Monday, March 22. 2010
We have experienced one more giant step towards becoming a boring, worn-out, lazy, demoralized and weary European-style welfare state.
VDH at Pajamas begins:
President Obama has crossed the Rubicon with the health care vote. The bill was not really about medicine; after all, a moderately priced, relatively small federal program could offer the poorer not now insured, presently not on Medicare or state programs like Medicaid or Medical, a basic medical plan.
We have no interest in stopping trial lawyers from milking the system for billions. And we don’t want to address in any meaningful way the individual’s responsibility in some cases (drink, drugs, violence, dangerous sex, bad diet, sloth, etc.) for costly and chronic health procedures.
No, instead, the bill was about assuming a massive portion of the private sector, hiring tens of thousands of loyal, compliant new employees, staffing new departments with new technocrats, and feeling wonderful that we “are leveling the playing field” and have achieved another Civil Rights landmark law.
And the smart and savvy Paul Ryan predicts the future. One quote:
What about the practical consequences of Obamacare? “Soon, we’ll see individual-market insurance companies go out of business and dump their people,” Ryan says. “Tax increases on capital are going to hurt the economy in 2011. These arbitrary Medicare cuts will adversely affect the providers and therefore their beneficiaries. You’ll have the Internal Revenue Service beefing up its enforcement of this new mandate, which people have no clue is coming. And you’re going to have employers dump employees in this exchange once it’s up and running — funneling everyone into a government-run rationing system. Then we’ll see a big spike in insurance rates, and the Democrats are going to wager that they can just blame the insurers for that, and therefore that means they will need to institute insurance price controls or have a public option. Our side is going to say, ‘Look at what you just did to ruin our health-care system,’ and focus on repeal.”
Same for me, Coyote: My Health Insurance Policy Just Became Illegal
From Steyn's "Deemocracy" in Action:
Investor's Business Daily argues that the "health" debate is really a proxy fight on the size and role of government. According to its poll, 64 percent of people think the federal government has "too much power." Correct. But a big chunk of that 64 percent voted less than 18 months ago for a man and a party explicitly committed to more government with more power, and they're living with the consequences.
Part of the fun in reading Steyn is imagining his voice speaking it. He writes like he talks.
 If you've been away this weekend, please scroll down and catch up with Maggie's. Some good stuff there.
Steyn: Happy Dependence Day!
WSJ:
While the passage of ObamaCare marks a liberal triumph, its impact will play out over many years. We fought this bill so vigorously because we have studied government health care in other countries, and the results include much higher taxes, slower economic growth and worse medical care. As for the politics, the first verdict arrives in November.
Viking:
This country's inability to address runaway entitlement spending has left us with nearly $108 trillion in unfunded liabilities. These are promises the government cannot possibly meet but there is no political will to tell Americans they can't have their ice cream. Now we're about to dramatically expand the role of government at the very moment in time when we should be shrinking it.
It's mortifying.
Devastating non-trends in US Climate
Coulter: I was hoping for a fruit basket, not a threat to prosecute
Sunday, March 21. 2010
Our fathers and mothers, or grandfathers and grandmothers, were the “greatest generation” that took the world back from tyranny in WWII and from poverty after. Ask them, and they were just doing what was right.
Those who served in Vietnam and those who supported us took the world back from despair and, vets actually doing better than their age peers, built the prosperity of the ‘80s and ‘90s. We were just doing what was right.
Now, three generations who just did what was right will be joining with the next generation to just do what’s right.
Together, in the chilling dawn of the wake-up call that is the bankrupting powergrab sham that is ObamaCare and the sliming of integrity with which it has been pressed, with the abandonment of allies and the kowtowing to foes, the heavy prices will fall most upon them along with the rest of us.
“Damn Dems” will be the next greatest generation’s battle cry. A cross-generational battle cry.
BTW
This reminds me of this: It's not over 'til we say so.
Flag of the Resistance:
Inside the Pelosi Sausage Factory:
Never before has the average American been treated to such a live-action view of the sordid politics necessary to push a deeply flawed bill to completion. It was dirty deals, open threats, broken promises and disregard for democracy that pulled ObamaCare to this point, and yesterday the same machinations pushed it across the finish line.
NYTs Understated: Legal and Political Fights Are Looming for Democrats
Am Thinker: Is Obama the new FDR?
Let's hope not, because he got everything worng.
Saturday, March 20. 2010
By its built-in logic, Obamacare will cause the health care industry to go bankrupt within months.
This is entirely deliberate, and straight from the playbook: make such a mess that people beg for government help.
Epigenetics: The limits of Darwinian evolution
Coburn: We won't permit deals for jobs for pols. Related: Lose the battle but win the war
Putin showing no respect for the O Admin
Van Jones: Tell me again - why is he at Princeton?
GOP candidate recruitment at Powerline:
A remarkable 31 of these candidates come from the medical professions, and 24 are doctors. Too bad the Democrats aren't trying to socialize the legal industry. Then lawyers would switch to the Republicans en masse, and return the GOP to its former glory.
AmeriCorps: Obama’s Scandal-Plagued Indoctrination Machine. Related: Admin restores full funding to ACORN
Human shields: Jules
Is this legal? Imagine if Bush...
Friday, March 19. 2010
Liberals and atheists are "more evolved." Everybody knew that already, didn't they? We ignorant uneddicated knuckle-dragging throwbacks nonetheless persist in clinging to Jesus and our firearms. Why they let we Neanderthals vote and have websites is beyond me.
Just like Crichton's novel: Warming goes on trial. It could be another Scopes trial: The warming religion vs. skeptical science
 - The problem with socialist solutions is always that there isn't quite enough socialism (or enuf $)
- How Obamacare screws the middle class
- 65% say Do nothing or Start Over
- Virginia: If you ram healthcare through, we'll see you in court next week
- People want coverage of pre-existing conditions, but they don't want to pay for it. So who do they want to pay for it?
Thursday, March 18. 2010
The Democrats are exultant over the preliminary CBO score (preliminary because even the Congressional Budget Office hasn’t had time to examine whether it jives with the previous Senate bill) issued this morning. The score (costing) is on the Democrats’ reconciliation adjustments to the Senate ObamaCare bill that it remains under $1-trillion in spending and that together with added revenues will further reduce the deficit.
There’s increasing amazement at this bald-faced assertion. The real score will be seen this weekend in the Democrats' trickery vote and the consequences they face next November.
The Republican leadership is still trying to decipher the fine print, but are quickly getting to the bottom line. Senator McConnell issued a press release saying: “They get there with even higher taxes and deeper Medicare cuts than the first Senate bill.
“Let’s start with Medicare cuts.
“The Senate bill that Speaker Pelosi said Democrats are so afraid to take a vote on cut Medicare by $465 billion.“This latest bill increases those cuts by about $60 billion more.
“How about taxes?
“The Senate bill that Democrats are so afraid to take a vote on raises taxes by $494 billion.
“This bill increases those tax hikes by at least $150 billion.
“So if you were worried about raising taxes in the middle of a recession, this bill raises taxes even more.
“If you were worried about cutting Medicare for seniors, this bill cuts it even more.
That’s real. There’s more that’s real and unreal. The $500-billion taken from Medicare is real in its impact on seniors' health. That doctors will have their fees further reduced is not real, many already operating at a loss on Medicare business and losses being shifted on to private insurance plans. The tens of billions of spending in future years mandated upon the already near-bankrupt states for expanded Medicaid is real, though not counted by CBO. The negative impacts on employment and the economy are real.
The Washington Post’s WonkRoom says:
One of the most stunning numerical changes is in the excise tax on Cadillac plans. While the bill changes the indexing from inflation plus 1 to inflation — strengthening the provision [ed: meaning another buy-off to unions] — it pushes back the entire effort to 2018 and significantly raises the thresholds. I suspect the bill makes up the difference with the payroll tax and the savings from the college loan provisions. More to come.
The Washington Post reports on throwing into the unrelated health care bill the entirely unrelated federal takeover (except for Democrat Senator Conrad’s state) of student loan lending:
The legislation would also spread some savings among other Democratic education priorities and reduce the deficit by $10 billion over 10 years.
On the Cadillac Tax, the New York Times reports:
Mr. Obama and White House officials reached a deal with organized labor groups to delay the implementation and limit the impact of that tax. As a result, the excise tax will raise only $32 billion over 10 years, according to the budget office.
Of course, that meant coming up with another $118 billion elsewhere to plug the hole. Not a problem: the final legislation imposes a 3.8 percent tax on “unearned income” such as dividends and interest, or on regular income above $200,000 a year for individuals and $250,000 for couples.
The National Taxpayers Union says:
On page 8 of the report (found here) the CBO lists a quick add up of the kinds of new taxes and penalties they believe the American people will be facing in the next decade should this legislation pass. Turns out by 2019, this bill would be responsible for an additional 145 billion in taxes and penalties. Of which, 17 billion will be penalties paid by the uninsured (read: people making under $250,000) and 52 billion will be penalties paid by employers. Imagine trying to job hunt then! Whats more, thats really only a 6 year estimate because the politicians who crafted the bill wanted to make sure no new taxes were put in place before they had to face re-election. Which means a ten year score (2014-2024) of the taxes and penalties would be significantly higher.
Page 24 of today’s preliminary CBO score says that $129.7 billion will be taken from Medicare Advantage plans, versus the $118.1 billion the CBO said a week ago would be taken away.
Then there’s the timing shenanigan of loading revenues up front and costs at the backend of the first 10-years.
What else lurks in the hearts of the Democrats rammming down a non-roll call vote they are planning for this weekend? Will a stake be driven through it?
P.S.: Federal budgets expert Keith Hennessey adds much more info.
Via Surber:
On Monday, after heavy rains, Gore held a teleconference to leap on the rain as proof of Apocalypse and Armaggedon: “Just look at what has been happening for the last three days. The so-called skeptics haven’t noted it because it’s not snow. But the downpours and heavy winds are consistent with what the scientists have long warned about.
Wasn't he warning us that weather wasn't climate just two weeks ago?
Wednesday, March 17. 2010
President Obama has jettisoned the US’ Grand Strategy that since World War II protected Western interests, according to Robert Kagan of the Carnegie Endowment for Peace writing in the Washington Post.
The old strategy rested on a global network of formal military and political alliances, mostly though not exclusively with fellow democracies. The idea, Averell Harriman explained in 1947, was to create "a balance of power preponderantly in favor of the free countries." Under Bill Clinton, and the two Bushes, relations with Europe and Japan, and later India, were deepened and strengthened.
What has Obama replaced it with:
Israelis shouldn't feel that they have been singled out. In Britain, people are talking about the end of the "special relationship" with America and worrying that Obama has no great regard for the British, despite their ongoing sacrifices in Afghanistan. In France, President Nicolas Sarkozy has openly criticized Obama for months (and is finally being rewarded with a private dinner, presumably to mend fences). In Eastern and Central Europe, there has been fear since the administration canceled long-planned missile defense installations in Poland and the Czech Republic that the United States may no longer be a reliable guarantor of security.
Meanwhile:
Who has attracted attention in the Obama administration? The answer, so far, seems to be not America's allies but its competitors, and in some cases its adversaries. If there were a way to measure administration exertion in foreign policy, the meter would show the greatest concentration of energy, beyond the war in Afghanistan, has been devoted to four endeavors: the failed first-year attempt to improve relations with Iran; the ongoing attempt to improve relations with Russia; the stalled effort to improve cooperation with China; and the effort -- fruitless so far -- to prove to the Arab states that the United States is willing to pressure Israel to further the peace process. Add to these the efforts to improve relations with Syria, engage Burma and everything with Af-Pak, and not much has been left for the concerns of our allies.
Obama's Wiley Coyote foreign policy is taking the US and its allies over the cliff with him.
Monday, March 15. 2010
A few links left over from yesterday - New England got hit hard by the nor'easter and Maggie's HQ is without power.
A blogger is a (compulsive) writer.
Human rights are from God, not from governments. Governments' jobs are to secure them. Where does a sexually strange prom fit in?
David Brooks says he knows how the O thinks. How does he know?
She talks like I would talk: Sarah Palin Lashes Out at Liberals, D.C. and Media
Shut up and act, Tom. VDH. Actors are not known for knowing things.
No global climate data from 50% of the world.
Free medical care for artists? Sheesh. Hey, I am a blog artist. Or at least a blog artiste.
Does higher ed mean more money? No. And that's not what it is for, either.
Texan textbooks. Good deal.
Capitalist Pig: Sulzberger to 6 mill/yr
Cold weather kills.
Sunday, March 14. 2010
What the heck is the Hurva, and what is its current role in Israel-Palestinian and Israel-US tensions? The Hurva (“ruin” or “wreck” in Hebrew) has become a target for the Palestinian campaign to denigrate Israel’s Jewish heritage, and the Obama administration is cooperating.
Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu is trying to avoid being smeared as was former Prime Minister Sharon as justification for Palestinian attacks upon Israel and Israelis, that the Obama administration is in its misguided incompetence encouraging.
Former Prime Minister Sharon was falsely accused of inciting the Second Intifada by the Palestinians by his visit to the Temple Mount in September 2000. However, on December 6, 2000, the semi-official Palestinian daily Al-Ayyam reported as follows:
Speaking at a symposium in Gaza, Palestinian Minister of Communications, Imad Al-Falouji, confirmed that the Palestinian Authority had begun preparations for the outbreak of the current Intifada from the moment the Camp David talks concluded, this in accordance with instructions given by Chairman Arafat himself.
Before Israel’s independence, the most important synagogue in Jerusalem was the Hurva. The Hurva sat on the high ground in the Jewish Quarter.
Here’s an aerial photo from 1940. The Jewish quarter is at the bottom of the image. The two large domes are the Hurva Synagogue, at the lower right, and the Tiferes Yisrael Synagogue. Both were destroyed by the Jordanians in 1948, after starving out the Jewish inhabitants of the Jewish Quarter.
In 1948, British officers led their Arab Legion to destroy the Hurva, and other synagogues in the Jewish Quarter. The Jordanian commander is reported saying: "For the first time in 1,000 years not a single Jew remains in the Jewish Quarter. Not a single building remains intact. This makes the Jews' return here impossible." In sum:
After the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem was captured, the destruction, desecration and systematic looting of Jewish sites began and continued. 57 ancient synagogues (the oldest dated to the 13th century), libraries and centers of religious study were ransacked and 12 were totally and deliberately destroyed. Those that remained standing were defaced, used for housing of both people and animals. The city's foremost Jewish shrine, the Western Wall, became a slum. Appeals were made to the United Nations and in the international community to declare the Old City to be an 'open city' and stop this destruction, but there was no response. This condition continued until Jordan lost control of Jerusalem in June 1967.
Christians also suffered under Jordanian rule.
In 1958, Jordanian legislation required all members of the Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulchre to adopt Jordanian citizenship. In 1965, Christian institutions were forbidden to acquire any land or rights in or near Jerusalem. In 1966, Christian schools were compelled to close on Fridays instead of Sundays, customs privileges of Christian religious institutions were abolished.
Israel commemorated the Hurva site with an arch.
Eight years ago a reconstruction of the Hurva started, and is to be opened this Monday.
(Notice that the nearby Moslem minaret is undamaged under Israeli rule, as all Moslem and Christian sites are not damaged by Israel, in contrast to the fate of Jewish sites under Moslem rule.)
As an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal concludes: “What is clear is that the inauguration of the old-new Hurva—twice destroyed, and now twice rebuilt—represents a deep and irrepressible Israeli urge to heal and rebuild, not in order to obscure memory but to preserve it.”
But, the Palestinians, seeking another way to attack Israel’s Jewish history, claim that the new Hurva is part of a plot to take away their Al Aqsa Mosque built upon the Mount where the Jewish Holy Temple stood.
Saraya, the Islamic Jihad newspaper, says that Hurva is being built on an Islamic neighborhood, and says that the construction of the Third Temple will commence on March 16th. The Al Aqsa Heritage Foundation says that the Hurva dedication will take place on Sunday and Monday, also to be followed by the public start of the building of the Third Temple, as well as more Jews "storming" Al Aqsa for Passover at the end of the month.
The Palestinians are encouraged by the Obama administration’s reaction in February to Israel naming two of Judaism’s holiest sites as heritage sites, to be renovated.
The Obama administration sharply criticized Israel on Wednesday [February 24] for designating the Cave of the Patriarchs and Rachel's Tomb, both in West Bank cities, to the list of Jewish heritage sites marked for renovation and preservation….
This reflected the Obama administration’s anxiety to show some progress after a year of alienating Israel and encouraging Palestinian intransigence by getting the Palestinians to agree to non-face-to-face talks with Israel.
Israel has good reason to be protective of its heritage sites, as demonstrated by the October 2000 Palestinian sacking and burning of Joseph’s Tomb in Nablus and the September 2000 destruction of archeological remnants of the Jewish Temple on the Mount. Other examples.
Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu has decided not to personally attend the ceremony for the reopened Hurva. He says he’s “busy”. Knowledgeables in Israel say that Netanyahu is afraid of being provocative in the wake of the Obama administration’s stink about adding Rachel’s Tomb and the Cave of the Patriarchs to the heritage sites for renovation and protection. The Obama administration added stink in a teapot during Vice President Biden’s visit to Israel last week, protesting Israel’s right to build within Jerusalem, although Jerusalem was excluded by a previous Israeli ban to please Obama and the unpleasable Palestinians on building in the West Bank. The Obama administration adds fuel to the fire that Netanyahu is trying to avoid with the Palestinians by actually encouraging further intransigence by the Palestinians.
We know the Palestinians won’t be satisfied by anything less than the utter destruction of Israel. The Obama administration is on the same course of destroying Israel’s ability to be Jewish.
As Caroline Glick said last June in receiving a prestigious honor: “Our enemies are right in choosing their targets. They are right because they know who we are. We are the children of Jerusalem, of Zion. Our physical and spiritual survival is dependent on our willingness to dedicate our lives in every generation to guarding both the physical and spiritual walls of this city. “
P.S.: Worth reading at the Washington Post. The unreality of Obama's Israel policy. Also see Obamá's latest pretext for attacking Israel at Powerline.
UPDATE March 16: The New York Times reports on the Hurva dedication, sorta. But forgets to mention that Hamas announced a "day of rage" for Tuesday and that Fatah echoes in competition for being worthy negotiation partners, according to Obama anyway.
Saturday, March 13. 2010
WSJ: Climategate Was an Academic Disaster Waiting to Happen - "The notion of objective truth has been abandoned and the peer review process gives scholars ample opportunity to reward friends and punish enemies." (Sorry - whole thing is behind their new pay wall)
Indeed. Corrupt Big Academia.
 Men and women, relationships and politics. Villainous
Another runaway Toyota scam
Democratic candidates distance themselves from healthcare reform
Health care: What gimmick? We just pay the taxes for it for a few years before the thing starts to distort the apparent cost.
New poverty measurements to include government income and benefits. Makes sense. Of course, if poverty is defined as a standard percentage, it will never be eliminated no matter how many cars and TVs the poor own.
Jay Cost: It's Time for Moderate House Democrats to Stand Up to Obama
Moran: How the news gave up its objectivity
Climategate: Once Respected Nature Now Staffed By Moaning Ninnies
Friday, March 12. 2010
At Commentary, an excellent review of the politics: Health Care: A Two-Decade Blunder.
 Your recycling ends up in landfills
Temperature records gleaned from clamshells reveal accuracy of Norse sagas.
More on the foolishness of photovoltaics
Junk Science Bombshell: NASA & Media Knew About Bogus Climate Data 3 Years Ago
Arab Emirates: No Jews, please
Obama Justice Department Shut Down Federal ACORN Investigation According to Documents Obtained by Judicial Watch
Credit Default Swaps Under Fire
EU monitoring "hate" sites, hoping to ban them
Lots of good posts at Moonbattery
From SDA:
When the mother of a five year old girl received a letter detailing a litany of health risks her daughter would face in the future because her body mass index was one-percent outside the recommended limit, mom was appalled, and its no wonder: take a look at the child in question. Actually, take a close look, because she might be following you: various local Councils recruit "environment volunteers" as young as seven to report people for offenses ranging from littering to making too much noise to putting out their trash on the wrong day. The little recruits "are given information packs about how to collect evidence....which could later be used in criminal prosecutions."
In an essay titled Nanny State Britain is Killing Common Sense, Dr. Eamonn Butler writes:
"The organisers of a Christmas party in Embsay village hall were told they needed a full risk assessment, and nut allergy warnings on the mince pies. Schools have banned playground football. Clowns in Zippo's circus couldn't use trumpets in a three-minute sketch because they'd need a music licence. Manchester taxi drivers cancelled their annual outing for needy kids because each cab would need a risk assessment, each child would have to be accompanied by an adult, and each adult would need a six-week criminal record check." (emph. mine)
Thursday, March 11. 2010
Salt wars? What next?
Maybe broccoli. I read that it is carcinogenic - especially if it is "organic". Everything causes cancer.
Wednesday, March 10. 2010
Robert Iger, CEO of Walt Disney Company since 2005, plays hard to get what he wants.
Case #1: Not Child Friendly
The New York Times reports today that under pressure from Disney The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood was evicted from the Judge Baker childrens mental health center in Boston that housed and sponsored it for a decade. The Harvard Medical School professor who oversaw the Campaign, psychiatrist Alvin Poussaint, also co-wrote books with Bill Cosby.
The campaign had for years fought Disney’s marketing of the Baby Einstein videos — short videos filled with colors, nature pictures, music and puppets — as educational; it contended that there was no evidence that babies learned anything. Indeed, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends no screen time for children under 2.
After the campaign filed a Federal Trade Commission complaint, Disney dropped the word “educational” from its marketing. But that was not enough for campaign officials. They forwarded their research to lawyers who threatened a class-action suit, prompting Disney to offer refunds of $15.99 for up to four Baby Einstein DVDs per household.
Barely two weeks after the story of the refunds appeared, Dr. Poussaint said, he and Dr. Linn were called before the Baker center’s executive board.
Dr. Poussaint wrote the board:
“You told me that the mission of C.C.F.C. — to protect children from harmful exploitation by corporate marketers — is not in line with the Judge Baker mission. Indeed, we were told that we could no longer criticize any corporations, even if they were exploiting children.”…
“It’s really chilling, that any corporation, and particularly one marketing itself as child friendly, would lean on a children’s center,” said Dr. Lynn, a psychiatry instructor at Harvard Medical School. “And it’s heartbreaking that a children’s center would cave in.”
Case #2: Democrat Friendly Exceeds Shareholder Friendly
Disney CEO Robert Iger is known for his support and funding of Democrat politicians and causes. For example, his 2009 political contributions counted by Open Secrets include $25,000 each to the Democratic Senatorial and Congressional Campaign Committees, a $1000 to Walt Disney World’s Florida-home Republican governor and US Senate primary contender Charlie Crist, then another $14,600 to Democrat Senators.
Iger and Disney have refused to respond to why Disney refuses to sell the distribution rights or to re-air its subsidiary ABC-TV’s docudrama The Path To 9/11. The National Center for Public Policy Research’s Free Enterprise Project, a Disney shareholder, has been speaking out at Disney shareholder meetings, including today’s, “warning Disney shareholders that CEO Robert Iger's progressive political bias puts investors at risk.”
"Iger's rejection of several offers to sell the distribution rights of the ABC-TV docudrama, The Path to 9/11, is a sign that his personal political views are affecting business decisions," said Free Enterprise Project director Dr. Tom Borelli, who has raised the issue personally with Iger at past shareholder meetings.
Big Hollywood offered more background.
A $30+ million project that aired without sponsors on two September nights in 2006, The Path to 9/11 dramatized the historical thread that connected the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, Islamic attacks on American interests throughout the ‘90s, and the terrorism of that fateful morning in 2001.
Prior to its premiere, the producers at ABC were so proud of the impending project that they had high hopes of airing Path every 9/11 anniversary and showing it in schools across this country as an engaging educational tool – until an accusation of “conservative bias” (horrors!) on the part of the filmmakers quickly spun into liberal hysteria that the project was actually a “well-honed propaganda operation” on the part of a secretive, right-wing network-within-a-network….
Clinton administration alumni, fearing the miniseries would highlight their flaccid response to the growing threat of Islamic extremism and tarnish their political legacy, pulled out all the stops to suppress it. The show very nearly wasn’t aired at all – Robert Iger and Disney were pressured by the Senate Democratic leadership, led by Harry Reid – it hasn’t aired since, and today you cannot even obtain it on DVD.
And why not? Disney President and CEO Robert Iger explains without elaboration that it’s a “business decision.” Oh, well then, case closed. Not only does he refuse to re-air The Path to 9/11 or release a DVD, but he has no intention of even selling the DVD rights to another company. I’m no financial wizard, but I can recognize that, as business decisions go, willfully taking a $30+ million bath on your product when there is a vast audience hungry for it and distributors making offers, is not one of the more lucrative marketing strategies I’ve ever heard of.
Case #3: Lining Own Pockets at Others' Expense
Disney is a leading member of the US travel association’s lobby group, Discover America, that spent millions of dollars to pass its Travel Promotion Act, that was finally recently approved by the Congress and signed by President Obama. It will charge a $10 fee to travelers to the US that will go into a fund to promote tourism to the US. I was on the trail of its misrepresentations, starting in 2007. Tim Carney, muckraker at the Washington Examiner, joined in. Then, in February 2008, Jeff Birnbaum at the Washington Post wrote a 6,746 word expose Mickey Goes To Washington: Lobbyists for America’s richest mouse set out to persuade Congress to scare up $200 million to promote U.S. tourist destinations. In my summary post, which links to my earlier posts on this money-grab by the $1-trillion US tourism industry, I wrote:
The points I’ve been driving home are all there: The statistics Discover America ignores about the strong recovery of post-9/11 international tourism; The cynical marketing by Geoff Freeman, Discover America’s PR specialist; The “inside-beltway” lobbying that swells our federal expenditures and enriches lobbyists and Congressional staff’s future job prospects.
Exposed, the bill stalled until the Democrat Congressional sweep of 2008.
Foreign visitors will surely be thrilled by the added fee. Disney and its travel industry cohorts certainly are at getting others to pay for its own self-promotion efforts.
Isn't that how it works when you go to Disney Land?
 White House invents organic Easter eggs. It's about time. Chickens never could figure it out how to produce organic eggs. Sunny-side up or over easy with those recycled wooden government eggs?
Detroit Farms? Makes sense to me.
Cool Baltic shipwrecks. Would love to see the ancient ones.
The NYT as partisan hypocritical hacks, # 3487. h/t, Tiger
Dartmouth's Rob Portman looking good in Ohio
California's College Dreamers - When will students figure out the politicians have sold them out?
Obama Is Late to the Party
Does Government Have To Do Everything? Darn good question. Simple answer: No. We The People aren't morons. In fact, we're the Boss. We create the money that they spend.
Pathetic: Climategate: George Monbiot despairs of the AGW cause – 'There goes my life's work' . Yes, burned up in global warming.
White Trash Barbie. h/t, Vandy
Bob Dylan: Jewish Messiah? Sorry. Just one darn good songwriter and song and dance man.
Fish photo via theo
Shamefully stolen from our pal Surber:
See Dick Morris: The Democrats' Pickett's Charge. And there is more: Obama pushes senators for climate bill. My solution? Add Thorazine to the water in the the Capitol.
|
We make the rules up as we go along...
