THE PUBLIC SECTOR is killing the private sector. “”[T]he public sector has become the one growth industry in the Great Recession, with hardly a blip in its job expansion. But it comes at the expense of the private sector.”



“[W]hat’s more, it creates a permanent lobbying class for even more government expansion. Here’s the Reason TV report.

Via Hot Air.

IT TURNS OUT there really is growing inequality in America. It’s the 45% premium in pay and benefits that government workers receive over the poor saps who create wealth in the private economy.

Instapundit thinks public sector unions should be banned.

ADDED: even Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell kow-towed to the public sector unions this morning on WTOP radio’s “Ask the Governor” program.

MORE VIOLENCE FROM THE LEFT: The man arrested for threatening Representative Eric Cantor (R-VA) is an Obama donor. But at least he’s an equal opportunity idiot, as he apparently also threatened Attorney General Eric Holder and his family.

Maybe he just doesn’t like men named Eric ....

MSNBC HUGS UP TO OBAMA. His message to America (paraphrasing from Chris Stirewalt’s daily email):

Those who oppose his policies (say, 54 percent of the electorate) have been led astray by radical and racist xenophobes who hate him personally and have no legitimate reason to dissent.

It’s the fault of the [Fox?] news media for spreading these bitter, clinging instincts to other succeptable minds.

If you think that spending $2 trillion when we’re already $12 trillion in the hole and that putting a government that has failed to steward the existing welfare programs in charge of the rest of health care sound crazy, you’ve probably been misled by a birther and may soon unwittingly join a militia.

You can subscribe to Stirewalt’s daily email here.

LIBERTY, NOT GOVERNMENT: "Our political debate has been transformed into an argument between the heirs of two fundamental schools of political thought, the Founders and the Progressives. The Founders stood for the expansion of liberty and the Progressives for the expansion of government."

I stand with the Founders.

OBAMA PROMISES STILL EXPIRING: “President Obama used his recess-appointment power to place four former federal lobbyists in top policy jobs. Obama's maneuver dodges a Senate floor debate and sweeps under the rug an inauspicious milestone: The appointment of the 50th lobbyist to a policymaking job by a president who claims he's ‘excluded’ them.”

NOVEMBER IS COMING - even in relatively apolitical states.

WELL, IT SOUNDED GOOD INITIALLY: Obama to open offshore areas to oil drilling for the first time ... if the Senate is willing to get on board with global warning legislation.

STUPIDITY, DUPLICITY, AND HYPOCRISY? Ken Cuccinelli, Virginia’s attorney general produced a stampede of criticism from the usual suspects by “advis[ing] the state’s public colleges that they don’t have the authority to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation, saying only the General Assembly has that power.”

Cuccinelli’s response:

A review of the law and the opinions of no less than five of my predecessors — Democrats and Republicans alike — demonstrated that any decision regarding the creation of a specially protected class belongs exclusively to the General Assembly. A public university simply lacks the power to create a new specially protected class under Virginia law. …

As a legal matter, this statement of Virginia law has not been seriously challenged. While issues related to sexual orientation are among the most emotional and controversial, they do not change this fundamental proposition of Virginia law. My now well-publicized letter simply stated the current state of Virginia law; it did not advocate for any particular legislative position. Should the General Assembly change the law, my advice will be consistent with it.

The General Assembly has considered and defined the protected classes for purposes of nondiscrimination statutes. It has specifically defined unlawful discrimination at educational institutions. The Virginia Human Rights Act states that it is the policy of the commonwealth to “safeguard all individuals within the Commonwealth from unlawful discrimination because of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions, age, marital status, or disability, in places of public accommodation, including educational institutions.” In addition to this affirmative statement, the General Assembly has on numerous occasions, including this session, considered and rejected creating a protected class defined by sexual orientation. No state agency can reach beyond such clearly established boundaries.

Nothing I have said or written authorizes unconstitutional discrimination against any person. My letter in no way addresses the legislative issue of including sexual orientation in non-discrimination policies. I believe that our colleges and universities do not illegally discriminate against any class of persons. Likewise, I do not believe they can or will after my restatement of Virginia law.

The people of the commonwealth, through their elected representatives, determine Virginia’s laws. I cannot bend the law to fit a particular outcome, no matter what a person or group might wish, myself included. I have simply stated what is and is not currently permissible under the laws of Virginia. That is my job as attorney general.

I’m posting Attorney General Cuccinelli’s response in full for the simple reason that I’m tired of being assumed to be a gay-bashing homophobe simply because I believe that the law 1) applies to everyone and that 2) unlike some of the extreme liberal persuasion, it is not discretionary.

Stupidity, duplicity, hypocrisy? Draw your own conclusions.

YOU MIGHT GET MEDICARE ...

(via Dilbert)

... if you pass your SRR. [Defense-speak -- like political-speak -- is such a lovely language for concealing motive.]

WHILE BARACK OBAMA has taken the undisputed lead in the race for the Worst President Ever, Jimmy Carter can take solace in the fact that he will continue to be known as the Worst President of the 20th Century.

FIRST, DO NO HARM. Second, sue the government. A group of nearly 5,000 American physicians is filing suit to stop the mammoth new law dead in its tracks.

When you’ve lost the doctors, you’ve lost health care reform.

EVEN THOUGH - in a mere 14 months - President Obama has clearly taken an overwhelming lead in the race to be the the worst President ever, Jimmy Carter can take solace in knowing that his ranking as the worst President of the 20th century will go unchallenged.

EVERY OBAMA STATEMENT COMES WITH AN EXPIRATION DATE. Here’s the list. Warning: it’s lengthy.

HOPE’nCRINGE? The basic issue of health care reform was simple: Who decides? The Democrats' answer: The government.

During the Clinton health care debate, Wall Street analyst Kenneth Abramowitz opined: "Right now, health care is purchased by 250 million morons called U.S. citizens." It was necessary to "move them out, reduce their influence, and let smart professionals buy it on our behalf."

Yep. We’re morons. And we are governed by lesser morons (known as idiots).

MALLARD FILLMORE comments on my education post.

THE OBAMACARE “BOUNCE” fell flat. Here’s the data from the Rasmussen Obama Approval Index polling. This first chart shows the “bounce” in approval following passage of the health care reform legislation. It didn’t last, but there was a 10 point rise in the president’s (dis)approval index.

More interesting is the second chart, where the bounce is dissected in the inset. Note that President Obama’s strong disapproval numbers (red line) hardly changed. What happened was that almost all the bounce came from the disengaged – those voters who either mildly approve or mildly disapprove the president’s performance.

Hardly a strong showing for ObamaCare.

WELCOME TO THE NANNY STATE

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) administer a program called “Communities Putting Prevention To Work" (CPPW). The program gives out “stimulus” grants to states and local communities which have outlined how they plan to engage in a handful of “evidence-based” prevention strategies dubbed MAPPS, short for “Media, Access, Point of purchase/promotion, Price, and Social support and services.” In all honesty, however, “MAPPS” might as well mean “Make the American People Pay for our Schemes.”

While descriptions for some of the latest projects funded under the program sound almost laughable -- what exactly do you think they mean when they talk about “increasing point-of-decision health prompts at stairwells and elevators in public venues”? -- it becomes abundantly clear that this is a concerted effort to advance government control over our consumption decisions when reviewing the CDC’s guideline document for grantees.

Strategies listed range from outright product bans, over zoning, to media and advertising restrictions for “unhealthy” foods and drinks and tobacco products. And when Delaware receives more than $1 million to “educate leaders and decision-makers about the benefits of increasing the price on other tobacco products,” Oregon receives $3 million to “support a policy proposal to increase tobacco price,” your “stimulus” dollars are likely going towards hiring lobbyists to promote tax increases (which by the way would seem to violate one of CDC’s own lobbying restrictions).

And we’re paying stimulus money for this!

FALLEN STAR: Fifteen phony products won the “Energy Star” label from the U.S. government certifying them as energy efficient. Among them: a gasoline-powered alarm clock and a space heater with an “air room cleaner” that was actually a space heater with a feather duster and fly strips attached.

Soon to come – ratings for medical devices. Would you be comforted knowing your heart’s pacemaker was “Energy Star” rated?

LEFT OR RIGHT? Scroll through the photos; then decide.

DEMOCRATS HAVE KICKED THROUGH THE DOOR; now they are contemplating what to plunder.

THE STATE OF THE DEMOCRAT UNION: Democrats may have fallen back in love with Barack Obama, but Nancy Pelosi is the woman who really won their hearts. She went from 12 percent strong approval to 20 percent strong approval in six weeks.

Oh, my.

THE COMMONERS ARE REVOLTING



As a matter of fact, we are. November is coming.

WHY WOMEN DIDN’T WRITE THE CONSTITUTION. Maybe we’d be better off today if they had.

54-34? WOW. “Only 34 percent of Florida voters support the new [ObamaCare] law while 54 percent are against it, according to the poll. Opposition is significantly strong among two crucial blocs: those older than 65 and voters with no party affiliation.”

OBAMA FOREIGN POLICY: Attack America's friends and kowtow to our enemies.

THE TRUTH OUTS: As President Obama and contressional leaders tout the purported benefits of the new health care law, some of the nation's biggest companies are saying it will mean higher costs and fewer benefits -- not exactly what Democrats want to hear in the days after their historic victory.

Rep. Henry Waxman, chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, has summoned some of the nation's top executives to Capitol Hill to defend their assessment that the new national health care reform law will cost their companies hundreds of millions of dollars in health insurance expenses. Waxman is also demanding that the executives give lawmakers internal company documents related to health care finances -- a move one committee Republicans describes as "an attempt to intimidate and silence opponents of the Democrats' flawed health care reform legislation."

And so the floggings will continue until morale improves.

Reminder: “If you’re happy with your current health care, you can keep your current health care.” - Barack Obama.

Every Obama promise comes with an expiration date. Every single one.

FIGHT ORGANIZED CRIME: don’t re-elect them.

IF THERE’S A TEA PARTY in Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s home town of Searchlight NV and the Washington Post doesn’t cover it, did it happen?

Well, yes, yes it did. The Reuters video is here. (via the New York Times).

Washington Times (above the fold) coverage is here.

OH, MY. Has it finally come to this?


Why, yes. Yes, I think it has – and in only 431 days.

JUST IN CASE YOU’RE WONDERING why the extensive media coverage of Tea Party “thuggery” against Democrats ....


And, er, why there was essentially no media coverage of real Democrat thuggery against Republicans in 2008.

Thanks, Chris Muir.

FROM MY EMAIL: “While official Washington may be decamping for Easter recess, everyone else is just starting to absorb what’s happened. It’s like Democrats ordered two rounds of boilermakers from the bar in a coal camp and then left the folks behind to sort out the fist fights, clean up the mess, and, most importantly, pay the tab.”

WHEN A FULL-BLOWN NARCISSIST jumps the shark and doesn’t drown, heaven help everyone else in his sea of fools. That would be us — the people who elected this Narcissus incarnate.

SYMBOL OF HEALTH CARE REFORM. The White House felt it necessary to develop a new medical symbol that truly depicts the Health Care Plan you will be getting.
Caduceus Wild.

FROM A MAXINE CARTOON.

Let me get this straight. We're going to be gifted with a health care plan:

Written by a committee whose chairman says he doesn't understand it,

Passed by a Congress that hasn't read it but exempts themselves from it,

Signed by a president who also hasn't read it and who smokes,

With funding administered by a treasury chief who didn't pay his taxes,

Overseen by a surgeon general who is obese,

And financed by a country that's broke.

What the hell could possibly go wrong?

SOCIAL SECURITY to see payout exceed pay-in this year. “Analysts have long tried to predict the year when Social Security would pay out more than it took in because they view it as a tipping point — the first step of a long, slow march to insolvency ....”

I better hurry if I’m going to get mine.

NOVEMBER IS COMING: Support surges for Stupak’s re-election opponent after abortion funding deal with the White House.

Go. Contribute.

REPEAL THE DEMOCRATS. Republicans may not repeal the health-care bill, but they should repeal the Democrats.

HEALTH CARE REFORM: a 10 percent tax on tanning beds (which will disappear more rapidly) and a rule that chain restaurants have to start posting calorie counts on their menus. But don’t worry; the best is yet to come.

THE DANGER TO AMERICA.

The danger to America is not Barack Obama, but a citizenry capable of entrusting a man like him with the presidency.

It will be easier to limit and undo the follies of an Obama presidency than to restore the necessary common sense and good judgment to an electorate willing to have such a man for their president. The problem is much deeper and far more serious than Mr. Obama, who is a mere symptom of what ails us. Blaming the prince of the fools should not blind anyone to the vast confederacy of fools that made him their prince.

The republic can survive a Barack Obama. It is less likely to survive a multitude of fools such as those who made him their president.

The author is unknown, but owed a debt of gratitude.

HOW DO OBAMACARE Democrats spell compassion? I - R - S.

From a comment to this post.

UPDATE: Only 15,000 more IRS agents needed to enforce ObamaCare.

ACORN TO SHUT ALL ITS OFFICES BY APRIL 1. Yes, and April 1 is April Fool’s Day.

One can hope, but this is nothing more than a rebranding effort. Unless we’re vigilant, ACORN will return under a new name.

AN EXAMPLE OF OBAMASPEAK: opaqueness is transparency.

"The president is signing an executive order on abortion that is a pretty big national issue," a reporter asked. "Why would that be closed press, no pictures?"

"We’ll put out a picture from Pete [Souza]," Gibbs said.

"But what about a picture from the actual national media, not from -- " the reporter started to follow up.

"On, the picture from Pete will be for the actual event," Gibbs answered.

"Right, but what about allowing us in, for openness and transparency?"

"We'll have a nice picture from Pete that will demonstrate that type of transparency."

"Not the same, Robert," the reporter said. "Never has been."

"I know you all disagree with that," Gibbs answered. "I think Pete takes wonderful photos."

It’s transparent because we say it is.

MAGICAL THINKING has returned to Obamaland and Democrats are lining up for their unicorn rides.

STEPS YOU CAN TAKE to survive ObamaCare. The basics:

(1) Find a doctor.
(2) Pay cash.
(3) If you’re on Medicare, find an undertaker.

WHOOPS! ObamaCare doesn’t cover pre-existing conditions – even for children – until 2014.

Every Obama promise comes with an expiration date. Every single one.

MATERNALISTIC PAP: What Nancy Pelosi said: “This is the reform the American people want.” What she meant: “This is the reform that Americans would want if only they knew better.”

NOVEMBER IS COMING: “For some of the brightest, most politically aware people in the country, the yearlong debate over the Democrats' national health care plan has been an inspiring experience. It has inspired them to run for Congress as Republicans.”

KLAVEN ON CULTURE: “We Report, You Obey.”

Free registration required; worth every penny.

GOVERNMENT-FUNDED MEDIA distorts history - again.

Surprise, surprise.

THE PEOPLE'S WEEKLY BRIEF: Bin Laden holds a press conference.

LIARS AND THE MEDIA SYNCOPHANTS who enable them.

Expect more of this.

IN THE RUN-UP TO OBAMACARE, our President lambasted (greedy) insurance company ripoffs as a reason to promote government intervention.

After participating in last Saturday’s Tea Party protest on the Capitol steps, my wife and I stopped at the National Museum of (the) American Indian for some refreshments before returning home. We paid $8.97 for two bottles of water ($2.95 ea.) and a cookie ($2.25).

Its the insurance companies who are ripping us off?

ARE THE SECULAR HUMANISTS getting religion?

OBAMACARE: it’s not a death panel; it’s an SRR (shovel-ready review).

Mine’s in about 7 months.

POSTSCRIPT: I wish I could claim originality for the comment, but it was overheard at the Tea Party protest last Saturday.

POST-POSTSCRIPT: It’s also a matter of some amusement to me that in defense contractor parlance, an SRR is a System Readiness Review, which fits right in with ObamaCare.

OBAMACARE IN ONE IMAGE


The post is here. Read it all, including comments.

LIES, DAMNED LIES, AND STATISTICS

“Under the headline ‘Costly Bill Seen as Saving Money,’ the San Francisco Chronicle last week began a front-page story with these words: ‘Many people find it hard to understand how the health care legislation heading for a decisive vote Sunday can cost $940 billion and cut the horrendous federal deficit at the same time.’”

“It's not hard to understand at all. It is a lie.”

PLAYING THE VICTIM. Follow the link and then ask yourself: “Doesn’t this describe the Democrats’ reaction to America’s rejection of Obamacare perfectly?”

WE DON’T PAY NO STINKIN’ TAXES. Especially if we’re a black, politically correct, politically connected politician in D.C.

Taxes are for little people.

A QUESTION FOR OBAMACARE: according to our president, purchasing health care (insurance) will be mandatory for everyone; denial of coverage for pre-existing conditions will be banned; and premiums will be subsidized for anyone who cannot afford them.

Correct?

Then why allow “students” an additional three years on their parents’ coverage?

Cynical answer: so they’ll vote in the 2012 presidential election before they realize they’ve been duped.

I’M ON THE SIDE OF HOWARD STERN? He is done with democrats. He now sees them as communists.

Hat tip Instapundit for the link.

THE LATEST POSTING FROM THE TREASURY DEPARTMENT shows the National Debt has increased over $2 trillion since President Obama took office. In only 421 days. That’s a mere $4.75 billion per day. And that’s without ObamaCare.

We have Johannes Gutenberg to thank.

ENVIRONMENTALLY CORRECT GLOBAL WARMISM kills people.

But that’s what environmentalists want, isn’t it? Let the little people freeze and starve in the dark so they can keep their heat, lights, telephones, cars , ... , airplanes for themselves.

RECENTLY THE BUSINESS ROUNDTABLE has been advertising regularly on the local radio station promoting reducing dropouts and providing more college education as the cure-all for improving productivity.

I have a contrarian view: perhaps it is not a lack of education that’s contributing to a loss of US productivity; it’s too much education. Maybe, just maybe, it’s the dropouts who are maintaining U.S. productivity despite a “lack of education.” Consider this example, quoted in full:

...pointless test... in school, i was average at best. There was no teacher for what i was interested in... intelligence is the ability to uphold opposing ideas, examine it's spectra, and develop the mind. Example; This Vs. That, to the untrained mind it means 'victory' as the goal. To a trained mind, it is This IS That; understood. Einstein taught that Space is Time; relativity. He may have been wrong. Why, quanta is impermanent. The idea here is that the mind can be developed so any IQ test is short-sighted. Last I checked, my IQ was way over 140, yet i can't figure out percentages, i always look it up. As Socrates wisely said, 'I'm the wisest man in the World; I don't know anything at all.' And the Buddha said 2,700 years ago, 'to know is Not to know. Knowing not to know is wisdom.' LOL, you have been reading my blogs. Good. Meditation means 'mental development' Later

This was the first comment on the Popular Mechanics web quiz “What's Your DIY [do it yourself] IQ? PM's Ultimate Fix-It Quiz.” about your knowledge of popular do-it-yourself tools and techniques. The commenter above clearly thinks he/she is educated. He or she may well be a university graduate, I don't know for certain. I do know for certain is that he/she isn’t productive.

I also know for certain that I’ll go for productivity over education every day of the week.

Instapundit link to the PM quiz.

Oh, by the way, I scored 20 of 25 on the quiz. And I only have a PhD.

DAVY CROCKETT has died. I had the pleasure of meeting Fess Parker once - on an airplane flight many, many years ago. He spent nearly the entire flight in the coach class, signing autographs and chatting with passengers.

A decent man.

OOPS!

OK, the ellipsis dots at the end tell you that the headline [California Teacher Arrested for Allegedly Teaching ...] was truncated to fit in the space available.

But still ...

“PRESIDENT BUSH called the attitude embodied in President Obama’s new [education] policy the ‘soft bigotry of low expectations.’ I think he was wrong about the soft.”

BEST PRACTICES - for whom? “Throughout the behemoth legislation are countless new boards, commissions and oversight bureaus designed to assess quality of care, design “best practices” and force – through incentives and penalties – the implementation of the government’s idea of beneficial health services. Those “best practices” will not necessarily reflect the desires of doctors and patients, but the treatments that pass the government’s cost/benefit analyses.”

IT’S NOT ABOUT CONTROL



“The harsh fact of the matter is when you’re going to pass legislation that will cover 300 [million] American people in different ways it takes a long time to do the necessary administrative steps that have to be taken to put the legislation together to control the people.”

Nope. It’s not about control. Pay no attention to what he said.

Link from Michelle Malkin.

IN SEVEN MONTHS, I’ll get (some of) mine. You, dear reader, will get the bill.

2010: CROSSING THE RUBICON. Victor Davis Hanson thinks America has done so already; Thomas Sowell believes the point of no return for America will be the 2010 Congressional elections.

Certainly the time is near.

BUT, BUT, ... healthcare will be different.

Yeah, right.

EVERY TIME YOU USE A SUPPOSITORY, think of this health care vote.

HEALTHCARE FOR THEE, but not for me.

Hypocrites ....

YOU’RE HARSHING MY MELLOW: “The young people will be furious because when they voted for Obama with unicorn dreams, they didn’t imagine having to actually pay for health care with money that could be used to buy beer.”

JUST FRED

A cop stops a Harley for traveling faster than the posted speed limit, so he asks the biker his name.

'Fred,' he replies.

'Fred what?' the officer asks.

'Just Fred,' the man responds.

The officer is in a good mood and thinks he might just give the biker a break and, write him out a warning instead of a ticket. The officer then presses him for the last name.

The man tells him that he used to have a last name but lost it. The officer thinks that he has a nut case on his hands but plays along with it. 'Tell me, Fred, how did you lose your last name?'

The biker replies, 'It's a long story, so stay with me.' I was born Fred Johnson. I studied hard and got good grades.

When I got older, I realized that I wanted to be a doctor. I went through college, medical school, internship, residency, and finally got my degree, so I was Fred Johnson, MD. After a while I got bored being a doctor, so I decided to go back to school.

Dentistry was my dream! Got all the way through School, got my degree, so then I was Fred Johnson, MD, DDS.

Got bored doing dentistry, so I started fooling around with my assistant and she gave me VD, so now I was Fred Johnson, MD, DDS, with VD.

Well, the ADA found out about the VD, so they took away my DDS.

Then I was Fred Johnson, MD, with VD. Then the AMA found out about the ADA taking away my DDS because of the VD, so they took away my MD leaving me as Fred Johnson with VD.

Then the VD took away my Johnson, so now I am Just Fred.'

The officer walked away in tears, laughing.

Sometimes a laugh is really needed.

WE’VE CROSSED THE RUBICON argues Victor Davis Hanson:

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.

Read it all to see our future in Obama’s vision. It ain’t pretty.

ARIZONA “CRIMINALIZES” illegal immigrants for “coming to the United States illegally".

Huh?

'DEEMOCRACY' in action. Mark Steyn comments: “Obamacare will result in the creation of at least 16,500 new jobs. Doctors? Nurses? Dream on, suckers. That's 16,500 new Internal Revenue Service (IRS) agents, who'll be needed to check whether you - yes, you, Mr. and Mrs. Hopendope of 27 Hopeychangey Gardens - are in compliance with the 15 tax increases and dozens of new federal mandates the Deemocrats are about to "deem" into existence.”

THE FUTURE OF OBAMACARE:


Courtesy of John Mcpherson (Close to Home cartoon).

OBAMA TO AMERICA — I win, you lose.

UPDATE: a Stupak payoff? I don't believe in coincidence.

THIS IS A GREAT COUNTRY. There were three protest rallies around the Washington Mall on Saturday. A Tea Party rally against health reform on the Capitol steps:

A “Coffee Party” rally for jobs and education in Lafayette Park behind the White House:

And an antiwar display on the Ellipse in front of the White House.

In what other nation could all that happen – without violence – within a half-mile radius?

THE “COFFEE PARTY” LIBERALS want an end to war, more ‘edjumakation’ and jobs.




The “protestors” numbered at most a hundred or so, a few aging hippies mixed in with a largely young (college-aged?) crowd. For a while, the Secret Service and Park Service police nearly out-numbered the protestors.

My sense is that if these were indeed college students, more education would be a waste of time, and based on dress and attitude, I can understand why they’re unemployed.

SIGNS OF THE TIMES from the Tea Party healthcare protest rally at the Capitol steps on March 20, 2010.

Congress’ end game; control everything.

We deem you fired.

We want our country back.

You can’t fix stupid.

How many billions to buy a sleazy liberal?

Luckily, I’ve already had ccncer.

Tear down this bill.

Use the “back” buttion - change it back.

Beck: faith, hope, and charity.

Jefferson, on elective despotism.

Pork payoffs: some pigs are more equal.

Lay off Congress instead.

The Constitution is more than a piece of paper.

A self-evident truth.

For the most part, the signs were hand made; a fact that did not go unnoticed.

ANTI-OBAMACARE RALLY at the Capitol steps. We arrived about 9 am. The intital rally took place on the Capitol steps, to be followed by ralliers making rounds of Congressional offices and a final “surround the Capitol” rally at 5 pm. We had to leave around 2 pm, so didn’t see thenend.

All told, roughly 30,000 people showed. The area from the Capitol steps to the reflecting pool between Maryland and Pennsylvania avenues was full, with some spillover down onto the Mall. This video was taken just after the opening ceremony, before attendanced peaked. I’d estimate somewhere close to 20,000 were present when this was taken.



People came from all over, and on very short notice: DC, Maryland, Virginia, obviously; also West Virginia, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Indiania, Illinois, Ohio. One couple we met drove all night from Maine.

The protest rally was passionate, but peaceful. And clean. There were no trash barrels at the protest site; protestors carried their trash with them.

BAINBRIDGE ON OBAMACARE: tough luck, kids, and as Instapundit points out, I don’t even have to feel guilty.

MORE ON CORE STANDARDS FOR EDUCATION. “Business Roundtable’s CEOs are pleased with the proposed K-12 Common Core State Standards released today by the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State Officers. These standards, developed in conjunction with teachers, school administrators and experts, represent one of the most important developments in the history of American education.”

My support for “core standards” is waning as a result of a single word in the paragraph above: expert. The word is derived from the two words “ex” - meaning has-been - and “spurt” - which is a drip under pressure.

“IN A SWINDLE that would make Bernie Madoff look like an amateur, Barack Obama has gotten a substantial segment of the population to believe that he can add millions of people to the government-insured rolls without increasing the already record-breaking federal deficit.”

“Fraud has been at the heart of this medical care takeover plan from day one. The succession of wholly arbitrary deadlines for rushing this massive legislation through, before anyone has time to read it all, serves no other purpose than to keep its specifics from being scrutinized-- or even recognized-- before it becomes a fait accompli ....”

SO, WHEN DOES THE CONSTITUTION MATTER? Not very often, apparently.

Link from Instapundit.

REASON SAVES CLEVELAND: Libertarian solutions for a dying city, starring Drew Carey.

Like all too many American cities, Cleveland seems locked into a death spiral,
shedding people, jobs, and dreams like nobody's business. When it comes to
education, business climate, redevelopment, and more, Clevelanders have come to
expect the worse. Is a renaissance possible?

Watch all five segments to find out.

HMM: Wasn't Ohio Representative Dennis Kucinich, now a reliable ObamaCare supporter, once mayor of Cleveland? Why, yes; yes he was.

CARTOON NETWORK beats out CNN and MSNBC in the ratings.

Instapundit quips: “It has more believable characters.”

REVISITING JOHN GALT: More doctors planning to “go Galt” if ObamaCare passes.

Link via Instapundit.

THE MOST TRANSPARENT GOVERNMENT EVER. Yeah, right. There’s nothing better than opaque transparency.

A PERFUNCTORY PEP RALLY. I attended President Obama's health care speech at George Mason Universiy's Patriot Center this morning. In a nutshell, it was a perfunctory pep rally offering the same old bromides to the adoring minions.

The Patriot Center opened it's doors at 9 am, with several thousand lined up outside. I was seated by 9:45, and then we waited ... and waited ... and waited. This picture was taken shortly after I was seated; at this point, the Center was about 1/3 full, with 80-90% students and a (very) few obvious faculty in attendance.

At about 10:30, the "invitees" (read as Democratic activists) began arriving, and by 11 am, the activists had occupied the other side of the Center (facing Obama), the standing area in front of the podium, and the area behind the podium (right side of picture). At the time the president arrived, the Center was roughly 2/3 full, about 7,000 bodies if the Patriot Center does have its advertised seating capacity of 11,000. The area pictured is a bit over 2,500 seats ... I counted.


Shortly after 11, the show began with a (brazenly political) invocation, pledge of allegiance, and national anthem. Following his "grand entrance", Obama's speech was largely a boilerplate stump speech. Applause lines included:

• ObamaCare is the Patients' Bill of Rights on steroids.

I don't recall the Patients' Bill of Rights ever doing much to either improve health care or lower costs.

• "Free" preventive care for everyone.

No copayments for preventive care - is this new?

• If you like your plan, you can stay on it.

He neglected to mention that there's no requirement for the employer to continue to offer it.

• You can stay on your parents' plan post-graduation.

Big applause line, but I don't think the students were aware that their parents might not be able to afford the premiums that will accompany the "benefit."

• Small businesses will be able to access the same health care plans as does Congress.

Assuming they can afford it.

• ObamaCare will bring down the cost of insurance ($3,000 reduction in employer costs; 14-20% for individuals).

Dang. I was hoping for that 3,000% reduction.

• ObamaCare will bring down the deficit by $1 trillion.

After increasing the deficit by $2 trillion.

• ObamaCare is the moral thing to do.

I have a hard time understanding what is moral about slavery.

There was the obligatory veiled swipe at "some media" (Fox News) and "Leslie Banks" allegory for why Obamacare is necessary. And the speech ended after about 20 minutes

A final thought or two. I met a few protestors (pictured here) at the Braddock Road turn-in to the campus. There were no protestors at the Patriot Center; they were chased away by the Event Center staff claiming fear of fights breaking out. One staff member was overheard saying that "this is a pro-Obama health care rally; not a townhall meeting." The disaffected were tolerated, not welcomed.

And finally, this was an incredibly amateur event - poorly planned and poorly executed - unless it was specifically for the purpose of getting free air time on the major media.

Which it was.

UPDATE: I had heard that there was a separate protest site as I was waiting in line, but none was visible from where I was. Here is a YouTube video of the protest. Link from Instapundit.

November is coming.

GMU PEP RALLY FOR OBAMACARE: the "Won" arrives.



The President's arrival on stage at the GMU health care rally.

NOVEMBER IS COMING:
Thanks to Chris Muir for the perfect timing.

Dear Member of Congress:

Your vote isn't the only one that counts. November is coming and you can't hide from the voters. Corrupt backroom deals are driving a government takeover of our health care, and I don't like it. If you vote YES on the health care bill, I will vote NO on you in the next election.

Sign the petition.

At the time I signed, 7 pm EDT today March 18th, the petition had 27,000 signatures. People were signing at the rate of 90/minute. Keep it up.

UPDATED and bumped to top.

OUR CONGRESSCRITTERS are "thin-skinned lily-livered losers." Be sure to follow the link.

BUT, BUT it’s lead-free stemware, not available in the U.S.

Except in Hillary Clinton’s home state of New York (second item).

WHEN YOU’VE LOST the mainstream media newspaper editorial boards …

Americans have long since departed.

DRIVING HAZARDS more dangerous than unintended acceleration.

I went through the data and made some quick estimates. There are roughly 37,000 highway deaths annually, of which some 12,000 will be attributed to drunk driving; 6,000 will be attributed to distraction (e.g., cell phones/texting); 7,500 will be weather-related; 1,500 will be attributed to drowsiness; and the remaining 10,000 will be attributed to miscellaneous/other factors. Four will be attributed to “unintended acceleration.”

Drunk, distracted, and miscellaneous/other account for about 75% (3/4) of all fatalities annually; unintended acceleration less than 0.01%.

So drive carefully and watch out for the loose nut behind the wheel.

Link from Instapundit.

AN OATH OF CITIZENSHIP should be required in order to vote:

I, [_ name _], do solemnly swear that I support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic, and that I bear true faith and allegiance to the same. So help me God.

Those who have (or had) a military service background will recognize the origin of the oath.

The post from which I took the idea is on another topic, but no good idea should go unpublicized.

PAY MORE, GET LESS. Employers plan to shift costs to employees.

THE WASHINGTON TIMES LIKES STARBUCKS: "If you want to have a nice, relaxing cup of coffee in a safe environment, try Starbucks. The coffee-shop chain, generally known for environmentalist chic, is probably one of the safest places to hang out these days for a reason that doesn't fit its image - Starbucks is letting customers openly carry guns in its stores."

Previous post here.

GOVERNMENT WORKERS feel no economic pain. And they don’t have to worry about manufacturing, distributing, marketing, or selling a product that no consumer would ever want to purchase.

RECOGNIZE THIS PHOTO?


Now go here and read the comments.

Link from Instapundit.

SO DRIVE THE PRIUS: It’s entirely possible that more people will be killed driving to the dealer for the recall than lives will be saved from going through the safety theater demanded by the Department of Transportation.

UPDATE: And now it’s beginning to look like the San Diego incident was a litigation ploy.

IDAHO IS THE FIRST STATE to pass a law requiring the state to defy a (federal) requirement to buy insurance.

At least 36 other states are considering similar legislation in response to the drive by President Obama and congressional Democrats to expand health insurance to 30 million uninsured Americans, in part by requiring them to buy insurance. Virginia has enacted similar legislation, but it became law without a signature by Gov. Bob McDonnell.

Good.

ANOTHER RANDOM THOUGHT. For the moment, let’s assume that ObamaCare passes and becomes the law of the land; that electronic health records become complete, pervasive, and Government-accessible; and that the FDA receives regulatory authority over groceries (e.g., prescription Cheerios).

Now I’m driving by the local Harris Teeter grocery store and see the little food lockers for people to use to pick up call-in orders, and I’m thinking, “Hmm, soon I’ll be required to call in to the grocery store with my shopping list, have it checked against my EHR and FDA-approved food prescriptions, and then drive-by to pick up my government-approved generic brand groceries.”

Isn’t life great, or what?

[Added thought] Hmm. Let’s add a national ID (to control illegal immigration) to ObamaCare, electronic health records, and all that. Now imagine having to have your card scanned before being allowed to buy that hamburger (without fries, exceeds your salt allocation). Or going to the grocery store and only being able to buy “medically approved” groceries (no ice cream, you’re 10 pounds overweight}.

JUST A THOUGHT: if health care is in such a crisis, why am I bombarded by commercials for products and services in print, on the radio, on TV, and on the internet 24/7/365?

UNIFORM NATIONAL EDUCATION STANDARDS: not a good fit?

I tend to lean toward some flavor of national standards - but not a curriculum - for those subjects required to be an educated citizen (read that as voter). Jeff Jacoby argues the contrary:

[T]he very nature of American society -- a nation of 300 million that comprises a multitude of ethnic, religious, social, and ideological traditions -- argues against the imposition from above of one-size-fits-all education standards. There is no uniform answer to the question of what parents want most from their children's education.

His point (italicized above) is a worthy one. Is there, or can there be, a consensus on a minimum body of knowledge required of an American citizen to be able to effectively participate in running this country?

AMERICANS HATE UNICORNS and rainbows, and smiley faces, and fuzzy bunnies, and tulips, and utopia.

OBAMA: “Your employer, it's estimated, would see premiums fall by as much as 3,000 percent, which means they could give you a raise.”

Umm, OK, my share of my health insurance premium is $664/month. A 100% drop is $664, so a 3000% drop would be 30 x $664 or $19,920/month.

Heckuva job, Brownie Barry.

ARROGANT APPROACH TO HEALTH CARE. From a Cincinnati Enquirer editorial on ObamaCare:

“Congressional leaders wouldn’t allow Republican proposals to be formally considered, then turned around and accused them of not having alternatives.”

“Among themselves, Democrats cut a series of backroom deals that in any other context would be considered criminal payoffs and bribery.”

“Obama, despite all his fine talk of bipartisanship, has proven he has little regard for the ideas – or the constituencies – of those who are not his political allies.”

“The legislation has major problems that have not even begun to be discussed in a serious way, and if Democrats have their way will not be debated at all.”

“[Reconciliation]s blatant abuse is yet further damning evidence of congressional leaders’ arrogant, condescending attitude toward the people they ostensibly were elected to serve.”

Honest Leadership; Open Government. Right.

Link via Instapundit.

HOW TO REDUCE THE SIZE OF GOVERNMENT: Eviction (last item).

A CONTENTIOUS EXCHANGE: Fox's Bret Baier interviews Barack Obama.

I don't think the search for Democrats on Fox News worked out too well.

PASSING THE HEALTH CARE BILL a really bad idea. A great quote from the New York Times’ David Brooks:

Either this whole city has gone insane or I have or both. But I’m out here on the ledge and I’m not coming in the window. In my view this is no longer about health care. It’s just Democrats wanting to pass a bill, any bill, and shredding anything they have to in order to get it done. It’s about taking every sin the Republicans committed when they were busy being corrupted by power and matching it with interest.

And the rest of us get stuck with the bill. To paraphrase Lady Macbeth, it’s time to say “Out, damn’d politicians” – every last one of you – and start over in 2011.

GLOOMY OBAMA WOULD RATHER BE A VICTIM THAN LEADER: the tin god has no worshippers.

Poor baby.

TAX REFORM: some thoughts after (painfully) filling out my 2009 tax forms. Mine is not a particularly difficult return, but it does cover all the bases: earned income (wages), retirement income, interest, dividends, qualified dividends, long- and short-term capital gains/losses, distributions, and carryovers.

Ignoring the time it took to collect and collate the data, it took 2 full days, 1 form, 3 schedules, and 5 worksheets to complete. The most egregious was the capital gains/losses worksheet which took 14 lines of data from 3 returns to generate the capital loss carryover – which was available on last year’s return.

The benefit of turning 65 is zilch. Check the box on line 39a (or not); it means nothing if you itemize deductions.

I will take a flat tax, fair tax, almost any tax in place of this abortion we call the income tax.

Every congresscritter and administration official should be required to fill out his own tax form, handwritten, in ink, using only a hand calculator and telephone assistance from the IRS Help line.

THERE GOES THE RACE CARD

WHAT AM I MISSING HERE? Without picking on anything specific, we see almost-daily news stories about local, state, and federal government entities taxing and/or restricting access to cigarettes, beer, salt, junk food, etc., all on the assertion that to not do so will drive up health care costs. And now we’re embroiled in a near-war with the government demandint to take over - and pay for - healthcare for nearly every American.

Maybe it’s time for Uncle Nanny to just butt out ... if he’s not paying for my care, then (perhaps) he won’t be quite so interested in controlling my health.

And I’d have more money to spend on health care.

MISS ME YET? I know you’re not supposed to, but I just love to say I told you so.


So do I.

Link from Instapundit.

HOME SCHOOLING, pro and con.

THE SLACKER MANDATE: Michelle Malkin revisits the slacker mandate - the Obamacare requirement to allow “children” to be kept on their parents' insurance plan beyond the normal age of 23.

I’m sympathetic to Michelle’s argument, but ... I dunno. Isn’t this an entry point for arguing to extend “pooling” beyond employer-based health care plans. Why not consider “extended family plans” - husbands, wives, parents, grandparents, children, grandchildren, aunts and uncles, nieces and nephews, significant others? in a common insurance pool? Then from there to looser affiliations of the like-minded, based perhaps on the credit union model?

I’ll use any lever I can get to move away from employer-based health insurance.

OBAMA SAYS HE won’t campaign for Democrats who vote “No” on healthcare. “I bet those Democrats ... are wondering if they can get this promise in writing.”

PRESIDENT OBAMA seeks Democratic votes on Fox News.

You know Obamacare must be in trouble if President Obama has to go to Fox News to try and pick up Democratic votes.

Fox News: Fair and Balanced.

HEARD ON THE RADIO: Regulators should not come from the industries they regulate.

Ooh .. kaay. So regulators should be ignorant of the workings of the industries they regulate? Makes perfect (non)sense.

HERE ARE SOME INTERESTING FACTOIDS I picked up from the radio on the commute to work a few days ago.

The Left typically rages about the U.S. being a hypocritical white supremacist capitalist patriarchy; yet the richest man in the world is a Mexican; and China has more billionaires than any other nation on earth. Both are strong centrally-controlled non-democratic societies with large poverty-striken populations.

So tell me which is the most egalitarian society? the U.S.? or Mexico? or China?

TEA PARTIERS WERE BUSY YESTERDAY. Here are some links from Instapundit.

Washington, D.C.
Washington D.C. (Capitol Hill)
11th District, VA (next door to my district)
Royal Oak, MI
San Diego, CA
Cincinnati, OH
2nd District, NC
Fitchburg, MA

More from Fox News here and here.

DO WE WANT MORE COLLEGE GRADUATES? Well, yes. “College students are far more useful to the American left than are gainfully employed people and certainly business owners.”

Read it all.

OUR REPRESENTATIVES IN CONGRESS don’t want to hear us. Oh, sure, go to any Representative’s web site and you’ll read something like this:

Thank you for sharing your thoughts with me. Your opinion is invaluable to the members of Congress whose job it is to vote on issues that affect all Americans.

But try to email them and you’ll also read things like this, usually after you’ve filled out the email form:

Unfortunately, the codes of standards and ethical conduct that govern the United States House of Representatives require that people who sign up for email communication with me be residents of < my district >.

In theory, the Write Your Rep email system is designed to “improve communications between constituents and their representatives” by

• Allowing you to find your Representative by filling in his/her Zip Code
• Directing the message to the appropriate representative
• Reducing the heavy burden placed on the House mail servers

In practice, of course, it limits your freedom of speech to three people; your Representative and Senators. If you want to communicate with a number of them, as I did, it’s a nifty way of shutting you up.

Unless, of course, you have a fax machine, which most of us with PCs do. I simply set mine up with the names and fax numbers of all 50 Blue Dog Democrats (none mine), set the machine to repeat as needed, and went to bed. I added this note (from Congress'e "Write your Rep" web site) to each fax:

I also understand that there are limitations to the current system. I know that this may be inconvenient at the moment, but as you know this is a new and evolving technology which [I am] constantly working to improve. Until then, I appreciate your patience and understanding as [I] work to develop this new technology.

I think our Representatives (and Senators) miss an important point – on national issues, like ObamaCare, they are responsible to more than just their districts (or States); they are responsible to all America.

And they need to listen to all America.

UPDATE: more shutting people out.

LIVING HISTORY – a marvelous Bill Whittle post. Go ahead and sign in; it’s worth every second.

“IF YOU HAVE ANY DOUBT that the Democratic leadership of the House views passing the current health care reform bill as the beginning, not the end, of the process of creating a national government health care system, just note what Speaker Nancy Pelosi told a group of bloggers on Monday. ‘My biggest fight has been between those who wanted to do something incremental and those who wanted to do something comprehensive,’ Pelosi said, according to an account by Washington Post reform advocate Ezra Klein. ‘We won that fight, and once we kick through this door, there'll be more legislation to follow.’"

Not if I have anything to say about it.

Read the rest at the Washington Examiner.

SCRAP HOPE’NCHANGE? Formerly conservative pundit Christopher Buckley changes his mind about President Obama.

So do the mainstream media editorial boards.

Is it time for real hope’nchange?

WHO NEEDS A LIBERAL GOVERNMENT when you have a liberal bureaucracy?

The short history of the post-war welfare state is that you don't need a president-for-life if you've got a bureaucracy-for-life: The people can elect "conservatives," as the Germans have done and the British are about to do, and the Left is mostly relaxed about it because, in all but exceptional cases (Thatcher), they fulfill the same function in the system as the first-year boys at wintry English boarding schools who, for tuppence-ha'penny or some such, would agree to go and warm the seat in the unheated lavatories until the prefects strolled in and took their rightful place.

Food for thought.

NOT THE AMERICAN WAY. “As Obama ... insists that he knows best and that the public is too ill-informed to know what is good for it, he directly -- as the very symbol of the state -- reminds the public of what they distrust about government in the first place.”

IT’S MORNING IN THE BLOGOSPHERE: the influence of Leftist blogs is on the way down, while Right-side blogs continue to rise.

MORONS ON THE MARCH IN NEW YORK. “In a deeply misguided gesture that is also an abuse of the legislative process, a New York City Assemblyman is pushing a nanny-state bill that would ban the use of all forms of salt in the preparation and cooking of all restaurant food.”

It looks like Cyril Kornbluth had it exactly backwards; in this case the morons are in charge of the ship of state.

Link from Hot Air.

STATISM EXPLAINED: 32.6% of faculty (but only 8.3% of administrators) took a pay cut in 2009-10.

In engineering terms, it's the "sewage flows downhill" principle.

IF CONGRESS CAN “DEEM” THE HEALTH CARE BILL PASSED WITHOUT ACTUALLY VOTING, perhaps taxpayers should “deem” their taxes to be considered paid without actually sending a check this year.

It sounds great, but I suspect it more likely that the IRS will "deem" that my refund has been paid without my seeing anything in my bank account.

Via Instapundit.

OUR OWN GREEK TRAJEDY: Mark Steyn explains:

While President Obama was making his latest pitch for a brand new, even more unsustainable entitlement at the health care "summit," thousands of Greeks took to the streets to riot. An enterprising cable network might have shown the two scenes on a continuous split screen - because they're part of the same story. It's just that Greece is a little further along in the plot: They're at the point where the canoe is about to plunge over the falls. America is further upstream and can still pull for shore, but has decided instead that what it needs to do is catch up with the Greek canoe.

Link from Instapundit.