Wednesday, October 28. 2009
We were gonna say it, but Riehl beat us to it. Ned gave us the Independent Joe Lieberman (my Senator, with whom I agree on things around 25% of the time - not a bad % for a Conservative voter in CT).
I respect him as a thoughtful human being, and will give credit when due. Plus I like the guy. I like Ned too. Very fine fellow personally, but not politically.
The O to tax pacemakers, artificial hips, etc. Brilliant. Heck, plastic canes are cheap at WalMart.
The O's media control strategy
WSJ: Washington's Suicide Mission
I don't know about "narcissistic rage," but Mr. Bring Us Together isn't bringing us together. Who hasn't the Admin demonized yet? Besides ACORN/SEIU?
Quote via Dr. Sanity on the goals of the enviro movement:
Liberal democracy is sweet and addictive and indeed in the most extreme case, the USA, unbridled individual liberty overwhelms many of the collective needs of the citizens. The subject is almost sacrosanct and those who indulge in criticism are labeled as Marxists, socialists, fundamentalists and worse. These labels are used because alternatives to democracy cannot be perceived! Support for Western democracy is messianic as proselytised by a President leading a flawed democracy
There must be open minds to look critically at liberal democracy. Reform must involve the adoption of structures to act quickly regardless of some perceived liberties....
We are going to have to look how authoritarian decisions based on consensus science can be implemented to contain greenhouse emissions [emphasis mine].
Love that "perceived liberties."
AA via Insty:
ANN ALTHOUSE: “The answer, Ms. Herron (Merron?) is precisely that pop culture permeates the world of young Americans. Why pursue even more of it in college? Learn new things. Get what you can’t get just living in the world soaking up the things you naturally love and enjoy. What is the point of going to college?”
Tuesday, October 27. 2009
Sowell begins:
Just one year ago, would you have believed that an unelected government official, not even a Cabinet member confirmed by the Senate but simply one of the many "czars" appointed by the President, could arbitrarily cut the pay of executives in private businesses by 50 percent or 90 percent?
Did you think that another "czar" would be talking about restricting talk radio? That there would be plans afloat to subsidize newspapers-- that is, to create a situation where some newspapers' survival would depend on the government liking what they publish?
Did you imagine that anyone would even be talking about having a panel of so-called "experts" deciding who could and could not get life-saving medical treatments?
Whole thing here.
It's a simple matter of incentive. With government medicine, you are a cost unless you are still paying plenty of taxes - which is around only 10% of the population, or less. If you are sick or disabled, you become even more of a burden to "the common good."
With private insurance, they want you alive to pay your premium.
Anybody who believes in government benevolence is in dreamland: as we have been saying here, government is just another powerful special interest group. A doc's committment is quite the opposite.
And nobody wants their doctor worrying about "the common good."
 More on the health care debate as a moral struggle
NRO: The conformity enforcers of "tolerance" and "diversity" are growing ever more explicitly totalitarian.
How to lie and get away with it. h/t, Vanderleun
Our Golfer-in-Chief. Hmmm. I don't care if he plays golf a lot. I just wonder what they'd be saying if it were Bush. Plus sets a record for attending fundraisers. Easy gig, President. Just be the figurehead while others do the work.
The power of the Soros-funded think tanks in DC
ACORN. Read the first comment on this Tiger piece. Good grief.
The problem with ignoring Milton Friedman
Via Legal Insurrection:
Instead of solely considering costs, shouldn't we ask if Americans are willing to die sooner from cancer, to give up access to specialists, to be refused safer, more accurate diagnostic imaging, to lose the most accessible screening programs, and to lose their autonomy in pursuing treatments for their families? Shouldn't we ask if Americans want to replace the most advanced and successful medical care in history with the restricted care and lower cost social programs of Europe, and insure the less than 5 percent of people who don't buy insurance but receive care anyway?
Those evil health insurance companies
Via Powerline:
57% of voters nationwide believe it will raise the cost of health care, and 53% believe the quality of care will get worse. ... Just 18% say passage of the congressional plan will reduce costs, while only 23% believe it will lead to better care.
Remarkable: by a margin of 3-1, voters think Obamacare will raise the cost of health care, and by more than two to one, voters believe it will make the quality of health care worse. Isn't that the death knell for government medicine? If not, why not?
Via SDA:
The huge increases in migrants over the last decade were partly due to a politically motivated attempt by ministers to radically change the country and "rub the Right's nose in diversity", according to Andrew Neather, a former adviser to Tony Blair, Jack Straw and David Blunkett. [...] The "deliberate policy", from late 2000 until "at least February last year", when the new points based system was introduced, was to open up the UK to mass migration, he said. Some 2.3 million migrants have been added to the population since then, according to Whitehall estimates quietly slipped out last month.
Monday, October 26. 2009
 Note to self - when fishing in the Alaska bush
More on the polls: New Gallup Poll Finds 40% of America Conservative– 20% Liberal
The O's war on business. Via Driscoll:
Obama has demonized just about every business sector in America. Through the 2008 campaign to the present, he has gone after credit card companies, the coal industry, mortgage companies, real estate companies, steelmakers, utilities, drug companies, doctors, oil companies, Wall Street, defense contractors, and health insurance companies, just to name a few. In each case he has dinged them for greed, taking excessive profits, and failing to put people first. His criticisms have not been over minor matters but over their basic core functions, and their values or lack of them. [His demonization of talk radio and Fox News also constitutes a front in his attack on business -- Ed]
Obama demonstrates almost complete ignorance about the private sector and it’s no wonder: he has so little experience in it.
Noonan: He owns the rubble now
WSJ: Why Government Health Care Keeps Falling in the Polls - The health-care debate is part of a larger moral struggle over the free-enterprise system.
Samuelson on the fake health care debate:
The promise of the public plan is a mirage. Its political brilliance is to use free-market rhetoric (more "choice" and "competition") to expand government power. But why would a plan tied to Medicare control health spending, when Medicare hasn't? From 1970 to 2007, Medicare spending per beneficiary rose 9.2 percent annually compared to the 10.4 percent of private insurers -- and the small difference partly reflects cost shifting. Congress periodically improves Medicare benefits, and there's a limit to how much squeezing reimbursement rates can check costs. Doctors and hospitals already complain that low payments limit services or discourage physicians from taking Medicare patients.
 The revealing photo from Politico
Why do I own pianos? AVI explains, or tries to.
David Horowitz’s “Alinsky, Beck, Satan, and Me” Series
Remembering the fall of Communism, 20 years ago. However, the O does not find it a worthy event: I think the Lefties still mourn the day of the collapse of authoritarian socialism and the burst of freedom behind the old Iron Curtain.
Joblessness, by state
Books to read for people who disagree with me. Insty
"Conservatives continue to outnumber moderates and liberals in the American populace in 2009..."
Jerry Nadler's ethics
Dr. Sanity:
The truth is that most of the drivel that issues from the radical environmentalists' mouths these days is pure, unadulterated neo-Marxist fascism, disguised as compassionate concern for the planet; and steeped in a deep hatred of humanity.
Via Blue Crab: What the fraudulent health care “reform” will actually do to health care costs
Sunday, October 25. 2009
It's amusing. Sort of. Morally and intellectually appalling, however.
 Hinckley Yachts experiencing the recession. Photo is a classic Hinckley DS 42. Perfection. Only problem: in my (limited) experience, Hinckleys cannot point worth a damn.
Kindle-killer: Barnes & Noble Unveils Kindle-Killing, Dual-Screen ‘Nook’ E-Reader
Nookie-reader?
Laptops for overseas Marines - plus dancing Marines
"Victicrat" - cool video
The O in Stamford, CT on Fri raising Dem money, with Dump Dodd. Ted Kennedy's old skirt-chasing, low-life, pub-hopping partner Dodd is a goner.
Mark Steyn: Obama a tough guy, at least with Fox News. With real tough guys, the O is a pussy.
On the other hand, the WH did pick a fight with the Chamber. That takes nerve, because they are tough. They aren't exactly Conservative though.
Related: Beck on The Chicago Gangsta Way
Camille Paglia, last of the open minded liberals
Let's All Buy a Hybrid! It will pay for itself in 25 years!
The facts about high executive pay. WSJ. I don't care what they make. I do care about what I make. I could never be CEO of Goldman Sachs or GE: I lack the brains, talents, skills, knowledge, decisiveness, interpersonal skills and personality for that. Great biz managers are as rare as great shortstops or sopranos or ballerinas. Got to reward them well for what they do or they will quit, retire - or go to your competitor. That's how free labor markets work, isn't it? It's about scarcity and added value. Like truffles. Supply and demand is a fundamental of freedom.
Destroying all the forests can save the planet!
The bailouts were not meant to really save GM and Chrysler. Duh. It was just a payoff to the union - by us, the lowly taxpayers.
More on your tax dollars at work: Cash for Clunkers fails again
Of great value to single, social-climbing, or designing women: Tax records open in Norway
Medical insurance costs rise for small biz. So can they dump the cost on me? People ought to be able to buy their own insurance on their own, like adults, in a free market.
Friday, October 23. 2009
 Update on the invasion of the Asian Longhorned Beetle. Please do not term me racist or anti-immigrant for posting this.
Phoenicians in New Hampshire? No doubt. I think I saw one there this summer, rowing a galley full of purple elephants across Squam Lake.
The retired (I think) pastor Dr. Andrew Jackson has announced his Experience Turkey travel biz. Readers know how much I love that country. His email announcement says, in part,
As many of you know God has given me a deep love for the biblical land of Turkey. Once the home of Abraham, Noah, and the Apostles Paul, John, Peter and many more.
After traveling and ministering in Turkey and leading tours for almost 20 years now - as well as writing two books on prayer journey itineraries through Turkey - I have decided it is time for me to go public as a Turkey tour/trip consultant.
I already assist many people (Christian and non-Christian) around the world with their tours/trips to Turkey, so I thought I would make it official, and offer my expertise and first-hand experience.
You can find the details of my Turkey tour consulting group at my new website www.ExperienceTurkeyTours.com.
In Health Care, Nobody Knows Anything. Two new industry studies reignite the debate about what makes health care so expensive.
However, Betsy is spot-on:
The Pelosi Democrats aren't going to give up on trying to leverage in some sort of public option. Their logic is that once they get a program in place, they can start piling on additional mandates and increase the size of the program just as has been done with other government health programs over the years. That is why they're so adamant to get a public option approved. They figure they can hammer out the expansion later. And the result will be to drive private insurers out of the market and throw more and more people into a government-provided insurance plan. That's why they're so excited about describing their plan as "Medicare for Everyone." They just are ignoring the fact that the reimbursement schedule for Medicare won't cover all a doctor or hospital's costs. Someone has to pay the difference. And if we start forcing people out of the private market into the government program, there won't be anyone left to pay the difference. And so the only solution will be to provide less health care. The trajectory of improvements in health care that we've seen in our lifetimes will start flattening out and maybe even trending down. That's the real curve that the Democrats are bending - not the cost curve.
The dirty-minded MSM: Powerline
The O holding up Aghan decision until after the Nov elections. Probably until after health care votes too. What a jerk to operate that way. It's not manly.
It's about jobs. Yes it is, partly. But there are only 2 things government can do to help business growth: easy money and cutting taxes. As the guys says:
The One is far too busy trying to ruin healthcare and jack everyone’s electricy and heating bills to the moon to worry about job creation.
Why the Pay Czar is way off base.
Ditto, Ramesh: I'm against hate crimes; and against hate-crimes laws, too.
$15 million/year dingbat lectures Wall St on salaries
Where did all the Obama Youth go? Yes, probably looking for jobs.
It is a hoax - we were fooled.
From Obama's thesis:
"... the Constitution allows for many things, but what it does not allow is the most revealing. The so-called Founders did not allow for economic freedom."
What???
Ledeen at PJ discusses it all in Obama and the Constitution; He Has His Doubts.
Update: I hear there is some question about whether this is real. Can somebody find out?
The government is still doing this right now:
Denise Tejada bought a house last month at the age of 20, thanks in large part to a loan guaranteed by the Federal Housing Authority. This story offers a dramatic demonstration that, despite the housing bubble causing the worst economic downturn in generations, the ideology of home ownership is alive and well in the United States and still being supported by the government.
Without question, Tejada's loan is toxic--to her and to the taxpayers who are backing the loan. Her house cost $155,000. Tejada's loan was apparently made on a micro-down payment of just 3.5%, the minimum down payment to qualify for an FHA loan. On top of this, however, she got an additional government backed loan to make improvements. Her total loans amount to $183,0000. In short, she was immediately underwater on her new house.
Golden Eagle attacks reindeer calf
What's holding back nuclear power?
Regulating the internet. Is this a slippery slope? However,
...Senator John McCain, an Arizona Republican, said he introduced legislation on Thursday aimed at prohibiting the FCC from enacting rules to regulate the Internet
Dem: Repubs are the real enemies of America. Things are getting strange.
Hey, here's a reason to do it! Cap & trade could be a boon to NYC trading firms
Coyote on free speech and the UN:
I continue to be confused why the Left in this country is so absolutely hostile to Baptists in Alabama but are so deferential to Muslims in Saudi Arabia. Is it simply because one group makes credible threats of violence while the other does not?
By what Constitutional authority could the Federal government force me to buy medical insurance?
A Lefty has a Moore-gasm
"Sending" more kids to college? Why? We "send" too many already who just waste time and their parents' money.
It's not too late. Or you can do it again. It's even worth it if your Congresscritter or Senator is a far Lefty: it's important for these people to know what you think.
So take a minute today to email your Congressman and Senators to let them know your views of the Dem healthcare plan.
Their email and fax addresses are here. It helps to be calm, polite, reasonable, direct - and brief. A fax is probably better than an email.
If you oppose further government involvement in our medical care, you can also sign the Free Our Health Care Now petition. Over 1 million have signed it, I am told.
For me, it's an issue of how much I want my life controlled by Federal bureaucrats and politicians. I am with Jefferson: the less, the better. Let's take care of the poor, the unfortunate, and the feckless, and let the others make their free way in life as Americans are born and raised to do.
Keep the government's hands off my body!
Thursday, October 22. 2009
Almost 20 years ago I bought my expensive recliner-from-heaven. I’m almost always in it to watch the 19-inch 30-year old TV in my office. (I only go into the other room to watch thunderous soundtrack action movies on the 60-inch TV hooked up to speakers that rock the house. The house actually vibrated when I cranked up Godzilla stomping through NYC.)
Now I’ve got a new hero, and possible hobby.
The Duluth [Minnesota] News Tribune reports:
A Proctor man driving a motorized La-Z-Boy lounge chair hit a parked vehicle while under the influence of alcohol.
Dennis LeRoy Anderson, 62, pleaded guilty Monday in St. Louis County District Court to DWI in connection with the Aug. 31, 2008, incident in Proctor. There were no injuries.
According to the criminal complaint, Anderson drove his motorized chair into a vehicle parked near a Proctor bar. Anderson told police he was traveling from the Keyboard Lounge after consuming approximately eight or nine beers. His blood-alcohol content was measured at 0.29 percent, more than three times the legal limit to drive.
Anderson claimed he was driving the chair fine until a woman jumped on it and knocked the chair off course. He has one prior DWI conviction. He couldn’t be reached for comment Wednesday.
Proctor Deputy Police Chief Troy Foucault said the chair was powered by a converted lawnmower with a Briggs & Stratton engine. It has a stereo, cup holders and other custom options, including different power levels.
A National Hot Rod Racing Association sticker is posted on the chair’s head rest. The chair had a small steering wheel, about a third of the size of a golf cart’s, coming straight up from the middle of the La-Z-Boy.
Proctor City Prosecutor Ronald Envall said he charged Anderson under the portion of Minnesota law that makes it a crime to operate a self-propelled motor vehicle while impaired by alcohol or drugs. He declined further comment.
Anderson had to forfeit his motorized chair to Proctor police, who plan to auction it with other forfeited items, Foucault said.
This is the motorized La-Z-Boy chair that Dennis Anderson of Proctor was operating when he hit a parked vehicle in 2008. Anderson pleaded guilty to a DWI charge on Monday. (Submitted photo)
Here’s another photo I found of this hobby.
Just think of the pit groupies to co-enjoy this sport!
Roger Kimball tells it like it is.
Health care: They tried to do too much, over-reached, went too far Left, tried to grab too much control, and now they are in a pickle. It's their own darn fault. Hubris. Even the Blue Dogs are facing spending fatigue.
Meanwhile, the "Great Uniter" remains on the attack. Please, O, bring us together!!!
As VDH rightly says:
Please, please
Right now to save America we need some steady leadership that reassures businesses of lower taxes, less government spending, no new regulations, educational reform to improve the work force, and confident expansionary energy exploration and development. Instead, we get a prescription to terrify private enterprise: Mr. President, every time you besmirch someone as greedy, lying, and unduly rich, some business, somewhere, pulls in its horns.
About Dick Cheney's speech yesterday, at NRO. Always liked and admired Cheney. Still do. Like and admire BL also.
Wednesday, October 21. 2009
Why not? White House Targets Chamber of Commerce Over Opposition to Reform Plans.
They are looking to make enemies, and that is a poor strategy. I think it's like Nixon's Enemies List.
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