July 2009 Archives
Senator Teddy Kennedy (D-MA) is one of 16 people who will receive America's highest civilian award on August 12th.
Mary Jo Kopechne could not be reached for comment.
Hat tip: Baldilocks
I had a pleasant phone conversation yesterday afternoon with Nichole Reynolds, Chief of Staff for Rep. Betty Sutton (D-OH), my Congresswoman here in the 13th District. Ms. Reynolds confirmed that her boss read the entire text of the cap-and-trade bill (a.k.a. "Waxman-Markey") herself before she voted "yes" back on June 26th. Ms. Reynolds stressed that as a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Betty was deeply involved in drafting the bill right from the start.
It's refreshing to find that my Congresswoman took her job seriously enough to actually read the ridiculously long bill, which is more than many of her colleagues can claim. It remains to be seen how she'll respond to questions from her constituents during the August recess. I'd bet a tidy pile of cash that she'll catch some flak, since the word's getting out that the bill will result in utter economic disaster if it becomes law.
At least I found a pony in this pile, albeit a very small one: no matter what happens, Betty Sutton can't say "oops, I didn't know that was in the bill."
Newsweek's Katie Connolly interviewed former Massachusetts Governor (and former GOP presidential candidate) Mitt Romney about his experiences with health care legislation yesterday. When she asked him "What lessons can be gleaned from your experience in Massachusetts?", Romney replied:
After we crafted the architecture of our plan, the first person I went to was Ted Kennedy. He and I met numerous times and what we fashioned was not perfect in either one of our eyes, but we worked together, because only together could we know that we would have the support of all the parties necessary to make it work.
The states are laboratories of democracy. Well, our state passed a bill. It's been in place now for several years. Have they studied it? Have they spoken with the Republicans and Democrats in Masssachusetts? Have they spoken with hospitals? Doctors? Have they sent the GAO there to take it apart to see what is working well and what is not? Nobody has given me a call, except Republicans. I've received no calls from Democrats saying what do you think about it? What would you do differently if you were to do it today? There's a whole series of things I'd do differently. And yet, there seems to be such a rush to act. I understand that President Obama wants to get this done in his first term, but more important than getting it done in the first year is getting it done right, before he is out of office. There is time here to get it done right.
What's Obama supposed to ask Mitt to explain? How to screw up health care through rationing, high taxes, obscene spending, and over-regulation? Both men have mastered those skill sets already.
Connolly also asked Romney "In terms of the reform proposals before Congress, what do you see that you like and dislike so far?"
I'm not happy that the President wants to provide a so-called public option. There is no need for the government to become an insurance company. I'm convinced, as many before me have said, that this is a step towards a single payer system; that it will result in billions, if not hundreds of billions, of subsidies down the road and a new entitlement, which is one of the last things America needs right now. On the other hand I am happy that he is actually working to reform healthcare. It's important for us to get everyone insured. It's important that there be an effort made to reduce the excessive inflation in the healthcare sector.
This is just rich. Mitt Romney, the man who orchestrated Massachusetts government's takeover of its citizens' health care, is warning about a government takeover of health care?
I think Mitt's been hitting the medical marijuana.
7:00 Update: We've got health care, yes we do! We've got health care, how 'bout you?
Greg Coleridge (apparently a useful idiot holdover) has a question for Dear Leader:
Since President Barack Obama will be at Shaker Heights High School on Thursday, taking questions on health care, I've got one for him:
Who should have the final say on the type of health care patients receive under any reformed system?
A. Patients and their doctors
B. Insurance corporations
If A is his answer, his solution should be one that shuts out insurance corporations that make billions of dollars by denying coverage to millions of Americans.
Way to commit the false dilemma fallacy combined with the straw man fallacy, Greg! Mind-numbed Obamabots will lap this stuff right up.
Coleridge is the director of something called the "Economic Justice & Empowerment Program" of the Northeast Ohio American Friends Service Committee, a group that has yet to find an anti-American cause it doesn't like.
I wonder if the Cleveland Tea Party Patriots will run into this tool tomorrow at their protest?
I'm shocked. Shocked, I tell you. Who could have predicted this failure?
The Obama administration's $50 billion program to curb foreclosures isn't working, and the White House knows it.Administration officials blame the mortgage servicers charged with carrying out the mortgage modifications and refinancing under the federal program. Many of their Democratic allies on Capitol Hill back them up, but others are criticizing the White House for fumbling the execution. Whatever the reason, the program hasn't stopped the rising tide of foreclosures: Experts predict that at least another 2 million homes will be lost this year, and the administration's plan has so far reached only about 160,000 of the 3 million to 4 million homes it was supposed to protect over the next three years.
That's bad news for the economy -- and bad news for the Democrats.
Golly, you mean throwing money we don't have at an economic problem caused by reckless government lending regulations ... isn't actually fixing the problem? We're just digging ourselves deeper into the debt hole and insisting on more stupid lending? Hmmm. What to do, what to do?
Wait, I've got it! Let's throw even more money at the problem! Universal home ownership! Single payer mortgage care!
... you need doubt no longer.
This arrogant little dimwit makes Ohio's Senators look regal by comparison. Heck, even Al Franken displays less dumbassery.
It's approved by the Health Administration Bureau, so you know it's peachy keen!
What is the origin of fundamental/inalienable individual rights: God, the government, public opinion, or some other source?
House Republicans released a diagram today that condenses the House Democrats' 1,018 page Obamacare bill into a visual representation anyone can understand. Just click it:
Like I said, it's really easy to understand. This is the kind of streamlined, efficient, low-overhead, helpful government takeover of your health care that all right-thinking Americans want.
If you deny that plain fact, you're obviously a hateful racist bigot who wants 43 million uninsured Americans to die. You jerk.
Remember this graphic from an earlier post? Click it for the full size image.
It only covers 2% of the atmosphere. What if we looked at the whole picture? Again, click it for the full sized image.
Kinda makes the failure of global warming computer models a bit less surprising, doesn't it?
Imagine turning one loose in Taliban Country! I wonder if one could be programmed to target the scent of patchouli oil, and be set loose in Berkeley?
Hat tip: Hot Air
7/17 Update: Drat!
10/31 Update: They changed it, and it grew by 972 pages. Here it is, in all its grotesque "glory."
8/14 Update: Before you do anything else, click the graphic below.
--
Here's the text of the legislation. It's 1,018 pages long ... so far.
"America's Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009"Start digging! Barring our diligence (or something more blunt), these jackasses will never learn.
3:25 PM Update: Heads up, Michelle.
4:05 Update: Much easier than downloading the PDF above ...
So you think health care's boring? Politics makes you zone out? Can't find the time between work and reruns of American Idol to focus your A.D.D.-riddled mind on something requiring actual rational thought?
Pop another Ritalin, sit down, shut up, and watch this. It's funny. No, really ... it is.
There! Was that so hard? In our next lesson, we'll learn how to get off our lazy butts and pimp-slap the idiot politicians who want to bring this farce here to America.
OK, you can go back to watching Jon Stewart now.
Here's a big tip o' the hat to Caleb at RedState for finding this.
According to well-known RINO and general gadfly David Brooks, an unnamed male Republican Senator seated next to him at a dinner apparently fondled his thigh as Brooks just sat there.
First of all, what kind of wuss lets Mister Grabbyhands cop an extended feel, then protects the scumbag's identity?
Second, Brooks apparently doesn't grasp the concept of "too much information."
Third, a long-overdue suggestion: take a vacation. Just go away for a few weeks. You're really creeping us out.
Click for the full-sized graphic:
And you wonder why people with common sense have been screaming about the insane spending by Obama, Pelosi, and Reid?
At the Austin, TX Tea Party on this past July 4th, Republican U.S. Senator John Cornyn got a resounding round of boos (except when he talked about our military) for his vote on TARP, the bloated bailout:
Notice how he tried to slam "Washington" as if he isn't part of it. Remember this back in April?
Cornyn should have seen it coming.
Hat tip: Michelle Malkin
In 2006, Massachusetts passed health care reform that implemented a number of policies that are now being mirrored in the Obama health reform plan. The president has repeatedly claimed that his plan will lower health care costs but not decrease health care quality. This visualization looks at how the Massachusetts plan has panned out in terms of cost and wait times.
The "Massachusetts Model" in a word: fail.
A real thought-provoker:
The frail elderly and their families deserve love, support and care from a compassionate society. If we allow willy-nilly healthcare reform, the frail elderly will undoubtedly be targeted, with such rationalizations as "Why devote resources (the liberal euphemism for money) to a hopeless cause such as this?" A physician at our local Tea Party stated one platform of healthcare reform is to withhold vital treatment in the last 6 months of the patient's life.Do we really want our government deciding when our last 6 months have arrived? They have not done such a good job predicting unemployment or economic recovery: why should we assume they'd be any better at predicting when we are in the last six months of our life?
Obamacare will decide when you've lived past your usefulness. Don't like that prospect? Do something about it.
Since we presumably still live in a nation of laws and not of men, and since the U.S. Constitution is still the supreme law of the land, I ask you to first read these small portions of that document, after which I'll pose my question.
U.S. Constitution
Article I, Section 8
Article I, Section 8
The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;
To borrow money on the credit of the United States;
To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;
To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States;
To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures;
To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of the United States;
To establish Post Offices and Post Roads;
To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;
To constitute Tribunals inferior to the supreme Court;
To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offenses against the Law of Nations;
To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;
To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years;
To provide and maintain a Navy;
To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;
To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;
To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;
To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and the acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings; And
To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.
U.S. Constitution
Amendment IX
Amendment IX
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
U.S. Constitution
Amendment X
Amendment X
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
Given the above supreme law of the land that sets out the enumerated powers of Congress, on what basis does Congress have the authority to enact Obamacare?
Don't tell me it's justified because it's a good idea, because it's fair, because it's in my interest to want it, because Medicare/Medicaid/SCHIP already exist ... just tell me how Congress can possibly have the constitutional authority to enact Obamacare.
Match point: Talking Points Memo lobs, Katie Favazza returns with a smash. Game, set, and match: Favazza.
Hat tip: RightGirl
Most pictures are worth a thousand words. This one's worth several thousand. Click it to see it at full size.
The second graph shows the job losses from the start of the employment recession, in percentage terms (as opposed to the number of jobs lost).For the current recession, employment peaked in December 2007, and this recession was a slow starter (in terms of job losses and declines in GDP).
However job losses have really picked up over the last 9 months (4.4 million jobs lost, red line cliff diving on the graph), and the current recession is now the 2nd worst recession since WWII in percentage terms - and also in terms of the unemployment rate (only early '80s recession was worse).
Don't forget this, either:
Or this:
Nice work, Obama.
Ready for a prime example of Barack Obama's incredible narcissism and utter military ineptitude? Read Bob Woodward's account of a briefing in Afghanistan conducted by deployed Marines for Obama's National Security Advisor, General Jim Jones:
Jones was carrying out directions from President Obama, who said recently, "My strong view is that we are not going to succeed simply by piling on more and more troops."...
During the briefing, (Brig. Gen. Lawrence) Nicholson had told Jones that he was "a little light," more than hinting that he could use more forces, probably thousands more. "We don't have enough force to go everywhere," Nicholson said.
But Jones recalled how Obama had initially decided to deploy additional forces this year. "At a table much like this," Jones said, referring to the polished wood table in the White House Situation Room, "the president's principals met and agreed to recommend 17,000 more troops for Afghanistan." The principals -- Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton; Gates; Mullen; and the director of national intelligence, Dennis C. Blair -- made this recommendation in February during the first full month of the Obama administration. The president approved the deployments, which included Nicholson's Marines.
Soon after that, Jones said, the principals told the president, "oops," we need an additional 4,000 to help train the Afghan army.
"They then said, 'If you do all that, we think we can turn this around,' " Jones said, reminding the Marines here that the president had quickly approved and publicly announced the additional 4,000.
Now suppose you're the president, Jones told them, and the requests come into the White House for yet more force. How do you think Obama might look at this? Jones asked, casting his eyes around the colonels. How do you think he might feel?
Jones let the question hang in the air-conditioned, fluorescent-lighted room. Nicholson and the colonels said nothing.
Well, Jones went on, after all those additional troops, 17,000 plus 4,000 more, if there were new requests for force now, the president would quite likely have "a Whiskey Tango Foxtrot moment." Everyone in the room caught the phonetic reference to WTF -- which in the military and elsewhere means "What the [expletive]?"
That's right, campers. It's all about Obama: his feelings, his reputation, his political future, his comfort. Don't pester him with requests for reinforcements. Sasha and Malia have to make do with the allowance Daddy gives them; you can do the same with what he's already given you. Run along now, and accomplish your mission without any politically uncomfortable casualties, OK? The Redistributor-in-Chief has to get back to socializing the health care system.
Jules Crittenden's bluntly-worded assessment follows, after the jump.
From the blog of the lefty group Upper Arlington Progressive Action:
We know how important the Supreme Court is to the success of progressive initiatives. We need to keep our eye on where the top nine are moving.
Of course it's important to you nutballs. It's the only way to advance your most cherished agenda items, since they'd never pass muster in Congress (much less any public initiative or referendum).
