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.