The Sound of Distant Drums

Mirabile dictu, the Yahoo main page displays a headline of "What If Bush Had Done That?" with a link to the story on Politico.

The story's lead:

"A four-hour stop in New Orleans, on his way to a $3 million fundraiser.
Snubbing the Dalai Lama.
Signing off on a secret deal with drug makers.
Freezing out a TV network.
Doing more fundraisers than the last president. More golf, too.
President Barack Obama has done all of those things — and more.

What’s remarkable is what hasn’t happened. These episodes haven’t become metaphors for Obama’s personal and political character — or consuming controversies that sidetracked the rest of his agenda."

Yahoo has been an ardent anti-Bush, anti-Republican, pro-Obama website for a long time. The MSM may finally be coming to grips with the idea that they bought a pig in a poke when they backed (and covered for) Obama for president. We can only hope.

Are We All Crazy?

A disturbing presentation (at least part of one) courtesy of TT:

Bought and Paid For

From the Associated Press: GOP's Snowe Will Vote for Democratic Health Bill "WASHINGTON – Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe broke with her party Tuesday and said she will vote for a Democratic health care bill, handing President Barack Obama a much-sought boost in his quest to expand access to medical coverage to all Americans...."

Note: The Democrat legislation will still leave 20+ million Americans without insurance coverage. Sounds like Snowe held out for a better price.

Mr. Gore Doesn't Like Questions...

...at least questions that challenge him. Note his deft use of the political two-step to avoid answering the question.





Gore and others like him (i.e., Democrats and other Liberals) who make claims such as he makes should have to answer for their methods before any debate over the details of their argument. Why is Gore unwilling to engage in a real debate on the subject? (The answer, of course, is that his argument is weak, and demagoguing the issue is the only way he can influence legislation and continue to profit from his fear-mongering.) As I've written before, Al Gore and others intend to profit from global warning alarmism. It always helps to track the money trail.

By the way, Gore's claim that the court ruled in his favor is pretty exaggerated. The British court ruled that the film "violated laws barring the promotion of partisan political views in the classroom" and could only be "shown on the condition that it is accompanied by guidance notes to balance Gore's 'one-sided' views."

Disgust Set In

Yeah, I know it's been three weeks since my last post. I've tried to find a place to stop and comment about all of the political shenanigans Obama, Reid, Pelosi et al have been up to, but it didn't stop long enough for me to take inventory. Due to popular demand, I figured I'd better put something in.

This morning I inflicted a rant on the missiz, and realized halfway through that the reason I started this blog was to keep from doing that. This morning's rant was about the completely deceitful tactics the Democrats have been using, and my complete mystification that they have any credibility left.

Consider: All of the to-do about the urgency for "healthcare reform" would lead you to believe that, if passed, it will immediately go into effect. Not so. The current legislation being bandied about won't go into effect until 2013 -- after the next presidential election. Clearly they don't want the conditions that most experts predict -- long lines, rationing, increaed government debt, etc. -- to affect Obama's chances at reelection. (Nor that of Democrat congressmen also up for reelection that year.)

Consider: Republicans have proposed amendments to the Democrat plan. One would insert language that expressly prhibits using government funds for abortions. The Democrats refused. Nonetheless they loudly proclaim that abortions are not covered by their plan. Yet abortions are not prohibited in the proposed legislation. They will be covered by default. Similarly, Democrats swear that illegal aliens will not be able to receive the proposed benefits, and show language saying so. Yet when Republicans proposed language requiring proof of citizenship for coverage, Democrats rejected it. There is no mechanism to identify the citizenship status of applicants for the proposed benefits.

Consider: The White House has begun attacking Fox News in the official White House blog. The taxpayer-funded White House blog. In case you don't remember civics from high school, the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution prohibits governmental infringements of the freedom of the press. Singling out a particular news organization seems to come pretty close. And we're paying for it.

Consider: The so-called "savings" that Democrats claim will happen under their proposed healthcare legislation depends in large part on dumping more responsibility on individual state Medicaid plans. The states will simply have to pay more in coverage. (And each state's citizens, of course.) All of the states except Nevada, that is -- Senate Majority Leader and Democrat Senator from Nevada Harry Reid inserted an exemption for his home state. So the Democrats' definition of savings means that they dump their liabilities on someone else and taxpayers still pick up the tab.

When the politicians are this blatantly deceitful, yet still hold power -- well, the disgust just overpowers me sometimes. Too disgusted to blog about it, but I'll try to do better.

Would You Buy a Used Car from this Man?

Barack Obama made a media blitz this past weekend, appearing on several television shows to tout his healthcare plan. Among the interesting things that came out of his mouth was the claim that mandatory medical coverage -- part of the legislation being considered in Congress -- does not constitute a "tax." Some of Obama's promises during his presidential campaign were 1) He did not want mandatory coverage as part of a healthcare plan, and 2) He would not raise taxes on the middle class.

Obama made his claims this weekend, even though there is a fine (payable to the government) for not having coverage; the fine would be collected by the Internal Revenue Service, and it is called a tax in both versions of the bills being considered in the House and the Senate. In name and in fact, it is a new tax on all Americans.

From a Yahoo News story: "For us to say that you've got to take a responsibility to get health insurance is absolutely not a tax increase," the president said. "What it's saying is...that we're not going to have other people carrying your burdens for you anymore. Right now everybody in America, just about, has to get auto insurance," Obama added. "Nobody considers that a tax increase." (Note: Unless you don't own a car and don't need the insurance. I guess this Harvard intellectual (as described by Liberals) thinks we'll overlook that point.)

My bigger issue is this -- how can a man retain a shred of credibility when making the easily-disproved and -refuted claims that Obama is making? Compulsory payments to the government, enforced by the IRS, constitute a tax, no matter what you call it. Call it a lie, a misrepresentation, a deception or anything else, and Obama's actions mean one thing. He is intentionally not telling Americans the truth.

What the Heck is Going On?

In case you haven't heard, one of the most popular presidential candidates of all time won the presidency last year, with the aid of a fawning, non-vetting media. His party (Democrat) controls both houses of Congress, to the point where they can ram through any legislation they want without a single Republican vote. They did just that with the "stimulus" bill earlier this year.

The Republicans are leaderless and impotent, with little support for the party nationwide. The media have continued their near unanimous worship of Obama.

• Yet Obama can't get his healthcare legislation passed.
• Forty-nine percent of Americans disapprove of Obama's job performance, up sharply since he took office. 52% disapprove of his ideas on healthcare.
• Obama was publicly called out in Congress by Republican Joe Wilson. Although the Democrats voted to censure Wilson based on their party strength, Wilson received over $1 million in donations to his campaign after his outburst.
• The Democrat-controlled House of Representatives voted to defund Obama's support group ACORN.

What the heck is going on? It can only be attributed to one thing -- the power of the tea parties, the townhall protests, and the massive anti-big government protest in Washington DC on September 12. The voices of angry American citizens have scared the crap out of politicians.

If for no other reason, our voices need to be raised even more. Politicians need to be afraid of the electorate. They must be reminded that their phony-baloney jobs depend on us. For the next thirteen months, America's citizens must be heard in Washington. The loudest message must be sent in November 2010.

What's the Last Thing That Made You Cry?

I'm not much of a cryer, but once in a while a movie can make me tear up. (When Jim Brown died in The Dirty Dozen was one of those moments. sniff.) But I've never had a television commercial affect me that way until I happened upon this one from Malaysia.

Oprah's Flash Mob

Okay, I'm not a big fan of either Oprah Winfrey or the Black Eyed Peas. Having said that, this is one of the coolest videos ever. For Oprah's 24th season opener, she had her show on the streets of Chicago. Without her knowledge 20,000 fans participated in the biggest choreographed dance ever (bigger than Ferris Bueller's parade, even.) It's not clear what's going on at first, since the crowd is staying pretty still. Watch for the girl in the blue shirt -- that's when the excitement starts. Oprah is shocked (worth watching the video for that alone.) At the end of this video they explain how they made it happen.

ACORN: The Real Story

Matthew Vadum wrote an exhaustive article on Obama's friendliest association, ACORN. In the article he details the organization's connections to communism, the Weather Underground (Obama's old friend William Ayers was a member) and Saul Alinsky. Vadum goes beyond ACORN's efforts at voter fraud, focusing his research on its dedication -- and increasingly successful efforts -- to destroying the American system.

A Very Special Edition of Other People Say Smart Things

One of the truly independent political writers around, Camille Paglia, has written a scathing column about Obama's administration, even going so far as to imply that his reelection in 2012 is already in danger. I normally disagree with Paglia about most things, but she often cuts through the noise like a siren. Although she is an Obama supporter, she remarkably hasn't lost the capacity for thought. Some of her more memorable quotes from today's column:

"...by late August even the liberal lemmings of the mainstream media, from CBS to CNN, had drastically altered their tone of reportage..."

"Who is naive enough to believe that Obama's plan would be deficit-neutral? Or that major cuts could be achieved without drastic rationing?"

"If Obama fails to win reelection, let the blame be first laid at the door of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, who at a pivotal point threw gasoline on the flames by comparing angry American citizens to Nazis."

"An example of the provincial amateurism of current White House operations was the way the president's innocuous back-to-school pep talk got sandbagged by imbecilic support materials soliciting students to write fantasy letters to "help" the president (a coercive directive quickly withdrawn under pressure)."

"Democrats have increasingly become the party of an upper-middle-class professional elite, top-heavy with journalists, academics and lawyers (one reason for the hypocritical absence of tort reform in the healthcare bills)."

These are only a taste. Read the entire column, it's worth it.

Quips and Quotes

From a column by Kevin McCullough on why Dick Cheney is gaining in popularity while Barack Obama is losing it: "President Obama lives in a world that he desperately wishes existed. Vice President Cheney lives in the world that actually does."

From a column by Austin Hill on why many Americans object to Obama's scheduled speech to school children: "Perhaps most troubling about the President’s upcoming address to school kids is the accompanying curriculum provided by the U.S. Department of Education....For example, it is suggested that students in grades 7-12 should, before the President’s speech, write their responses to the following questions: “Why does President Obama want to speak with us today?” “How will he inspire us?” and “How will he challenge us?” ....notice that President Obama, himself -- not education, not the idea of becoming a learned person, but Barack Obama -- is the central theme of the questioning."

From a video produced by Demi Moore, a video which has been distributed and shown in some schools. The video features celebrities making promises and pledges. To the question of What's your pledge? some of the answers were: “To be a servant to our president,” says Demi Moore. “To be of service to Barack Obama,” says Anthony Kiedis. (Does there seem to be a common thread running through the propaganda that Obama and his worshipers are distributing?)

It may not be much longer until the rest of us are being burned at the stake as heretics.

Something You Might Have Missed

A recent column by Dennis Prager has a great title:

"The Bigger the Government, the Smaller the Citizen"

The Grandkids Can Eat Gruel

The Heritage Foundation has an interesting analysis of the Obama spending plans. You can read the article, but the picture packs quite a punch:

P.S. Remember that Congress actually determines government spending. Remember it especially well in next year's election.

Supernatural Diversity?

I'm glad students will be taught about traditional bloodsuckers without mentioning the Democrat Party.

WOW

From today's Drudge Report*:

Maybe Michelle shouldn't unpack everything just yet.

* The poll was taken down almost as soon as it was posted. At least it shows that Conservatives are online.

Other People Say Smart Stuff, Too Part XVI

Regarding the matter of incentives -- tax an activity and you will get less of it; pay people for an activity and you will get more of it -- Terry Paulson had a great illustration in his column today:

"What if the next time you went to a department store, they locked the doors, identified the top 10% of the wealthiest customers and forced them to pay for the purchases of all of the other customers in the store. If you received free purchases, you’d be surprised and certainly happy. You’d probably come back with your friends! But what are the chances those wealthy clients would return? How long would it take until you were now the top 10% forced to pay the whole bill? Incentives matter and always will."

This is reminiscent of the "Ten Men at Dinner" parable.

Hell Freezes Over/Americans Defeat Obama

According to an Associated Press report, the Obama administration is ready to drop the government-run option as part of its healthcare proposal. Apparently the boisterous townhall meetings, which led to Democrats calling Americans a "mob," and their protests "phony," demonstrated to those same Democrats the power of the public. Sometimes these politicians have to be reminded who's the boss.

A recap of what Democrats think of Americans who protest against them:
Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer - "UnAmerican."
John Dingell - "KKK and white supremacists."
Democratic National Committee - "a sham."
Nancy Pelosi - "Astroturf." (A fake grassroots movement.)
Harry Reid - "evil-mongers."

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you today's Democrat Party.

Water, Water Everywhere

One of my concerns with our self-sufficient dream home has been our ability to be self-sufficient in potable water here on the arid plains. Well, my problem may be solved by the time I get around to actually building. I give you the Whisson Windmill, which collects water from the air:




This device has the potential to produce up to 2,000 gallons of water a day.

On the Other Hand

“I have not said that I was a single payer supporter.”– Barack Obama, at a town hall meeting in New Hampshire 8/11/09.

“I happen to be a proponent of a single payer universal health care plan.”– Barack Obama, at a Senate campaign rally in 2003.

You can't say you weren't warned.