Crime and Civil War

One person takes up arms against the state, it's a crime. Thousands of people who take up arms against the state is a civil war. We don't want either.

Fatally confident of his powers of persuasion

Fatally confident of his powers of persuasion, he's bewildered that he hasn't been able to convince the Iranians (or the Palestinians, Russians, Venezuelans, Chinese, etc.) to do what he wants them to do.
Ralph Peters in the NYP

Ralph, I think you're being nice. For America's sake I hope you're correct. That means he might learn that talk goes only so far and may yet turn into a competent president.

Comments on a Comment

The following comes from a comment following a Wall Street Journal article.

The Republicans are dead meat.

They reject government involvement in the private market place but accept religous involvement in government.

They reject govt. monopolies, but endorse, accept, and defend private monopolies that strip consumers of their wealth, and impose massive taxes and efficiency losses on this nation.

They impose massive costs on the electorate in terms of a war on terror yet defend the ownership of nearly automatic weapons.

They impose massive costs on taxpayers for their war on drugs, and yet they allow doctors the freedom to write fraudulent scrip for addictive drugs.

They talk about the evil nature of government, but not one of them will give up their job, reduce their benefits, or cut their retirement, in order to shrink the size of government.

The Republican Party is a walking, talking, contradiction.

Wow! I suppose this makes sense to some people.

Dear Leader

Patriotism is the love of one's country, not the person sitting in the Oval Office. I know a lot of people who are creeped out by patriotism; even had issue with people putting up American flags after 9/11.

Well I'm creeped out by this: a school teacher taking a children's religious song (Jesus Loves the Little Children" and substituting Barack Obama for Jesus.

“He said red, yellow, black or white/All are equal in his sight. Barack Hussein Obama.”

SONG 1:
Mm, mmm, mm!
Barack Hussein Obama

He said that all must lend a hand
To make this country strong again
Mmm, mmm, mm!
Barack Hussein Obama

He said we must be fair today
Equal work means equal pay
Mmm, mmm, mm!
Barack Hussein Obama

He said that we must take a stand
To make sure everyone gets a chance
Mmm, mmm, mm!
Barack Hussein Obama

He said red, yellow, black or white
All are equal in his sight
Mmm, mmm, mm!
Barack Hussein Obama

Yes!
Mmm, mmm, mm
Barack Hussein Obama

SONG 2:
Hello, Mr. President we honor you today!
For all your great accomplishments, we all doth say "hooray!"

Hooray, Mr. President! You're number one!
The first black American to lead this great nation!

Hooray, Mr. President we honor your great plans
To make this country's economy number one again!

Hooray Mr. President, we're really proud of you!
And we stand for all Americans under the great Red, White, and Blue!

So continue ---- Mr. President we know you'll do the trick
So here's a hearty hip-hooray ----

Hip, hip hooray!
Hip, hip hooray!
Hip, hip hooray!

School children singing praises to "Dear Leader" is something we've never seen in this country before and, frankly, it's a little spooky. Imagine this was a video of children, a captive audience of the school teacher, singing praises to Bush. Wouldn't you be upset then? I sure know I would.

One Term Barry

Why do I say One Term Barry? Because if this keeps up Obama will keep the core Democratic voters and be trounced by the rest of the country. The only way I think that Obama can have a second term is if the Republicans win back the House in 2010 and in 2012 it look as if they will expand on it and take over the Senate as well.

Of course 3 years is an eternity in politics. We can't even be sure who's going to win the Virginia and New Jersey Gubernatorial elections six weeks from now.

Can't Wait For Our First Five Year Plan

The problem I have with Obama is more than his agenda it’s also the imagery which surrounds him.

The artwork during the election which reminds us of Stalinist Propaganda was disturbing but ... whatever; let's not make a federal case out of it. Replacing the seal of the US President with his own seal was bad enough; but hymns being sung to him; addressing school children and asking them to help him with his agenda; the devotionals and pledges made by celebrities -- I'm sorry people but this is very disturbing. Personal loyalty to a political leader is disturbing.

It truly -- no hyperbole here -- reminds me of the Maoist Youth Brigade. I can't wait for our first Five Year Plan.

Favors extended become defined as rights - Saul Alinsky

The Democratic Party playbook, the old patron-client game.

But you know, that incident was interesting, because it was actually my first experience as an organizer -- I learned something else from it, too; after the cafeterias had outflanked us, a bunch of the kids I'd organized came up to me and said, "OK, Saul, what do we do next?" And when I told them I didn't have the slightest idea, they were really pissed off at me. It was then I learned the meaning of the old adage about how 'favors extended become defined as rights.'

If this little blurb interests you the rest is in Playboy's 1972 interview with Alinsky.

Civil Rights and Individual Rights

Have any of you wondered why the left only talks in terms of civil rights and liberties and refuses to talk about individual rights? So, to my liberal friends what is the difference between civil rights and individual rights? What rights do we have as belonging to a group that we do not possess as individuals?

Medical Malpractice, tort reform

Isn't interesting that one of the areas of the European Health Care model that is rarely talked about is their cap on medical malpractice lawsuits?

If you want less "wasteful" proceedures to be ordered by doctors then eliminate failure to order the proceedure as a cause of legal action.

Progressives are Statists

Progressives / modern liberals / leftists have done much good in the social sphere, namely women and minority rights. However it is the progressive love affair with statism that is its biggest problem and why it is becoming indestiguishable from Socialism.

Obama is actually on record saying "the Constitution is fundamentally flawed"  It is fundamentally flawed for progressives because the founding fathers understood that too much government power, especially federal power, corrupts everyone and everything it touches. We see that very clearly today.

Obama, and other progressives, have no problem subverting the constitution at every turn while furthering their agenda of centralizing power in their hands.  The way to fight back is to stress the constitution - notice how little of it is actually taught in schools today; notice how rarely it is quoted in the esteemed main-stream media. 

A lot of people who align themselves with the statist left; who are truly opposed to an overreaching government -- especially in foreign affairs -- can be reached by pushing the cause of local government over that up-high federal solutions; what we who love the constitution call "States Rights." I don't think we should push the phrase states rights too strongly because it was the rallying cry of Southern Racists for too many years. Reclaiming that phrase is another battle that can be fought concurrently with devolving Federal Power under the cause of strengthening local government.

Water on the Moon

An Indian probe discovers water on the moon!

Dreams of establishing a manned Moon base could become reality within two decades after India’s first lunar mission found evidence of large quantities of water on its surface.

Data from Chandrayaan-1 also suggests that water is still being formed on the Moon. Scientists said the breakthrough — to be announced by Nasa at a press conference today — would change the face of lunar exploration.

Scientists have long hoped that astronauts could be based on the Moon and use water found there to drink, extract oxygen to breathe and use hydrogen as fuel.

Several studies havesuggested that there could be ice in the craters around the Moon’s poles, but scientists have been unable to confirm the suspicions.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/science/space/article6846639.ece

Fight ObamaCare: Dissent is the Highest Form of Patriotism

Why does anybody think that opposition to ObamaCare is racist?

Do advocates of government run health care really think that individuals who promote free markets over top-down government run bureaucracies would be in favor of the current health care proposals if Obama was white? If I remember correctly there was more than a little vitriol surrounding HillaryCare in the mid-1990s. Let’s rephrase things, if Hillary Clinton was president and the same health care bills were coming through Congress do you think that it too would not be attacked by the opposition? Isn’t it strange that just a few short months ago you could find Dissent is the Highest form of Patriotism bumper stickers all over town? Where’s this love of dissent now?

Are you saying that protestors are going over the top comparing Obama to Hitler? Yes, they are. But did YOU say anything when people were comparing Bush to Hitler?

Examples of Confusing Liberalism with Liberty

The following comes from a post following a TNR article on Ayn Rand and the Republican Party. [Wealthcare] September 14,2009

...Reardon wouldn’t waste time with political concerns when there is clearly no threat to his well-being – we don’t live in an authoritarian communist state, and liberals don’t aspire to create one (hence the term liberal, or free). ...

Sorry Charlie but the modern liberal is more socialist than he is a classical liberal. When was the last time you heard a liberal argue for deregulation? A regulation is a shackle, some good, many bad and most simply irrelevant except for the annoyance involved in acceeding to them. Liberals may not want to live in an authoritarian state but by their actions they are surely pushing us there.

An example is the push for "Fat Taxes." How does government regulation and punishment for being fat conform with the concept of "liberal, or free"

2010 Elections. Will it be a win for individual liberty?

I would love to know the answer to that question. One thing we know for sure both the Republican nor the Democratic party are pro-power and neither are pro-individual liberty. That being said the next best thing is to decrease the power of both parties and the best way to do that is to have divided government: a Democratic President and Republican congress is, in my opinion, the best combination. I wonder if it would be just as good to have both parties at near parity in Congress with each of them taking over control every other year. I fear that might lead to banana republic mentality where each group takes as much as it can while it can.

There's a good chance that Republicans can recapture the House in 2010.

With Obama not on the ticket, with a lot of people just going straight down party tickets, some of these Democratic Congressmen will lose a few percentage points. Add to the fact that this election cycle it is the Republicans who are motivated to vote; compared to the last two cycles when many wanted to punish the Republican Party for excessive spending.

NICE - British Death Panels

And you say that death panels are right-wing bullshit. Read the following few paragraphs from the New York Times

The New York Times
The Evidence GapBritish Balance Benefit vs. Cost of Latest Drugs
By GARDINER HARRIS
December 3, 2008

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/03/health/03nice.html

RUISLIP, England — When Bruce Hardy’s kidney cancer spread to his lung, his doctor recommended an expensive new pill from Pfizer. But Mr. Hardy is British, and the British health authorities refused to buy the medicine. His wife has been distraught.

“Everybody should be allowed to have as much life as they can,” Joy Hardy said in the couple’s modest home outside London.

If the Hardys lived in the United States or just about any European country other than Britain, Mr. Hardy would most likely get the drug, although he might have to pay part of the cost. A clinical trial showed that the pill, called Sutent, delays cancer progression for six months at an estimated treatment cost of $54,000.

But at that price, Mr. Hardy’s life is not worth prolonging, according to a British government agency, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence. The institute, known as NICE, has decided that Britain, except in rare cases, can afford only £15,000, or about $22,750, to save six months of a citizen’s life.

If this is not a F**KING death panel I don't know what is.

UPDATE: September 13, 2009

In an article in The New York Times, Politics and the Age Gap, ADAM NAGOURNEY writes "(the infamous but nonexistent “death panels”)." These people are priceless.

EDIT: 12/9/2010
See 1:15



Robert Reich

"And by the way we're going to have to if you're very old we're not going to give you all that technology ...
It's too expensive so we're going to let you die."

Obama v Wilson: Who was more insulting?

Rep Wilson was not the only one that showed incivility with his "You Lie" comment.

Only moments before, Obama - in a prepared speech, not a spur of the moment outburst - said that his opponents were liars. He didn't say that his opponents were exaggerating or inaccurate of their claims were hyperbole he called them liars.

Some of people's concerns have grown out of bogus claims spread by those whose only agenda is to kill reform at any cost. The best example is the claim, made not just by radio and cable talk show hosts, but prominent politicians, that we plan to set up panels of bureaucrats with the power to kill off senior citizens. Such a charge would be laughable if it weren't so cynical and irresponsible. It is a lie, plain and simple.

It may be hyperbole to call panels that withhold care on groups of people death panels. However it is true that there would be panels that would withhold care based on cost; life expectancy and benefit to society. Perhaps Obama would prefer to use the Orwelian acronym NICE.

There are also those who claim that our reform effort will insure illegal immigrants. This, too, is false – the reforms I'm proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally. And one more misunderstanding I want to clear up – under our plan, no federal dollars will be used to fund abortions, and federal conscience laws will remain in place.

It was at this point that Congressman Wilson called Obama a liar. The fault with Wilson's statement was not the content -- Obama was disingenuous -- the fault was in his timing. Illegals were not be exculded from health care and abortions were covered. If you find Representative Wilson's comments to be abhorrent then how can you not find fault with Obama who just moments before called his critics liars? I find Obama's worse, as it was planned in advance, and was directed at more than the politicians who opposed him but American citizens as well.

Che Guevara

Then we have these pseudo-intellectual posers with Che Guevara t-shirts proclaiming revolution while drinking Starbucks coffee and cursing out Republicans for being homophobic. Hey you F**KING assholes Guevara considered homosexuality to be a decadent capitalist disease and wanted them dead. If you're gay you're a counter-revolutionary. If you're a counter-revolutionary you're to be executed. So much for the peace, loving, multi-culturalist Che Guevara.