List of Top 100 Political Bloggers

The Edge of England's Sword used to be on a similar list. But now here is today's list from ABC.

Murtha And Drug Dealers

The Associate Press is running this article connecting Murtha to drug dealers who gained from Murtha's earmarks.

It's Official the MSM is State-Controlled

Over at Powerlineblog.com they are pointing out yet another instance of the media's unquestioning adoration of all things Obama. Well worth a read.

And check out Rob Long's Newsweek parody cover. It's funny because it's true.

Underwhelmed

Obama can't speak without a teleprompter example number 486


Even with notes, he is staccato and awful.

Palin Says Government Wants To Control You

Well, sure, all governments exercise some level of control over those governed. In democracies, this is with the consent of the people who are governed.

But what Palin is suggesting, and I do not think she is wrong, that this government wants to limit your personal choices so it can control you not with laws but with arbitrary regulations and social engineering.

That is not freedom but tyranny.

Another Failed Appointment

Obama's latest political appointment, this time for Department of Homeland Securities Intelligence Chief, has withdrawn his name.

No explanation given. Taxes?

The New Evil?

Cheney now polls higher than Pelosi.

For some, this is a sign of the end of days.

PJTV Takes on NYT

Watch Roger Simon "Tear Down the New York Times" in Three Acts.

Act I here.

Another Uncommon Knowledge Interview of Andrew Breitbart

Just go here. Watch and learn.

You Might Be A Socialist

If you think that its okay for the government to monitor how much you get paid, then you might be a socialist.

If you trust the government to provide you with universal healthcare care, then you might be a socialist.

If you agree that the government should nationalize industries, then you might be a socialist.

If you believe that business and by extension capitalism should be heavily regulated by the government, then you might be a socialist.

If it is okay with you to pay ever increasing taxes for government services you may or may not use, then you might be a socialist.

If you consider the government and Congress capable of running the economy, then you might be a socialist.

If judging people by the color of their skin via affirmative action is okay with you, then you might be a socialist.

If you agree to bankrupt your children's future by unsustainable government spending, then you might be a socialist.

If you agree that our political leaders can even jokingly threaten private citizens with unwarranted retribution in order to control their behavior, then you might be a socialist.

If you believe that environmentalists controlling your energy use is a good thing, then you might be a socialist.

If you want big government even if it provides more opportunities for corruption, then you might be a socialist.

If you believe that the government should provide all the services rather than private organizations like charities, then you might be a socialist.

In short, if you voted for Obama, then you might now be a socialist.

Worst. Prime Minister. Ever.

(Originally published on NRO - The Corner by my husband)

It's train wreck day for Gordon Brown. Not only has the map of England turned blue, but one of the Cabinet Ministers he's just reappointed may have quit in the middle of his press conference*. In that conference, he expressed defiance, which means that there will either have to be a swift political assassination (like mass resignations from his new cabinet) or there'll be a bloodbath Labour will take decades to recover from. Tune to Iain Dale or Conservative Home for the latest in what is proving to be great political theater.

*Rumors are circulating that the next reality TV hit will be I'm a Cabinet Minister, Get Me Out of Here!

Department of Injustice

Michelle Malkin calls out Holder's DoJ and the unjust actions it is taking in this extraordinarily well-linked post here.

I hate this sentence

Remember that employment is typically a lagging indicator, so the employment picture will still look bad even after the economy has begun to recover.

The whole concept that employment is a lagging indicator of economic recovery is stupid.

Unemployed folks haven't "recovered" until they have jobs. For them, there is NO recovery until they can pay the rent.

However true this concept may be in an economics class, for real human beings struggling to keep body and soul together, it is an infuriatingly stupid thing to say.

There. I'm glad I got that off my chest.

Dead Kennedys

I think it desperately needs to be pointed out to Members of Congress just how politically disasterous government-run universal healthcare, like Obamacare, will be.

There has NEVER EVER been a government-run healthcare system that avoided rationing medical care. Never. Every single universal healthcare system has had to restrict services to certain patients.

That means politicians who support this monstrocity will have to answer to voters who's mothers, fathers, grandmothers, and grandparents are no longer getting the medical care to which they have become accustomed.

How will these politicians explain to their voting constituents that their parents can't get chemo because some beaucrat in Washington DC decided their area had too many chemo patients already?

You see, unlike the European socialist "democracy", American politicians answer to their contituents, not their party. There is no party loyalty among Americans when dad's life is in the balance.

A further thought goes to Ted Kennedy and his brain tumor. Given his age and health history, under a government-run healthcare system, Kennedy would not be given treatment for his cancer.

Sen. Kennedy would then have to face a choice, leave the United States of America to get private care thus enraging Americans at home who do not have the wealth to do so. Or die.

And I suspect Kennedy would rather die than destroy his legacy of service by endorsing a medical system that he, himself, wouldn't participate in.

Of course, I've been wrong about Kennedy my whole life.

The point is, government-run universal healthcare kills you.

The American healthcare system is infected with waste and beaucracy, it needs a good dose of anti-government biotics, not a combination lobotomy and gutting.

Uhhh, Ummm, Aahhh, Uhhh, Stutter

I'd rather hear former President Bush misprounounce words than listen to Obama's non-stop uuuh, aahhs, umms, and stutters.

It is embarrassing that the person holding America's most important political office can't utter a single unbroken sentence without a teleprompter hold his hand.

Pathetic and sad, really.

Wow! Now Obama can predict the future?

This is both illuminating and scary about how our country is being run.

The documents also reveal that the White House first contacted Sotomayor about the nomination four days before Justice David Souter announced he would retire.

Sotomayor first got a call from White House counsel Greg Craig on April 27, then had near-daily contact with his office after Souter's announcement May 1. She spoke to about a dozen White House aides during the secretive selection process, leading to a face-to-face interview with Obama on May 21

The above is from this article about Sotomayor and the various things being "gleaned" from the most recently released documents.

According to the White House, Sotomayor "misspoke" when she expressed the belief that a "wise latina" would hand down better legal judgements than a white man. Sotomayor misspeaks a lot because she made that same statement repeatedly both in articles and in speeches in 2002 and 2003.

Apparently, she must have changed her legal beliefs about 4 days before Justice Souter announced his retirement.

Parenting by Text

Do you know what KPC stands for?

If no, then may I suggest this article illuminating the different acronyms teenagers are using today.

KPC stands for Keep Parents Clueless.

Morbid Post For A Rainy Day

How a mother can kill her four daughters is beyond me.

Short honeymoon and even shorter murder sentence in Australia.

What's that smell?

There are body parts in my driveway, officer. How did that happen?

Man found dead in restroom. Ugh.

In Vino Veritas

A great article about intoxication albeit long. Take the time to enjoy this long cool drink of intellect and wit.

Bye Bye Gordon Brown

Both The Sun and The Telegraph are writing on the walls.

I wonder if we are going to have a cyber-night of long knives.

PJTV is taunting Olberman again

I can't embed and that's a shame but it's worth a watch.

Hilarious!

Huffington Post Unhappy With Obama's Speech

Folks like Peter Daou over at The Huffington Post are less than pleased with the recent speech to the Middle East, describing it as both naive and weak.

Seriously when the glow is off for even the liberals at hufpo, then the glow is off.

A New Love

This is just nifty!

I especially like the old food ads and horrifying canned goods.

Only Boris Could Get Away With This

Ending on an Un-PC Note

I really do love The Onion! (Can you tell?)


African-American Boycott of L.L. Bean Enters 80th Year

Living Together Solves Economic Crisis

Nation's Girlfriends Unveil New Economic Plan: 'Let's Move In Together'

Marriage Solution from The ONN

Conservatives Warn Quick Sex Change Only Barrier Between Gays, Marriage

And Now Let's Hear From The Onion

Political Talk Show Host Suddenly Very Interested In Manslaughter Law Loopholes

Birth Control Pills Are Killing Fish

Of course, you could have read all about it in my husband's book, Really Inconvenient Truths, but here is yet another study that proves that the synthetic estrogen being released into our water systems by women on birth control pills is causing massive fresh water fish kills.

First Person In Chief

Over at CNSNews.com is a terrific article about Obama and GM titled "I, Barak".

Aye Caramba, they raise some interesting questions.

Losing Your Audience

As my husband points out in reference to a BBC environmentalism article here, if you start going "nuclear" in order to get someone to pay attention to you, then you are losing your audience.

I mean even the BBC greenie is calling this "silly"

Brown Falls Apart

(Originally published by my husband over at NRO)

One of the most important members of Gordon Brown's cabinet, Hazel Blears, has resigned today, the day before a set of local and European elections. At Oxford we called this a "knifing" — as in a knife in the back — and a particularly vicious knifing it is, too. See here for an excellent parsing of her resignation letter, which is also a useful introduction to just how nasty and underhanded British cabinet politics can be. Brown's days are numbered.

Especially as there's a good chance he might come fourth in the European elections. Remember, he'd probably have won an election and spelled the end for David Cameron if he'd called an election soon after he took over from Tony Blair. Talking of whom, I wonder how big the smile is on Tony's face these days.

The Left's Climate of Hate

Redstate.com has an amazingly well detailed and linked post up on exactly how leftwing liberals have created an astonishing level of vitriolic hate in our public discourse.

Conservative should fight back, politely of course, if only for reasons of chivalry. Two of the Left's favorite targets to drown in acidic hate are conservative women and black republicans.

The viciousness with which conservative women are discussed on the left borders on horrific. The blatant calls for violence against our military are pervasive. The mockery and derision directed at Christians and conservatives is habitual. And all this from the same left who have spent decades decrying climates of hate as breeding grounds for violence. This is their calculus. They are clear about it. They believe it

. Disgraceful.

Hat Tip: Michelle Malkin

Brown's Impending Collapse

As I said earlier today, Obama better pay attention because Great Britain is in many ways, America's canary in a coal mine.

Here and here and here.

Now The Media Bows Before Obama

Eeew! - slavering is a word that comes to mind now.

Are Obama's Muslim Roots Showing?

ABC News askes this question based on an overheard conversation at the White House and other speculation.

Interestingly, while they try to portray the idea that Obama is or was a practicing muslim at some point during his childhood as "insane", their article seems to plant more suspicians than remove them.

Since the election, however, with the threat of the rumors at least somewhat abated, the White House has been increasingly forthcoming about the president's roots. Especially when reaching out to the
Muslim world.

In his April 6 address to the Turkish Parliament, President Obama referenced how many "Americans have Muslims in their families or have lived in a Muslim majority country. I know, because I am one of them."

Ever Thus Department

(I liked this from Jonah Goldberg and posted on NRO - The Corner so much I am copying it in full.)

A couple weeks ago, I complained how the Left thinks it's an incredible insight into, and damning indictment of, the nature of capitalism that it undergoes periods of crisis. My response, in short, was So what? Everything under the sun goes through periods of crisis. That is the nature of things.

Here's another example of the same sort of thinking. Steve Levitt observes that "In a market economy, there are inevitably winners and losers."

Shocking!

In every sphere of life there are inevitably winners and losers. In nature the bunnies are losers to the owls. The salmon are losers to the bears. In sports, there are winners and losers. In science, winners and losers. In families, winners and losers. And in every economic system that has, or ever will be, conceived of, there will be winners and losers. Does Levitt mean to imply there are no losers in socialism? Communism? How about in social democracy or corporatism or, I don't know, feudalism, or mercantalism or anarchism? It seems obvious to me that these systems created plenty of losers, particularly in the form of dead people.

This sort of comment reminds me of the Simpsons where Millhouse ominously observes of the kids in Shelbyville that they like their candy for "the sweet, sweet taste."

That's why everyone likes candy!

Likewise, everything creates winners and losers.

Or to be more accurate, nothing — nothing — prevents the inevitable creation of winners and losers. All any economic system can do is redistribute who gets a W and who gets an L. One of the many great and wonderful things about capitalism is that it creates endless opportunities for do-overs and second, third, and fourth chances. Capitalism may not take as much of the sting out of losing as European social democracy (You failed! Here's two years of paid vacation!), but it offers something better: another bite at the apple. One of the things European business gurus admire most about America is that we consider failure to be "experience." In Europe, you often only get one crack at the apple as an entrepreneur and if you fail, that failure stigmatizes you.

Levitt goes on to say that people who worry about the poor don't like markets very much. This is hubris masqerading as sociology and ingratitude posing as compassion. But we can discuss that another time.

Why The Rush On Obamacare?

The Wall Street Journal askes this question and answers it as such...

If sharks stop swimming, they sink and drown. President Obama seems to view his health-care program the same way. "If we don't get it done this year," he said in a recent pep talk to supporters, "we're not going to get it done." Well, why? If laying "a new foundation" for 18% of the economy really is as important as the President claims it is, then surely it could withstand more than fleeting inspection.

Instead, Democrats are trying to rush the largest entitlement expansion since LBJ into law with a truncated debate and as little public scrutiny as possible. At this point all they've released are the vaguest "policy options," not concrete specifics. Yet the Senate plans to begin marking up legislation next week, maybe hold a hearing or two, then have something to the floor by the end of the month, votes by the August recess and a bill to the Oval Office by Thanksgiving. On the seventh day, they will rest. Mr. Obama had 24 Senate Democrats over for a White House chat yesterday to drive the calendar ahead.

It's not hard to see why Democrats are trying to hew to this full-speed-ahead timetable. Their health overhaul will run up a 13-figure price tag at a time when spending and deficits are already at epic levels and hook up the middle class to an intravenous drip of government health subsidies for generations to come. These are not realities that Democrats want the American people to mull over for very long.

This is especially true for the majority of Americans who are generally satisfied with their coverage and doctors but worried about cost. They might get scared off if they were allowed the chance to realize that Democrats will do almost nothing to restrain rising health spending. Based on the leaks so far, this year's legislation will hone in on traditional liberal concerns of social equity -- covering the uninsured.

These healthcare plans must be fought tooth and nail. Socialized medicine has been a near universal failure in small, mostly homogeounous European industrial countries. A huge money suck-pit of a failure, chock-a-block with the rationing of medical services and medicines.

The reason why liberals don't want you to look to closely at how much this is going to cost you, the American taxpayer, is because the howls of outrage and pain would deafen all of Congress. And it should.

Fight back and contact your Congressional representatives in both the House and the Senate and tell them NO to government-run healthcare.

Our healthcare system needs reform, yes. But letting federal government beaucrats decide who gets what medical treatment and when is UNACCEPTABLE.

Like He Wants Them To Be Attacked

A confidential list of the locations of civilian nuclear sites was accidentally published by the Obama administration today according to The Wall Street Journal.

As Glenn says, our country is in the best of hands.

Only One Is To Blame For Tiller's Murder

This condemnation by Mr. Kirchick of those who claim pro-lifers are complicit in the murder of George Tiller published in The Wall Street Journal is quite good.

I happen to support a legal regime that would, in Bill Clinton's famous words, keep abortion safe, legal and rare. I hold no brief for the religious right, and its views on homosexuality in particular offend (and affect) me personally. But it's precisely because of my identity that I consider comparisons between so-called Christianists (who seek to limit my rights via the ballot box) and Islamic fundamentalists (who seek to limit my rights via decapitation) to be fatuous.

The liberal rush to paint all conservatives with the same brush is as ugly as anyone doing the same to them. Unfortunately, conservatives in the past have been too polite to say so. Although Mr. Kirchick is no conservative or pro-lifer, that he has the guts to stand up for what is right is a very good thing.

There is only one person who is to blame for George Tiller's murder and that's the lone gunman who pulled the trigger.

Hell No, It's NOT Working

Over at the Fox Forum, John R. Lott, Jr. writes a compelling and well-linked post asking the question, "Is The Stimulus Working? Hell, NO!".

He lays out a solid argument that we are in trouble.

Economists have consistently been expecting the economy to begin showing positive growth in the second half of this year. But the stimulus appears to have dampened the recovery that economists were expecting.

Take the expected growth in the third quarter (from July to September) this year. In January, the forecasters surveyed by the Wall Street Journal were expecting GDP during that period to rise by 1.2 percent at an annual rate. By May, the expected growth had been cut in half to 0.6 percent. The pattern is similar for both the second and fourth quarters this year. Paul Evans, the editor of the Journal of Money, Credit, and Banking and an economics professor at Ohio State University, agrees with this and tells FOX News: “Most likely the economic recovery would have been more rapid at this point without [the stimulus package].”

Other forecasts have shown a similar pattern. By the end of last week, the U.S. manufacturing output is now expected to plummet by 12 percent this year. In February, the drop was expected to be 8 percent. The decline in the housing market failed to slow down after the stimulus package. The mortgage delinquency and foreclosure rates in the U.S. just experienced their biggest quarterly increases since records started in 1972. Both numbers are also at their highest recorded levels. The S&P/Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index posted a 19.1% drop from a year earlier, the biggest single quarterly decline for the reading’s 21-year history. In January, forecasters expected about 770,000 new homes being built this year. By May, only 580,000 new homes were expected for 2009.

Katie Couric Nails Murtha

Follow The Money!


And here's the link to CBS article/transcript titled FBI Eyes Charity Linked To Murtha.

Gordon Brown Is A Warning To Obama, Democrats

Gordon Brown's socialist policies and the corruption of labor and conservative MPs is bringing down Brown's Government.

The latest from The Telegraph is Hazel Blears' resignation from Brown's cabinet.

Now I know this is confusing for most Americans who seem to believe that all democracies are like our own, but they are not. Most European democracies are forms of Parlament with very different rules and procedures.

Britian does not even have a true written constitution, so Blair and Brown were able to do the equivalent of dissolving the Senate and replacing it with one entirely packed with their own creatures.

So why is this a warning to Obama?

Because he is taking us too far Left into what folks euphamistically call "European-style democracy" or "progressive" policies or "statist" policies - all of which mean Socialism. Pure and simple.

How many times does socialism - either the lighter "progressive" versions or the heavier true socialist worker/fascist/communist version - have to fail before liberal elitists realize the stark truths of the human condition, economics, and reality.

Socialism leads to misery and failure. Obama should realize this and that the corruption swirling around his own political party (and some republicans as well) will turn into a whirlwind that Obama will have to reap in the next few years.

Dont' believe me? Ask Gordon Brown.

I (Heart) Thomas Sowell

And here is a great question, why can't we use the "s" word?

Is Cheney Still Evil?

How many liberal minds exploded after Cheney made his announcement supporting all kinds of unions?

Not sure if its a rant or a rave

Jay Nordlinger's Impromptus on race and other tidbits here is well worth reading.

I especially enjoyed this...

Why are not black Americans insulted and outraged? [Nordlinger is refering to the Ricci case] Perhaps many are, and I have merely been unaware of it. But I would expect an outcry that goes something like, “Don’t you dare inflict injustice on others for my sake. Don’t you dare discriminate so grossly in my name.”

Indeed, I believe that race preferences at large will come to an end when that happens. When the preponderance of black opinion says, “Enough. Not for our sake; not in our name. Commit injustices if you must — but not for our benefit, thank you very much. Look to the individual, of whatever color. The time for ‘compensatory discrimination’ has passed.”

I call it Socialism, Why Don't Liberals?

Jonah Goldberg has an excellent article in USA Today, titled "Don't Call It Socialism" about the path to socialism that this country is on. Funny and intelligent as always.

Malkin Exposes Obama - ACORN Corruption Links

Michelle Malkin is banging this drum as loud as she can and I am happy to be her chorus line. She is pouring through the "document drop" and finding deeply incriminating evidence that Obama and ACORN and ProjectVote illegally acted during the election.

Go Michelle Go!

When Shredded Wheat Said No to Progress

This commercial, titled "Putting The No in Innovation", has the feel of a parady but it may actually be real.

If it is real, then I can only assume they are looking for the very slim "humourous environmentalist" demographic (all four of them).

"Did I go too far?"

(Oh, I'd embed it but YouTube won't let me.)

Recession-Proof

Obama and his wife indulge in a night on the town - in NYC while middle class American's receive pink slips.

Classy.

The Republican National Committee slammed the outing in an "RNC Research Piece": "As President Obama prepares to wing into Manhattan’s theater district on Air Force One to take in a Broadway show, GM is preparing to file bankruptcy and families across America continue to struggle to pay their bills. ... Have a great Saturday evening – even if you’re not jetting off somewhere at taxpayer expense. ... PUTTING ON A SHOW: Obamas Wing Into The City For An Evening Out While Another Iconic American Company Prepares For Bankruptcy."

The RNC's Gail Gitcho added: "If President Obama wants to go to the theater, isn’t the Presidential box at the Kennedy Center good enough?”

At least Carter wore a cardigan when he asked Americans to turn down their thermostats.

Lower Expections, Shortened Life Spans

Obamacare will reverse the lengthening of American life spans by rationing healthcare.

From townhall.com comes a thorough exploration of that concept and here is the link. However, I am copying this letter from a physican (posted within the link above) that I think is perfectly clear as to why Obamacare is so very wrong and why it most be fought NOW.

From Dr. L in Illinois:
Dear Hugh,

As a brief background, I am a board certified medical oncologist in private practice with a 22 physician group in Chicago and the adjacent suburbs. We see patients in ten hospitals, seven offices, and see nearly 5000 new patients per year. I finished training in 1993 and joined my practice that same year. I am a partner and practice manager, responsible for both patient care and 'nuts and bolts' financial and organizational management of the practice, along with our other officers.

This weekend, the American Society of Clinical Oncologists will hold their annual meeting in Orlando Florida. While it is directed at the American cancer treatment community, it has become the de facto World cancer meeting. Much of that stems from the plethora of companies based in the US that have brought to the market a multitude of groundbreaking drugs, developed in US academic centers and thereafter applied to the American population at large who suffer from cancer.

Reading the Meeting Proceedings between [visits with] patients in my office (not my turn to go this year), I've rarely seen an annual report that held such promise. There are a multitude of both new drugs, and new applications of established drugs that promise to accelerate the 1-2% annual drop in cancer mortality that we've seen since the late 90's. It's a better time to have cancer than ever before---if, of course there was ever a good time for such misfortune.

Alas, I think many of these advances will be stillborn. And yes, I expect the Obama administration to be the instrument of its destruction.
I will be the first to point out that there is enormous waste in American medical care. There's plenty of blame to go around; physicians are rarely capable economists, and rarely consider the cost:benefit ration of that extra test or that extra day in the hospital; "Nothing's too good for my patient" is laudable, but is also a screen behind which too many of my colleagues hide their intransigence. Greed is hardly unknown, though I believe far less widespread among physicians than their various suppliers. I admit to something less than objectivity on this. Medicare guidelines are often the perfect example of the adage "there's no problem that government can't make worse and more expensive".

Despite the fact that perhaps 15% of healthcare expenditures go to physician compensation, it's the convenient target. Hospitals, private payors and Pharma are very effective in the political arena. The AMA, looked upon by the uninitiated as the'voice of American medicine' is nothing of the kind. We, frankly haven't the time, nor often the inclination to participate in the political wrangling; many of the 'thought leaders' in medicine are academics, whose goals are often diametrically opposite the more than 80% of physicians who practice in the private, nonuniversity sector.

Every analysis of oncology suggests that we have a 10-30% deficit of trained physicians staring us in the face by 2020. Every academic analysis suggests one or another program, and bemoans the difficulty in attracting qualified medical students and residents to oncology. It's quite simple, really: very hard work, and declining income. Private practice physicians have seen a fall of approximately 30% since 2004. Worsening economics are right around the corner. Given the extraordinary expense of chemotherapy and supportive therapies, combined with reimbursements that just exceed a wash, it will become impossible to deliver outpatient care in more than half the venues in the United States quite soon. And then, simply put, the senior physicians will quit.

Make no mistake: most of us enjoy the opportunity to do what we do. After all, we cure cancer for a living. Hard to top that on the "Useful Professions" scale.
We also, however endure just the stressors and personal strains that you might imagine. We trade time, and inconvenience, for money. Just like everyone else in the private sector, only more so---after ten years of training after college. With the prospect staring us in the face of working harder than the average internist, and earning less: well, if I were 58, and my kids were grown and my mortgage paid: well, I'd call it a day. At 48, I'm already working on an exit strategy by 55 in anticipation of this scenario.

I could go on, but this note is far too long already. Specialists, and underpaid generalists will hang it up years ahead of their planned exit from medicine in just about any system that the Obama administration is likely to devise. They'll scarcely need to ration care: there just won't be anyone around to deliver it. Government will kill the golden goose, and then blame it upon everyone and anyone else. As usual.

Sincerely,
Dr. L. MD FACP

Advice for College Graduates

Andrew Klavan explains to College Graduates "Why Conservatives are so Mean".

Wonderful and true. Well worth a watch over at PajamasTV.

I do not know which is worse, comparing Obama to that Persian King from the movie 300 or that Klavan compared us to that humpback guy.

Liberty is hard but Andrew Klavan is right, it is better to be free than a slave.

Guess How Much Debt You Have Now

According to this very well linked article from The Atlantic and USA Today, every household in America will owe $668,621.

That's right, $668,621.

Again, I wish I could include the interactive chart it shows, but it breaks down the $668,621 by various components of federal government debt ($546,668) and personal debt ($121,953). Presumably that means this astronomical figure does not even include state and local government debt. I thought it might be fun to put this number into perspective.

Because it's pretty hard to identify what the weighted-average interest rate is for this debt, I show a few different scenarios. That way you can decide for yourself which scenario you find most plausible. The interest rate is shown, along with two different time horizons for each scenario. I then provide the amount of money that would be needed to pay off the debt per household, per year.

Scenario #1: 5%
30 years: $43,469
50 years: $36,603

Scenario #2: 3%
30 years: $34,092
50 years: $25,971

Scenario #3: 0%
30 years: $22,274
50 years: $13,364

So in the hopelessly optimistic best case scenario, each American household would have to pay $13,364 per year for 50 years. That is, of course, assuming that the federal government closes the deficit (fat chance), and each household does not incur additional debt (doubtful). And recall: it does not include state and local debt. According to U.S. Census Bureau data, the 2007 median household income was $50,233 -- before taxes. So you can kind of imagine how impossible even the best case scenario of $13,364 per household, per year would be anyway.

I admit this is a gross oversimplification. It does not consider inflation, which is sure to happen, and which will help a bit. But if you assume the above interest rates are real interest rates (nominal interest rate minus inflation), then this might make the 0% scenario a little more likely -- but probably not for 30 or 50 years, I hope. My scenarios also do not consider U.S. population growth, which there undoubtedly will be.

How the hell did that happen?

One word, Obama.

Go to the article linked above, read the whole thing, follow the links, and weep.

The New Political Pundits

Are sportscasters becoming the new political pundits.

Gosh, I hope not but it looks likely (Costas, Olberman).

Watch this segment from Pajamas TV and see for yourself.

The American Descent Into Marxism

From Pravda of all newspapers comes a vicious comdemnation of America's direction towards socialism - marxism thanks primarily to Obama's policies.

That a Russian newspaper would speak so roundly against Marxism is breathtakingly glorious.

That a Russion newspaper is the one pointing out the terrible direction America is taking is heartbreaking.

NASA Releases New Solar Activity Prediction

Wondering why the Earth's temperature hasn't increased in the past decade?

It has something to do with that great glowing thing in our sky. The sun has periods of activity and inactivity in roughly 24 year cycles. According to this report, NASA is trying to figure out where in the cycle the sunspots are.

This is the sort of article environmentalists HATE because any idea of human-caused global warming is completely debunked by sunspots. Which is why this paragraph below was buried at the end of the NASA article.

According to the forecast, the sun should remain generally calm for at least another year. From a research point of view, that's good news because solar minimum has proven to be more interesting than anyone imagined. Low solar activity has a profound effect on Earth’s atmosphere, allowing it to cool and contract. Space junk accumulates in Earth orbit because there is less aerodynamic drag. The becalmed solar wind whips up fewer magnetic storms around Earth's poles. Cosmic rays that are normally pushed back by solar wind instead intrude on the near-Earth environment. There are other side-effects, too, that can be studied only so long as the sun remains quiet.

And check out the two graphs below. Every claim environmentalists make is wiped away simply by looking at the sun.



I'm not saying to your best to be a responsible steward of our shared environment, all I'm saying is when someone tells human activity is destroying the Earth, you can tell them to go stare at the sun.

Race-Baiting Obama?

Is Rangel race-baiting Obama with his crack that he would need his ID to enter Harlem or is he just exploiting a horrible tragedy in order to divert attention away from his own corruption? Either way, Mayor Bloomberg is very unhappy with Rangel.

Read all about it in this New York Post article, here, and decide for yourself.

Only "Good" Babies Allowed

From an editorial in The Washington Times about Hilary Clinton and her seeming prejudice against Isreali infants.

What does Hillary Rodham Clinton have against Jewish babies? Last week, the secretary of state issued a demarche to Tel Aviv stating that Washington "wants to see a stop to [West Bank] settlements - not some settlements, not outposts, not natural-growth exceptions." The euphemism "natural growth" refers to children. About 9,600 babies were born in West Bank settlements in 2007, and the State Department views these bundles of joy as a threat to its precious peace process.

Read the whole thing here.

GM Management Decisions

(Originally published by my husband on NRO - The Corner)

I've heard time and again this morning that GM is paying the price for bad management decisions. Up to a point, Lord Copper. The really bad management decision they took had nothing to do with cars, but with striking a deal with the unions that led them to a $20 billion liability that they probably would have survived without. As for making cars Americans wouldn't buy, what they did was build cars that Americans would buy, but were forced by government to make other cars as well that Americans did not prefer to those of their competitors. Cut out the union liability and the requirement to build small cars and you have a profitable company. Add them in and you have an industrial disaster.

Another Jonah Gift

Future Man! (via 1934)

The First Step Of Newspapers By Computer

Hat Tip: Jonah Goldberg

Wow! What a blast from the past!

"a little scary"?

According to the New York Times, Obama has put a completely unqualified 31-year-old in charge of dismantling GM.

“There was a time between Nov. 4 and mid-February when I was the only full-time member of the auto task force,” Mr. Deese, a special assistant to the president for economic policy, acknowledged recently as he hurried between his desk at the White House and the Treasury building next door. “It was a little scary.”

But now, according to those who joined him in the middle of his crash course about the automakers’ downward spiral, he has emerged as one of the most influential voices in what may become President Obama’s biggest experiment yet in federal economic intervention.

Our country is in the best of hands. YIKES!

"Obama Infatuation"

Robert Samuelson has an op-ed up in The Washington Post today about the dangers of too much infatuation with Obama. That the press's current policy of blindly accepting virtually all that Obama claims dangerously undermines the inherent check and balances of the American system.

I have to say, I agree.

The Headline Says It All

Giant Blob Found Deep Beneath Nevada - Could this have something to do with Las Vegas?

128 Days later

The Other Two Breitbart Interviews

From Uncommon Knowledge here and here.

Questions Answered Re: NHS

(Originally posted by my husband on NRO - The Corner)

Re: Is Socialized Health Care Popular in the U.K.?

Some very interesting questions, Pete. Here's my go at answering them.

1. How popular is the NHS? The polls suggest it is not as popular as people think. This poll for the Daily Telegraph (I am unsure of the date, because I can only find reference to it on the Daily Mail web site, and the Mail does not datestamp its articles, but its clearly pre-2006) suggests that 4 out of 10 would go private "if they could" and that two-thirds are unhappy with the NHS service. However, when faced with a choice between the NHS and other systems, a slim majority prefers the NHS.

2. Does David Cameron or any other conservative want to reform the NHS? Ever since it became a big issue during Mrs. Thatcher's ministry, conservatives have been declaring that "the NHS is safe in our hands." There was a brief attempt to introduce a "patient's passport" during one of the leaders between John Major and David Cameron, but that policy has been dropped and the "safe in our hands" policy is now back. However, the two brightest lights in the intellectual wing of the Conservatives, Douglas Carswell MP and internet megastar Daniel Hannan MEP, have a comprehensive reform package outlined in their essential work, The Plan: Twelve Months to Renew Britain. Since the expenses scandal, the political pendulum has certainly been swinging their way.

3. Why isn't there a groundswell against it? I have never seen a poll that drills down into the bedrock to ask just why people like the idea of the NHS, but I suspect it is a combination of three things: a confusion between "free" and "free at the point of use," a failure to appreciate that general performance is much better under other health systems, and an attitude to risk that wants a low-cost remedy in the event of catastrophe. If people did appreciate that other systems are better, the other two considerations might change. However, all Health Ministers of all parties have constantly repeated the refrain that the NHS is the "envy of the world." I hope that will change under a Conservative government and a more realistic assessment will be given to the British people.

Incidentally, the splendid British think tank Civitas has a useful collection of tables relating to NHS performance and comparisons with other health systems. This is the direct link to the one comparing the NHS to U.S. insurance.

Conservative Revival in the U.K.

(Originially posted on NRO-The Corner by my husband)

Very interesting new poll over there. The expenses scandal seems to have concentrated mostly on Conservative MPs over the past week or so, but David Cameron's leadership in forcing out the more egregious members (although some less deserving of suspicion have also gone) seems to have contribued to a sustained 20% lead in this latest survey. Peter Roff earlier this week compared Cameron's new approach to that of Grover Norquist, which is not as surprising as it sounds. His latest, excellent speech was heavily influenced by the thoughts of the aforementioned Messrs Carswell and Hannan, whose views strongly accord with many of this page. It seems that conservatism in the U.K. is at last going through an intellectual revival to match its revival in the polls, and that this is attractive as the genuine voice of reform over there.

Also note that if you add the result for the U.K. Independence Party to the Conservatives' numbers in the EU elections poll (the elections are next week, on Thursday in the UK's case) you get to 49%. As UKIP self-identifies as a libertarian party, this demonstrates that solid, identifiable conservatism is back with a vengeance over there. My long national nightmare may soon be over . . .

School Choice - The New Civil Rights Struggle

According to The Wall Street Journal, more and more African-American leaders are joining conservatives in realizing that school choice offers the best path to better educating our children.

Getting arrested doesn't normally bolster a politician's credibility. But when South Carolina state Sen. Robert Ford told me recently that he saw the inside of a jail cell 73 times, he did so to make a point. As a youth, Mr. Ford cut his political teeth in tumultuous 1960s civil-rights protests.

Today this black Democrat says the new civil-rights struggle is about the quality of instruction in public schools, and that to receive a decent education African-Americans need school choice. He wants the president's help. "We need choice like Obama has. He can send his kids to any school he wants."

Mr. Ford was once like many Democrats on education -- a reliable vote against reforms that would upend the system. But over the past three and a half years he's studied how school choice works and he's now advocating tax credits and scholarships that parents can spend on public or private schools.

Sometimes if you do the right thing long enough, liberals catch on and realize conservatives were right all along.

Not that they'd ever admit it.

Injustice of Sotomayor

William Krystal over at The Weekly Standard has a straight-shooting piece on Obama's selection of Sotomayor for the Supreme Court and the heavy-handed attempts at intimidation both the White House and the media are engaged in.

I especially appreciated Mr. Krystal's pointing out the importance of the Riccio case and Sotomayor's connection to it.

Know Your Enemy

If you believe marriage is between a man and a woman, then look out for this man, Tim Gill. He's trying to destroy that belief according to the Star Tribune.

She's Back

I'm back from Atlanta but may be a while before I can post again. I missed y'all.