrats just want what is best (in their minds) for the country. They want universal health care for all, and an equalization of wealth distribution as a way to make everyone happier. How can anyone be against these things?
I think that the biggest problems that Democrats and the Left have, is their lack of imagination as to what can go wrong. They seem to have an unthinking belief in the efficacy of government, even as they railed against it during the Bush administration. Haliburton, Katrina, Bernie Madoff, Enron, the sub-prime crash, the War on Terror, would all have been efficiently accomplished if only Democrats would have been in control. Their willingness to put on blinders to the current situation demonstrates their basic ideology that government can only function when supervised by those of their similar belief system.
Never mind that the first actions of the solidly Democratic Congress was to pass the Omnibus spending bill that was rife with pork. Nor the "Emergency" Stimulus bill that was nothing more than a spoils system for Democrat Party supporters, and was supposed to prevent unemployment from running over 8%. It was passed without anyone having even read the bill, nor was it alone in that a 300 page addendum was added to the Cap and Tax bill at 3 a.m.on the day of its vote. The fact that the stimulus bill is being touted as successful when only about 12% has spent is further proof that they don't have a clue. Evidence that Germany and France are recovering without outrageous deficit spending is quietly ignored, as Joe Biden (the Gift that keeps on Giving) is claiming "Saving or Creating X amount of jobs" without any basis in reality. Throw in Rep. Conyers asking why he should read the bill when it takes two lawyers and more time and interest than he has along with the arrogance of Democratic officeholders toward anyone who disagreed with their beneficence, and you quickly had a separation from the people that they are supposed to represent.
The Auto bailouts provided about $80 billion dollars that disappeared into bankruptcy court and the unions that supported Democrats. Obama "firing" the head of GM further shows that there are no limits on the power that this administration is willing to use.
Then came the Town Hall meetings on health care. Or, health insurance reform as it is now known. This is probably due to the fact that the pharmaceutical industry has pledged $150 million to selling Obama's plan. (If the insurance industry had been earlier with putting up money, would we now have the need to rage against Big Pharma?) Having displayed an arrogance that they alone knew how to solve the problem, Democrats at first sold themselves on the notion of providing insurance for 47 million uninsured. Never mind that at last weeks Joint session of Congress Obama suddenly, and without explanation lowered that number to only 30 million. (Look, we already removed 17 million from the ranks of the uninsured). But it was when they started tinkering with the whole system, that people became concerned. Obama's lack of credibility on the problem, only exacerbated the concern. (Health Care reform will not raise your costs, nor , , , etc.) Everyone knows that he can't do what he is promising, but he seems to believe that we won't notice.
Then when the third in line to be President, and her majority leader decided to call anyone who disagrees with her UnAmerican, that was probably the breaking point. There were no explanations of why the Democrats were right, it was only disparaging remarks (tea baggers, Brown Shirts, Nazis, racists, etc.) that showed a complete ignorance of what the country was thinking. The other interesting thing, was that the Democrats seem to be operating off the assumption that there is only one way to solve the problem. Theirs. Never mind that in such a complex system, the probability of one solution is about nil.
Couple this arrogance with the outrageous deficits that Obama is running up, and people have every reason to be concerned. But their concerns are usually defelected by assertions that they can't be serious because they weren't concerned when George Bush ran up deficits. Maybe, but maybe it is the speed that the deficit has grown in such a short period of time that is concerning. There is no concern about fiscal responsibility anymore, instead, it seems to just be a cost of doing business. Never mind that our Chinese financiers are becoming nervous, we can solve the problem by printing more money. The funny thing is, that most of the Democrats in Congress have been there so long that they remember the high inflation rates of the late '70s and early '80s. when the news stories were all about the impact of inflation on old folks with fixed incomes. Their lack of concern would be considered criminal, but they are relying on the defense of stupidity, which seems very credible at the moment.
The Democrats had the opportunity to demonstrate that they could govern efficiently and effectively without the corruption of the Republicans. Instead, what they have shown is that they don't care about corruption if it is done by Democrats, and they don't care what the people say, they only care about the unions and such organizations as ACORN and the Center for American Progress. Those constituencies are extremely limited, and are not sufficient to maintain a governing coalition unless the populace remains unconcerned.
Guess what? The population is concerned, and they are rebelling against everything that the Democrats got.

Democrats Suddenly Discover the Need for Decorum

The House Leadership has reversed itself, and is now considering admonishing Cong. Joe Wilson (What is it with guys named Joe Wilson) for calling out that President Obama lied in his recent joint session of Congress address on Health/Insurance Reform. Never mind that just moments before, Obama called anyone who disagrees with his assessment as liars. But apparently, the House leadership feels that Mr. Wilson's outburst violates decorum of such a place.
While I agree that decorum is necessary for debate, the Democrats would be credible if not for their past behavior.
Hypocrisy, Thy Name is Democrat.

Death Panels: True or False

President Obama has decried the term of "death panels" as being perjorative to his takeover of the American health care system. He especially chided "those politicians" who make these scurrillous charges, meaning the former Gov. of Alaska, Sarah Palin. But who is right? If you go to section 1233 of HR 3200, you find the following:

SEC. 1233. ADVANCE CARE PLANNING CONSULTATION.

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(a) Medicare-CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

(1) IN GENERAL- Section 1861 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395x) is amended–CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

(A) in subsection (s)(2)–CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

(i) by striking ‘and’ at the end of subparagraph (DD);CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

(ii) by adding ‘and’ at the end of subparagraph (EE); andCommentsClose CommentsPermalink

(iii) by adding at the end the following new subparagraph:CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

‘(FF) advance care planning consultation (as defined in subsection (hhh)(1));’; andCommentsClose CommentsPermalink

(B) by adding at the end the following new subsection:CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

‘Advance Care Planning Consultation

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‘(hhh)(1) Subject to paragraphs (3) and (4), the term ‘advance care planning consultation’ means a consultation between the individual and a practitioner described in paragraph (2) regarding advance care planning, if, subject to paragraph (3), the individual involved has not had such a consultation within the last 5 years. Such consultation shall include the following:CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

‘(A) An explanation by the practitioner of advance care planning, including key questions and considerations, important steps, and suggested people to talk to.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

‘(B) An explanation by the practitioner of advance directives, including living wills and durable powers of attorney, and their uses.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

‘(C) An explanation by the practitioner of the role and responsibilities of a health care proxy.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

‘(D) The provision by the practitioner of a list of national and State-specific resources to assist consumers and their families with advance care planning, including the national toll-free hotline, the advance care planning clearinghouses, and State legal service organizations (including those funded through the Older Americans Act of 1965).CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

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‘(E) An explanation by the practitioner of the continuum of end-of-life services and supports available, including palliative care and hospice, and benefits for such services and supports that are available under this title

The ability to counsel someone carries a duty to offer advice that is in the best interest of the person being counseled. I know that when I present an offer of a plea agreement to a client, I try to remain fastidiously neutral, since as I explain to the client "at the end of the day, I go home either way, but you may not." This is to reinforce that they are the ones making the choice, after I have explained to them the ramifications of their choices.
But if there is a dual loyalty, as in to the patient and the payer of the bills, it is easy to slide into a onesided approach to the problem. i.e. You are too old to chew the leather, and there is this convenient ice floe that is just getting ready to take off. Wouldn't it be lovely to go for a sail away from it all? Especially if the counselor has a financial interest in helping you to make the decision, shouldn't you be concerned that they are not recommending what is in your best interests versus their own?
Maybe Gov. Palin is onto something. Plus, Obama says it's a lie. And we all know we can't trust him.

Redefining the Political Spectrum

David Muller at the American Thinker has a very good piece on the discussion of the political spectrum. For someone who sees tyranny on both sides of the spectrum, this comparison is especially apt. The old version is shown here:



But a more accurate version is here:


It is clear that oppressive forms of government whose objective is to limit liberty encompasses both socialism and fascism, and the individual freedom espoused by libertarianism.

Read the whole thing.

Absolutely No Health Care Reform Now.

President Obama has said that he will not sign any health care reform that adds one red cent to the debt. Guess that will kill health reform forever.

Of course, who believes anything that he says.

I'm in Love!

Actually, that's not true, since my wife "The Good Democrat" would be very disapproving. But nonetheless, I love Camille Paglia's assessment of the current political situation. She is and was an Obama supporter, but her criticisms are spot on. Some of my favorite lines:

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.

and:

But affluent middle-class Democrats now seem to be complacently servile toward authority and automatically believe everything party leaders tell them. Why? Is it because the new professional class is a glossy product of generically institutionalized learning? Independent thought and logical analysis of argument are no longer taught. Elite education in the U.S. has become a frenetic assembly line of competitive college application to schools where ideological brainwashing is so pandemic that it's invisible. The top schools, from the Ivy League on down, promote "critical thinking," which sounds good but is in fact just a style of rote regurgitation of hackneyed approved terms ("racism, sexism, homophobia") when confronted with any social issue. The Democratic brain has been marinating so long in those clichés that it's positively pickled.

Read the whole thing.

Get Beck!

Kieth Olbermann has had enough of Glenn Beck and his insane pointing out of Van Jones' own words, and has decided to unleash the Leftosphere in finding out any dirt on Beck, his producer and Roger Ailes who heads up Fox News. Now, aside from the fact that Van Jones was a public official in the employ of the federal government, and aside from the fact that he declaims all of the lies and smears that were actually his own words, Olby has decided that it is wrong for a private citizen to question a government official.
Except Bush. Oh, and Cheney. Oh, and on and on and on.
So Olby is going to set up a special web site address where all of the Moonbats can report on the misdoings of Beck et al. My thinking is, "Let's help!"
Flood his site with entirely bogus allegations, but make sure you put in there that "I don't know if this is true, but . . ." Sure you can do the usual, Beck is secretly a Republican, but I am thinking of totally outlandish things, such as "Glenn Beck was abducted by aliens who have implanted a transmitter into his mind, in order to control the world."
The more outlandish the better, because you know the Moonbats will believe it unquestioningly. We can make it into a game: Who can make the most outrageous statements that Olby will investigate?

UPDATE: Apparently, Olby has changed his mind, and is calling off the dogs. Maybe we should continue the game with Sirota as the pinata instead.

A Voice From The Past

David Sirota, (who Dave Budge used to refer to as "The Putz") was on CNN talking about the Van Jones resignation. Actually, that's not quite true. For those of us who remember him, he seems to have completely gone off the deep end. Some of the more interesting comments:

And what I think what's going on here is that the White House is listening to the right-wing's political terrorists, people like Glenn Beck, people like conservative activists who have targeted Van Jones because Van Jones is an African-American with a progressive movement background working on behalf of social justice.

What happened here was that Van Jones was originally targeted because he's an African-American man who worked on behalf of social justice issues.

I think what the White House has done has said to a right wing lynch mob that they will accept their demands, their politically -- their political terrorism.

And what you're going to see is this White House, you cannot appease political terrorists. You cannot appease a right-wing lynch mob.

And so the next time, the next target of this lynch mob, I think, you're not going to be able to appease them. I think the White House is on the retreat. And I think it's really been a political mistake as much as anything.

It was a witch hunt, and a lynch mob going after this guy

Ran the whole panoply of accusations there now, didn't he? The only thing that I think that he left out was the the accusers are also homophobes, then he would have completed the trifecta. It's amusing watching the Left become so unhinged, they are pulling out all the stops, and it still isn't stopping the opposition. Whatever will they do?
Watch for yourself.



UPDATE: Apparently, he forgot psychopaths, but he managed to add it in in regards to the Obama school speech.

The Revolution Won't be Televised, It'll be on YouTube

Irony.

Never Confuse Your Opponent's Failure for Your Success

Obama's plummeting polls, and the general disdain that the public is having for incumbents in general, and Democrats in particular is not necessarily a boon for Republicans. As this survey shows, Republican voters are dissatisfied with Republican representatives. The current Republican leadership is going to have to figure out how to get out in front of their constituents, that they are supposed to be leading. Otherwise, the Republican voters are going to have to draw new faces into the arena.

Maybe not such a bad thing.

How Obama Could Save Health Care Reform and His Presidency, and Why He Won't

President Obama's Health Care reform is going down the tubes. While many Democrats are blaming the Republicans, that is just because they have always blamed Republicans. There is no other play in the play book. But it's not working this time, because the public is onto them and know that they have the largest majorities in quite some time.
Obama's "health care reform" (whatever it is) is failing rapidly, and with it his public approval. But what if Obama changed course and decided to adopt one of the three Republican's plans? He would put the Republicans on the spot, and they would have to act responsibly. The Democrats would howl, but suddenly, Obama becomes Mr. Bipartisan. He can get enough Democrats to follow him, that he could then make substantive changes to the plan, and start to make it more of his own.
The reason he won't do this brilliant strategy?

Because it came from Republicans! And that will never do.

Arrogance

Dodd hopes Kennedy death will quell health care reform discontent

How dare these peasants resist the dying wish of the Greatest Democrat ever?

Why can't they figure out that the reason people are yelling, is that the Democrats aren't listening?

Let the man rest in peace.

Denny is Being Targeted

A coalition of "environmental" groups plan to take out ads against Cong. Rehberg for opposing Cap and Tax. Since my daughter works for the Missoulian, I think that this is wonderful. The Missoulian gets money, and the "environmental" groups tick everyone off.

It's win-win.

I Went to LITW

and remembered why it's a waste of time to go there.

Enemies Foreign AND Domestic

Okay, this is red meat, but I do love the Constitutional Scholars who have taken the oath.

Why ObamaCare's Failure Will Be Good For Democrats

While some think that the failure of ObamaCare is going to cost Democrats their majority, I disagree. Instead of the usual Democrat versus Republican debate, the current debate is Democrat versus Democrat with some very angry independents watching from the sidelines. Should ObamaCare pass, the costs are going to be explosive, and once people see what the impact is on their choices of health care, it is going to end the Democrats as any kind of serious power in Washington. Sure, they will have their enclaves where the true believers will pretend that they are still in control of the country. But the Democratic Party is going to be punished for their arrogance.
Suppose instead that ObamaCare does fail, then what happens? The first thing is that the Democrats will revert to their usual bogeyman: The Republicans. Sure the Republicans are a minority, but truth matters less than perception when it comes to the news. The Democrats will be able to say the Republicans are the reason that all of these people are uninsured because of their greed and their insurance overlords. The hard Left, who are advocating for a single payer system or nothing will never blame the Democrats, instead they will also be joining the chorus of blaming Republicans, mostly because it is such fun for them.
Sure, the facts are that the Republicans are totally inconsequential in the debate, but facts are not necessary when it comes to such an emotional issue. Plus, the Republicans will probably try to claim credit even though they are so marginalized because it gives them a sense of heft that they lack at the moment.
With the failure of ObamaCare, we will all go back to the status quo ante, the Democrats blaming the Republicans, and the Republicans pretending they are in control.
Win-Win for the major parties, and we are the losers. But the real beneficiaries of the failure of ObamaCare are going to be the Blue Dog Democrats. They can claim fiscal responsibility, while at the same time blaming the Republicans.
And so, the charade continues.

Appellations

Presidents often become the recipients of nicknames. Nixon was "Tricky Dick." Reagan was "The Gipper" to those on the Right, and "An Amiable Dunce" to those on the Left. Bill Clinton will be forever remembered as "Slick Willy" and George Bush was "W" for the Right and "Stoopid" to those on the Left.
But for a nickname to stick, it needs to have some elements of mental shorthand that resonate with broad public perception. Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you Barak Obama, "The Marxist Metrosexual."


Priceless.

True Sentiment

Official I Am Sorry I Voted For Obama Website

Shared via AddThis

Simple Enough Question

Dave Budge at Electric City has a series of questions that are as interesting as any answer that they might yield. I figure I would add one more: Since the Congress critters are covered under an umbrella of insurance companies, and since they won't use the same health care reform that they are going to stick us with, why not just open enrollment in the Federal Personnel Health plan to everyone?

Oh, that's right, it would raise their rates.

Individuals and the State

The most amazing aspect of the Obama Presidency to me, is the regression from the indviduality that was just beginning to boom. By this, I mean that Obama seems to be intent on returning us to a collective relationship just when individual entrepreneurship was just taking off.
Under Obama, we are being grouped into ever larger collectives, identified by our perceived needs, at least as viewed from Washington. Need a job? You need to go work for Government Motors. Need health care? It's impossible for you to get it on your own, and you need some sort of interference by a bureaucrat to see a doctor. Want to express your opinion? Only those approved opinions are going to be allowed. Check with your SEIU thugs, or your local ACORN community organizer to determine what your opinion will be.
But just a year ago, I was marveling at the ability of individuals to exploit niches in the economy and develop their own businesses. A young stud who left the Public Defender's Office where I work, opened his own practice recently. He has the capability to take credit card payments over his computer, something I could not do when I opened my practice. What this means is that he has the ability to provide for fee services to more people than I could, and still make a living.
We have a lawn service that is run out of the guy's house who advertises on the Internet. He does a good job and can even accept payment over the Internet. Other people locally are selling all over the world through the Internet. What is going to happen to them when we get Obamacare?
Without employer paid health insurance, they will still have a mandate to pay an additional 8% on top of the income tax, self employed tax, FICA and the other taxes that are required by government fiat. This will reduce the possibility of a startup business from making it through the first three years which is the usual measure of whether or not a business will be successful.
As a result, more people will be constrained from beginning businesses that will make my life easier and better. They are going to be kept from exercising their innovation and the country as a whole will suffer from this lack of development.
Less small businesses, more government control, and Obama says that he doesn't want to return to the "failed policies of the past." I guess he wants to try out the failed policies of East Germany, just to make sure that it doesn't work.

The Coming Global Winter

Human beings are exceedingly simplistic and fail to understand anything that is not facile and in accordance with our expectations. Remember all the arguments for global warming essentially being "that if they are wrong, what harm could it do?" Outside of condemning large swaths of humanity to remain in poverty for their desire to be "carbon neutral," there is the issue that we may be dooming a large number of poor people on this planet to death. But there may be a bigger problem than CO2 sequstration.
What if, instead of global warming, we had solar induced global cooling? The thing that the global warming crowd never really understood, is that warming by 5 degrees celsius is better than a cooling of 5 degrees celsius. If global warming were to occur, we could drive up to Saskatchewan and pick our oranges from their groves. But a cooling environment would result in a significant reduction in arable farm land, and with it a greater risk of mass starvation.
If we are to go through another Maunder Minimum, we may be less prepared than the people who survived it 350 years ago. Our society has become so complex in that technology is of higher value than knowing how to start a fire in the middle of a snowstorm. But knowing how to set code will not keep you from freezing to death when the sun cools.
Jeez we are dumb.

German version of the Tea Party

Gregg had a post with a comment showing a link that I followed to find this: (It's in German, but the sentiment is pretty easy to understand.)

Apparently, they have the same ideals as the Tea Partiers, more individual freedom and less government. Seems like the fundamental human desire to be free is not just an American phenomenon.

I must admit, I kind of like the name though. "The Pirate Party."

UPDATE: From the comments below, I just found out that there is a US Pirate Party. Check them out.

UPDATE 2 Instalanche! Welcome, and take a look at the other conservative bloggers on the left under Dextrafeed.

One Brits view of the NHS

This is not just a rag against socialized medicine. It's instead, a fair analysis of the two systems that needs to be covered while we debate our own version of ObamaCare.

Read the whole thing.

"I am a fan of disruptors."

Sometimes.

ObamaCare and Waterloo

Senator DeMint had once claimed that failure of ObamaCare would be Obama's Waterloo. He has since been pilloried for making that statement and has gradually withdrawn into the shadows. But I think that an honest assessment would show him to be wrong anyway. Failure of ObamaCare or even its passage under a "recision" method is more akin to Napoleon entering Moscow, only to find it abandoned, and no one there to surrender to him. Another example would be Lee at Gettysburg, in that what started out as Lee's final blow to destroy the Union Army degenerated into a slugfest that Lee was finally forced to withdraw from,and was the last major incursion into the North for the rest of the war. Both of these cases were the high mark of what finally ended up being a doomed enterprise.
The Democrats need to conduct an honest assessment of why they are not successful if they wish to remain the power in control, although I do not believe that they are capable of doing so. The major reason is that they have fooled themselves, and this lack of honesty prevents them from making an accurate assessment of who they are. One of their faults, is that they believed their own propaganda that after the 2008 elections, conservatism had been finally vanquished. Nothing could be further from the truth. The reality is that while Republicans may have been discredited, liberalism is still outnumbered by almost 2-1. If the Democrats were smart, they would recognize that they are operating from a tenuous position and only act carefully so as not to antagonize their constituents. They would not be trying to minimize or ignore the real outrage that is being shown at the Town Hall meetings across the country.
Instead, they see a solid majority in the House and a filibuster proof majority in the Senate. This means that the public is well aware of the unlimited power they are capable of, and Americans are not sure that they like it.
The real lessons to be learned from the 2006 and 08 elections is that the public rejected the arrogance of Republicans. The lesson the Democrats will learn at this rate in 2010 is that their version of arrogance is no different.

Who Loves Ya Baby?

Rasmussen has a report out about trust on the issues that is an interesting read. Two things jump out at me: 1st, that the Republicans lead on all but two issues,; 2nd they are tied with Democrats on Iraq and still lag significantly on Government ethics.
Lagging behind Nancy Pelosi, John Murtha, Harry Reid, Chris Dodd, and too many others to spend time recounting? The Republicans have a severe image problem that they are going to have to fix if they want to have any chance after the Democrats commit Hari-Kari in November of 2010.

Abuse of Power by the Government

Okay, that is redundant, but I wanted to post this article from The Agitator in its entirety, because it is just more evidence that we are not the sovereigns of the country, but the subjects of those in power.

Discretion
Monday, August 10th, 2009

…there doesn’t seem to be much at work in this story.

When Donald Ross’s sister passed, more than 100 people attended her funeral mass in Spokane.

The burial was scheduled for a nearby cemetery, but Ross and his family only made it a quarter of a mile when flashing lights forced them to the side of the road.

“Harold, his (my husband’s) brother, said, ‘You pulled us out of a funeral procession,’” said wife Shirley Ross.

But the deputy kept them there, writing up five citations because the driver and the passengers were not wearing a seat belts…

Those five tickets took 12 minutes to write. By the time Ross and his family members got back on the road, the burial was over.

The police department has apologized and reprimanded the officer. Just kidding!

…the sheriff’s department says [the deputy] had every right.

“We’re out here trying to prevent funerals, not disrupt them,” said Dave Reagan of Spokane County Sheriff’s Office.

Police officers don’t have rights, they have powers. And the fact that they have them doesn’t mean they always have to use them, even in those situations where the law allows them. Seems to me that making a woman miss her brother’s burial in order to write her a ticket—not for endangering others, but for not buckling her own seat belt—would be one of those times when some discretion might be in order.

Thanks to reader Judy for the tip.

I've Been Robbed

Actually, it just goes to show that the solution to the problem is not ObamaCare. But earlier, I had posted this where I suggested some methods to alleviate the problem with providing health insurance. Then some guy goes and puts this article in the Wall Street Journal with many of the same points that I made. I could say that mine were the first suggestions, but it is obvious to anyone who thinks (Not you Mark) that there are workable solutions that don't require government run health care.

An Example of those Hate Mongering Town Hall Protesters

The "Angry Mobs" ™ protesting Obamacare have gone just too far as shown in this news article:

When Obama visited Portland, Ore., for a fundraiser, protesters stalked his motorcade, assailed his limousine and stoned a car containing his advisers. Chanting "Obama is a terrorist!", the demonstrators bullied passers-by, including gay softball players and a wheelchair-bound grandfather with multiple sclerosis.
One protester even brandished a sign that seemed to advocate Obama's assassination. The man held a large photo of Obama that had been doctored to show a gun barrel pressed against his temple.
"OBAMA: WANTED, DEAD OR ALIVE," read the placard, which had an X over the word "ALIVE."
Another poster showed Obama's face with the words: "F--- YOU, MOTHERF---ER!"
A third sign urged motorists to "HONK IF YOU HATE OBAMA." A fourth declared: "CHRISTIAN FASCISM," with a swastika in place of the letter S in each word.
Although reporters from numerous national news organizations were traveling with Obama and witnessed the protest, none reported that protesters were shrieking at Republican donors epithets like "Slut!" "Whore!" and "Fascists!"
Frank Dulcich, president and CEO of Pacific Seafood Group, had a cup of liquid thrown into his face, and then was surrounded by a group of menacing protesters, including several who wore masks. Donald Tykeson, 75, who had multiple sclerosis and was confined to a wheelchair, was blocked by a thug who threatened him.
Protesters slashed the tires of several state patrol cruisers and leapt onto an occupied police car, slamming the hood and blocking the windshield with placards. A female police officer was knocked to the street by advancing protesters, badly injuring her wrist.
The angry protest grew so violent that the Secret Service was forced to take the highly unusual step of using a backup route for Obama's motorcade because the primary route had been compromised by protesters, one of whom pounded his fist on the president's moving limousine.
All the while, angry demonstrators brandished signs with incendiary rhetoric, such as "9/11 - YOU LET IT HAPPEN, SHRUB," and "OBAMA: BASTARD CHILD OF THE SUPREME COURT." One sign read: "IMPEACH THE COURT-APPOINTED JUNTA AND THE FASCIST, EGOMANIACAL, BLOOD-SWILLING BEAST!"

Okay, it wasn't that hard to figure out that I just substituted Obama for Bush from this article. I could argue that this is just another example of the cover given to Obama versus what is given to Republicans, but what would be the point. The Media and the Left have zero credibility when they claim that they are "Shock-ed, Shock-ed" that anyone would use these sort of tactics.

Stupid Republicans

I am enjoying the self destruction of the Democrats, but then I find out that the Republicans haven't learned a single thing. I do think that Denny is doing an acceptable job and replacing him with MacDonald would be a tremendous mistake, even if it is highly unlikely that he would succeed.
But the whole basis for the Tea Party protest and the Town Hall protests are about the tone deaf representatives who go to Washington and start to bribe each other with our money. If they can't figure out that it's wrong, they don't deserve to serve, and need to be removed.

"Fixing" the Debate

We have two parallel and yet different discussions going forward about "Health Care Reform." One is about Health Insurance, and the other about Health Care.
Most of the debate has been about the greedy insurance bastards who are ripping us all off by reading actuarial tables and figuring out the probability of whether or not their company will still be in business in a few years. They are abetted in this scheme by the Insurance Commissioners of the several States who invent rules to control and oversee them. For instance, in the 1970s, we in Montana passed unisex laws for insurance for cars and for health. As a result, young males paid less in car insurance than young females, and more (if they bought it at all) for health insurance than they would have otherwise paid. It was a good idea at the time, but nobody reasoned it all the way out. As a result, Montanans pay more for both health and car insurance than many other states.
One of the proposals being put forward is the "public option" plan that would provide coverage to anyone without restrictions on pre-existing conditions for a reasonable cost. Seems imminently reasonable doesn't it? But what if you go with the public option and are paying only half of what you were paying before to a private insurer. You feel good about your wise decision until your wife finds a lump in her breast. You go to the doctor that you have always had, but she tells you that she won't treat your wife because the reimbursements are too low and she loses money on your insurance.
That's alright you say, there are other doctors, so you start to call around and all refuse your coverage, except for the guy who just had his license restored after being suspended for malpractice. You have health insurance, but if the doctors don't want to take it you don't have health care.
You start to realize how unfair the system is, so you start to demand that doctors accept your coverage. Unless you are willing to repeal the XIII Amendment to the Constitution, there is no way that you can force doctors to take your case. If the government puts caps on how much anyone can charge for care, you will find a large number of doctors dropping out completely and a rise in black market medicine without the necessary oversight and controls. So, that doesn't work either.
So you see, health insurance is not the same as health care. But what are we to do about it?
I have been kicking around some ideas for awhile, such as requiring doctors to post their fee schedule so that consumers can make informed choices. Doctors who are very experienced will be able to command a higher fee than less experienced ones, but it will be the patient who decides which doctor to use. Next, do away with employer provided health care coverage. If you are given something for free (ostensibly) you don't have much regard for its value. As such, you are willing to expend it on every little thing because the cost of the copay is so small. If you are someone who never goes to the doctor until ten minutes before you die, your employer was paying the same for you as someone who went every week for every little sniffle. If you are in control of where and how much money is spent on health care, you might use it only when you needed it, and not for every sniffle or cough.
Another suggestion I would like to see is to reactivate the Armed Services Medical School. This was shut down due to pressure from the AMA, but if we were to give people who wanted to be doctors a free tuition plus a GS-16 pay scale on the condition that they would have to serve for 20 years in underserved areas in the National Health Service, it would be a heck of a lot cheaper than trying to remake the health industry into Obama's image. By reducing the number of indigent who go to private practitioners and going to the above NHS doctors, doctors would no longer have to pad the bills paid for by insurance in order to cover the indigent. Win Win all the way around.

Obama's Thugocracy in Action

Having tried to demonize ordinary Americans by calling them Nazis, Brooks Brother's Brigade, Astroturf and other derogatory names, Obama's followers are now going in for direct action:

A supporter of health care reform, left, who did not want to give her name, pushes forward to rip a sign out of Kris McLay's hands outside the Stout Street Clinic visited by Nancy Pelosi. (THE DENVER POST | RJ SANGOSTI)

I love my country, even though there are periods I am not proud of: Slavery; Extermination of Native people; Anti-Sedition laws of WWI; the internment of Japanese Americans; and the McCarthy era. I always hoped that if I was confronted by such shameful actions I would stand up against it.

It's time to stand people!

Obama as the Joker Poster

is unacceptable. Let's face it as

Los Angeles Urban Policy Roundtable President Earl Ofari Hutchinson is calling the depiction, politically mean spirited and dangerous.

"Depicting the president as demonic and a socialist goes beyond political spoofery," says Hutchinson, "it is mean-spirited and dangerous."

I mean, just look at what is being portrayed:







Oops, sorry, I mean this one





My bad, I mean this one:





Darn, this is hard, what with all of the outrage about Obama's poster. I mean, really, is this that bad?

Y'all Better Shut Up!

Apparently, if you are a concerned citizen who thinks that the explosion in deficit spending over the last six months is a disaster for our Nation and children, you would be well served to keep it to yourself. Otherwise, you will be accused of being a part of:

angry mobs of a small number of rabid right wing extremists funded by K Street Lobbyists to disrupt thoughtful discussions about the future of health care in America taking place in Congressional Districts across the country.

None of us can think for ourselves apparently according to the Democratic National Committee. So you better leave all of your Congress critters alone, because you have no legitimate grounds to complain. Sure, they don't even pretend to read the bills they vote for, but they are assured by their staffs, so it must be okay. And don't even think about writing an email or a letter to the editor against this expenditure, because you will be reported to the White House.
I know that some of you will turn to the famous Hillary quote in your defense:

As Hillary Clinton famously yelled, “I am sick and tired of people who say that if you debate and you disagree with this administration, somehow you’re not patriotic, and we should stand up and say, ‘WE ARE AMERICANS AND WE HAVE A RIGHT TO DEBATE AND DISAGREE WITH ANY ADMINISTRATION!’”

but you don't understand, it's only one way. It's okay for fascists to use fascistic tactics to shut down other fascists.
It's just not okay for you.

Why the "Birthers" Need to Quit

Joe Biden, President of the United States.

Think about it.

Mark T's Dishonest Posting

Mark left one of his patented tirades over at ECW, in response to Dave's comment about his lack of reading comprehension in regards to an earlier comment about World Health Organization study that Mark cites to. I know this seems convoluted, but it follows his usual pattern of first ignoring the original post in order to argue what he wants, and then he either makes up stuff, or quotes partisan and unreliable sources in his post without any qualms.
Actually, while Mark is amusing as he continues his endless stream of faux data in order to support his arguments it can lead to problems with the limits of debate. The problem with allowing such false information is that weaker minds are susceptible to the ruse and resistant to the truth. The old "a lie can get half way around the world before the truth get's its boot in the stirrup" certainly fits here.
First, let's start with his 52 million uninsured. Used to be the number was 47 million, but I assume a 5 million increase is helpful to creating the kind of panic Mark and Obama need to pass this God Awful bill, even though Obama just uses the 47 number. Even then, the numbers have been shown to be quite different than portrayed. For example, about 43% have incomes above 250% of the poverty level and choose not to buy insurance. There are 13 million who are illegal aliens and won't be covered under any plan currently being discussed. Throw in the numbers of people who are between jobs with coverage, but who regain coverage under the new employer and the number of chronically uninsured is less than 10 million. A very good statistical analysis of who is uninsured is found here.
But how could I be so callous about 10 million people, you might ask? Again the problem is one of ilnumeracy. There are approximately 306 million people living in American right now. 10 million seems like a large number until you figure out it is approximately 3.5% of the total population. So, let's go ahead and wreck the whole system and raise taxes on our grandchildren for the rest of their productive lives in order to feel good about ourselves.
Mark's next exaggerated assertion is that there are a million medical bankruptcies every year. A million sounds huge, and it would be if it were true.

As Megan McArdle points out, the report’s figures indicate that the number of medical bankruptcies dropped from almost 671,000 in 2001, to only 502,000 in 2007. That’s a drop of over 25% in six years.

Heavens, that is a heck of a lot less than a million every year. Now why would Mark use the inflated number? Could it be that he is wrong? Certainly he could be mistaken, but he is inevitably wrong on the high side. Could it be that he is deliberately distorting the data? Hard to say. But consistent errors are more indicative of an agenda than an argument.
Further on in his post, Mark uses the same tactic of old, that where he has been proved wrong and he resorts to "that's not what I said" when he changes the argument from health insurance to health coverage for everyone. Although if you look at the O'Neill study cited above, you will find that the uninsured get health care at a not unreasonable rate. For instance in screening for PSA, 55% of insured men have had one. But 36% of uninsured men have had one as well. Not bad for no insurance. Women, who seem to take more attention to their health than men get mammograms at a rate of 91.26% for insured women and 76% for uninsured women. And the list goes on. See O'Neill Table 9.
Predictably, Mark again shifts the argument to his pet peeve of medicine being for profit. I had pointed out to him that Blue Cross is a non-profit and would seem to fit his demand, but he rejected it out of hand because they are a "not-for-profit" organization instead. This distinction is significant under the tax code, but otherwise is a distinction without a difference. As I am sure that Mark knows.
Mark's next set of made up numbers come from the supposed fraud of Medicare and Medicaid to the tune of $100-$500 Billion per year that could be saved by sending everyone to jail. $500 Billion is a lot of money, especially when Medicaid and Medicare total around $700 billion. Couldn't be more evidence of exaggeration now, could it? Now, these sorts of mistakes could be a product of misinformation that Mark relies on. But as noted by Dave, the use of misleading statistics doesn't enhance the argument in your favor.
While I believe that Mark is passionate in his endeavor to cover everyone with Canadian style coverage, he also ignores the problems with those "solutions." Honestly, if it was as easy as everyone says, why wouldn't it be done by now? Could it be that the chimera of the easy solution is just that? Could it be that rational people don't want to jump off of a cliff without knowing that the proposed reforms would work? Or could it even be that we can't even agree on what exactly the problem is at the moment, thanks in part to erroneous information that is clogging the argument?

Despair Inc.

You often see those motivational posters that depict beautiful imagery while having an inspiring message underneath. Then, there is Despair Inc. Their demotivational posters are absolutely hilarious. Some of my favorites:
APATHY
If we don't take care of the customer,maybe they'll stop bugging us.
BAILOUTS
From each according to his ability,
to each according to his lack thereof.
CHANGE
When the winds of change blow hard enough, the most trivial of things can become deadly projectiles.

and my personal favorite:
ADVERSITY
That which does not kill me postpones the inevitable.

Then there is this one which seems apt in light of our current elected representatives in Washington:



GOVERNMENT
If you think the problems we create are bad, just wait until you see our solutions.

Max Should Support Sotomayor

Max Baucus has been too busy to find out about Obama's Supreme Court nominee, and has told The Hill that he doesn't know how he will vote next week. I urge him to support her and vote for her confirmation. Not because I think that she will be a great justice, in fact I really don't. She was picked solely to placate the identity police, and her legal reasoning leaves a lot to be desired. But that is just the reason Max should support her.
In every trial when you are picking a jury, you are trying to guess who will be the foreman (or forewoman) since they will have extraordinary power over how the jury votes. My baseline guess is usually the oldest, tallest best educated male. It doesn't always work out, but often enough that it's a good rule of thumb. That person will be the one that can carry your side in the argument if you can persuade them.
Others in the jury will have varying degrees of influence all the way down to what are essentially fillers. People who will go along with the majority, no matter what they think.
Sonia Sotomayor is just that, a filler. She doesn't have the intellectual firepower to persuade the other justices and so she will always vote consistently in whatever way Breyer or Ginsberg tell her to. If her nomination was rejected, it is quite possible that Obama could select someone who makes a difference in the justices' conferences after argument.
She replaces Souter, whose signal achievement was the Kelo decision that says governments can take over property just because they can get more tax revenue under another owner. With this nominee, there won't be any change in the balance of the court, so no harm, no foul.

Shanghai Market to Collapse in the Next Ten Days

According to this article the Shanghai markets will collapse between today and the 27th of July. Now this may be no more than a variant of the idea that the world will end on December 21st of 2021 because the Aztec calendar runs out, but if it does happen, it could warrant another look.
On the same site, there is a post about predicting revolutions and their tipping points. Could be interesting with regards to Iran.

A Modest Proposal to Restore Fiscal Sanity

As President Obama has said, our current level of spending is unsustainable. With the addition of another $1.6 Trillion in spending to cover an additional 10 million Americans who don't have health insurance our debt is presently set to double in the next ten years. Adding in the anticipated costs of the Baby Boomer Generation retirements that will completely drain the Social Security and Medicare accounts, and the Nation will become nothing more than a set of indentured servants to our Chinese bond holders.
The time for action is now! We cannot wait for some fanciful plan to solve our pending economic crisis. In fact, those who deny the problems of so much unbridled spending are obviously traitors to our country and should be prosecuted as such and hung from the highest trees of the land. I for one, will not just stand by and let these debt deniers with their false belief system in the effectiveness of government continue to hold sway over the levers of governance. No, my fellow citizens, we must take bold and positive steps to solve this problem, and I have just a solution:
Kill the Baby Boomers.
Now, at first glance, this may seem too radical, but there is ample precedent and logic behind my proposal as I am sure you will soon see. Baby Boomers got us into this fiscal mess. After all, aren't most of the people who run Wall Street Baby Boomers? Have they not been instrumental in driving the direction of federal spending and taxation levels that have only benefited themselves to the detriment of subsequent generations? And now, having destroyed the finances of this country, they are going to enter retirement drawing Social Security in numbers that will require three workers to support each retiree with their taxes. And for what? In retirement, do they really provide more value to the country, or do they simply draw off more resources that would be better used by the productive members of our country. The Boomers fanatical focus on health and long life are going to result in a significant number living well past 100 years of age. In other words, many of them will live longer than they actually worked and paid in towards the taxes that went to their retirement under Social Security.
Many may think that I am being cruel and heartless, and nothing could be further from the truth. I am not suggesting that we should immediately terminate all of the Baby Boomers. Instead, the humane approach would be to give each of them a decent period of time (I would propose five years) in which they could enjoy their retirement, then on the fifth anniversary of their retirement, they would report to an appropriate, government run facility, (sort of like the one in Soylent Green) where they would be lovingly cared for in a clean pleasant and reassuring environment and then administered an appropriate cocktail of drugs that will allow them to peacefully pass away in their sleep.
Some may say that this is too harsh, but is it really? After all, with retirement coming at age 65 or later, depending on your birth year, can you really say that they haven't had more than enough life already? How much more do they need to have, and isn't it just a product of our capitalist society that they would be so greedy as to continue to cling to life even after they are beyond doing anything useful for the rest of society? I say it's time to end these greedhead's control of our country and return that control back to the rightful hands of the producers.
Perhaps you would argue that my plan is illegal. Ah, but there you would be wrong. After all, we use the same methods for determining that the rich have too much money and don't need it. Why is it any different from some aging codger clinging to life support? In fact, the Boomer doing everything to prolong his or her life simply consumes needed resources that could be better used elsewhere, while the rich that we tax at higher rates could at least invest the money in businesses to promote healthier economies for the world.
My plan is becoming more and more feasible every day. As the Baby Boomer generation can no longer be added to, it is shrinking and with it their political clout as well. Eventually, it won't be that hard to have a sufficient majority of right thinking Americans who will recognize that this is the only solution to our economic demise. In fact, I think that a significant number of Boomers using their heightened sense of social conscience would also agree that this proposal is imminently reasonable.
And I even have the appropriate slogan to make all of this happen: "It's for the children!"

Random Thoughts

I have a bunch of thoughts rolling around for posts, but lack the desire to flesh them all out, so I figured I would just do the Reader's Digest version of them.

Most of the Democrats like to make fun of Sarah Palin, and claim that she would be unfit to be President. This led me to compare her to Biden, that guy who is almost always in a secure undisclosed location with both feet in his mouth. And he is supposed to have been a better choice than Palin? It kind of made me wonder about Obama and his decision making abilities in picking Biden. Sure Obama wasn't in the Senate that long, but he must have had some interaction with Biden and realized what an idiot he is. But then I remembered that Obama couldn't remember the names of all 57 states either. Or a whole bunch of other facts that Obama gets wrong, but seems so utterly sure of himself nonetheless.

Maybe, Obama isn't as smart as we are all led to believe. What if he is just a particularly eloquent narcissist who is totally consumed in the BS that the Democrat Party puts out? His lack of understanding of complex situations is beginning to give even more evidence to my theory.

The Democrats will never have public hearings on any Bush/Cheney/CIA crimes. First, they know that they weren't as bad as they made it to be. Second, the Democrat leadership acquiesced in everything that they now want to prosecute. Third, they know that they will have their asses handed to them by the very people they want to prosecute. So, what are they going to do about the hoi polloi of the Democratic Underground who are screaming for blood? Especially, since if they don't get Bush/Cheney's blood they will be turning on Reid and Pelosi. So what to do? Continue the leaks and innuendo that will never see the light of day in an investigation, so that the truth will never come out to show just how feckless the Democratic leadership really is.

I wonder if in two years we are going to be having commentary about what the Democratic Party is going to become now that they have suffered such massive defeats in the 2010 elections, and what does this mean for Obama's agenda? Will the Democratic Party have to shift right and become more Republican in order to survive? And will any of the present writers of the current Republican obituary even be self aware enough to realize how stupid they are?

If the Republicans take over the House and turn the economy around by killing the Obama spending plans, will the public reward them by re-electing Obama, just like they did Clinton? As a corollary, what is going to happen to the Tea Parties? Will they form a separate political party like Ross Perot's brainchild, and hand the Presidency back to Obama, or should they act like MoveOn and take over the Republican party?

Why is it that every time Obama says, "As I have always said" or "Let me be perfectly clear" that he is changing his position?

Just sayin . . . .

Whither Sarah?

Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin has just announced that she is resigning from office effective the 26th of July. My wife (The Good Democrat) is quite happy about this, because like many of those who ascribe to the statist philosophy, she loathes Palin. Which I find to be quite interesting, in that she is one of us more so than the pretend effete elite who consider themselves our betters.
The amount of attention that has been paid to Palin after the election (nearly all negative from the MSM) may help to illuminate what it is that they fear. And Sarah Palin is exactly that which they fear. After all, for Republicans to object to the selection of Joe Biden would have been ridiculous. Mr. Gaffe-O-Matic does more to call into question Obama's judgment so it is unlikely that any serious Republican would be calling for Biden's removal. Better to keep him propped up on the stage with his foot in his mouth than to have him hidden.
But I was curious about why she would resign now, instead of waiting until the end of her term. Then I listened to her speech where she said that she is willing to work to elect those who have the priorities of national security, energy independence and fiscal responsibility, and I began to realize that she just may be onto something.
For instance, 2010 is shaping up to be an excellent year for the Republicans. Obama's disastrous policies are going to destroy the economy as entrepreneurs sit on their hands rather than risk government intervention. Without capital, business will stagnate at best, and contract at worst. In other words, no growth, no jobs, no recovery. And that's without the disastrous effects of deficit spending added to the problem. By coming to close races, Palin will be able to provide the margin of victory that will come from independents and weak Republicans who are becoming more and more disillusioned with Obama. By establishing herself as a valuable asset, and at the same time establishing the connections that help to make the ground game work, she will be able to collect on the chits in 2012.
But why not do the same thing as a lame duck governor? Partly due to the unwarranted accusations that have been refuted but still continue to be brought forth on a continuing basis, it is a distraction. The other advantage to leaving early is that she can also help to recruit candidates that she wants to support, and if they succeed will be even more beholden to her.
The Governor's actions are definitely not in the usual playbook. Maybe that is why she is so interesting. If it works, she will be a hero. If it fails, no one will remember her. I'm betting it works.

This is So True

I read one time that the Host of RedEye on Fox News said that he became a conservative after hanging around liberals, and that he became a libertarian after hanging around conservatives. I'm up with that. This is parody that has way too many roots in our current reality.

Iran, and What Obama did Right and Wrong

After the obviously fraudulent elections in Iran, Obama reacted carefully, refusing to denounce them at the time. Many on the right took him to task, but I think that he was doing the right thing even if it was Realpolitik in action. Obama had made it clear that he wanted to negotiate without preconditions with the stooge for the mullahs, Ahmadinijad on the issue of Iran's nuclear program, its threats to Israel in particular and Middle East peace in general. By coming down on the side of the protesters he would not be able to have the dialog that he so desperately wanted to have. The side benefit was the Congress expressing their approval of the protesters. By allowing the Congress to vote their concerns, Obama could remain above the fray thereby keeping his options for future negotiations open.
But then, the regime's security forces turned violent. The iconic imagery of Neda, the woman whose death was broadcast to the world over the Internet removed any sense of legitimacy for the government that Obama wants to negotiate with. I would remind him of his speech in Cairo and his Iranian New Year's message that we have more in common with the people of Iran than we do with the regime that is presently killing them. to negotiate with these murderers is going to be impossible.
In every battle, there comes a "culmination point" as Clausewitz said, that point where decisive action can be brought to bear and achieve victory. That point is now passed. When the student pleaded for help from America and the world, Obama did not act. His pathetic statement that Iran must govern through cooperation and not coercion puts on full display the emptiness of his words. Obama forgets that he doesn't have a sycophantic press in Iran, so he won't get the movement in public opinion that he is used to.
President Obama is Exhibit A of why a naif is not a good person to have in the White House.

Scandalous!

Sen. John Ensign of Nevada has admitted that he had an extramarital affair with a former campaign worker. Now, I won't go into the disparate treatment that the media offers to Republicans versus Democrats like this article does. I mean, it would be nice if they gave some attention to Sen.s Dodd, Durbin, Rep.s Rangel, Murtha, Pelosi, Visclosky, Moran, Jefferson, Mollohan, and oh, so many others.
But the interesting thing about the two different groups, is that for the most part Democrats are corrupt for money, and Republicans are corrupt for sex. There are exceptions, (Edwards and Randy Cunningham) but it seems that if you are trying to get rich, be a Democrat in elected office. On the other hand, if you are trying to get laid, be a Republican. Personally I think that the Republicans should be using it as a selling point instead of running away from it.
One thing in Ensign's favor though, he didn't use the excuse that his wife was in remission to justify his actions.

Fox versus ABC

President Obama said in an interview that he "gets generally coverage" from the news networks, except for Fox news. I think the "generally positive" comment is just another of the many examples that he has of not telling the truth. When you have MSNBC (who have the same opinion of O'Reilly as von Brunn, the Holocaust shooter) carrying the water for the President, it's hard to say that he has any critical press outside of Fox. But then we learn that ABC is going to be hosting an infomercial for his health care plan that excludes anyone who has a problem with the plan, and you have the epitomy of the State run media.
Become a revolutionary, watch Fox news.

Letterman Apologizes Again

David Letterman is apologizing again for the Palin jokes. I notice that his statement only includes the youngest daughter. Apparently, he thought that it was perfectly appropriate to mock an 18 year old woman. And no mention of the slutty stewardess looks of the governor.
You can read the statement here. What's interesting is that it took Mark Shield's analysis for him to realize that it was wrong. No self awareness here. Besides, I am sure that CBS was starting to notice the unpleasantness arising from the "joke" and probably insisted that something be done.

UPDATE: Apparently, some idiot in South Carolina compares Michelle Obama with an escaped gorilla. What is going on with any sense of decency? Have we so lost our way that this is what is supposed to pass as humor?

Return of the Conservative

Gallup has a poll out that shows that more Americans identify themselves as conservatives than liberal. According to Gallup,

40% of Americans interviewed in national Gallup Poll surveys describe their political views as conservative, 35% as moderate, and 21% as liberal. This represents a slight increase for conservatism in the U.S. since 2008, returning it to a level last seen in 2004.

So, let's see, nearly twice as many Americans identify themselves conservative than do liberals. At the extremes, 9% consider themselves very conservative and 5% very liberal, again almost twice the number. Even among pure independents, there is nearly a two to one ratio. The only area that liberals win is in the 18-29 demographic where liberals outnumber conservatives by 31% to 30%.
But the really interesting tidbit is this:

Thus far in 2009, Gallup has found an average of 36% of Americans considering themselves Democratic, 28% Republican, and 37% independent. When independents are pressed to say which party they lean toward, 51% of Americans identify as Democrats, 39% as Republicans, and only 9% as pure independents.

The difference between conservatives and Republicans is the root cause of the poor electoral results of the past few years. Efforts by many to urge the Republican Party to remake itself into the Democratic Party Lite version are doomed to failure. It's kind of like being offered the choice between Pepsi and the generic cola, why bother? What we need is a Pepsi - Tequila contest to attract the voters.
It is not just the Republican's fecklessness on spending that has driven the numbers down though. The State controlled media that slavishly adheres to every "um" and "er" of the One, has prepped the battlespace for the Left party very well. But even in the face of superior artillery and better engineers, small groups acting in concert and cohesion can overcome an opposing force. Especially when numbers are on their side. For instance:

A recent Gallup poll shows Americans overwhelmingly disagree with Obama on closing Guantanamo. Rasmussen reports Republicans and Democrats tied on the generic congressional ballot. Americans have a more favorable opinion of former Vice President Cheney than Pelosi and trust Republicans over Democrats on economic issues. And Reid is down nationally, and in serious trouble in his home state of Nevada.

While it would be an advantage to scrap the name Republican Party, the fact remains that most of the state laws and procedures are only set up to recognize the two major parties. The mission for the conservatives is to take the Republican Party back to being conservative.
With Obama's help, that just might happen real quick.

Killing Strawmen

I don't always go to Wulfgar's site, but every once in awhile, it does provide a certain amount of humor. Specifically, this posting. Now, if you read this post, you will see quite clearly that this is the classic straw man argument, and I mentioned in his comments:

How many bales of straw had to die so uselessly for this post?

To which, he replied:

Lame, Steve. If you see a straw man, point it out. I'll still crush you like a bug, but please, show some courage. Please?

I saw his reply as the equivalent of the "I am not, You are" school of argument, and figured that he couldn't be so obtuse as to ignore that which was obviously in front of his face.

I was wrong.

Then like a child who has found a hammer, he decided to apply it to everything that he could. Such as in the Electric City Weblog posting on David Letterman's over the top gratuitous insult of Sarah Palin's daughter. Under the comments, I said this:

Just another example of the coarsening of our society that 1. the joke was made, and 2. that anyone would rise to defend it. Of course, the liberal use of the word hypocrisy flows only one way. I am sure that everyone will just be having a laugh riot when Letterman starts making jokes about Obama’s daughters.

Now, if you understand the rhetorical trick of the strawman argument, it is clear that there is nothing of the sort present. But Wulfie, armed with his new toy declared:

"I am sure that everyone will just be having a laugh riot when Letterman starts making jokes about Obama’s daughters."

And when he does,. I’m certain that you’ll call him out.

And you stupidly, with no support, accused me of a Straw Man? Steve, you’d best get your … uh … doody together. There, was that polite enough?

This was the beginning of my realization that he had no real clue as to what he understood a strawman argument to be. But the piece' de resistance was when Dave pointed out that Obama is the master of the strawman argument, to which Wulfie replied:

Hmm. Not disagreeing, Sir Mr. Budge Sir, but it would be helpful to the quest of Mr. Eschenbacher if you actually had an example …

Then I knew, that Rob the Wulfie had no idea what a strawman argument actually is. For him to ignore Obama's prolific use of the strawman either implies willful self delusion, or actual ignorance.

So, for the purposes of his clarification, and to help him not look quite so dumb, let's take a look at what a strawman argument actually is. In general terms, it is a rhetorical device that is dishonest. It is designed to set up a false argument in order to destroy that argument, and thus destroy the supposed proponent of the argument, even though that is not what they argued. A more formal statement can be found at Wikipedia, (just to make it easier than looking it up in a book) and is related in part here:

A straw man argument is an informal fallacy based on misrepresentation of an opponent's position.[1] To "attack a straw man" is to create the illusion of having refuted a proposition by substituting a superficially similar proposition (the "straw man"), and refuting it, without ever having actually refuted the original position

As to the strawman Killer in Chief, we only have to go visit that bastion of Right Wing thought, the Washington Post, which reports that President Obama

President Obama likes to portray the battle over the economic stimulus package that passed the Senate on Tuesday as a stark choice between his approach and that of those who would "do nothing."

"Nothing is not an option. You didn't send me to Washington to do nothing," Obama told a gathering of 1,500 here on Tuesday, bringing the crowd to its feet as he campaigned for passage of the more than $800 billion package.

The president used the same language Monday in his first prime-time news conference, suggesting that lawmakers who opposed his prescription want the government to ignore the deepening economic crisis.

"There seems to be a set of folks who -- I don't doubt their sincerity -- who just believe that we should do nothing," he said.

But in truth, few of those involved in the stimulus debate are suggesting that the government should not take action to aid the cratering economy.

Many of the president's fiercest congressional critics support a stimulus package of similar size but think it should be built around a much higher proportion of tax cuts than new spending. Others have called for a plan that is half the size of the one headed for a House-Senate conference -- still massive by historical standards.

Even those who think that no new government spending is necessary do not advocate a stand-still approach. A newspaper ad by the Cato Institute, signed by 250 economists, argued for removing "impediments to work, saving, investment and production" and said that "lower tax rates and a reduction in the burden of government are the best ways of using fiscal policy to boost growth."

You can even read more in that ultra right wing anti government rag, The New York Times. From that article:

“There are those who say these plans are too ambitious, that we should be trying to do less, not more,” Mr. Obama told a town-hall-style meeting in Costa Mesa, Calif., on March 18. “Well, I say our challenges are too large to ignore.”

Mr. Obama did not specify who, exactly, was saying America should ignore its challenges.

Similarly, the next day in Los Angeles, Mr. Obama took on Wall Street and Washington, two of his favorite straw men. “I know some folks in Washington and on Wall Street are saying we should just focus on their problems,” Mr. Obama said. “It would be nice if I could just pick and choose what problems to face, when to face them. So I could say, well, no, I don’t want to deal with the war in Afghanistan right now; I’d prefer not having to deal with climate change right now. And if you could just hold on, even though you don’t have health care, just please wait, because I’ve got other things to do.”

Mr. Obama continued on the offensive against straw men that day in Los Angeles, pointing out that critics told him not to go on “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno” on NBC because “I can’t handle that and the economy at the same time.” Then, his audience primed, he delivered his standard kill line: “Listen, here’s what I say. I say our challenges are too big to ignore.”

And who can argue with that? Like most straw men, Mr. Obama’s are not complete fabrications. White House officials correctly pointed out that Senator Jon Kyl, Republican of Arizona, took a crack at Mr. Obama for appearing on the Leno show, saying that his “suggestion is that he come back, since he’s taken full responsibility, and get his people together” to confer on the budget.

But that is still a ways from the tortuous construct which Mr. Obama ended up with, that turned Mr. Kyl’s remark into one that somehow needed the “our challenges are too big to ignore” rebuttal, since it suggests that one of those challenges was apparently appearing on Leno.

And just to make it easier to understand for Rob

The telltale indicators that a straw man trick is on the way are the introductory words “there are those who say” or “some say.”

“In strawmanese, you never specify who ‘those who’ are,” Mr. Safire said. “They are the hollow scarecrows you set up to knock down.”

Now there is another version of this trick which does specify the person but is just as dishonest because it implies things that are not said. But that is the subject for another post.

An Interesting Exercise

California is facing a $24 Billion dollar deficit, and everyone is trying to figure out how to pay for it since the voters rejected the tax increase pushed by the Democratic Majority. The LA Times has an interactive site where you can try your hand at balancing the budget. Give it a try.

Brilliant!

Senator Lamar Alexander has introduced a bill that would give every tax payer shares of stock in Government Motors and Chrysler, once they emerge from bankruptcy. This makes so much sense, since it gets the government out of the business of running a car company (having failed at governance, they are trying something else) and putting the value that the tax payers have made back into the hands of the tax payer. We should do the same thing with AIG, Citibank and all the rest of the pots that the government has been meddling in.
Of course, this idea makes too much sense to ever come to pass.