PETA's Inhumane Treatment of Women

Advocacy Group Decries PETA's Inhumane Treatment Of Women

Take the Plank Out Of Your Eye

ProfessorBainbridge.com has a bit of a rant against liberal hypocrisy here that is refreshing and well-linked. Go get 'em Prof.

IRS And Your Health

Le.gal In.sur.rec.tion.com is posting an excellent explanation on how the IRS will be the "enforcer" under Obamacare in a post titled, "IRS The New Health Care Enforcer."

It starts with...

People often joke that government-run health care will have the efficiency of the motor vehicle department, and the compassion of the Internal Revenue Service. This joke will become reality if present Democratic health restructuring proposals are enacted.

More Liberal Astroturfing Proof

Well, I'm not sure how strong this is, so you decide for yourself here.

Cap and Tax is in Trouble Too

According to this Bloomberg.com report, here. Some Democratic Senators are expressing doubts about the usefulness of the Cap and Trade bill. I think admitting it is completely useless would be a fair start.

Has Obama Lost San Francisco?

Here is a special post about the succesful Obamacare protest in - of all places - San Francisco(!).


According to a report on Instapundit, the lone supporter walking back and forth in this video started chanting "Free Healthcare For Everyone" during the protest's moment of silence. She shut up when the crowd started chanting back to her, "Free Beer For Everyone." She left shortly afterwards.

The City Square website has a report here and one of my favorites, GayPatriot, has his report here.

The astonishing thing is this is San Francisco - the best of the left.

Obamacare Round-Up

Palin Wins! That is the title of a post on the Wall Street Journal weblog here.

Everybody is selling, no one is buying seems to be the position on Obamacare here in this Washington Post op-ed (and in every other field of life as well).

Michael Barone in the New York post has a piece that explains the "Why The Public Isn't Buying It."

Here is another point that could explode Obamacare from The Wall Street Journal. I think the title says it all, "Illegal Immigration Enters the Health-Care Debate". Should American Taxpayers provide "free" healthcare to illegal immigrants?

The New York Times is reporting that Obama's "political arm" - Organizing for America - is having trouble organizing its volunteers to support Obamacare, here. The article blames "campaign fatigue" without ever wondering if, just perhaps, even Obama's supporters can not support Obamacare.

Hear Something Fishy? There's an App for that over here at PJTV.

The Pittsburgh Tribune is reporting that "Angry Crowd Jeers Spector"

Rasmussen is reporting that "54% Say Passing No Healthcare Reform Better Than Passing Congressional Plan.". I say, AMEN!

This blog here reports "Rep. Giffords canceled her town hall in Sahuarita/Green Valley, AZ and Jesse Kelly, her Republican challenger, scheduled an appearance in the same venue at the same time and place." Video of townhall at website.

Powerline is talking about Obama's "secret" deal with drug-makers titled, "Quid Pro Quo." How will Obamacare help American citizens when it seems to be spending so much time helping lobbyists, big business, and itself?

UK's Stephen Glover has an article in the Daily Mail titled, "I deeply resent the Americans sneering at our health service - but perhaps that's because the truth hurts." It does indeed, Mr. Glover. And I'm so sorry.

The heat and pressure are turning our political lumps of coal into diamonds. The Jamestown Sun is reporting that Sen. Conrad (D-ND) says "he he won’t support government-run health care program." He is presenting a "cooperative non-profit insurance option to compete with private health care. It would not be government run." Not what I want but at least the government is out of the equation.

I Heart Squirrel Photo

I saw this on the news the other day and my husband just about fell off the bed laughing. So, of course, I had to post it.

You can read about it here and here. Also check out the SquirrelBombing pics too! Here is one of the Squirrel with Kim Jong-Il and Clinton.

Eminent Domain of Our Health

I started this piece in response to Inspector Clouseau's comment in this post here. I then decided I wanted my response in a separate post.

I hope Inspector Clouseau is correct and this bill is dead because it is the wrong approach. It's assumptions are based in failed liberal theory rather than actual real world experiences.

If the democrats had looked at the existing programs such as medicaid and medicare and worked to fix the very real problems in those programs, I'd be supporting them.

If any politician had addressed the issues of loss of coverage due to unemployment with a portable solution, tax exemptions, or even simply removing the interstate barriers, my support would be boundless because these are solution that have a previous history of success.

But they didn't.

The Democrats seem to view the American people as infantile. They assume we do not understand the mechanics of insurance or contract law. How absurd! If we can safely buy auto insurance (indeed many states mandate insurance ownership), if we can buy homeowner's insurance (indeed many mortgage companies require homeowner insurance) and if we can buy life insurance (not required but damn I wish we had some), if we can purchase all those different insurance programs - 2 out of 3 required - AND buy them from anywhere in the country, why can't we do that with our health insurance?

Americans understand that we buy the health insurance. We paid good money for them. We may deplore the expense but when politicians threaten to take away what we paid for - well this is eminent domain of our health, isn't it?

Just as Eminent Domain can take our house or business away, Obamacare will take first our choice, then our healthcare away. Look to Canada. Look to Britain. Look to many EU countries (who used American Military presence as a reason to spend on social welfare rather than their own military defence). Americans are paying for the rationed healthcare of Europe this way. Now Democrats want us to pay ever higher taxes so they can eminent domain away our healthcare.

My in-laws are in their 70s and my husband and I are afraid a social worker will visit them and arbitrarily decide they need to be put in a home. They do that sometimes in Britain. Did you know that?

My parents are relatively young but my mother needs pain medicine that could easily disappear under Obamacare. She lives in Massachusetts and is NOT in their healthcare program but is considering it as her premiums are so expensive. If she could buy out-of-state, problem solved. But Massachusetts won't allow that so she is trapped. Helpless against a government program.

This is a glimpse of your future if Obamacare or ANY legislation involving the government-run healthcare is passed.

So unless you approve of Eminent Domain for your health, I suggest you find your Representative and your Senators and tell them not to vote for Obamacare. If we fail now, our only chance is to elect representatives in 2010 who will overturn this legislation before it can be enacted.

Class Traitors

I was thinking about how many Americans considered FDR to be a "class traitor" because he attempted socialistic wealth redistribution during the Great Depression.

I suddenly realized that while we don't emphasis "class" per se as much as we do "socio-economic differrences", so the sense of "class" is still there.

But being a class traitor has changed. Now, you are a class traitor if you are an ethnic minority who either does well or refuses victim-status. You are a class traitor if you change your political status from liberal to conservative. Other class traitors are those who get educated beyond their peers. Etc.

But I think the ultimate class traitor are the liberals who promote one thing and do another. Claim to be on the "little guy's side" and then enact victim-status policies or urge us to shrink our carbon footprints while they emit around the globe.

Many of the policies Obama and Congress are trying to cram down our throats are, collectively, a vast class traitor action in that they will destroy jobs, lives, American culture, and via stifling innovation and entreupenurship, prevent people from rising out of the "socio-economic standing".

I know I would feel betrayed had I voted for Obama.

Not So Well-Spoken

"You have to be careful about them cable companies." - really? Obama said that. Watch here.

If President Bush spoke like that, the media would describe his speaking patterns as hick and ignorant. Hmmmm.

And by the way, Obama's explanations just sound like gobbledygook to me.

Still Not Listening

Obama is using the townhalls to talk rather than listen!

"Obama: 8,619 words.

Audience: 1,186 words."

Shocker: False Accusations From The Left

Confederate Yankee is claiming here that "Source of All Reports that Radical Hate Groups Are Forming on the Right is ONE GUY...
...who is a radical left wing former journalist and Huffington Post blogger, at that."

While FoxNews is reporting that "An African-American man from Mississippi admits posing as a white supremacist to send a death threat across state lines by Facebook" here.

Hope and change, ya'll.

An Olympic Spirit

Eunice Shriver. May she rest in peace.

Funeral and burial details, here. Truly a life well-lived.

When is Nazism Okay?

Andrew McCarthy writes a piece for National Review, titled "Nazis for Me, but Not for Thee. Why shouldn’t socialized medicine prompt comparisons to National Socialism?"

This piece examines the left's hypocritical tendancy regarding fascism.

National Socialism is banned from the Right’s case against socialism, but is somehow acceptable when leftists use it as a smear or when the Left’s nuanced geniuses, after their very thoughtful consideration, decide its invocation is suitable for mature audiences? I don’t think so.

Reagan Was Against Socialized Medicine

What's amazing is Reagan's logical and homely explanation of how socialism devalues our lives. I was a foolish liberal teenager in the 80s, now I regret missing out on Ronald Reagan.


I love that he's calling for citizens to write their Congressman - even if they support your position because it strengths them in the fight.

Liberals Threaten Whole Foods Boycott

Isn't that kinda like saying "If Bush wins, I'm moving to Canada"? And yet, they never did..

So in this ABCNews article here, we learn that many "liberals" are "enraged" at Whole Foods CEO Mackey's WSJ op-ed against Obamacare.

Joshua has been taking the bus to his local Whole Foods in New York City every five days for the past two years. This week, he said he'll go elsewhere to fulfill his fresh vegetable and organic produce needs.

"I will never shop there again," vowed Joshua, a 45-year-old blogger, who asked that his last name not be published.

Like many of his fellow health food fanatics, Joshua said he will no longer patronize the store after learning about Whole Foods Market Inc.'s CEO John Mackey's views on health care reform, which were made public this week in an op-ed piece he wrote for The Wall Street Journal.

Michael Lent, another Whole Foods enthusiast in Long Beach, Calif., told ABCNews.com that he, too, will turn to other organic groceries for his weekly shopping list.

"I'm boycotting [Whole Foods] because all Americans need health care," said Lent, 33, who used to visit his local Whole Foods "several times a week."

I'm sorry but I simply can not believe that people who go to the same grocery store nearly every day of the week because they believe it reinforces their (illogical and absurd) ideals are going to be able to quit cold-free-range-turkey.

Besides, buried on the second page of this report is the fact that there are Whole Food shoppers who do support Mr. Mackey's opposition to Obamacare. I'm pretty sure Whole Foods will survive a liberal boycott.

Liberal AstroTurfing

"Work for Change" at the rate of $15 an hour. That's what the LA Times is reporting here. Meghan McArdle is also covering this over at The Atlantic from a PIRG angle, here.

Basically, the leftwingers are hiring "supporters" of Obamacare to show up at townhalls. Funny we don't hear much about this in the Mainstream Media.

Needless to say (but I'm gonna say it anyways), opponents of Obamacare need not apply.

Gibbs Looking For The Lifeboats

Don Surber's blog here from the Daily Mail has an entertaining peak at the dance the White House Correspondents are making Robert Gates jig on Obamacare.

The last line is priceless.

This is entertaining. Gibbs and President Obama are learning that they are not the only ones looking at the polls. No one wants to be aboard the Titanic.

Hold One And They Will Come

According to redstate.com here, if your congressional representative won't hold a healthcare townhall, then hold one yourself.

After a series of unsuccessful requests to arrange a town hall over the August recess with Democratic Congresswoman Betsy Markey (CO-4), grassroots organizers opted instead to host their own health care town hall in the congresswoman’s absence – complete with an empty chair and placard for the reticent Markey.

Go get 'em Angry Mob!

Organizing for AstroTurfing

Aka Organizing for America and one man's "adventure" with them, here.

Hardcore Urban Democrats

As JammieWearingFool reports here on a townhall in Brooklyn, when you've lost the hardcore urban Democrats, you are in trouble.

There as some solid links up with this post as well.

TaxProf's Take

Over at the TaxProf Blog here, he supports this Wall Street Journal op-ed stating "Pro-Democracy Tax Reform: Fold Payroll Tax Into Income Tax, End Tax Withholding."

Making Americans fully aware of exactly how much they pay in taxes must frighten the bejeesus out of every politician in Congress and at the state level too!

Which is all the more reason to force 'em to enact this tax reform.

As reader Jamie Wilson over at Instapundit writes "Even better, double down and make tax day the first Monday in November.”

Obamacare Round-Up

Jonah Goldberg talks about an article in the New York Times titled "False ‘Death Panel’ Rumor Has Some Familiar Roots" and points out...

If you haven't read the story, it's the usual connect-the-dots to blame dishonest and crazy rightwingers piece gussied up as truth-squadding. My own question is why the Times couldn't bother to at least quote Obama's interview with ... The New York Times:

LEONHARDT: And it's going to be hard for people who don't have the option of paying for it.

THE PRESIDENT: So that's where I think you just get into some very difficult moral issues. But that's also a huge driver of cost, right? I mean, the chronically ill and those toward the end of their lives are accounting for potentially 80 percent of the total health care bill out here.
LEONHARDT: So how do you - how do we deal with it?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, I think that there is going to have to be a conversation that is guided by doctors, scientists, ethicists. And then there is going to have to be a very difficult democratic conversation that takes place. It is very difficult to imagine the country making those decisions just through the normal political channels. And that's part of why you have to have some independent group that can give you guidance. It's not determinative, but I think has to be able to give you some guidance. And that's part of what I suspect you'll see emerging out of the various health care conversations that are taking place on the Hill right now.

Also from the New York Times magazine is this left-wing-jerk Peter Singer arguing for your grandmother to die. I loath that man.

"What to Do About Pre-existing Conditions?" askes John H. Cochrane over at the Wall Street Journal.

"At the Town Halls, Trivializing Evil?" is another question being asked by Michael Gerson in the Washington Post. (He claims its being used by both sides but if that is true only one side is using the term correctly - aka Fascism is also known as National Socialism - hello lefties.)

John Stossel over at reason.com has this piece up titled, "Big Business Goes Big for Health Care Reform" explaining how these large companies are going for short-term profits at the risk of long-term non-existance. No one is too big to fail. GM and Wall Street should have failed rather than been bailed, when the public option subsumes private insurance does these companies really believe the government that put them out of business is going to bail them out. Ridiculous!

Ouch. Looks like the Washington Post is seeing the writing on the wall and starting to subtly express some doubts about Obama and Obamacare. This article titled, "Obama to Take On Health-Care Critics. Town Hall Meetings Expected to Be Feisty." is fairly even-handed with the writing a bit sympathetic to the challenges Obama if facing. But this photo is OUCH!


David Limbaugh has a piece titled "Obama's Forfeited Credibility Sabotaging Obamacare." up at Townhall.com that is fairly feisty. By the way, a little bit of journalistic translation. In writing, when you see the word "misled" the writer is really saying "lied". This is in the great British tradition of a politican being described as "tired and emotional" was rip-roaring drunk.

Sarah Palin's latest take is here on her facebook page. She is doing a good job dismembering Obamacare, I might add. I hope she takes Newt Gingrich's advice here.

Finally, and more importantly, The Gormogons are doing what no member of Congress seems to be - reading the Obamacare bill, here.

The Czar laughed at this one: Sec 133 (a) (2) Plain language requirement: that plan information be written in plain language; or “language that the intended audience, including individuals with limited English proficiency, can readily understand and use because that language is clean, concise, well-organized, and follows other best practices of plain language writing.” Too bad that wasn’t the case when they wrote this bill.

Read the whole thing. They've only hit the first 100 pages and below is their conclusion.

This bill has no intention of saving Americans money on health care premiums. It reads like the administrative and operations manual of an insurance company because, in effect, that is exactly what it is!

This is an operations manual, in effect, for a new insurance company called America, Incorporated. And like new companies, the business model is not solid yet: so instead of specifics about how the company will make money, re-invest capital, or lower costs, it’s filled with SWOT analyses (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats), and detailed descriptions of jobs, roles, and tasks such as bill collection, arbitration, information technology, and so on.

Of course, this really isn’t a start-up company. It’s the federal government, so it will become a health benefits provider in exactly the same way the United States Armed Forces is a security service, the USPS is a private courier, or the FBI is a speed-trap cop.

And this is the incredible mistake of this legislation. The United States is not a competitive player: it becomes a monopoly. Yeah, the theory is pretty simple: the United States becomes an alternative to the big insurance providers. The problem is that by doing so, it squeezes out the competition, who could never muster the resources enough to counter the government muscle. Within a few years, the United States will become the largest health insurance provider in the country, with only a few niche players surviving (and even thriving).

In the next part, the Czar will review pages 101-200, and he will discuss the tax ramifications, why the bill’s proponents think this thing is so awesomely cool, and why they are completely wrong in their logic.

I Can Solve Healthcare For Free

1) If we can buy auto, life, and home insurance from companies anywhere in America, why can't we buy our health insurance from any company in America?
Solution: Remove the interstate barriers and let the 1300 insurance companies compete for our healthcare insurance business.

2) If you lose your job, you lose your healthcare plan.
Solution: COBRA and Medicare exist but COBRA is always super expensive and you may not qualify for Medicare right away. So how about a simple mandate that you can buy a stripped down version of your health insurance plan - say catesptrophic insurance plus prescription plan - to carry you over until you get a new job.

3) Pre-Existing Conditions not being covered.
Solution:Let's put it this way, hey private healthcare companies - why don't you count how many private healthcare businesses are in England and Canada and then think about the long-term consequences of supporting Obamacare. Suck it up insurance companies - covering at a reasonable rate pre-existing conditions will be a lot less expensive than no longer existing as a company.

4) Tort-Reform is costing doctors and us too much money.
Solution: First, get rid of nuasance suits by simply making the loser pay for the costs of the trial. If you lose your lawsuit, you have to pay for your own AND the doctor's lawyers. Second, no caps but no jury-decided punative awards either. The judge is responsible for that.

5) 50+ Million Americans uninsured is a problem.
Solution: Is it? Because about a fifth of that number are illegal aliens. E-Verify should take care of that problem. Another chunk are those who are temporarily uninsured because they are unemployed. Solution #2 should cover that. Others are just exercising their freedom to NOT have insurance. Your choice, man. Finally, the rest are not uninsured, they are simply unenrolled in the existing programs like Medicare and Medicaid. Who's fault is that?

6) Health Savings Accounts and Individual Insurance Policies
Solution: First, don't tax these and you'll see a lot of people getting involved. Young folks who open HSAs (that are tax-free and roll over) would remain uninsured but have a healthcare resource should they need it.

By the way, what about Dental? Does Obamacare cover that or just abortions?

I could go on but I'd rather do the round-up right now.

'Political Correctness,' Texas style

(By Michael Ledeen - I had to copy this in full. I hope you understand.)

A friend e-mails to say that Texas A & M has an annual contest for the best definition of a contemporary expression. This year it was "political correctness." And here's the winner:

Political correctness is a doctrine, fostered by a delusional, illogical minority, and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end.

Don't Forget Cap and Tax!

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

Even though four Democratic senators are so nervous about the electricity tax called cap-and-trade they are urging their leadership to drop it from the global-warming bill, no-one should count on that happening yet. More Senators need to wake up to the significant problems cap-and-trade has, and there is no better example of those than the European version of the scheme. With that in mind, my colleague Roger Abbott and I have written a piece for The American Spectator today that outlines just two of the problems the Europeans have encountered. We conclude:

To sum up, the failure of the European ETS should give pause to Senators considering a similar system for the U.S. Cap-and-trade will not result in emissions cuts. It will, however, greatly enhance the power of the government to regulate the economy. And it will lead to higher energy costs, as the costs of trading permits add to utilities' cost of doing business.

Given these facts, why the strong push for cap-and-trade? The sad fact is that both President Obama and the Democratic Congress are misleading the public. Alternative measures such as a carbon tax have not been considered precisely because their costs are transparent and obvious to the public. By contrast, cap-and-trade allows the President and Congress to claim credit for "taking action" on global warming without acknowledging the real costs that entails — costs which the public, when informed of the facts, is rightly unwilling to accept.

Feel free to send a copy of our piece to your senator!

Cash For Clunkers Killing Small Businesses

Besides being yet another badly run government program, the Cash-for-Clunkers bill is now putting small used car dealerships and used car parts businesses out-of-business.

Like we need more unemployed people in this economy right now. Let alone, making it more difficult for lower-income people to get a car to go to work. I guess the liberal-elites hoped that by encouraging the destruction of these cars it would force more people onto (government-run) public transportation.

Hope and Change.

Health-Care Ad Wars

(Originally published by Ramesh Ponnuru]

WaPo reports:

Separately, a coalition of groups backing Obama's proposals launched a $12 million TV ad campaign Thursday, pitching health insurance reform in states where centrist Democratic House members or senators are under pressure on the issue. The campaign is intended to serve as a counterweight to critics who have shouted down Democratic lawmakers at town hall meetings, encounters that have received heavy news coverage.

The coalition distributing the ads, Americans for Stable Quality Care, is funded largely by the pharmaceutical industry and includes the American Medical Association; Families USA; the Federation of American Hospitals; the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, known as PhRMA; and the Service Employees International Union. PhRMA has promised to contribute as much as $150 million for advertising and grass-roots activity to help pass Obama's health-care reform package.

I hope the ads really stick it to the special interests who are obstructing reform.

Ramesh's comment at the end pretty much sums this debacle all up. Special interests are lining up to line their pockets and those who oppose Obamacare are the obstructionists. Hope and Change ya'll.

Go Flag Yourself

Join The Mob & Flag Yourself! Join Crowder, Malkin, Coulter and Stand Up to the White House

It was really only a matter of time. flag@whitehouse.gov

Aha! Here's the YouTube version thanks to Instapundit.

God, Guns, And Get Off Of My Lawn

"The only 911 sound I need to hear is the chambering of a round."

That's a bit of a paraphrase but I am lovin' the guy who said it!

Watch this video titled "God, Guns & CNN, Buy a Truck and Get an AK-47" here.

Point of Order: Jesus may not have carried a weapon but his apostles sure did - one of them cut off a man's ear during Jesus's arrest. Jesus told him to stop defending him but he never told him to lose the sword.

An Email I Received

Below is an email from a family member who is having some Obama-Voter-Remorse - she must have found it amusing else she wouldn't have sent it to me. Of course, I can't say I told you so to this person as everyone knows family politics are waaaay more intense than regular ones.

Memo from the Boss:

Employees,

As the CEO of this organization, I have resigned myself to the fact that Barack Obama is our President, and that our Taxes and Government fees will increase in a BIG way. To compensate for these increases, our prices would have to increase by about 10%.

Since we can not increase our prices right now due to the dismal economy, we will have to lay off six employees instead. This has been really bothering me since I believe we are a family here and I didn’t know how to choose who would have to go.

So this is what I did. I walked through our parking lot and found six Obama bumper stickers on our employees’ cars and decided those folks will be the ones to go. I can’t think of a more fair way to approach this problem. They voted for change, I gave it to them.

I will see the rest of you at the annual Company picnic.

Your Boss

Meet Your Angry Mob

Nancy Snyder says she kept quiet when abortion was legalized and prayer in schools was eliminated. Not this time.

"They did it for prayer, they did it for abortion, and they're not going to do it for our health care," the 70-year-old nurse from Philipsburg, Pa., said Wednesday as she and her husband Robert, 74, a retired coal miner, waited in a long, snaking line for Democratic Sen. Arlen Specter's town hall meeting.

Nancy makes a good point, if we are silent and passive we will continue to have our freedoms and our values steamrolled.

Obamacare Endoursed by US Communist Party

According to the Wall Street Journal blog here (source links at site).

With that sort of backing, how can Obamacare fail?

Cap & Trade Will Cost 2 Million Jobs

Given that today's news put the number of unemployed Americans at 6 million, this news from a study by The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) and the American Council for Capital Formation (ACCF) that the house cap-and-trade bill could cost another 2 million jobs by 2030 is not good news.

How are the Senate democrats going to justify this god-forsaken legislation to their suffering constituents?

A Matter of Perspective

As a result, the deficit quadrupled from $459 billion in 2008 to $1.85 trillion this year. It has gone from 3.2% of gross domestic product to 13.1%, twice the post-World War II record of 6% in 1983 under President Reagan. What's more, the debt surge is unlike the one that accompanied WWII in that it will not be temporary.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office reckons that the deficit will run for a decade and will still exceed $1.2 trillion in 2019. By that time, the United States will have virtually doubled its national debt, to over $17 trillion. Then, after 2019, we get another turn of the screw as the peak waves of baby boomers move into their retirement years and costs soar for the major entitlements, Social Security and Medicare.

At 41% of GDP in 2008, the accumulated federal debt will rise to 82% by 2019. One out of every six dollars spent then by the feds will go to interest, compared with 1 in 12 dollars last year. These out-year budgets will require an increase in everyone's income taxes, raising federal income taxes an average of $11,000 for families, a hike of 55% per household - a political impossibility.

The above quote is from a New York Daily News Op-ed by Mort Zuckerman (here).

The piece is okay but what gave me pause were the debt numbers "$459 billion in 2008 to $1.85 trillion this year." The way that is written out doesn't really do the size of our debt that much justice. Billion dollar amount compares better to the trillion dollar amount if written more accurately like this - $459 billion in 2008 to $1,085 billion this year." That way you really see the HUGE difference in amounts.

Obama has more than doubled our debt load and the year ain't done yet.

I like these guys

Good, Sick Fun.

Incredibly Stupid And Rude (plus other stuff)

Some 51-year-old Maryland man held up a sign written in marker on torn cardboard saying "Death To Obama. Death to Michelle and her two stupid kids." Here.

Look. I bow to no one in my distaste for Obama's politics but I do not wish death on either him or his family. That is morally repugnant and wrong.

This guy was either far too angry for his own good or a astroturf plant. The Secret Service is sorting him out right now.

The right to free speech does not extend to advocating violence.

That said, calling opponents to Obamacare "evil-mongers" is wrong too, Harry Reid.

And a man like Reid who is closely attached to Obama should watch what he says given that Obama's polls now have him at 47%. It's not a free-fall but the numbers have been consistently dropping for weeks now.

'Union Idiocy'

(Published by my husband on NRO - The Corner)

Have you heard the one about the union boss boasting of his union's influence with the administration and the Democratic senator who complained about the union's idiocy? Ivan Osorio has the full story.

Another Obama Operative Busted

This time a chick claimed she was a doctor at a townhall to "gain credibility". Charming.

Re: Hawking and the NHS

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

Final post on this. Yesterday, I explained that it is ludicrous to argue that the NHS never gives quality care and that Prof. Hawking is a good example of when it does give world-class care. However, the mere fact that he received such care does not mean that the NHS is perfect I went on to give examples from personal experience of when it gives extremely sub-standard care (I could have included others, like the misdiagnosis of my mother's broken foot as a sprain, which has led to years of pain with no recourse) and tried to explain a) that the system, predicated as it is on restriction of choice, ensures that these examples of sub-standard care remain and b) that the idea that there is a Hobson's choice of NHS or no treatment at all is obviously false.

Somehow, these were interpreted by a Village Voice blogger as:

At National Review, Iain Murray in a series of posts explained why Hawking was stupid and wrong to praise the British National Health Service for saving his life...

I should count my blessings; at least I'm not Daniel Hannan.

P.S. For yet more personal experiences of the NHS, check out Meghan Cox Gurdon's column today in the Examiner.

Palin Vindicated

A judge has ruled in Palin's favor over the issue of her using private email to conduct certain state business. Turns out, Sarah was perfectly legal.

Making Taxation Clear

Charles Murray has a suggestion in this op-ed titled "Tax Withholding Is Bad for Democracy" from The Wall Street Journal.
I think the subtitle says it all - "So is the payroll tax. End them both and voters will have a healthier understanding of the government burden."

Obama Misuses Stimulus Funds

"The Obama administration used economic stimulus money to pay for 50 airport projects that didn't meet the grant criteria and approved projects at four airports with a history of mismanaging federal grants, a government watchdog said Monday."

Obamacare Daily Round-Up

aka "Would You Like Lies With That?"

"Obama and the Permanent Campaign" by Karl Rove in The Wall Street Journal.

"Obama's Post Office health care disaster" by Bryan York in The Washington Examiner.

"A Price to Pay for the Town Hall Rage" by David Broder in The Washington Post is an attempt to "warn" republicans that despite "not seeing any polls" he believes that the opponents of Obamacare will face a backlash because of their behavior. Apparently, Mr. Broder is blind to liberal arrogance. And I've got your poll right, here, sparky. From USA Today, "Poll: Health care views take sympathetic tilt" by which they mean...

WASHINGTON — The raucous protests at congressional town-hall-style meetings have succeeded in fueling opposition to proposed health care bills among some Americans, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds — particularly among the independents who tend to be at the center of political debates.

In a survey of 1,000 adults taken Tuesday, 34% say demonstrations at the hometown sessions have made them more sympathetic to the protesters' views; 21% say they are less sympathetic.

Independents by 2-to-1, 35%-16%, say they are more sympathetic to the protesters now.

There is no need to be rude on either side of the debate but anger in the face of arrogant dismissal is a righteous anger indeed.

Spector's political flip-flop, Obamacare support, and behavior at that town hall are costing him a lot. According to this poll, "48% would vote for Toomey if the election were held today. Just 36% would vote for Specter while four percent (4%) prefer a third option, and 12% are not sure." Those numbers are not going to get any better any time soon.

Sarah Palin responds to Obama here on her facebook page. Very detailed stuff.

"Medicare For All Isn't The Answer" by Alan B. Miller from The Wall Street Journal talks about his experience running a hospital for the NHS.

The hospital had not been open long when representatives of a 1,000-bed government-run hospital located a short distance away approached us to borrow high-tech equipment and instruments. Because people were ill and needed procedures the government hospital could not provide, we provided that hospital with the help it needed. But that experience convinced me that under a single-payer system hospitals do not receive the money required to purchase advanced technology or provide quality care.

"Rationing away medical care" from The Washington Times examines the mechanics behind the inevitable healthcare rationing of government-run Obamacare.

The New York Times is desperately trying to spin Obama's backroom deals with various industry groups as a good thing in this article titled, "Obama Is Taking an Active Role in Talks on Health Care Plan" by David D. Kirkpatrick but it can't resist a bit of disapproval for these machinations.

Behind the scenes, however, Mr. Obama and his advisers have been quite active, sometimes negotiating deals with a degree of cold-eyed political realism potentially at odds with the president’s rhetoric.

And here, the American College of Surgeons calls Obama a liar for his statements about surgeons in the New Hampshire Townhall. Seriously, they said this - "Yesterday during a town hall meeting, President Obama got his facts completely wrong." OUCH!

Fat, Stupid, And Happy

An Eastern-European co-worker of mine once said, "Nothing makes you fat, happy, and stupid than a plate of pierogi."

Apparently, according to rats, this might be true. This YahooNews article titled, "High-Fat Diet May Make You Stupid and Lazy" works very hard to attach the behavior of rats to humans - presumably to promote the Food-Nazis' goal of controling Americans' diets via shame.

I love the stereotyping of people these so-called liberals engage in. If you are fat, then you must eat wrong. If you eat wrong, you are stupid and lazy. Therefore the overweight are stupid and lazy. That's the sort of logic that leads to liberal fascism.

And it's the projection of rats' behavior to humans that is ever-so-charming. It's like these scientists have never heard the phrase, its the dose, not the poison.

Stuffing a rat like a fois-gras goose and assuming the results will be the same for humans is as absurd is having a rat ingest five pints of pure pesticide and claiming pesticides cause cancer. If that were true, all our (conventional) farmers would be dead by now.

If you decide to read this article about junk science, eat some junk food while doing it - just for the spiteful fun.

An Explanation Of Obamacare

Here is a MUST-READ explanation of Obamacare and what it will do to YOU from classicalideals.com.

Obama's Euthanasia Mistake

Kill All The Old And Sick

This reeks of the Big Brother nightmare of oppressive government that the shrewd propagandists on the right are always blathering on about. Except that this time, they could not be more right.

Lee Seigel has a post up on The Daily Beast talking, here, titled "Obama's Euthanasia Mistake" that admits the Right has a point.

That euthanasia, beloved by the left-wing spectrum from "progressives" to Nazis, is still being promoted by idiots such as Judge Posner and that asshole (sorry but I hate him) Peter Singer is vile. That Obamacare would codify that option into law via the quite accurately decribed as it turns out "Death Panels" is horrifying.

More Hope and Cram.
Now a pro-Obama coalition is launching a $12 million campaign to promote this monstrosity. Presumably using their member's money to sell a program that will funnel unfathomable amounts of taxpayer's money into their industry's coffers.

More Change

From YahooNews, "U.S. home foreclosures set another record in July" which comes as no surprise to me as even in wealthy Northern Virginia we are seeing foreclosures as close as across the cul-de-sac.

When The Gov. Takes Over Your Town

PJTV is reporting what the MSM will not, that the Liveable Communities Act will let "Feds Take Over Your Town" while the "MSM Looks the Other Way."

Do you really want the federal government to redesign your town to meet their agenda?

Here, here, and here are LCA documents from various states to give you the flavor of this federal over-reach.

US Congress - Representative Crypt-Keepers

By Congressional Crypt-Keeper, I mean that a baby born in the year they took office is now able to drive, vote, enlist, drink, and marry.

These people have been serving in office for 21 to 50 years. If anyone can name another profession besides tenured professors who have better job security, feel free to do it. Then let's vote for some real change in Congress.

In The House of Representatives
Name
John Dingell, MI - Dec. 13, 1955
John Conyers Jr. MI - Jan. 3, 1965
David Obey, WI - April 1, 1969
Charles B. Rangel, NY - Jan. 3, 1971
C.W. Bill Young, FL - Jan. 3, 1971
Ralph Regula, OH - Jan. 3, 1973
Fortney “Pete” Stark, CA - Jan. 3, 1973
Don Young, AK - Mar. 6, 1973
John P. Murtha, PA - Feb. 5, 1974
George Miller, CA - Jan. 3, 1975
James L. Oberstar, MN - Jan. 3, 1975
Henry Waxman, CA - Jan. 3, 1975
Edward J. Markey, MA - Nov. 2, 1976
Norman Dicks, WA - Jan. 3, 1977
Dale Kildee, MI - Jan. 3, 1977
Nick Rahall, WV - Jan. 3, 1977
Ike Skelton, MO - Jan. 3, 1977
Jerry Lewis, CA - Jan. 3, 1979
James Sensenbrenner Jr., WI - Jan. 3, 1979
Thomas Petri, WI - Apr 3, 1979
David Dreier, CA - Jan. 3, 1981
Barney Frank, MA - Jan. 3, 1981
Ralph Hall, TX - Jan. 3, 1981
Duncan Hunter, CA - Jan. 3, 1981
Harold Rogers, KY - Jan. 3, 1981
Christopher Smith, NJ - Jan. 3, 1981
Frank Wolf, VA - Jan. 3, 1981
Steny Hoyer, MD - May 19, 1981
Howard Berman, CA - Jan. 3, 1983
Rick Boucher, VA - Jan. 3, 1983
Dan Burton, IN - Jan. 3, 1983
Marcy Kaptur, OH - Jan. 3, 1983
Sander Levin, MI - Jan. 3, 1983
Alan Mollohan, WV - Jan. 3, 1983
Solomon Ortiz, TX - Jan. 3, 1983
John Spratt, Jr., SC - Jan. 3, 1983
Edolphus Towns, NY - Jan. 3, 1983
Gary Ackerman, NY - Mar. 1, 1983
James Saxton, NJ - Nov. 6, 1984
Joe Barton, TX - Jan. 3, 1985
Howard Coble, NC - Jan. 3, 1985
Bart Gordon, TN - Jan. 3, 1985
Paul Kanjorski, PA - Jan. 3, 1985
Peter Visclosky, IN - Jan. 3, 1985
Peter DeFazio, OR - Jan. 3, 1987
Elton Gallegly, CA - Jan. 3, 1987
Wally Herger, CA - Jan. 3, 1987
John Lewis, GA - Jan. 3, 1987
Louise Slaughter, NY - Jan. 3, 1987
Lamar Smith, TX - Jan. 3, 1987
Fred Upton, MI - Jan. 3, 1987
Nancy Pelosi, CA - June 2, 1987
Christopher Shays, CT - Aug. 18, 1987
Jim McCrery, LA - Apr. 16, 1988
Jerry Costello, IL - Aug. 9, 1988
Frank Pallone Jr., NJ - Nov. 8, 1988
John Duncan Jr., TN - Nov. 8, 1988
Eliot Engel, NY - Jan. 3, 1989
Nita Lowey, NY - Jan. 3, 1989
Jim McDermott, WA - Jan. 3, 1989
Michael McNulty, NY - Jan. 3, 1989
Richard Neal, MA - Jan. 3, 1989
Donald Payne, NJ - Jan. 3, 1989
Dana Rohrabacher, CA - Jan. 3, 1989
Cliff Stearns, FL - Jan. 3, 1989
John Tanner, TN - Jan. 3, 1989
James Walsh, NY - Jan. 3, 1989
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, FL - Aug. 29, 1989
Gary “Gene” Taylor, MS - Oct. 17, 1989

Now these are the members of the House of Represenatives that have served between 10 and 27 consecutive terms of office. That's between 20 and 54 years in office. Why are we re-electing these cronies?

US Congress - Senate Crypt-Keepers

By Congressional Crypt-Keeper, I mean that a baby born in the year they took office is now able to drive, vote, enlist, drink, and marry.

These people have been serving in office for 21 to 50 years. If anyone can name another profession besides tenured professors who have better job security, feel free to do it. Then let's vote for some real change in Congress.

In The Senate
Name First Elected
Robert C. Byrd (D-WV)- January 3, 1959
Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA)- November 7, 1962
Daniel K. Inouye (D-HI) - January 3, 1963
Patrick J. Leahy (D-VT)- January 3, 1975
Richard Lugar (R-IN)- January 3, 1977
Orrin Hatch (R-UT) - January 3, 1977
Max Baucus (D-MT) - December 15, 1978
Thad Cochran (R-MS)- December 27, 1978
Carl Levin (D-MI)- January 3, 1979
Christopher Dodd (D-CT)- January 3, 1981
Chuck Grassley (R-IA) - January 3, 1981
Arlen Specter (D-PA) - January 3, 1981
Jeff Bingaman (D-NM)- January 3, 1983
John Kerry[6] (D-MA) - January 2, 1985
Tom Harkin (D-IA) - January 3, 1985
Mitch McConnell (R-KY) - January 3, 1985
Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) - January 15, 1985
Barbara Mikulski (D-MD)- January 3, 1987
Richard Shelby (R-AL) - January 3, 1987
John McCain (R-AZ) - January 3, 1987
Harry Reid (D-NV) - January 3, 1987
Kit Bond (R-MO) - January 3, 1987
Kent Conrad (D-ND) - January 3, 1987
Herb Kohl (D-WI) - January 3, 1989
Joe Lieberman[7] (ID-CT)- January 3, 1989

So 25 out of 100 Senators have served 21 to 50 years in the Senate. And by the way, those numbers do not include time served in the House of Representatives. If I made a list of total time served in Congress - I'm sure it would be HUGE.

If the President of the United States has a two-term limit, then Congress should have term limits too. Checks and Balances, people. We need Cincinnatus more than these time-servers.

Good For The Gander

The great Victor Davis Hanson points out that what is good for the goose is good for the gander.

ie - If the Democrats could dish it out against Bush, then why can't a couple of AARP members complain loudly to their elected official at a sanctioned townhall meeting?

Read Victor's historical review of bad liberal behavior here.

Two More Onion Videos

Once again, I love The Onion!


U.S. Government Stages Fake Coup To Wipe Out National Debt


Congresswoman Says Botched Plastic Surgery Most Important Issue Facing U.S.

A Glimpse Of Our Future Government?

New Live Poll Allows Pundits To Pander To Viewers In Real Time

Senator Mark Warner Homeless

Is it just my imagination or does someone at The Onion hate Mark Warner?

Americans are better off without an NHS

This according to the excellent and wise Toby Harden (friend of my husband's) who puts up this even-handed op-ed in the UK's Telegraph here.

The figure comes from Britain's National Institute for Clinical Evidence, which evaluates treatments in terms of the average increase in life expectancy. If the cost of prolonging someone's life for a year exceeds more than £30,000, then the NHS will not pay for that treatment. In other words, although there are no "death panels", the fundamental point is correct. The NHS does decide that some treatments are too expensive. And if that means you die? Our condolences, says the Government.

Despite the myths from the Left about the American system – that you have to take your credit card to the emergency room and if you can't pay you won't be treated – it is beyond dispute that treatment in the US is better. Diagnosed with prostate cancer and want to survive for the next five years? In Britain you have a 74 per cent chance. In the US, it is 98 per cent. For leukaemia, the American survival rate is close to half, while in Europe it is a third.

I would for the record like to point out that my husband's cousin from the UK who was a doctor before switching to teaching was essentially on one of those "Death Panels" as Sarah Palin put it so precisely. This cousin was truly sickened by the arbitrary life-and-death decisions she was forced to make because the NHS would not invest in the necessary equipment that would have saved lives.

In the interests of privacy I will not go into any more detail but suffice it to say that her speciality is quite common here in the US and I can think of at least three location in a 15 mile radius that provide the services that she could not provide to her patients.

So when someone says Palin's statement is overblown, do not believe them. That is how the NHS works. That is how any and all government run single-payer plans work. And that is how Obamacare would work if allowed to exist here in the United States. Healthcare determined and provided by distant beaurocrats, not doctors.

Fact-Checking Obama

Both USA Today (via HotAir) here and The Heritage Foundation here offer up fact-checking on Obama's statements at the New Hampshire Townhall.

Whole lotta whoppers going on.

How To Field Questions Like The President

From Esquire magazine complete with video samples.

I am not entirely certain what the slant of this article is but it's all in good fun. Right?

Hawking and the NHS

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

Following up on that silly IBD statement that Stephen Hawking wouldn't survive in the U.K., where of course he lives, I contacted Professor Hawking's office, and they sent me this statement he dictated yesterday:

I wouldn’t be alive today if it weren’t for the NHS. I have received a large amount of high quality treatment without which I would not have survived.

This is undoubtedly true. Many brilliant doctors and surgeons work for the NHS. So yes, there are indeed centers of excellence in the NHS. David Cameron, leader of the British Conservatives, has a favorable view of the NHS because of the wonderful, world-class care it gave for many years to his severely handicapped son, who sadly died earlier this year. A close friend of mine would have lost his handicapped daughter at birth were it not for the efforts of his local NHS hospital, which again provided world-class care. And this isn't world-class in the sense of "the NHS is the envy of the world," it is world-class in the genuine sense.

However, all this is true in spite of rather than because the NHS is financed the way it is. Professor Hawking in Cambridge and David Cameron in Oxford are lucky enough that their hospitals are associated with world-class universities. The trouble is that for every child saved, there is one or more elderly people left to die or literally killed by the NHS. One family I know lost two grandparents as a result of NHS incompetence, one of them having a feeding tube set at the wrong rate, with the result that they were fed so much they died as a result of the complications brought on. Just as there are excellent hospitals in the NHS, there are others that any informed person would avoid like, or even because of, the plague.

And much of the reason for the dark side of the NHS is clearly its funding structure. A relative of mine, an award-winning doctor, resigned from her job as head of a certain department at her hospital because she couldn't take having to make decisions every day over who lived and who died as a result of granting or denying treatment. The NHS is predicated on this model. That is why Theodore Dalyrmple, a doctor working within the NHS at the time, wrote as far back as 2001:

Just try going to the casualty department of an NHS hospital and telling them that you want to be operated on in another hospital! You will be lucky if they find you a bed in under 10 hours. Not far from Walsall, incidentally, is Kidderminster, whose hospital the Government closed down, despite the local appreciation of its care, its balanced budget, and the clearly expressed wishes of the town's population that it should be kept open. So much for consumer choice when it conflicts with the Government's plans.

I am far from supposing that all is well with the NHS. No one who works in the system could possibly suppose any such thing. It even seems to me likely that treatment in Walsall is not as good as at UCH.

But the real problem with the health-care services in Britain lies elsewhere, and we should not be diverted from recognising it by crude and sensational comparisons. What is needed is a subtle interplay of patient choice and professionalism, of the kind that can never now be achieved so long as health care in this country is funded solely by central taxation. It would take courage and honesty for a politician to recognise this, so it is extremely unlikely to happen.

Will that subtle interplay be encouraged or discouraged by Obamacare? All evidence points towards the latter, but that is the argument that has to be made.

All respect to my husband but what he neglected to mention regarding his friend's child was that the baby was found to be in the breech position and the NHS doctor went ahead with a vaginal birth, causing the infant to suffer the lack of oxygen which lead to her brain being damaged.

I know this because in the times after this tragedy I spoke with this friend quite frequently. When he described the events and I told him that in such situations, US hospitals would do a cesearan rather than continue birthing a breech baby vaginally - he was shocked.

So while my husband is right to defend the extraordinarily rare centers of excellence where the NHS accidentally gets things right, that by no means should be constructed as support for such a healthcare system anywhere. At least as far as I am concerned.

Cost of Government Day

You now have to work from January 1st to August 12th in order to "meet all costs imposed by government. In other words, the cost of government consumes 61.34 percent of national income."

Read all about it at the Americans for Tax Reform Center for Fiscal Accountability website, here.

I love FDR Pebbles - Now they're on sale!

We've vacationed here three times in four years, scroll down for sample pictures of our last vacation July 09. So when I got this email, I had to share.

FDR RESORTS JAMAICA in Association with Air Jamaica's "A Great Time to Fly to Jamaica" Special Introduces


With fares of $99 per person + Taxes, FDR Pebbles Resort and the Franklyn D. Resort & Spa are matching this excitement with Room Rates starting at US$92 and US$124 per person per night respectively- 60% off their rack adult rack rates this FALL.

Book your family vacation between now and August 31st, 2009 and get 60% off the adult rate for travel between now and December 20th, 2009!

For Hotel Reservation call 1-800-654-1337 or visit www.fdrfamily.com

Airline Reservation: Call Air Jamaica's North American Sales Office at: 1-800-523-5585 or visit: www.airjamaica.com

Important Information on Booking your Air Jamaica Seats:
Booking Window is very small - between: AUGUST 3-10, 2009
Valid for Travel between: SEPTEMBER 3 - OCTOBER 31, 2009
Valid Gateways: Baltimore, Fort Lauderdale, New York, Chicago and Philadelphia

Another Democrat Class Act

More Liberal Hypocrisy - this time on Voter IDs

Tom Blumer over at NewsBusters reports in an article titled "Can't Make It Up: Dem Rep Who Opposes Photo ID To Vote Requiring Photo ID For Town Halls" that democrat Congressman Eugene Green is now requiring photo IDs from the attendees at his townhalls.

Ironically, Green has voted AGAINST the use of photo IDs when voting.

I do think that townhalls should be limited to the folks who live in the constituency and I do think that requiring photo IDs is a reasonable means to confirming habitation in a particular constituency.

I do not think, however, that anyone who voted against the use of photo IDs in voting should be allowed to require photo IDs at townhalls. You created this mess Green, you deal with it.

HA!

Obama Astroturfed The NH Townhall?

Gatewaypundit makes that claim here complete with video (I'm having trouble with the sound).

Here is the local New Hampshire news channel's take. At the 2:20 mark, please note the man in the red "Capitalism" t-shirt from a group - BureauCrash - that is associated with my husband's organization. To my knowledge, no one from that group sent anyone up to New Hampshire. That's grass-roots, baby!

Bashing Insurance Companies

The strategy for supporters of Obamacare has been switched to bashing insurance companies. This change is explained here in the New York Post.

Reportedly, Obama's top advisers gather every Wednesday night to discuss the latest polling on health-care reform and how to use the results to advance the president's agenda. And public sentiment is clear: People trust their doctors and are generally pleased with their medical care's quality -- but mostly distrust insurers. Most voters also care more about their own out-of-pocket medical costs and the portability of their coverage than about the uninsured

.

Reconsidering Whole Foods

I've always found the Whole Foods shopping experience a little choked with smug. All that high-priced organic-food-cum-environmentalism-guilt-indulgence-purchases were just a little too fey for me. (They do have a decent cheese counter (Wegman's is better) and some interesting items in general.)

But now after reading this Wall Street Journal op-ed by John Mackey, the co-founder and CEO of Whole Foods, I may make a special trip to our closest store and give him some of my business.

Titled "The Whole Foods Alternative to ObamaCare", Mr. Mackey starts with a famous quote from the awesome Margaret Thatcher “The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money.” He then continues to list the things he would do to improve the US healthcare system and, quite frankly, I whole-heartedly support each and every one of his suggestions.

• Remove the legal obstacles that slow the creation of high-deductible health insurance plans and health savings accounts (HSAs).

Money not spent in one year rolls over to the next and grows over time.

• Equalize the tax laws so that that employer-provided health insurance and individually owned health insurance have the same tax benefits.

• Repeal all state laws which prevent insurance companies from competing across state lines. (He's right! If car and life insurance is portable, why isn't health insurance? - me)

• Repeal government mandates regarding what insurance companies must cover.

• Enact tort reform to end the ruinous lawsuits that force doctors to pay insurance costs of hundreds of thousands of dollars per year. These costs are passed back to us through much higher prices for health care.

• Make costs transparent so that consumers understand what health-care treatments cost.

• Enact Medicare reform. We need to face up to the actuarial fact that Medicare is heading towards bankruptcy and enact reforms that create greater patient empowerment, choice and responsibility.

• Finally, revise tax forms to make it easier for individuals to make a voluntary, tax-deductible donation to help the millions of people who have no insurance and aren’t covered by Medicare, Medicaid or the State Children’s Health Insurance Program.

He ends with a teeny plug for healthier eating via vegetables but otherwise his entire column is a truthful, accurate, efficient and viable solution to the US healthcare system and I thoroughly endorse his views in this matter.

Obama is Losing Camille

Well Camille Paglia over at Salon.com is still infatuated with Obama-as-US-Ambassador, the gloss is wearing off with Obama-as-Domestic-Leader.

Having said that, I must confess my dismay bordering on horror at the amateurism of the White House apparatus for domestic policy.

She continues here to proclaim her growing and deepening alarm at the entire Obamacare debacle. I don't always completely agree with her but I completely respect her views.

Read her page two about Sarah Palin and Prof. Gates. Camille hits nails on heads quie regularly, I must say.

CNN Bans Talk Radio Hosts

(The post below is copied in its entirety from Andy McCarthy's post on NRO-The Corner because his points are so irrefutable and Jonathan Klein is an ass.)

CNN/US president Jonathan Klein has directed his producers to avoid booking talk-radio hosts on CNN news programs. In a burst of arrogance remarkable even by mainstream media standards (especially given some of the dross that passes for news coverage at CNN), Klein is quoted in NewsBusters as saying, "Complex issues require world class reporting," and that talk-radio guys are all noise and "all too predictable." Would that there were anything on the planet more predictable than some of CNN's "world class reporting."

The NewsBusters report also indicates that the talk-radio hosts who are CNN regulars (e.g., Lou Dobbs and Bill Bennett) are exempt from the new policy.

I wonder if the folks at CNN ever actually listen to the in-depth coverage complicated issues get for hours at a time on Rush's show and Sean's show. I wonder how Mr. Klein's assessment of talk-radio dullards squares up with, say, Mark Levin — an authentic scholar of constitutional law and American history, a mega-bestselling author of books on those subjects, and a former chief of staff to an attorney-general of the United States. Or, say, Hugh Hewitt, a cum laude graduate of Harvard, Order of the Coif student at UMichigan Law School, veteran of two prestigious federal court clerkships, like Mark a former Reagan Justice Department official, and now a professor at Chapman Law School. I wonder if Mr. Klein has ever heard Laura Ingraham or Steve Malzberg or Dennis Praeger (and I could go on and on) mixing it up with advocates for every side of every important issue.

To disagree with them is fine — that's what makes an interesting debate. But to ban them because you find yourself unable to refute them? That's class-A cowardice.

There's a reason talk-radio's audience is growing while CNN's is evaporating.

I wish Mr. Klein would just come out and say he'd like to keep to a bare minimum the insights of effective conservative voices. At least that would be honest.

[Thanks to Lucianne.]

Democrats Caught AstroTurfing

The Black man holding a picture of Obama-as-Hitler has been exposed as a Dingell supporter who was planted by DNC operatives.

Read the whole expose here.

The PJTV Trifecta debates whether this is real grassroots protest or astroturf, here.

Is Obama Plotting Against Doctors?

Roger Simon makes a case over at PJTV in his "Talking Through My Hat" series that Obama is plotting against doctors.

The interesting thing about Simon is his grasp of history gives an interesting perspective on current events which makes even his most paranoid sounding video column reasonable.

Give it a watch and tell me what you think.

Erosion of Trust

You know, I remember the 90s and would have believed this article from Yahoo titled "Officials see rise in militia groups across U.S." if Obama's government hadn't been so quick to tar all opposing thought as "right-wing extremists" here and here.

Yes, I know you're not paranoid if somebody really is out to get you but seeing darkness in every heart is a pretty foul worldview as well.

Deep Denial

Specter and his cohorts are still in deep denial over many Americans rejection of Obamacare.

Sample quotes from this Yahoo.com article, here.

McCaskill said she was "proud of the people that showed up and I don't take that personally."
"It's that they don't trust government right now," she said on NBC's "Today" show.

No, sweetcheeks, we do not trust you. Because (and it is a shame I have to explain this to a sitting member of Congress) here in America our government is the People. The government is not some separate entity from Congress or the President or the Supreme Court (although the Supreme Court has the least direct connection to the People). Here in America, no "government" is too big to fail if the American People decide that government is no longer representing them.

And from Specter we get this...

"I'm not going to complain about being organized. They have a right to speak," he said, "but I think we have to explain, they're not necessarily representative of America. I think they're vocal. I don't think they're representative."

Clearly, Specter is so old that he has forgotten these things are recorded. I watched a fair portion of this townhall and there were supporters on both sides of the issue. It's just that the opponents of Obamacare were clearly in the majority. That seems pretty representational to me, Congressman Crypt-Keeper.

Run, Citizen, Run

PJTVs suggests in this "Beyond The Angry Mob" that if ever there was an opportunity for US citizens to run for Congress, now is the time.

In some ways, this makes a lot of sense - especially in the House of Representatives where districts are smaller and an active grassroots movement would happily support an alternative to these jokers.

Here is my platform.

Thin-Skinned Need Not Click

This "alert" from RealClearPolitics reminds us how small the sense of humor is on the left.

Updates on ObamaCare

Here you can find the Arlen Specter Townhall in its entirety from C-SPAN. He starts getting patronizing and snippy right around 5:54 and real interesting by 12:30. I couldn't watch the whole thing because Specter's voice started to make my ears bleed. Just out of curiosity, why is this crypt-keeper still in office?

ABCNews catches Obama in a lie, here. Calling it Obama's "senior moment", Obama claimed that the AARP was "on board" the healthcare plan. Rather quickly, the AARP raised its hand and said, ummm, no we're not.

Duelling videos are the theme here at BelowTheBeltway, as two videos demonstrate that Obama did indeed say to an AFL-CIO audience that he supports a single-payer plan. The video on top shows him denying this. Whatever, liar.

Proving the oppositions point, in this video here, Obama answers a question about government health plans "competing" with private plans by stating that Fedex and UPS are doing just fine against the USPS. Ummmm, isn't the USPS dying? Doesn't that prove the US government can't run anything better than private industry?

Rasmussen is now saying 57% oppose single-payer plans here.

The Heritage Foundation released this report that Obamacare will definitely eliminate private insurance.

Losing 5 Healthcare Freedoms

A close reading of the two main bills, one backed by Democrats in the House and the other issued by Sen. Edward Kennedy's Health committee, contradict the President's assurances. To be sure, it isn't easy to comb through their 2,000 pages of tortured legal language. But page by page, the bills reveal a web of restrictions, fines, and mandates that would radically change your health-care coverage.

The above is from an article titled "5 freedoms you'd lose in health care reform" from Fortune Magazine here.

How Not to Argue Against Obamacare

(Originally published by my husband)

I'm a fan of Investors' Business Daily, and their editorials are normally top-notch, but I've no idea how they let this one get through:

People such as scientist Stephen Hawking wouldn't have a chance in the U.K., where the National Health Service would say the life of this brilliant man, because of his physical handicaps, is essentially worthless

.
Whoops.

Gotta Love Parady

Louder with Crowder reviews the "hate-filled mob" at Obamacare protests, here at PJTV.

Over-reaching His Over-Reach

First, the ghastly non-stimulating Stimulus Bill (aka Porkulus). Then the economy-destroying Cap-and-Trade failure-to-be. Followed by the kill-all-old-people-by-copying-failed-socialist-policies Obamacare.

Now, Obama is attempting to also over-reach and over-extend his political capital by taking on immigration as well.

Yes, because failing to revive the economy while passing bills that raise taxes, increase our energy bills, impose a national sales tax (aka VAT - its coming soon), and decicating US citizens' healthcare is not enough.

According to the New York Times, here, Obama wants to flood our weakened economy with foreign-born, non-English-speaking, generally illiterate workers.

No offense to illiterate workers, but how exactly is that sort of immigration reform going to help the US economy, let alone other US citizens? Wouldn't getting US workers employeed first be the priority?

Global-Warming Policies Are the Real National-Security Threat

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

Sen. John Kerry (D., Mass.) is trying to win Senate support for the ruinously expensive cap-and-tax global-warming bill, claiming it will prevent threats to national security, according to the New York Times. He argues that global warming will destabilize the developing world, creating climate refugees and exacerbating conflict. The American military will need to respond to these problems through either humanitarian-relief missions or armed intervention. This argument is flawed for two reasons. First, there is no reason to believe the bill being debated will stop any of this. Second, there is every possibility that the bill might make things worse.

If global warming is as bad as Senator Kerry fears, this bill will do nothing to avert its effects. Most honest proponents of the bill admit that it will do nothing to reduce global temperatures. At most, according to climatologist Chip Knappenberger, the bill will reduce warming by about nine-hundredths of a degree Fahrenheit by 2050, a difference too small to be measured.

Could anything avert those supposed effects? Yes — much more stringent climate policies, which would have adverse effects of their own. The national-security establishment uses “futurist” scenarios to establish possible national-security risks. In that spirit, it should also look at scenarios in which more stringent policies are implemented. Consider the following such scenario.

Developed countries enact strong restraints on emissions, along with high taxes on gasoline and coal energy. The coal, oil and automobile industries collapse. In America, the Gulf Coast states suffer particularly badly. Old automobiles are crushed. The second-hand car market also collapses. Poor people cannot find affordable vehicles. Poor rural families cannot get to work. They and the populations of former oil and coal producing areas move to cities where there is transportation but there are fewer and fewer jobs, leading to widespread urban discontent. Illegal immigration increases as employers bring in thousands of workers whom they house in barracks near their farms and factories. The car once again becomes a symbol of the rich. Is this a recipe for domestic tranquility?

Europe could also be destabilized by carbon restrictions. European politicians call for a de facto reduction of household income so that people will be less tempted to buy frivolous things. Car ownership reaches the level of social stigma. The European Union increases trade barriers on goods from long distances to pay for the external costs of their shipping, with leads to soaring costs. Inflation becomes a serious problem, but politicians defend it as an indicator of social good. Populist politicians rail against immigrant populations, denouncing them as environmental criminals for leaving their home countries. “Economic migrant” becomes a new insult.

Yet, even worse can be imagined. The developed countries set up a World Carbon Organization, which would impose severe economic sanctions on any country that did not enact carbon restrictions. China and India call the organization’s bluff and continue to build coal-fired carbon plants to fuel what is rapidly becoming the world’s economic base. The WCO tries to blockade Chinese exports. Western militaries, however, have been depleted by their own governments’ carbon constraints, and prove inadequate to the job of blockading. A potential “trigger” for a disaster scenario is easy to imagine: A frustrated French captain accidentally sinks a Chinese vessel carrying MP3 players to Australia. What happens then?

This is the sort of scenario the Pentagon should be examining. If global warming can destabilize the globe, so can global-warming policies. That is one reason the world has not reached an international agreement on reducing emissions that binds everyone to reductions, and why we never shall with current technology.

Senator Kerry says that he wants a world free from the dangers of global warming. But the cap-and-tax bill he is promoting is more likely to give us a world with the dangers of global warming and the dangers of protectionist nationalism. That is a bad deal for the security of America — and the world.

P.S. My colleague Marlo Lewis examined the various supposed threats to national security in very great detail for the a hearing held by House Intelligence Committee. You can read his excellent testimony here. You can also see his documentary, Policy Peril, at CEI On Demand.

Over at PlanetGore, there's this tidbit about Clinton's huge carbon-footprint eating habits while at climate conferences. Ah, the smell of hypocrisy in the evening...

Today's Protest Roundup

The Washington Examiner has a well-linked article, here, covering all the protests to date and why Democrats are "flummoxed".

ABCNews reports that the White House is distancing itself from Pelosi and Hoyer's USA Today article calling Americans who disagree with Obamacare, "UnAmerican".

Support for Obamacare has fallen to a new low of 42% according to this Rasmussen Report here. (May it continue to fall!)

Obamacare will face deep Senior-Citizen disapproval according to The Washington Examiner here. The article states...

So far, the health care battle has not focused specifically on the proposed Medicare cuts. But older Americans are the most avid voters in the country, and the latest Gallup poll shows that just 48 percent of people age 65 or older approve of the job Obama is doing as president -- the lowest of any age group. Much of Obama's problem with them can be traced directly to the health care issue.

Democrats aren't defending Medicare the way they did in the 90s and Senior Citizens are taking notice. This is politics on fire.

The Wall Street Journal has a critical piece on Obamacare and it's inflexible orthodoxies here. The change in Obama's pledges to be "open-minded" does not give the WSJ hope.

I'm sure there will be updates.