June 2009 Archives

The guy can't be trusted to be faithful to his wife and kids, and he can't be trusted to perform his duties without running off to Argentina for some sweet, sweet lovin'. Hey, Governor! Resign and disappear, already.

Sheesh.

Socialized medicine doesn't result in "affordable insurance for everyone", no matter what the politicians say. Just look at what happened in Massachusetts when they tried it.

Now do you get it? When Republicans like former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney tell you that they know how to provide health insurance for everybody, remember that they're full of crap. When slicksters like Barack Obama and Teddy Kennedy talk soothingly about how their public "option" will magically provide care for the uninsured, remember that they're full of crap.

Socialized medicine never works better than the private sector at providing the best possible care for the greatest number of people. Never.

Courtesy of Tom Blumer:

Questions for those advocating the "public plan" option in Obamacare:

1. Will the "public plan" pay income and other taxes like the companies who run private plans must? (Example: Aetna alone incurred $790 million in income tax expenses in calendar 2008, and over $3.5 billion in the past four years. The company's most recent 10-K [PDF] indicates that this expense is almost entirely related to its Health Care and Group Insurance.)
2. What will anyone do to keep the "public plan" from taking advantage of other unfair advantages, which could at least include general government absorption of administrative costs, sales-tax exemptions, property-tax exemptions, "public service" advertising, and much more?
3. Will the "public plan" be just as vulnerable to class-action and no-limit malpractice lawsuits as private plans currently are?
4. If the answers to Question 1, 2, or 3 are "no" or "I don't know," how can you possibly claim to know that the "public plan's" competition against private plans will be conducted on a level playing field?

Very good questions, Tom. I've asked similar questions and made similar accusations that have so far gone unanswered. I'm sure the Obamabots will respond soon. Yup. Really soon.

Any day now ...

The Ohio Republican Party appears to be moving full steam ahead toward endorsing John Kasich for Governor. That's funny ... I thought the primary contest was still underway. When last I checked, Kevin Coughlin was still angling for a chance to take on Ted Strickland.

It's not up to the Ohio GOP to pick the party's nominee. It's up to us, the voters, to choose our nominee in the primary election. The state party ought to butt out until then.

After all, Bob Taft, "Uncle Bob" Bennett, Kevin Dewine, Ken Blackwell, Jim Petro and friends haven't exactly covered themselves in glory over the past several election cycles.

We'll pick our guy without your interference, thanks.

My mind boggles at the the sheer brilliance of it all. Even though he left the government on August 13, 2007, Karl Rove managed to start 2500 Department of Justice investigations into innocent community leaders from industrial states in the Great Lakes region. Everybody knows that Rove hates overweight Italian Democrats, especially when they stand in the way of his continuing attempts to suppress voter turnout among blacks eager to vote for Our Lord and Savior Barack Obama.

Why else would County Commissioner Jimmy Dimora and County Auditor Frank Russo be under investigation?

No corruption here. They're as pure as the wind-driven snow! You know the fix is in when two editors from that obvious right-wing rag, The Cleveland Plain Dealer, are seen plotting over dinner with the arch-conservative "Uncle Bob" Bennett, former head of the Ohio Republican Party.

Only a brilliant intellect of Jimmy Dimora's prodigious stature could untangle the wispy tendrils of this wingnut conspiracy, a plan so incredibly subtle that it continues to unfold during the administration of its original target. Only the sinister mind of Darth Rove could manipulate the levers of power so deftly that even President Barack Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder have not detected the plot. Thankfully we have Jimmy Dimora to rely upon, so that the well-meaning but clearly misguided Department of Justice can investigate its own investigation and stop itself from mindlessly marching to the Evil One's tune.

Hats off to Karl Rove, the evil criminal mastermind! Someday justice will be done, but until then he deserves our grudging admiration.

Remember this ad from October 29th, 2008?

Gosh, Candidate Obama sure did make a big fuss about the evil idea of taxing your private health care benefits, didn't he?

Of course, now he's the President. Things have changed. He has a lot of big, expensive programs to fund, including a complete government takeover of your health care. He has to keep his options open ... especially the so-called public "option", which won't fund itself. That gigantic price tag is something he has to deal with, you know. He's going to "let the process work its way through":

You wouldn't be so gauche as to hold it against him if he taxes your private health care benefits to fund Obamacare, would you? C'mon, what's a broken promise and some more crushing taxation between friends?

It might read something like this:

No law, bill, resolution or any act of Congress shall exceed 2000 words, including all footnotes, amendments and signatures. Congress shall not vote on any item longer than that. Each item requiring a vote shall be read aloud in its entirety in session to a majority of members. Those not in attendance may not vote on the item.

Certainly worth discussing, no?

The following snotty quote is a lie.

Why would [the "public option"] drive private insurers out of business? If private insurers say that the marketplace provides the best quality health care, if they tell us that they're offering a good deal, then why is it that the government -- which they say can't run anything -- suddenly is going to drive them out of business? That's not logical.

Barack Obama
June 23, 2009

Oh, it's logical. The so-called "public option" sounds nice at first, but it's actually a sneaky scheme to engineer a total government takeover of your health care.

You have to remember that the government isn't a fair competitor. It doesn't have to play by the same rules as your employer. It doesn't have to make a profit, keep its employees happy, or provide excellent service to its "customers." It will take you as a "customer" even if you can't pay, because it can just absorb the loss and print more money. Private companies can't compete against the entity that makes and enforces the rules ... especially when that entity is run by statists progressives who have decided to eliminate those private companies. The game is rigged from the start.

When it comes to covering expenses for employee pay and benefits, your employer has two choices on how much to pay:

Gee, I wonder which one your boss will pick?

Unless your boss is nuts, he'll stop paying for your health insurance. What if your boss actually is nuts, and decides to keep paying for your private health plan? Your employer's competitors will cut their expenses by dumping their health coverage, and their cost savings will mean they'll run your employer out of business ... and you'll lose your job.

Although it's bad enough to face a choice between eventually losing your private health care or losing your job, Congress is about to kick things into high gear. They're getting ready to tax your private health insurance. It won't be long until the so-called "public option" will be your only option.

The statists progressives have been working toward that goal all along, and last year during the presidential campaign a few were honest enough to admit it.

Today? Eh, not so much.

Can you name a government entitlement program that ended up spending less than its advocates predicted?

I just caught the lawn care company applying Round-Up to every plant under 2' tall in my beds. Just lost $400+ of wildflowers, perennials, baby shrubs, and any large plants hit by the windblown spray. No wonder last year's starts (also $400+) all died too.

I'm drafting an itemized bill now. If they refuse to reimburse me, they'll learn how foolish it is to pick a fight with someone who buys bandwidth by the megabit.

Can you name a single Obama policy decision so far that's had the intended result?

It's just plain disastrous.

Source

Source

Source

She actually reads the "Cap and Trade" bill:

I wonder if Representative Betty Sutton (D-OH), my Congresscritter, has actually read this monstrosity? Even if by some miracle she reads it, she ought to think long and hard before voting "yes."

I'm just not smart enough to understand his brilliance. Mea culpa.

Come March, 2010 I'm going to subscribe to HBO just to watch this.

I still watch my DVD boxed set of "Band Of Brothers" at least once a year ...

... so I suspect I'll be buying this one in about a year's time.

H/T: BLACKFIVE

You lose. Now take your frivolous lawsuit and your lying husband and go crawl under a rock somewhere.

Just look at Canada:

Take, for example, the report out last week from the Wait Time Alliance (WTA), a group of 13 Canadian medical groups, including the Canadian Medical Association. For cancer patients, the report found that "the median wait time for radiation therapy was almost seven weeks." That figure exceeded the recommended maximum wait time of one month. Note, too, that as a median figure, there were just as many patients who waited longer than seven weeks as who waited less than seven weeks.

A government takeover of your health care will inevitably result in problems like this.

As President Obama suggested, government health care works in some countries, like ... umm ... uh ... errr ...

"Era of Responsibility", my foot.

Holy cow! Click to enlarge:

So, how's that Hopenchange workin' out for ya?

If I had a staffer who had done this, she'd be packing up her desk five minutes later. The Tennessee GOP must be run by amoral creeps, oblivious morons, or both. Shame on State Senator Diane Black (R-Gallatin).

Do people treat rental cars better than their own cars? Is the office fridge cleaner than your home fridge? Does a public park have less litter than your back yard? Is a government housing project maintained as well as a privately owned apartment building?

The answer in each case is obviously "no", but have you ever wondered why?

If this unethical tactic for pushing an immoral policy doesn't justify a full-throated attack, what does? Via Drudge:

On the night of June 24, the media and government become one, when ABC turns its programming over to President Obama and White House officials to push government run health care -- a move that has ignited an ethical firestorm!

Highlights on the agenda:

ABCNEWS anchor Charlie Gibson will deliver WORLD NEWS from the Blue Room of the White House.

The network plans a primetime special -- 'Prescription for America' -- originating from the East Room, exclude opposing voices on the debate.

Hey, Ohio Republican Party bigwigs! What in the world are you waiting for? Blast this! Get aggressive. This is a no-brainer in at least two ways. 1) Americans don't want socialized medicine. 2) Americans hate biased media outlets that claim to be unbiased.

Couple that with cratering support for Obama's policies and you guys have a perfect opportunity to contrast the statist path of the Democrats with the traditional GOP values of rugged individualism, independence, and capitalism. Yes, Obama's popular. So what? Attack his policies and his plans, not him.

Stop worrying about being treated badly by the media. You lost that war in the 1960s. They'll never like you. Use it to your advantage. Say things that they can't afford to ignore, things that they'll have to cover. Call ABC "a wholly owned subsidiary of ACORN and the Democratic Party." Draw comparisons to Joseph Goebbels' "Big Lie" strategy. Remind people of what Pravda used to publish. The media and the statists on the Left have just exposed their weakest point of vulnerability to you. Hit it with a sledgehemmer!

Learn from Sun Tzu:

You may advance and be absolutely irresistible, if you make for the enemy's weak points; you may retire and be safe from pursuit if your movements are more rapid than those of the enemy.

...

Military tactics are like unto water; for water in its natural course runs away from high places and hastens downwards.

So in war, the way is to avoid what is strong and to strike at what is weak.

Get off your asses and attack!

Before you react to the U.S. Army's newest report on suicides by its troops, consider the reams of unanswered questions like these:

1. What is the suicide rate (suicides per 100,000 per year)?

2. How does this rate compare to the 18-24 year old civilian cohort?

3. What are the suicide rates of those who have deployed compared to those who have not? Combat action versus no combat action?

4. What is the Army's suicide rate in 2009 compared to 1999, 1989, and 1979?

Statistics are easy to misunderstand, misconstrue, or twist.

A helpful resource for those of us trying to help from the outside:

The purpose of this guide is to help you participate constructively in the Iranian election protests through Twitter.

1. Do NOT publicise proxy IP's over twitter, and especially not using the #iranelection hashtag. Security forces are monitoring this hashtag, and the moment they identify a proxy IP they will block it in Iran. If you are creating new proxies for the Iranian bloggers, DM them to @stopAhmadi or @iran09 and they will distributed them discretely to bloggers in Iran.

2. Hashtags, the only two legitimate hashtags being used by bloggers in Iran are #iranelection and #gr88, other hashtag ideas run the risk of diluting the conversation.

3. Keep you bull$hit filter up! Security forces are now setting up twitter accounts to spread disinformation by posing as Iranian protesters. Please don't retweet impetuosly, try to confirm information with reliable sources before retweeting. The legitimate sources are not hard to find and follow.

4. Help cover the bloggers: change your twitter settings so that your location is TEHRAN and your time zone is GMT +3.30. Security forces are hunting for bloggers using location and timezone searches. If we all become 'Iranians' it becomes much harder to find them.

5. Don't blow their cover! If you discover a genuine source, please don't publicise their name or location on a website. These bloggers are in REAL danger. Spread the word discretely through your own networks but don't signpost them to the security forces. People are dying there, for real, please keep that in mind...

Since I'm pulling for Josh Mandel to unseat Ohio Treasurer Kevin Boyce, I hereby ask the incumbent to keep blowing taxpayer money on campaign materials:

As Ohio's budget swells with red ink, state Treasurer Kevin Boyce spent $32,469 in taxpayer money on promotional items such as water bottles, grocery bags and pencils and plans to buy another $47,457 in swag plastered with his name.

Boyce defended the purchases as routine and said his marketing budget is about 30 percent less than what fellow Democrat Richard Cordray spent when he was state treasurer.

But state Rep. Josh Mandel, R-Lyndhurst, who is running against Boyce, said, "While families and small businesses are tightening their belts, it seems outrageous that the treasurer is using the hard earned dollars of Ohio families to promote himself."

And Catherine Turcer of Ohio Citizen Action, a good government watchdog, said just because other statewide officers spend budget money on promotion doesn't make it right.

Keep up the great work, Kev ... and be sure to keep that resumé updated, 'kay?

Rapidly developing news from Tehran: violence, protests, government crackdowns. Search for the hashtags #IranElection and #CNNfail to get a sense of the buzz. For on-scene updates, try:

• @Change_for_Iran
• @IranRiggedElect
• @keyvan
• @StopAhmadi

Fascinating stuff.

Update: For those who don't understand technobabble, here are some plain English explanations: Twitter; hashtag; fail; #CNNfail hashtag (here too)

Update 2: Michael Totten's got quite a roundup of news from Iran.

You can bet your bottom dollar that the Israeli Defense Forces are on hair-trigger alert, watching for any last-gasp missile launch from the Iranian mullahs.

Update 3: I'm using Twitterfall to track the #IranElection news. It's clickable over on the left side of their page.

It's time to debunk this silliness:

Government Demands Inventory of All VFW Weapons

Kurt Nimmo
Infowars
June 9, 2009

An Infowars reader has passed along an email sent to VFW commanders by the Assistant Adjutant of the Department of Texas Veterans of Foreign Wars indicating the U.S. Army TACOM (Tactical Army Command) is demanding an inventory of all weapons held by VFW posts.

"While you may have had possession of this equipment for 20, 40, 60 or 100 years," the email states, "it still belongs to the U.S. Military."

The email arrived with an inventory attachment where all weapons are to be listed and the document sent to the Department of Texas Veterans of Foreign Wars. "This form will then be bounced off of the central database of all Texas VFW Posts at U.S. Army TACOM to verify serial numbers of each item that has been issued. This is a very extensive list and goes back to before the VFW was founded. So if you have a cannon from the Spanish-American War -- it's on the list."

Many VFW halls around the country have decommissioned military weapons on their properties along with uniforms, statues and flags from every era. It is a common practice for VFW honor guard units to use M-1 rifles made into blank firing devices for salutes at parades and funerals. Weapons held by VFW posts are generally kept under lock and key in storage rooms.

TACOM is not simply interested in blank firing devices and antique rifles and pistols, however. "Weapons and Equipment consist of but is not limited to, Rifles, Pistols, Mortars, Artillery, Tanks, Vehicles, Aircraft, Missiles, Aircraft Carriers (sic), etc, from any period."

Sounds scary, right?

From where does President Obama pull the figures when he claims to have "saved" some given number of jobs?

... is an evil, hateful, contemptible piece of scum. Period.

It's been said that the Constitution is not a suicide pact. Unfortunately, President Obama's loosey-goosey "living Constitution" apparently has a brand new iron-clad principle: Miranda rights for terrorists.

This isn't just Obama's fault, either. Thank you, John McCain.

Since you blamed George W. Bush when the price of a gallon of gas spiked past $4.00 last summer ...

... will you blame Barack Obama when it spikes this summer?

Can you name one industry that runs more efficiently after it's been taken over by the government?

If there were a better-than-even chance that the Democrats' government health care plan would result in Americans experiencing (on average) ...

• higher costs


• lower quality


• fewer choices

Image from Michelle Malkin reader Rachael in Kentucky

This is refreshing:

As a Prius-driving, granola-eating, anti-gun, Left Coast Californian, I do not fit the stereotype of the typical armed forces booster. I am inclined to favor green technology over weapons of mass destruction. But I discovered during my visit that many of us who are working in non-military organizations, and who may not have given a second thought to the Navy as a model, would do well to understand how a small city floating on the ocean works. From startup entrepreneurs to seasoned executives, we can learn a lot from the U.S. Navy, from the enlisted men and women as well as from the commanding officers.

Let's shoehorn some more blogging lefties on a COD flight, stat.

Yeah, that's the ticket.

The Coast Guard is once again soliciting SEAL applications from active duty men in paygrades E-3, E-4, E-5, O-1, and O-2. BUD/S is extremely grueling, but becoming a SEAL is an incredibly effective way to serve your country.

Go get 'em, guys!

Now this is a great way to showcase the amazing athleticism of pit bulls.

I hate the barbaric practice of dog fighting, and I know from personal experience that a well-trained pit bull is a smart, loyal, gentle, loving, eager-to-please family pet. I grew up with one who was six months younger than I, and he lived to be 16. Had a burglar broken into the house, he would have licked him to death.

H/T: Pat Dollard

Fortunately for Canadian cancer patient Shona Holmes, the private American health care system was available.

Don't let it happen here. Stop Obamacare before it starts.

If you want to stop the imposition of government-run universal health care socialized medicine, now's the time to do something about it.

Since when does this ...

The President . . . shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by Law. . . .

U.S. Constitution Article II, Section 2, Clause 2

... mean "rubber stamp approval"?

When you tax something, you get less of it. Ohio's taxes are higher than Georgia's. Guess where erstwhile Dayton-based company NCR is taking its 1,300 jobs?

Keep this in mind the next time a tax-and-spend progressive like Jon Husted, Lee Fisher, or Ted Strickland asks for your vote. The longer Ohio voters keep progressives in office, the faster Ohio's economy will circle the drain.

Slate columnist William Saletan's latest piece completely mischaracterizes pro-lifers:

If abortion is murder, the most efficient thing you could have done to prevent such murders this month was to kill George Tiller.

...

Is it wrong to defend the life of an unborn child as you would defend the life of a born child? Because that's the question this murder poses. Peaceful pro-lifers have already tried to prosecute Tiller for doing late-term abortions they claimed were against the law. They failed to convict him. If unborn children are morally equal to born children, then Tiller's assassin has just succeeded where the legal system failed: He has stopped a mass murderer from killing again.

...

[Pro-lifers' condemnations of Tiller's murder] don't square with what these organizations purport to espouse: a strict moral equation between the unborn and the born. If a doctor in Kansas were butchering hundreds of old or disabled people, and legal authorities failed to intervene, I doubt most members of the National Right to Life Committee would stand by waiting for "educational and legislative activities" to stop him. Somebody would use force.

...

If you don't accept what [Tiller's murderer] did, then maybe it's time to ask yourself what you really believe. Is abortion murder? Or is it something less, a tragedy that would be better avoided? Most of us think it's the latter.

Saletan pretends that there are only two choices available to a pro-life private citizen like me: kill the abortionist myself, or agree that the unborn are not people. That's a false dilemma, and it's a cute but cheap little rhetorical trick.

I'll make this simple, so that even the oh-so-nuanced Saletan can understand. When we're talking about individuals acting as individuals (not military members, police, or other government officials acting in their official capacity), the pro-life argument goes like this:

1. Killing people is wrong.
   
2. The unborn are people.
   
3. Abortion kills the unborn.
   
4. Therefore, abortion is wrong.
   

To apply that same reasoning to George Tiller, we'd argue:

1. Killing people is wrong.
   
2. George Tiller was a person.
   
3. Therefore, killing George Tiller was wrong.
   

There are exceptions to the moral principle laid out in this argument, two of which are self defense and defense of others. When one person is about to kill another, and there's no way to stop it short of using force, then it's morally acceptable for the victim (or a third party) to use the necessary amount of force to stop the attack, up to and including deadly force.

Determining how much force is morally justified depends on the specifics of the situation, of course. What kind of attacker are we talking about? What kind of victim? Can we be reasonably sure that the victim's death is imminent? Can the attack be stopped by less than lethal means? Is a government official better situated to stop the attack? If a meth-crazed powerlifter pulls a pistol and charges an elderly man sleeping in his wheelchair, using deadly force to stop him would probably be justified. If a preteen girl pulls a baseball bat and charges an alert and fully armed Navy SEAL, using deadly force to stop her would probably be excessive.

We must engage in the same kind of reasoning when determining how much force is appropriate for a private citizen to use to stop an abortionist from killing the unborn. Since that's the situation Saletan wants us to address, I invite him to consider several pro-life arguments against killing abortionists.

The pro-life stance on deadly force is neither simplistic, unthinking, nor illogical. Abortion rights advocates like William Saletan who say otherwise are either dishonest, ignorant, or stupid. You can decide which one applies here.

The murder of Dr. George Tiller was an evil act that saved no lives. Here are ten reasons to oppose the supposed "justifiable homicide" of abortionists, as explained by pro-life Christian David P. Gushee in 1995:

1. The use of intentional premeditated lethal force by private citizens to defend the innocent from harm is morally unjustifiable.
2. However one describes the innocent, it is clearly unjustifiable to use lethal force in their defense when such defense could have been achieved through nonlethal means--means which are unambiguously available today through the moral, legal and nonviolent forms of pro-life activities. The absence of nonlethal means, moreover, does not in itself provide sufficient warrant for using lethal force to protect the innocent.
3. The killing of abortion doctors does not constitute a meaningful defense of unborn life, because the woman seeking the abortion drives the process, not the doctor. Thus if we really seek to prevent abortion, we will lovingly provide the pregnant woman with appropriate support and viable alternatives to abortion.
4. The use of lethal force is not justifiable as a form of privately initiated capital punishment, as some have claimed.
5. The killing of abortion doctors is not morally legitimate as an act of civil disobedience.
6. The use of lethal force cannot be viewed as an act of resistance to a government which has lost its legitimacy by permitting abortion. The U.S. government retains its legitimacy, and Christians should continue to seek redress through the political system.
7. The transition from nonviolent to violent forms of action for social/legal change is a perilous and almost always morally unjustifiable step, particularly in a functioning democracy.
8. The resort to violence as a means leads to a morally disastrous shift of ends, the focus of the activist becoming the destruction of wrongdoers rather than the prevention of wrongs.
9. A social movement's resort to violence tends to escalate rapidly. The strict limits imposed by just war type thinking are supplanted by crusade-like approaches leading to ever more indiscriminate violence.
10. The resort to violence is indisputably hurting the cause of the pro-life movement.

Read the whole article for a more in-depth treatment.