It's about time.
[Update] The source for the photo - a protest in San Francisco during President Obama's visit on October 15.
Sunday, October 18, 2009
MR. PRESIDENT
It's about time.
[Update] The source for the photo - a protest in San Francisco during President Obama's visit on October 15.
Saturday, October 17, 2009
HEALTH CARE EXPLAINED
Congressman Mike Rogers (R-MI, 8th District) on the Democrat's health care bill.
Congressman Rogers appears to be correct in his description of Section 142 of the Democrats' bill. It does in fact give the government the authority to define what constitutes a "qualified plan" and suspend inrollment or remove plans from the insurance exchange. So, for example, if you have/want high-limit hospitalization insurance only, and the government decides it isn't "qualified" - e.g., doesn't offer benefits the government deems necessary, then you will be disenrolled and your plan disqualified.
Don't believe me? Then go here, enter "America's Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009" in the search box, click on "beginning" and scroll down.
If what you read doesn't scare you, then you're not human.
Congressman Rogers appears to be correct in his description of Section 142 of the Democrats' bill. It does in fact give the government the authority to define what constitutes a "qualified plan" and suspend inrollment or remove plans from the insurance exchange. So, for example, if you have/want high-limit hospitalization insurance only, and the government decides it isn't "qualified" - e.g., doesn't offer benefits the government deems necessary, then you will be disenrolled and your plan disqualified.
Don't believe me? Then go here, enter "America's Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009" in the search box, click on "beginning" and scroll down.
If what you read doesn't scare you, then you're not human.
DRILL, BABY, DRILL
Sarah Palin on energy and the environment.
Read it all.
Petroleum is a major part of America’s energy picture. Shall we get it here or abroad? Palin understands it's better to be independent.In effect, American environmentalists are preventing responsible development here at home while supporting irresponsible development overseas.
Tempting as they may be to central planners, top-down, one-size-fits-all solutions are recipes for failure.
Building an energy-independent America will mean a real economic stimulus.
[E]nergy independence is not just about the environment or the economy. It’s about freedom and confidence.
Read it all.
DIE QUICKLY
The Democrat’s health care plan:
Berkeley Professor and (Clinton administration) Secretary of Labor Robert Reich on what an “honest president” would say about health reform (at Berkeley, Sept. 26, 2007). “We’re going to have to, if you’re very old, we’re not going to give you all that technology and all those drugs for the last couple of years of your life to keep you maybe going for another couple of months. It’s too expensive, so we’re going to let you die.”
Via Don Surber.
Now idiot Democrat Representative Alan Grayson (D, FL, 8th district) accuses Republicans of wanting to implement Reich’s health reform plan.
In psychological terms, it’s called projection bias.
Berkeley Professor and (Clinton administration) Secretary of Labor Robert Reich on what an “honest president” would say about health reform (at Berkeley, Sept. 26, 2007). “We’re going to have to, if you’re very old, we’re not going to give you all that technology and all those drugs for the last couple of years of your life to keep you maybe going for another couple of months. It’s too expensive, so we’re going to let you die.”
Via Don Surber.
Now idiot Democrat Representative Alan Grayson (D, FL, 8th district) accuses Republicans of wanting to implement Reich’s health reform plan.
In psychological terms, it’s called projection bias.
ASTROTURFING?
“That is what they call a phony grassroots campaign cooked up by special interests or political parties afraid to show their own faces.”
Setting aside the astroturfing charge, here’s the part I found amusing:
Link via Instapundit.
[The Democrats] concocted two groups — Americans for Stable Quality Care and its predecessor, Healthy Economy Now (I think the term is “front organization”) — to push the White House’s health-care agenda.Since the Democrats did it, it’s not astroturfing; it’s “Fake But Accurate.”
Setting aside the astroturfing charge, here’s the part I found amusing:
Not surprisingly, an ethics expert interviewed by Politico (we need experts because ethics is a subspecialty, knowledge of which is not commonly found among ordinary politicians) thinks the whole thing raises “questions.”Ethics are sooo ... nuanced.
Link via Instapundit.
Friday, October 16, 2009
LOAVES AND FISHES
Richard Fernandez on Robert Reich’s “unsayable truths.”
In ostensibly addressing Reich’s “we’re going to let you die” speech at UC Berkeley in 2007, Fernandez got to the heart of the matter: choice. According to Reich,
Or, as Fernandez eloquently put it, there’s no life without risk: “There’s no reason to believe in a valley over the next hill, or a new world across a sea of stars. But if [we] are going to ... die anyway, then what have we got to lose by trying to get there?”
In ostensibly addressing Reich’s “we’re going to let you die” speech at UC Berkeley in 2007, Fernandez got to the heart of the matter: choice. According to Reich,
Things come down to choices: lower costs versus death panels; torture versus intelligence; equity versus growth.But there are deeper, more fundamental, choices to be made.
The missing pairs of choices in Reich’s list are these: creativity versus certainty, risk versus return, bureaucracy versus innovation. We can live only if we take the risk. That is the most unsayable truth of all.Reich’s view is that the “loaves and fishes” must be supplied by a benevolent government to ensure equity. My view is that I’d rather bake my own bread and catch my own fish.
Or, as Fernandez eloquently put it, there’s no life without risk: “There’s no reason to believe in a valley over the next hill, or a new world across a sea of stars. But if [we] are going to ... die anyway, then what have we got to lose by trying to get there?”
THERE IS NO NEW FRONTIER
Peggy Noonan on recessions, bailouts, healthcare, etc.: “Now the national terrain is thick with federal programs, and with state, county, city and town entities and programs, from coast to coast. It's not virgin territory anymore, it's crowded. We are a nation fully settled by government. We are well into the age of the welfare state, the age of government. We know its weight, heft and demands, know its costs both in terms of money and autonomy ....”
Bottom line: government has grown too big, too invasive, too controlling.
Bottom line: government has grown too big, too invasive, too controlling.
OBAMA TO CONSERVATIVES
Grab a mop and help me clean up your mess.
Conservatives to Obama: We’d rather grab a broom to sweep you out.
Conservatives to Obama: We’d rather grab a broom to sweep you out.
THE WILL TO COWER
Charles Krauthammer on the new liberalism and the end of American ascendancy.
Link via Powerline.
Facing the choice of whether to maintain our dominance or to gradually, deliberately, willingly, and indeed relievedly give it up, we are currently on a course towards the latter. The current liberal ascendancy in the United States--controlling the executive and both houses of Congress, dominating the media and elite culture--has set us on a course for decline. And this is true for both foreign and domestic policies. Indeed, they work synergistically to ensure that outcome.There’s still time to vote “NO.”
Link via Powerline.
WHITHER COMMON SENSE?
“The upstate New York school superintendent who suspended an Eagle Scout for 20 days for keeping a 2-inch utility knife locked in his car is unwilling to speak to the teen's family or bend in his ruling.”
“The ruling from [Lansingburgh Central School District Superintendent George J.] Goodwin has outraged Whalen's family, which said if district officials are unable to use their own judgment, their roles aren't necessary. 'You could have a trained monkey ....' ”
I think the monkey was just insulted.
“The ruling from [Lansingburgh Central School District Superintendent George J.] Goodwin has outraged Whalen's family, which said if district officials are unable to use their own judgment, their roles aren't necessary. 'You could have a trained monkey ....' ”
I think the monkey was just insulted.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
UNMANNED COMBAT
"At this very moment, at any given moment, three dozen armed, unmanned American airplanes are flying lazy loops over Afghanistan and Iraq. They linger there, all day and all night. When one lands to refuel or rearm, another replaces it. They guard soldiers on patrol, spy on Al Qaeda leaders, and send missiles shrieking down on insurgents massing in the night."
Read the rest.
NO NEW TAXES
Nope. None. Well, as long as you don’t include future raises, fees (Ed. - hmm, fees. Fees aren’t taxes? Uh, not according to Obama.) and corporate taxes.
A list of the ”revenue enhancements” included in the just-passed Senate [Baucus] healthcare bill:
A list of the ”revenue enhancements” included in the just-passed Senate [Baucus] healthcare bill:
-- $201 billion in new taxes on high-premium health care plans.Are you starting to notice a trend here?
-- $83 billion in new taxes paid by workers who will receive less employer-sponsored coverage or lose that coverage altogether but will be compensated with higher wages or monetary benefits, which are taxable.
-- $23 billion in penalty fees paid by employers who do not comply with the federal insurance mandate.
-- $4 billion in penalty fees paid by individuals who don't have health insurance.
-- $16 billion in new income and Medicare payroll tax revenue due to changes in Medicare.
And $180 billion in other tax revenues items, including: A new tax on prescription drug makers that would account for $22.2 billion over 10 years; a new tax on medical device manufacturers that would bring in $38.6 billion; and a new annual tax on insurance companies would net the government $60.4 billion.
ENOUGH ALREADY
Obama: Let me be clear ....
Can’t TOTUS teach him a new phrase?Terrorists? ‘Now let me be clear: We are indeed at war with al-Qaida and its affiliates.’
Student testing? ‘Let me be clear: Success should be judged by results, and data is a powerful tool to determine results.’
Iran? ‘Let me be clear: Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile activity poses a real threat, not just to the United States, but to Iran’s neighbors and our allies.’
Auto bailouts? ‘Let me be clear: The United States government has no interest in running GM.’
In Moscow: ‘Let me be clear: America wants a strong, peaceful, and prosperous Russia.’
In Ghana: ‘Let me be clear: Africa is not the crude caricature of a continent at perpetual war.’
In Italy, bemoaning poor U.S. leadership on climate change: ‘Let me be clear: Those days are over.’In Trinidad, announcing new aid: ‘Let me be clear: This is not charity.’
THE “I’M NOT BUSH” PRIZE
Frank J: [S]hould Obama have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize? "Of course he should have; it’s a useless-moron prize. Obama is the most prominent useless idiot out there right now; I can’t name a better candidate.”
Read it all.
Plus, Frank J. answers the bonus question: can you get post-traumatic stress disorder from reading?
Read it all.
Plus, Frank J. answers the bonus question: can you get post-traumatic stress disorder from reading?
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