DR. NO: ”Death Panels” and health care reform.

I have no quarrel with the gist of the article: resources are limited; costs are high; and rationing in some form is the only reasonable answer.

I do have a quarrel with the process - government intervention. If there is to be any rationing of my medical care - and there will - then I will be the one - the only one - empowered to say no. If I must say no due to lack of ability to pay, then so be it. But I will be the one who decides.

Link from Instapundit.

RACE AND POLITICS. “No dogma has caused more mischief -- and, in some countries, tragedies -- than the notion that there is something strange and wrong when some groups are "over-represented" or "under-represented" in some occupations or institutions. This dogma is so widely accepted, and so deeply entrenched, that no one asks for evidence and no speck of evidence is offered. Moreover, tons of evidence to the contrary are ignored.”

I would disagree with Dr. Sowell on only one niggling point: evidence to the contrary is not ignored; it is actively and agressively denied.

Read it all - and Part I as well.

WHY IS THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY clinging to racism like a wall full of barnacles on the hull of a rusted ship? According to Roger L. Simon, the options are:

(1) to keep America divided according to race and keep getting elected; or

(2) projection (the Democrats are the real racists projecting their true
feelings on Republicans, conservatives, libertarians, etc.); or

(3) because they are sh*t out of ideas.

Simon rejects the second option, believing that on the whole, American reject racism, and opts for the third option. Me, I’m not so sure. I agree that America as a whole is beyond racism, but in the upper echelons of the Democratic Party, I wouldn’t be quick to dismiss racist motivations disguised as elitist concern for the “disadvantaged.”

Regardless of which option – or mix of options – is ultimately correct, Simon is clearly on the mark with this observation: “In effect, the Democratic Party has inadvertently turned itself into the party of racism by depending upon these vested interests to maintain power. The Tea Party Movement could overturn this. That would be truly revolutionary.”

THIS AIN’T NO TEA PARTY. No, it wasn’t. I was there too. Here are the links to my posts: Anti-ObamaCare Rally; Signs of the Times; The “Coffee Party” Liberals; and This is a Great Country.

A STING? OR ENTRAPMENT? The questions are worthy of serious thought.

THE LABOR DEPARTMENT is “encouraging low-wage and immigrant workers to turn in employers ... as part of an expanding effort to enforce wage and hour rules. The agency is also relying on tips from worker advocacy groups, widening efforts by the Obama administration to enlist activist groups to help with enforcement ....”

Question: since when is government supposed champion progressive causes?


Answer: since “social justice” became a watchword for progressivism.

ABOUT 47 PERCENT OF U.S. HOUSEHOLDS “will pay no federal income taxes at all for 2009. Either their incomes were too low, or they qualified for enough credits, deductions and exemptions to eliminate their liability. That's according to projections by the Tax Policy Center, a Washington research organization.”

Having nearly half the population having no financial stake in how this country is governed is not a good thing.

RNC SHOULD FIRE MICHAEL STEELE. Chris Stirewalt argues it should be for the sake of racial equality:

The ... move to pick Steele as chairman was the kind of pandering that voters expect from Democrats. And if Republicans become a party that sees race first and abilities second, they will lose their hard-earned claim on being a party that cherishes real equality.

He has been a disappointment as RNC chair. Still, it’s a pity. As Maryland’s Lieutenant Governor (2003-2007); I was rather impressed with him and thought he had more of a future as a Republican politician.

PARTING COMPANY: This is hard to believe - Walter Williams advocating divorce.

I believe we are nearing a point where there are enough irreconcilable differences between those Americans who want to control other Americans and those Americans who want to be left alone that separation is the only peaceable alternative.

This is, I think, the first serious argument in favor of secession since the Obama administration took power on January 21, 2009.

Will there be more?

REGULATION, THE KNOWLEDGE PROBLEM, and the three laws of unintended consequences.

Someday I’ve got to write a separate post on the “three laws” - maybe this will impel me to do so.

MINING DISASTER FOR POLITICAL ADVANTAGE.

The day that at least 25 miners were killed in a West Virginia coal mine blast, the U.S. secretary of Labor said that they would not have “died in vain.”

What Secretary Linda Solis apparently meant was that this tragedy would be put to good use – exploited in an effort to crack down on Don Blankenship, a non-union coal operator who espouses conservative political views and spends big money to beat Democrats in elections.

Now go read the Washington Post: West Virginia mine has been cited for myriad safety violations.

WIRELESS: not just for people any more.

OH MY GOD! These were Tea Parties?

Reporter Shannon Travis was wrong on one count: “But here’s what you don’t often see in the coverage of Tea Party rallies: Patriotic signs professing a love for country; mothers and fathers with their children; African-Americans proudly participating; and senior citizens bopping to a hip-hop rapper.” With the single exception of the hip-hop rapper, I’ve seen these at every Tea Party rally I’ve ever attended.

BUT IT'S FEMINIST FRIENDLY: Obama’s war on internships (and female employment).

RESET? ... OR PANIC? I lean toward panic.

IN DEFENSE OF LIBERTY. In 1944, my parents had a 16-year irrevocable lien on the private enterprise named me. It expired in 1960, and since then I have been sole owner. Despite the intentions of the Obama administration to convert me into a government-sponsored enterprise, I intend to keep it a sole proprietorship.

Several hundred thousand Tea Party patriots feel the same way.

And November is coming.

OBAMA: PUTTING THE “BULLY” BACK IN BULLY PULPIT. Chris Stirewalt comments from an email list: “Obama ratcheted up his aloof, icy thing to levels seen only with Israelis and Republicans, making a point of saying nothing nice about Karzai in his brief remarks. The protocol would have been to give a compliment sandwich – ‘While we are glad to see ongoing agricultural reforms, we continue to have concerns about you stealing our money and being incompetent. But again, good going on the pomegranates.’”