Democracy vs Benefits

This is something I've been thinking about for quite some time. Ever since I read the quote below a number of years ago. Democracy is a very fragile thing. It will only last as long as we can keep our greedy fingers out of the cookie jar. Unfortunately, we've just elected a Congress you have shoved both hands into the jar and are greedily trying to gobble down everything in sight. Two hundred years ago, a British professor named Alexander Fraser Tyler wrote:

A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can exist only until the voters discover they can vote themselves largess (defined as a liberal gift) out of the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidate promising the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that democracy always collapses over a loose fiscal policy, always to be followed by a dictatorship

What this means is that democracy isn't permanent in nature. It cannot exist as a form of government permanently. A democracy will exist until the time that voters realize they can give themselves generous gifts from the public fisc. Literally, from that moment, the majority will always vote and elect those candidates who promise to give to the electorate the most benefits from the public treasury. The end result is that every democracy will finally collapse due to corrupt fiscal policy. This is always followed by a dictatorship. That's what has occur ed in Venezuela, and it is in it's opening stages here. Throughout history, the average age of the world's best civilizations from the beginning of recorded history has been roughly 200-250 years. During those years, these civilisations have always progressed through this sequence:

From bondage to spiritual faith;
From spiritual faith to great courage;
From courage to liberty;
From liberty to abundance;
From abundance to complacency;
From complacency to apathy;
From apathy to dependence;
From dependence back into bondage.

We are now in the realm of abundance to complacency...we have elected a group of legislators who are literally robbing our grand/great grand children's pockets in order to give "bread and circuses" now. They have chosen to be completely irresponsible, spending money we don't have, as a way to avoid raising taxes to pay for all they goodies they think we need to have. Unfortunately, when they wipe out our ability to borrow, the crash will come...

I used to think that the "crash" was 20 years off...but now, I believe that it is only a few years off. The Democratically led Congress seems hell-bound to wreck our economy this year. Between seizing control of the financial sector last fall, the automobile industry (which they then turned over to UAW-their labour union cronies), and now their blatant attempt to gather in the health insurance/health care industry (1/6th of our economy). Once "Cap & Trade" is enacted in the next few weeks (your electric bills will gain more than $1,700.00 per household), they will have turned a deep recession into an all out depression.

This depression will then rapidly spread to the rest of the world. Once we (the most productive country in the world) stop producing, much less buying the products of the rest of the world...things will come to a halt. Unfortunately, this coming economic train wreck will be far worse than the "Great Depression" of the 1930's and 1940's. But I strongly suspect, that this is what the far-left desires.

Will Someone Please Sign Pomplamoose?

I don't often get these, but this is a HOLY SHIT THIS BAND IS HOT!

Somebody PLEASE sign Pomplamoose!

http://www.chordstrike.com/2009/09/record-labels-please-sign-pomplamoose.html

They're on I-tunes, but not signed by a real label. Hopefully, someone will discover this band...and SIGN THIS BAND!

Did ACORN Steal the MN Sentorial Election?

In Minnesota ACORN has lately boasted of playing the deciding role in the 2008 elections. ACORN states that they have registered 43,000 new voters, which it declare to be 75 percent of the state's new registrations. Al Franken's who was endorsed by ACORN early in his candidacy and of whom he said,

he was "more motivated than ever to work with AC"I'm thrilled and honored to receive this endorsement," he gushed in a press conference."

More importantly Franken's margin of victory in contested Senate race was a razor-thin: 312 votes out of roughly 3 million cast. If you consider that Minnesota's laws on voter eligibility are notoriously lax, some alarms must be raised. Did ACORN voter fraud in fact help get their favorite, Al Franken, elected -- a victory that hands Democrats the necessary 60-vote, veto-proof majority that they have been seeking to enact their far left liberal agenda?

Secretary of State Mark Ritchie claims that Minnesota's loose system of minimal voter verification protects electoral integrity. On the other hand,there's an uncomfortable fact at the heart of that claim: Ritchie himself was endorsed by ACORN and elected with its assistance. That too raises all sorts of interesting questions, especially when you take into account that 35 states are investigating ACORN for election fraud, while 12 others have convicted ACORN voter drive supervisors of election fraud felonies. One would think that where there is smoke...it's it's all over the country, there would be fire as well. It looks now as if, ACORN has stolen the Senate election in Minnesota.

Is Europe Slowly Abanoning Socialism?

Europeans have begun to shift to more conservative parties as the liberal socialized economies are floundering. The financial system with it's "parachutes" and protections have finally been seen to be a large part of the problem and slowing down recovery. The serious lack of speedy response by socialist governments and the weakness of overly burdensome regulatory systems, European Socialist parties and their far left-wing political/green friends haven't found a compelling response, much less taken advantage of the right’s perceived failures, or failures as the left sees them.

German voters clobbered the Social Democratic Party on Sunday, giving it only 23 percent of the vote, its worst performance since World War II.

Voters at the polls also hammered left-leaning candidates in last summer’s European Parliamentary elections. Furthermore, French Socialists in 2007 were bounced from office in record numbers. In countries here the left still holds power, Spain and the United Kingdom, it is under siege by conservative opponents. But where the left is out of power such as France, Italy and now Germany, it is splintered and without direction.

Furthermore, in Portugal the governing Socialists won narrowly in their elections on Sunday, but lost their absolute majority in the Parliament. In Spain the Socialists still get credit for opposing both Franco and the Iraq war, but are losing ground in the uncertain economy having been the majority party for the past several years. In Germany, the broad left, which includes the Greens and other hard left parties, has a very slim majority in Parliament, but Social Democrats, after the election must consider building ties with the hard left, Die Linke, which is the "new" East German Communist Party.

In France life is even harder the left. Asked by journalists if the Socialist Party was dying, Bernard-Henri Lévy, an hard-core Socialist, answered:

“No — it is already dead. No one, or nearly no one, dares to say it. But everyone, or nearly everyone, knows it.”

At the time he was accused of greatly exaggerating, given the Socialist party is the largest in opposition and is at the moment, still popular at the local level, his words struck many as apt at the national level. The Socialist Party, has weakening ties to a diminishing working class, and moreover, has been developing rifts from personal rivalries. They last won the presidency in 1988, in 2007 the last presidential election, Ségolène Royal was beaten by Mr. Sarkozy by 6.1 percent, a large margin in France where losses are often measured by less than 2%.

The French Socialist Party “is trapped in a hopeless contradiction,” said Tony Judt, director of the Remarque Institute at New York University. It espouses a radical platform it cannot deliver; the result leaves space for parties to its left that can take as much as 15 percent of the vote.

The internal fighting in left/far-left parties in France and elsewhere has done very little to place Socialist parties in position to answer the central question of the moment: how to preserve the an overly expensive welfare state in a period of slow growth and ballooning deficits. The Socialists have, at this moment, become conservatives, fighting to preserve systems that voters think need to be discarded.

Is Ego Gratification the Justification for Health Insurance Reform?

Robert Samuelson has a very interesting take on WHY the cetain politicians are seeking to wrest control of your health care from you. His take is that they are doing it so as to go down in history as "the great man of destiny". This statement by Max Baucus, D-MT, chairman of the finance committee in the US Senate.

"My colleagues, this is our opportunity to make history," implored Chairman Max Baucus as the Senate Finance Committee last week opened consideration of his bill. Politicians, in their most self-important moments, see themselves as instruments of national destiny. They yearn to be remembered as the architects and agents of great social and economic transformations. They want to be at the signing ceremony; they want a pen.

In his opening remarks Mr. Baucus goes on the make statements that are shaky or refutable at best, or down right "misleading" (one mayn't point out a politician lied any more) such as,

One study "found that every year in America, lack of health coverage leads to 45,000 deaths," he told the committee. "No one should die because they cannot afford health care. This bill would fix that."

But its not as if this all weren't refutable. But Baucus' claims aren't just shaky. Just having health insurance can't automatically improve anyone's health. Just as often more medical care doesn't help either. Many people just don't go to the doctor when they should much less follow medical directions (take your medicine, change your lifestyle). Many people don't sign up for the insurance that they're eligible for in the first place. A recent Urban Institute study estimates that more than 10.9 million people who are eligible for Medicaid or CHIP in 2007 didn't enroll at all.

The 45,000 figure cited by Baucus is itself an unreliable statistical construct built on many assumptions. It's based on a study of 9,004 people aged 17 to 64 who were examined between 1988 and 1994. By 2000, 351 had died; of these, 60 were uninsured. The crude death rates among the insured (3 percent of whom died) and uninsured (3.3 percent) were within the statistical margin of error. After adjustments for age, income and other factors, the authors concluded that being uninsured raises the risk of death by 40 percent. They then extrapolated this to the entire population by two techniques, one producing an estimate of 35,327 premature deaths and another of 44,789.

Glenn Reynolds, the inestimable, instupundit comments that,

Yeah, my prediction is that if it passes it’ll be like the Iraq war — in five or ten years most of the people who voted for it will be pretending otherwise. Hell, they’ll probably find a way to blame Bush . . . .

Unfortunately, I suspect he's spot on...just as Mr. Samuelson is. There isn't any over-riding problem with the health care insurance industry that demands immediate seizure RIGHT NOW. I strongly suspect that Mr. Obama, et al, are only trying to be put into the history books as The One who changed America's path. I can only hope that Mr. Obama will fail in this, and the rest of his agenda.

Gleichschaltung

In the new America, everything will revolve around The One. His policies must be exalted above all else...

There is a German word for what we are witnessing at the NEA and elsewhere in the Obama administration’s effort to push its agenda. It is Gleichschaltung. It means two things: first, bringing all aspects of life into conformity with a given political line. And second, as a prerequisite for realizing that goal, the obliteration or at least marginalization of all opposition.

Health Care Reform I can Support

This is health care reform I could honetly support...via NRO and reproduced in it's entirety:

Preventive Health Care Update [Mark Steyn]


Given the president's claims about the cost savings of preventive care, I do hope he will consider acting on the results of this research and instituting a mandatory program:

A study by German scientists showed that 10 minutes a day of ogling women’s breasts by men was as good at warding off heart disease, high blood pressure and stress as 30 minutes of aerobic exercise.

By the way, this wasn't just some nickel'n'dime, fly-by-night survey. Two hundred men participated in this survey, for five years. Which is a lot of breasts. Or a lot of work-outs, if you drew the short straw.

Weatherby found that a mere 10-minutes of staring at well-endowed females is roughly the equivalent of a 30-minute aerobics workout, because sexual excitement gets the heart pumping and improves circulation...She added:

“Our study indicates that engaging in this activity a few minutes daily cuts the risk of a stroke and a heart attack in half. We believe that by doing so consistently, the average man can extend his life four to five years.”

Now that's affordable health care.
[UPDATE: Alas, the Digital Journal story linked above has now been removed, on the grounds that it was too good to be true. On the other hand, rectal massage as a cure for hiccups and country music as a cause of suicide appear, for the moment, to be holding up.]

Canadian Health Care...Is Moving Toward Privatization

If the Canadian health care system is sooooo WONDERFUL, why are they moving toward privatization? Under their system (on which most of the Democratic Bills are being based on), it can take months if not years to get non-emergency surgery. The same system is in place in the United Kingdom.

Here's a recent example from British Columbia. A young woman named Christina Woodkey began to develop severe pain in her legs. It became so severe she couldn't do any of the those things that she had been able to do, like hiking, cross-country skiing. When she went to her local health clinic, the Calgary, Canada, resident was told she had to see a specialist. Unfortunately, because her problem wasn't life-threatening, she was told she'd have to wait at least a year BEFORE she could have elective surgery. Surgery that would improve her quality of life...after all, she was in pain day in, day out, but that surgery was considered ELECTIVE. So wait she did.

In January of this year, the hip replacement specialist told her that as it was a narrowing of the spine which was compressing the nerves and thus causing her serious pain. She was then told that she needed to see a back specialist. Her first appointment was set for Sept. 30, NINE MONTHS AFTER HER DIAGNOSIS.

"When I was given that date, I asked when could I expect to have surgery," said Woodkey, 72. "They said it would be a year and a half after I had seen this doctor."

So early this month, she crossed the border and went to a clinic in Montana and had the $50,000 surgery done in two days, in an American hospital.

"I don't have insurance. We're not allowed to have private health insurance in Canada," Woodkey said. "It's not going to be easy to come up with the money. But I'm happy to say the pain is almost all gone."

In Canada, private insurance is against the law and therefore unavailable. But, to get around the system, approximately 70 private clinics have been set up in British Columbia and Ontario to provide those "simple" things that the Canadian system refuses to provide in a timely fashion...things like MRI's and minor surgery. These procedures are provided in as little as a few weeks as opposed to the normal wait time of 9-12 months for most procedures.

This is the system that the Democratic Party wants to impose on America. It's a system that is predicated on your having to wait for health care that we are accustomed to receiving without any (or only a few weeks) time at all. Are there problems with our health care system? Certainly, but by removing the obstacles that are in place at the moment, such as removing the barriers that prevent health insurance providers from providing health insurance across state borders. Also by permitting small businesses to band together and pool their individual resources, so that more companies or even individuals can get affordable insurance.

Unfortunately, these are "market based" reforms and thus are despised by the socialist wing of the Democratic Party...these are the suggestions that have been put forward countless times in the past decade by the Republican Party, yet have been stymied by the left, because we all know the government can do things more efficiently than private industry.

Uh-Oh....

If the fall of ACORN is as politically damaging to the Democratic party as some believe...then their ability to turn elections to their favor through voter fraud is probably damaged as well. ACORN is being investigated for voter fraud in 35 states. THIRTY FIVE STATES!!! Now, if ACORN is successfully prosecuted in even 2/3rds of those states, that's literally half the country.

But, it's finally coming to light that ACORN is at it's root a criminal enterprise. Hence, it's low level counsellors not even blinking at helping a "prostitute and a pimp" to set up a bordello. Their assistance even went so far as to suggest ways to avoid paying taxes and to use the "underage illegal aliens" as a tax write off. Additionally, with the close ties between SEIU and ACORN, it's likely that SEIU is as dirty as the other.

It is becoming clear that SEIU (the Service Employees International Union, closely tied to ACORN by interlocking directorates), is just as corrupt and even more prone to public thuggery (this was the organization responsible for the brutal beating of an elderly black protester at a town-hall meeting a few weeks back). If LEOs follow the money trails into and out of ACORN with any thoroughness, it is quite likely that SEIU’s brass will find itself under criminal investigation, with the Democrats obliged to cut ties with them as well. From there, who knows? Republican zealots think that ACORN is the street end of a criminal conspiracy subject to prosecution under the RICO statutes that extends all the way to DNC headquarters. They may not be wrong.

This wouldn't surprise me in the least. I'm fairly sure that someone in the DNC is coordinating with SEIU and ACORN...it's now just a matter of time for it to come to light. The Major Media can only cover for them for so long...

Just 41% Support Obama Care

From Rasmussenreports.com since I have nothing to add as the figures speak for themselves, I'll take it directly from the link:

Just 41% of voters nationwide now favor the health care reform proposed by President Obama and congressional Democrats. That’s down two points from a week ago and the lowest level of support yet measured.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 56% are opposed to the plan.

Senior citizens are less supportive of the plan than younger voters. In the latest survey, just 33% of seniors favor the plan while 59% are opposed. The intensity gap among seniors is significant. Only 16% of the over-65 crowd Strongly Favors the legislation while 46% are Strongly Opposed. Currently, among all voters 23% Strongly Favor the legislative effort and 43% are Strongly Opposed.

If the plan passes, 24% of voters say the quality of care will get better, and 55% say it will get worse. Fifty-four percent (54%) say passage of the plan will make the cost of health care go up while 23% say it will make costs go down.

Sixty-eight percent (68%) of Democrats say the plan is at least somewhat likely to become law. Sixty-one percent (61%) of Republicans disagree. Among those not affiliated with either major party, 34% say passage is at least somewhat likely while 58% say it is not.

The NYTimes Has It's Head in the Sand

I wrote the Public Editor of the NYTimes a couple of emails yesterday. They were in response to his column on the very slow reponse of the NYT to the ACORN storeis that have been all over the news the past several weeks. Here are the texts to those two emails that I sent to the Public Editor of the NYT yesterday. The first, I titled "Head In the Sand"

Dear Mr. Hoyt,
This is in response to your editorial on the NYT being slow off the mark. You, as a paper, are institutionally unable to answer anything that is in criticism to Mr. Obama. You as a paper have done everything in your power to get him elected and have so much invested in the success of his administration, you will ignore anything that doesn't reflect well upon his administration.

For this reason and this reason alone, 84% of the country believes that "journalists" are literally in the tank for this administration and will do their utmost to "bury" any story that doesn't fit the narrative chosen by both your publisher and by your editorial board. Most of the stories that you have written in the past week concerning the alleged criminal activities of ACORN, have been skeptical at best, to down right critical of Ms. Giles and Mr. O'Keefe. This particular article and your review of the facts as you understand them...,

"Finally, on Sept. 16, nearly a week after the first video was posted, The Times took note of the controversy, under the headline, “Conservatives Draw Blood From Acorn, Favored Foe.” The article said that conservatives hoped to weaken the Obama administration by attacking its allies and appointees they viewed as leftist. The conservatives thought they had a “winning formula,” the article said, mobilizing people “to dig up dirt,” then trumpeting it on talk radio and television."
...merely shows your institutional bias to an extraordinary degree...and your critique only emphasizes that bias. Until you, as a paper, eliminate (or at best minimize) any bias (every reporter from the left or right has bias, the best ones minimize it in their reporting) that is currently present. It's time to stop the ideological reporting and report the facts. Leave editorialization for the editorial page.

It's time that the NYT STOPS treating the GOP as an evil enemy to be eradicated, but merely as a different point of view. Hire reporters who AREN'T so ideologically oriented to the left (if not far left), but have a (for your paper) more conservative view.

Unfortunately, I don't think that the NYT will do any of the above...after all, you're the "Gray Lady" why should you listen to anyone who isn't from your socio-economic strata...but then, your stock has plummeted to record low. You haven't listened in the past, you're not listening now, and you won't in the future. Remember the Rocky Mountain News...where are they now? That is the direction your paper is headed since you have literally angered 50% of your audience.

Sincerely,

Richard A. Vail

followed several hours later by this that I titled "Perceived Bias":

Dear Mr. Hoyt,
In follow up to a previous letter from earlier today wherein I quoted some poll numbers in how badly the journalists are viewed in the country at large. Perhaps you might want to take a look yourself. You've elected a president whom you refused to vet and now the country no longer trusts you...

http://www.sacredheart.edu/pages/30046_shu_national_poll_trust_and_satisfaction_with_the_national_news_media.cfm

Via Newsbusters.com comes a VERY frightening statistic...
“A new national poll finds most of the people surveyed think the media helped get President Obama elected,” FNC's Bret Baier noted in his Thursday night Grapevine segment in highlighting a September 8-11 national survey of 800 Americans by Sacred Heart University

http://www.sacredheart.edu/pages/30046_shu_national_poll_trust_and_satisfaction_with_the_national_news_media.cfm

which discovered “a large majority, 89.3%, suggested the national media played a very or somewhat strong role in helping to elect President Obama.” (Noel Sheppard's earlier item on the survey's finding: “Almost 90% of Americans Think Media Helped Get Obama Elected.”)

Baier related how the university in Fairfield, Connecticut also determined “almost 70 percent think the 'media are intent on promoting' his presidency and 56 percent say the 'media are promoting his health care reform agenda without objective criticism.'

I've included the root to the Sacred Heart College's poll for you to look up the numbers for yourself...I think that "Major Media" had better get it's act together and actually start vetting Mr. Obama and his associates NOW...even though it's basically too late. You've spent your shot...and the country has lost confidence in you.

Richard A. Vail

Baier Shares Poll on How 90% Recognize Media Helped Obama Win

Via Newsbusters.com comes a VERY frightening statistic...

“A new national poll finds most of the people surveyed think the media helped get President Obama elected,” FNC's Bret Baier noted in his Thursday night Grapevine segment in highlighting a September 8-11 national survey of 800 Americans by Sacred Heart University
http://www.sacredheart.edu/pages/30046_shu_national_poll_trust_and_satisfaction_with_the_national_news_media.cfm
which discovered “a large majority, 89.3%, suggested the national media played a very or somewhat strong role in helping to elect President Obama.” (Noel Sheppard's earlier item on the survey's finding: “Almost 90% of Americans Think Media Helped Get Obama Elected.”)

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2009/09/24/almost-90-americans-think-media-helped-get-obama-elected

Baier related how the university in Fairfield, Connecticut also determined “almost 70 percent think the 'media are intent on promoting' his presidency and 56 percent say the 'media are promoting his health care reform agenda without objective criticism.'”

...and when Mr. Obama fails, much like Mr. Carter did in the late 1970's it will hurt Major Media in a huge way. Already many people outside the DC Beltway/NY, LA areas don't really trust journalist to report the news with any objectivity at all. Editorialization belongs on the editorial page, not in news stories.

Instapundit 2012 GOP Primary Roundup

Who would you most favor as GOP nominee in 2012? (Pick two).

Selection
Haley Barbour 683 votes
Bob Corker 397 votes
Mitch Daniels 798 votes
Mike Huckabee 318 votes
Bobby Jindal 1,683 votes
Gary Johnson 292 votes
Sarah Palin 5,408 votes
Tim Pawlenty 1,603 votes
Mike Pence 479 votes
Rick Perry 432 votes
David Petraeus 2,395 votes
Condi Rice 1,692 votes
Mitt Romney 2,336 votes
Other 617 votes

10,307 voters

Mrs. Palin polls more than all the other combined. by more than 100 votes...what does that say? Among Instapundit.com readers that she is by far the front runner in 2012 if she decides to run...

Rules for Counter-Radicals

Rules for counter-radicals is the title of a post on National Review. It's by Kathryn Jean Lopez, and is probably one of the best descriptions of what Andrew Breiibart is doing. He's taken a page from Saul Alinski, and using them against the far left. It's really rather amazing actually. Great article...read the whole thing.

Still Another Instapundit.com GOP Primary Poll

Who would you most favor as GOP nominee in 2012? (Pick two).

Selection
Haley Barbour 258 votes
Bob Corker 151 votes
Mitch Daniels 282 votes
Mike Huckabee 109 votes
Bobby Jindal 592 votes
Gary Johnson 41 votes
Sarah Palin 2,002 votes
Tim Pawlenty 597 votes
Mike Pence 163 votes
Rick Perry 135 votes
David Petraeus 863 votes
Condi Rice 620 votes
Mitt Romney 835 votes
Other 210 votes

3,651 voters
pollcode.com free polls


And Mrs. Palin has, again, a commanding lead. From the comments:

From Jim in reply to Ferd Berfel on September 26, 2009 at 3:15 pm. IP Logged, 68.73.96.x Report Abuse
The left wing/socialist media will attack any conservative candidate. We have seen sarah stand up to the machine and stop the "death panels" as well as call out OBOZO for his failed policies. We need a conservative who has the balls to stand up to the communists and that someone is Sarah Palin!

At least Mrs. Palin has the courage to confront the Obama Adminstration. That's something none of the "leaders" of the GOP have done. No-one, to date has had the balls to step up and confront this administration as well, or as effectively as Mrs. Palin has done.

Sarkozy to Obama: Come Back to Earth, Please

Here is the speech of Nikolas Sarkozy, President of France:
{emphasis is mine}

France fully supports your initiative to organize this meeting and the efforts you undertook with Russia to reduce nuclear arsenals. But let us speak frankly – we are here to guarantee peace.

We are right to speak of the future, but before the future there is the present, and at present we have two nuclear crises.
The people of the entire world are listening to what we’re saying, to our promises, our commitments and our speeches, but we live in a real world, not a virtual world.

We say: reductions must be made. And President Obama has even said, “I dream of a world without [nuclear weapons].” Yet before our very eyes, two countries are currently doing the exact opposite. Since 2005, Iran has violated five Security Council resolutions. Since 2005, Secretary-General, the international community has called on Iran to engage in dialogue. An offer of dialogue was made in 2005, an offer of dialogue was made in 2006, an offer of dialogue was made in 2007, an offer of dialogue was made in 2008, and another one was made in 2009. President Obama, I support the Americans’ outstretched hand. But what did the international community gain from these offers of dialogue? Nothing. More enriched uranium, more centrifuges, and on top of that, a statement by Iranian leaders proposing to wipe a UN member State off the map.

What are we doing? What conclusions are we drawing? There comes a time when facts are stubborn and decisions must be made.

If we want in the end to have a world without nuclear weapons, let us not accept the violation of international rules.

I understand perfectly well the various positions of the different parties, but all of us may one day be threatened by a neighbour who has obtained a nuclear weapon.

Second, North Korea. It gets even better: they have violated all Security Council deliberations since 1993, and they disregard everything that the international community says, everything. What’s more, they are continuing their ballistic tests.

How can we accept this? What conclusions can we draw from it? I say that at some point, all of us – regardless of our positions in other respects – will have to work together to adopt sanctions and to ensure that the UN Security Council’s decisions are effective.

Finally, I share the opinion expressed by the President of Uganda and the Chinese President with respect to access to civil nuclear energy. We, the nuclear powers, must agree to technology transfers so that everyone can have access to this clean energy. I would add that this will make it possible to avoid deliberate confusion on the part of those who claim to be carrying out nuclear research for civilian purposes while they’re doing it for military purposes.

So, ladies and gentlemen, my dear colleagues, this is what I believe, in full support of what was decided in the resolution and in full support of President Obama’s initiative. What I believe is that by having the courage to strengthen sanctions, together, against countries that violate Security Council resolutions, we will give credibility to our commitment to a world whose future holds fewer nuclear weapons and perhaps, one day, no nuclear weapons./.

Why Do American Jews Support Obama So Blindly?

American Jews have bet the farm on Mr. Obama. They have listened to what he has had to say, but have ignored those with whom he has associated with over the past 20 years. On the surface, Mr. Obama has said all the things that are required of politicians (particularly those on the left) in order to get both money and support of the Jewish American Community…Yet, so far, none of Mr. Obama’s policies, as they involve Israel have been in Israel’s best interests. Nor could you call any of Mr. Obama’s associates be remotely called pro-Israel, therefore it shouldn’t come as a shock that he’s pursuing a course of action that is inimicable to the security of the Israeli State.

By ignoring the greater problems of the Middle East, particularly, the refusal of Arab states to recognize the right of Israel to exist, nothing will change. The Arab dictatorships will continue to use Israel as a distraction from their internal problems. Until this “problem” is overcome no change in the Middle East “Peace Process” will be achieved. But I digress…Until American Jews realize that there is a genuine anti-Semitic feeling on the far left in America (as well as the rest of the world), they will continue to blindly support Mr. Obama and his misguided policies.

Jonathan Tobin in Commentary recently said,
http://www.commentarymagazine.com/blogs/index.php/tobin/76052

But friends of Israel, especially those Jewish Democrats who have been doing their best to ignore the White House’s increasingly belligerent tone toward the Jewish state, would do well to note what happened this week. Obama honored one of the most virulent enemies of Israel. … He has gotten away with it with hardly a scratch on his reputation. Though some will dismiss this incident as a mere blunder that will soon be forgotten, I doubt that Obama and his advisers will forget how easily they were able to dismiss a nearly universal Jewish dismay. …

If anyone thinks the administration can be deterred from taking future stances that are clearly invidious to the security of Israel, the Robinson episode may well have taught Obama that he can get away with anything when it comes to Jewish Democrats.

Additionally, a far more important decision of the Obama administration to this point is the announcement that Mr. Obama has agreed to meet with Amadinejhad and Iran, a totalitarian state the masquerades as a republic, and a country that is committed to "wiping Israel from the map". Obama has agreed without condition, to accept Iran’s offer to discuss anything except Iran’s nuclear weapons program. Bret Stephens recently in the Wall Street Journal asks why the Mr. Oobama is taking every possible step to push Israel into a to war with Iran when it obviously isn't in the best interests of either country.

In an interview with FrontPage Magazine, Victor Davis Hanson suggested the possibility of just the opposite response from the administration:
http://frontpagemag.com/readArticle.aspx?ARTID=35836

Quietly [Israelis] must assume during the Obama tenure that the United States is no longer an ally in the same special sense as in the past, and thus not depend on American support for any of its initiatives. E.g., if Israelis feel that a strike against Iran is necessary for their very survival, they had better have a stockpile of spare military parts and supplies beforehand, and a sophisticated diplomatic and public relations reactive team ready. (You see I fear some in this administration want Israel to bomb Iran to at last give it the long-desired excuse to cut Israel loose entirely).

As a Jew myself, I hope that eventually, the vast majority of American Jews will come too their senses and see the tremendous damage that Mr. Obama is doing not just to Israel, but to Jews world wide...at leat before it's too late.

Government Regulation Costs Money

Most thinking people will admit that government regulations end up costing money. A LOT OF MONEY. A new study from the state of California is a case in point.

via Hotair.com
http://hotair.com/archives/2009/09/25/study-regulation-costs-california-economy-almost-500-billion/

As study by Sanjay B. Varshney, Ph.D., CFA, Professor of Finance and Dean - College of Business Administration California State University, Sacramento; and Dennis H. Tootelian, Ph.D. Professor of Marketing – College of Business Administration
California State University, Sacramento

here's the Abstract (emphasis is mine):

This study measures and reports the cost of regulation to small business in the State of California. It uses original analyses and a general equilibrium framework to identify and measure the cost of regulation as measured by the loss of economic output to the State’s gross product, after controlling for variables known to influence output. It also measures second order costs resulting from regulatory activity by studying the total impact – direct, indirect, and induced. The study finds that the total cost of regulation to the State of California is $492.994 billion which is almost five times the State’s general fund budget, and almost a third of the State’s gross product. The cost of regulation results in an employment loss of 3.8 million jobs which is a tenth of the State’s population. Since small business constitute 99.2% of all employer businesses in California, and all of non-employer business, the regulatory cost is borne almost completely by small business. The total cost of regulation was $134,122.48 per small business in California in 2007, labor income not created or lost was $4,359.55 per small business, indirect business taxes not generated or lost were $57,260.15 per small business, and finally roughly one job lost per small business. This study provides the most comprehensive and complete analysis of the total regulatory burden in California.

This is a huge handicap on business, and because of this, businesses have been fleeing California for the past several years. With the most recent budget short-falls, the state legislature has INCREASED the burden on small business, with the same result, more layoffs and businesses leaving the state in droves.

Yet, with that in mind, the Democrats want more of the same for the entire country. You'd have to be daft not to understand that this would have a huge negative impact upon the country as a whole. The left decries outsourcing of jobs, but fails to understand that their short sighted plans to heavily regulate business merely means more and more companies will locate off shore...

Giles Naked Photo

Just trying to do my part to screw the goose for those who are attempting to Paint Ms. Giles in a poor light...better luck next time

HAHAHAHAHA

UPDATE: If you have a blog, post something in your title refering to naked, or lewd photo's of Ms. Giles to screw up the Google search engine. Major Media and their far left liberal enablers are attempting to dig up dirt on Ms. Giles and Mr. O'Keefe...do your part to screw the goose!

Krauthammer's View on Obama at the UN

via the Corner on National Review online:

What did he accomplish? Nothing. This is really quite surreal. As we speak, the Iranians are spinning thousands of centrifuges and developing uranium. The American delegate at IAEA announces that Iran already has enough uranium to construct a bomb. It's testing its missiles, flouting all U.N. resolutions, as are the North Koreans.

And the response of America?

The president of the United States — on camera, of course — presides over a perfectly useless meeting of the Security Council and passes a perfectly useless resolution airily declaring the end of nuclear weapons.

Look, my model U.N. in high school was more realistic than this Security Council. The resolution, as you pointed out, isn't even binding.

And the problem is that the assumption of Obama is that the reason that these rogue states are pursuing nukes is because we have not led by example — rather than the obvious, that they want the prestige and the power of having a nuke.

In fact, the '80's and the '90's, when we radically reduced our arsenals, is precisely when Iran and [North] Korea launched their ambitions and nuclear programs….

I can't really add anything beyond Mr. Obama is terribly naive and has a rather warped view of the world. Nne really needs to take off the rose coloured glasses and take a long hard look around.

Ann Althouse has a rather perceptive view of Mr. Obama...LOL
http://althouse.blogspot.com/2009/09/president-obama-yesterday-did-his-best.html

I was just thinking that Obama would have been so much better if he had made foreign policy the centerpiece of his presidency instead of perversely investing his reputation in complicated health care puzzles. Now, I'm thinking perhaps we're better off that he's gotten hopelessly distracted by insoluable insurance problems.

Sarkozy to Obama: Don't Be Naive

With Major Media in the tank for Mr. Obama, we have to go to Canada's National Post in order to get a measured read of what the world really thinks of present occupant in the Whitehouse.

Here are the Headlines:

Obama: “We must never stop until we see the day when nuclear arms have been banished from the face of the earth.”

Sarkozy: “We live in the real world, not the virtual world. And the real world expects us to take decisions.”

While American media outlets swooned about about how brilliant Mr. Obama's speech was, the rest of the world wasn't quite so impressed. Neither was our oldest ally. (Remember France was the FIRST country to recognize the independence of the United States, as well as actually sending troops and supplies to further that goal)

The rest of Sarkozy’s speech was, on the whole far different:

“President Obama dreams of a world without weapons … but right in front of us two countries are doing the exact opposite.

“Iran since 2005 has flouted five security council resolutions. North Korea has been defying council resolutions since 1993.

“I support the extended hand of the Americans, but what good has proposals for dialogue brought the international community? More uranium enrichment and declarations by the leaders of Iran to wipe a UN member state off the map,” he continued, referring to Israel.

The sharp-tongued French leader even implied that Mr Obama’s resolution 1887 had used up valuable diplomatic energy.

“If we have courage to impose sanctions together it will lend viability to our commitment to reduce our own weapons and to making a world without nuke weapons,” he said.

Additionally, Mr Sarkozy has several times in the past called Mr. Obama's goal of world-wide nuclear disarmament “naive.”

A Very Good Point

HughS at wizbangblog.com makes an excellent point.

While it is uncanny how deft today's politicians have become at deflecting responsibility for the financial mess we are in, the cause of our current dilemma rests squarely on the shoulders of taxpayers and consumers that spent more than they earned, borrowed more than they could afford and lived lifestyles that bore no resemblance to their own actual economic condition. Such is the stuff of all economic bubbles. However, these same people that overextended themselves are now deep into the process of righting their personal financial affairs. The household savings rate is now at historically high levels. Household debt reduction is also at similarly high levels. Individuals and households got the message that life has changed. However, the Congress shows no such discipline and the legacy of this policy will be stagnant growth, high unemployment and no wealth creation. It is this trifecta, which last manifested itself in the 1970's, that will send many Congressmen into retirement. But will anyone remember this when it all comes apart?

To quote Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit.com, READ THE WHOLE THING!

Real Time with Bill Maher

Last night's guests and panel were Micheal Moore, John Waters, panelists Paul Krugman & Eliot Spitzer. Gee, and this guy Maher masquerades as a non-partisan "journalist". No wonder the MSM is going to hell in a hand basket.

The Obama Administration is Fostering a Cult Of Personality

In the past few days, a video has surfaced on YouTube.com showing young school children chanting in praise off the sitting President. Addtionally, the principal of the school in New Jersey, has stated on FoxNews that she would encourage her teachers to continue this kind of indoctrination of very young children.

This is deeply troubling to me as this administration has begun to show a history of heavy propagandizing. Mr. Obama's adminsitration has begun to use Federal agencies that were meant to be be non-patisan National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) to further his political agenda. Further, 28 individuals and organizations who participated in the NEA conference call, within 2 days came out with advertising campaigns and slogans to support Mr. Obama's political agenda were in the past week approved for several million dollars in "stimulus" funds.

When you throw in the blatant indoctrination going on in elementary schools (the school in NJ is merely one who was caught) it brings to light a VERY troubling aspect of this administration. It is developing a vertible "cult of personality", wherein The One is the fount of all goodness (see his UN speech) and the GOP is representative of pure evil.

James Taranto Wins!!!

Leave it to a talented word-smith like James Taranto to come up in one word, a far better way to describe getting "thrown under the bus"

via the WSJ

Yosi Sergant Gets Hypovehiculated

Credit where credit is due...Mr. Taranto, my hat is off to you sir!

Harry Reid Blogs Investigation of ACORN

So now it starts...Harry Reid, Senate Majority Leader, has decided to give cover to ACORN. I figured that it would happen, just not this fast.

From Las Vegas Review-Journal:

Yes, ACORN has friends in high places -- friends who are still stonewalling attempts to trace where all that tax money went ... perhaps because they know who still has cookie crumbs all over their hands.

...

Here in Clark County, Registrar of Voters Larry Lomax said last year he saw "rampant fraud in the 2,000 to 3,000 registrations ACORN turns in every week," with some 48 percent of those forms being "clearly fraudulent." The Las Vegas headquarters of ACORN, "a Democrat-allied organization," was raided after being "accused of submitting multiple voter registrations with duplicate and false names," the Washington Times reported last fall. The outfit claimed it had registered to vote in Nevada, among others, the starting lineup of the Dallas Cowboys.

The raid "set off a skirmish over efforts to expand the electorate on behalf of Sen. Barack Obama," the Times reported. Mr. Lomax noted ACORN had hired 59 inmates from a work-release program at a nearby prison and that some inmates who had been convicted of identity theft had been made supervisors. "That led some local wags to joke that at least ACORN was hiring specialists to do their work," reported John Fund at The Politico, last November.

ACORN's 2008 Las Vegas field director, Christopher Edwards, pleased guilty last spring to two gross misdemeanor counts of conspiracy to commit compensation for registration of voters, in a deal that saw him agree to testify against fellow defendants.

Fox News' Eric Shawn reported there were at least 11 investigations across the country involving thousands of potentially fraudulent ACORN forms. Yet none of this was sufficient to block President Obama and his congressional minions from upping federal subsidies to outfits such as Mr. Obama's former associates at ACORN from the mere millions to the billions of dollars in their "economic stimulus" bill last winter.

Only when presented with the undeniable evidence of the "pimp and ho" videotape did the IRS last week announce it would terminate ACORN's participation in the agency's Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program -- shortly after the Census Bureau advised ACORN it could forget about helping with its decennial head count.

Smoke? Fire? Washington Democratic leaders have opted to just lay low and not smell nothin'. Despite all this evidence and a request in writing by 28 GOP senators -- and despite the fact the U.S. Senate voted 83-7 on Sept. 14 to block ACORN from bidding for any more federal grant money -- "Senate Democrat Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., is refusing to hold a Senate hearing on ACORN's activities," the National Republican Senatorial Committee complained Wednesday.

Mr. Reid replied additional investigations might distract lawmakers from addressing more important matters, including health care and economic recovery.

I expect to see when the various House and Senate bills concerning defunding ACORN reach conference committees, that the proposals that actually defund ACORN will very quietly be stripped from those bills. Thus, the Democrats can show "We defunded that heinous group ACORN of funds", while actually doing nothing. Additionally, as a commenter Jason left on my original post on defunding ACORN,

And since acorn changed its name back in June to community organizers international, they can continue to receive funds.

The more things change, the MORE they stay the same. I expect that Community Organizers International will continue to receive the funds that ACORN was to get...all the while Democrats in Congress will say, we no longer fund ACORN...COI is another group altogether...after all, they have a different name.

Yet Another Instapundit Poll for 2012 GOP Primary

Who would you most favor as GOP nominee in 2012?

Selection Votes
Haley Barbour 4% 363
Bob Corker 2% 196
Mitch Daniels 4% 351
Mike Huckabee 1% 134
Bobby Jindal 6% 543
Gary Johnson 3% 271
Sarah Palin 41% 3,688
Mike Pence 2% 163
David Petraeus 12% 1,074
Condi Rice 8% 724
Mitt Romney 12% 1,117
Other 5% 477

9,101 votes total
pollcode.com free polls

It's telling that Mrs. Palin is far ahead for the 3rd time.

Veterans' promised tuition checks AWOL

The U.S. government failed to send promised college tuition checks to tens of thousands of veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars before they returned to school this fall, even after being warned that it was inadequately staffed for the job.

The Veterans Affairs Department blamed a backlog of claims filed for GI Bill education benefits that has left veterans who counted on the money for tuition and books scrambling to make ends meet.

Yet these are precisely the kind of goverment organization that Democrats want to run nationalized health care. As Glenn Reynolds of www.instapundit.com comments:

"BUT DON’T WORRY, THEY’LL DO FINE WITH HEALTHCARE”

Our government can't even run the Post Office so as to break even (Of course FedEx/UPS are obviously absolute faillures), keep Medicare/Medicaid on budget, or make the VA at all efficient. But don't worry, they'll do just fine with health care.

Atty Gen Eric Holder's Civil Rights Nominee, Thomas Perez

Thomas Perez is the "career" attorney (from the Office of Professional Responsibility) who recommended to the present Attorney General, to dismiss the case against the New Black Panther Party's voter intimidation case. This despite the simple fact that there is undeniable evidence both video and eye witness, that the member of the NBPP indeed force white voters away from the polls in last November's election.

Via nationalreview.com
Former Justice Dep attorney Hans von Spakovsky explains:

Given the nature of the personnel who populate OPR, there is good reason to doubt that a real investigation will occur. Many of the career lawyers at OPR are as liberal and partisan as the lawyers who work in the Civil Rights Division. The report they issued in conjunction with the inspector general on supposed “political” hiring in the division was chock full of bias, inaccuracies, gross exaggerations, and deliberate misrepresentations of both facts and the law. Not only was the OPR attorney assigned to that investigation a liberal former Civil Rights Division lawyer, but the (now former) head of OPR who orchestrated this agitprop, Marshall Jarrett, was rewarded by Eric Holder when he became attorney general: Jarrett was made head of the Executive Office for United States Attorneys, a plum post that usually goes to a political appointee.

So who has the new head of OPR assigned to “investigate” the Civil Rights Division’s improper dismissal of this case? According to the letter she sent over to Congressman Smith, it is a career lawyer named Mary Aubry. Despite her modest government salary, Aubry contributed $3,850 to Obama’s campaign and victory fund, not to mention the $2,500 she has given to the DNC or the $1,000 she gave to Hillary Clinton. So a woman who has given $7,350(!) to the current president and other Democrats is going to be the chief investigator tasked with determining whether the president’s political appointees at Justice (such as Associate Attorney General Tom Perrelli) acted unprofessionally when they dismissed this case. Perhaps we will all be pleasantly surprised; but given that politics has driven almost every recent action by Justice, I doubt it.

I hope the the Republicans in the Senate will block this appointment until the NBPP case is reopened and those individuals who were indicted are prosecuted fully for their crimes.

Is the Tea Party Movement the Start of a New Party?

Our "elite political leaders" in both parties, in my opinion, have completely lost touch with what the base of either party wants...But both the Dem and Repub leadership have been captured by the "inside the beltway" mentality that they just can't see what is going on in the rest of the country. Nor, I think, do they care. After all, they know what's best for us...

The core of the Tea Partiers is made up mostly of moderate Republicans as well as moderate and conservative Democrats. That's why, I believe, the town halls shocked so many politicians in WashDC. They never expected such a movement to spring up all on it's own as a genuine grass roots movement. I think that it will in the end, splinter the GOP with half joining the Tea Party and the other half of the GOP, the social/religious conservatives will remain within the party...not as a regional party, but a much reduced party.

The Democratic Party under the leadership of Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and Barack Obama, has moved far, far to the left of where it was even 15 years ago. Mr. Obama ran for president as a pragmatic moderate, but once elected handed voters the most stunning bait and switch in American political history. His massive expansion of government power in which he has taken over much of the banking industry, G(overnment)M & Chrysler, and now is attempting to sieze another 1/6th of the economy, all in the space of 9 months, has scared the hell out of many of that parties more moderate and conservative members.

On the other hand, the Tea Party, will, I believe, capture most moderate independents, as well as many moderate and conservative Democrats, who are becoming disenchanted with the radicalization of their party. Additionally, they will pick up the splintered moderate wing of the GOP who are comfortable with some social spending, as long as government doesn't grow beyond their "acceptable limits". This may in fact be the birth of a new party/movement.

Only time will tell, but I suspect this model may be the one that is in motion. mainly because the Tea Party movement has fiercely resisted being taken over by local & national GOP politicians. Then, we will have basically three parties, on of far left socialists (Democrats), a moderate/centrist party (Tea party) and a conservative party (GOP).

Heh!

Did Bill Ayers, Terrorist, Write "Dreams From My Fathers"?

Many people were skeptical of Barack Obama’s political resume before the late presidential campaign began, particularly his (often denied) relationship with Bill Ayers (a founding member of the terrorist group, the Weathermen), will be shocked by Jack Cashill’s newest revelation. Cashill, has a Ph.D. in American Studies from Purdue University and writes a blog at American Thinker.

So, Cashill, a relatively unknown writer, who was nearly alone in his belief that Mr. Obama didn't actually write "Dreams From My Fathers". Then, Cashill grabbed a copy of the new bestseller by Christopher Andersen’s "Barack and Michelle:Portrait of an American Marriage". What he discovered floored him. Andersen writes that after Obama finally got a contract to write a book, his wife suggested that he get advice “from his friend and Hyde Park neighbor Bill Ayers.”

Ron Radosh, of PJM writes that,

Obama had not as yet written anything. But he had taped interviews with family members. Andersen writes: “These oral histories, along with a partial manuscript and a truckload of notes, were given to Ayers.” Look over those words. A man Obama said before the campaign — after conservative pundits continually raised the issue that he was friends with an “unrepentant terrorist” — that he knew only in passing as someone in the neighborhood. He was simply an acquaintance — not someone he had any real friendship or relationship with. Yet Obama evidently gave Ayers his notes, tapes, and the small amount that he had already written.

On the latter point, Andersen also writes, quoting a Hyde Park neighbor of Obama: “Everyone knew they were friends and that they worked on various projects together. It was no secret. Why would it be? People liked them both.” Why should it be secret? We know the answer to that. Obama was denying this relationship, as well as suggesting it was not true they worked on projects together. Everything that was ferreted out at the time that proved this was hardly likely was simply ignored by the MSM.

Finally, Christopher Andersen concludes: “In the end, Ayers’s contribution to Barack’s Dreams From My Father would be significant — so much so that the book’s language, oddly specific references, literary devices, and themes would bear a jarring similarity to Ayers’s own writing.”

Mr. Radosh' biggest point though is,

Let me make the point as sharply as possible. A book about the relationship of the first couple, their history together, and their road to the presidency makes the point in passing that is precisely the same as that made by Jack Cashill. Most reviewers, and readers, will probably read this in passing and go on. As far as I know, no reviewers to date seemed to have noticed this. All they seem to have noticed is the one quote from Michelle Obama to her husband when he was considering whether to put Hillary Clinton on the ticket: “Do you really want Bill and Hillary just down the hall from you in the White House?” And since the reviews of the book have not been particularly good, it might disappear from the public’s notice fairly soon.

That's the crux, we have a president who has continually denied being friends with a radical terrorist. In whose living room he launched his political career, all the while the Major Media has continually shielded from criticism. Who is at fault here? The Media for not just giving Mr. Obama a pass, but actively shielding him from any criticism whatsoever. After all, you must be a racist if you oppose Mr. Obama...

Illegal Aliens, Amnesty or Prosecution/Deportation?

Now there's a question. Should we continue to allow 15-20 million people to live here against the laws of the land. After all, they literally broke the law to come here. Continuing to live and work here breaks further laws. Should we grant them amnesty, nearly 20 years after the "final" deal on illegal immigration was passed?

Or, should we, in the throws of a deep economic down-turn (perish the thought of calling it a depression, despite the fact that it will, at best guess, last several years) when there are huge numbers of American citizens and LEGAL residents who are out of work, still permit businesses to hire these illegals. At worst guess, unemployment among legal residents is roughly 17 percent (depending upon which metric you use) or at best guess 10 percent.

Be that as it may...we cannot afford to permit business owner to continue to hire those who do not belong here. If, we as a country, begin too prosecute those who HIRE illegals, in very short order, those jobs will disappear. In Knoxville, TN, the local government began to revoke business licenses of those companies who were caught hiring illegal workers. In next to no time, there were very few illegals in the area. Hhmmm...there's a lesson there, if jobs for illegals go away...then so do the illegals. Also, in that area, the unemployment percentage is BELOW the national average.

So, what to do? Continue to permit illegals to bleed America, or deny them jobs that legal residents COULD be working at?

Everyone Denies NEA Supporting Obama Agenda

Everyone is denying that the NEA conference call last month was in support of the Obama administration agenda...but the facts speak for themselves:

However, prior inconsistencies matter. Buffy Wicks’{deputy Director of Public Engagement, the White House} clearly stated on the August 10th call:

“I’m at the Office of Public Engagement here at the White House… we work under Valerie Jarrett, she’s one of our fantastic leaders and Tina Tchen… I’m actually in the White House and working towards furthering this agenda, this very aggressive agenda… we need you, and we’re going to need your help, and we’re going to come at you with some specific asks here…”

Ms. Wicks closed:

“We need your guys’ help to promote this. We know that you all have channels and ability to get the message out far greater than we do here and the president’s put out the call… we know that you all are very powerful voices of change in your own right, and we’re looking to you for your help on that.”

How clear do you have to be to show that the Obama Adminsitration is attempting to get their propaganda message out and is using VERY creative ways in doing so. Ways that may in fact be illegal. On the other hand, getting Eric Holder, US AG, to actually prosecute ANYONE who isn't a Republican (i.e. The New Black Panther Party--Who are seen on film intimidating WHITE voters in Philadelphia, PA) is going to be nigh on impossible.

Time to End NEA Funding

The time has come to end all funding for NEA, PBS & NPR. If these organization can't operate without public funding then the time has come for them to be tossed on the dustbin of history.

I used to be a huge supporter of both NPR and PBS...but then in the early 1990's, their left/center stance...took a SHARP turn to the left. They just haven't leaned left, they have become far left in their reporting and editorials. Through 8 years of Mr. Bush's presidency, 90% of the stories aired on NPR and PBS were anti-administration.

On the other hand, since January 20th, 90%+ of their stories have been pro-Obama administration. This raises a concern, especially if the FCC reimposes the "fairness" doctrine...with that doctrine be imposed, not just on AM Talk Radio, but upon NPR/PBS as well? NOT!

Then there is the NEA...which has been shown to be, not just pro-Obama, but many of the organizations that participated in the NEA/Sargent/Buffy Wicks conference call, recently (in the past week) received millions of dollars in "stimulus" funds. This AFTER those organizations and began producing "art" in support of Obama Administration's agenda...

Therefore, I submit, that it's time to end public funding for the arts...in all facets. End the dole for Public Radio, Television and the Arts. If they cannot at least break even, then they obviously have no "business" being in the business of art.

NEA Commisar for Public Indoctrination Resigns

Yosi Sargent(now former) Communications Director for the NEA, and Buffy Wicks, Deputy Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement, led a conference call asking artist, actors and arts based organizations to produce propaganda supporting Obama Administration agenda. Sargent was "reassigned" a couple of weeks ago to "other duties". As recently as two days ago, chairman of the NEA, Rocco Landesman defended the conference call, saying it “was not a means to promote any legislative agenda and any suggestions to that end are simply false.”

However, reading a transcript of the call, literally, no other conclusion can be drawn. But, Mr. Sargent, has resigned from the NEA. No doubt, he, like Van Johnson, will obtain a VERY lucrative job in the private sector...or an NGO.

Obama Administration Targeting Oponents of Heath Insurance Reform

Via the Washinton Examiner, transcrips of a statement by Senator Mitch McConnell, R-KY:
"Yesterday afternoon I came to the floor to speak out against one of the tactics that supporters of the President's health care proposal have resorted to in recent days.

"It appears that a particular senator has encouraged the administration to use its powers to clamp down on an opponent of the administration's health care policy.

"What's more, the administration snapped to attention at the senator's request. It followed the senator's advice, and almost immediately the government clamped down on a private health care company in my home state that had been sharing its concerns about the administration's health care proposal with seniors on Medicare.

"Yesterday, we saw how legitimate those concerns were, when the director of the non-partisan independent Congressional Budget Office said that the administration's proposed Medicare cuts would indeed lead to significant cuts in benefits to seniors. Let me repeat that.

"First and foremost, this episode should be of serious concern to millions of seniors on Medicare who deserve to know what the government has in mind for their health care. But it should also frighten anyone who cherishes their First Amendment right to free speech -- whether in Louisville, Helena, San Francisco, or anywhere else.

"And it should concern anyone who's already worried about a government takeover of health care. Why? Because it seems that in order to advance its goals, the administration and its allies are now attacking citizen groups and stifling free speech.

"Let's review: at the instigation of the Chairman of the Finance Committee, the author of the health care legislation now working its way through Congress, the Executive Branch, through the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, has launched an investigation into Humana for explaining to seniors how this legislation might affect their coverage.

"One more time: a private health care provider told its elderly clients how health care legislation might affect their lives. And now the federal government is putting its full weight into investigating that company at the request of the senator who wrote the legislation in question.

"And we now find out that the concerns that this company was raising to its clients were perfectly legitimate, according to the director of the CBO.

"This is so clearly an outrage it's hard to believe anyone thought it would go unnoticed. For explaining to seniors how legislation might affect them, the federal government has now issued a gag order on that company, and any other company that communicates with clients on the issue, telling them to shut up -- or else.

"This is precisely the kind of thing Americans are worried about with the administration's health care plan. They're worried that handing government the reins over their health care will lead to just this kind of intimidation. They're worried that government agencies which were created to enforce violations even-handedly will instead be used against those who voice a different point of view.

"That's apparently what's happening here, and to many Americans, it's a preview of what's in store for everyone under the administration's health care plan.

"It's hard to imagine any justification for this. But if the people behind this latest effort believe they have some legal justification for shutting up a private company, then they need to explain themselves to the American people. More specifically, they need to explain to 11 million seniors on Medicare Advantage why they shouldn't be allowed to know how cuts to this program will affect their coverage.

"Yesterday my office called CMS to ask for the legal authority that would warrant them imposing an industry-wide gag order on an issue of public concern. We're still waiting for a response. So this morning, I'm asking the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to provide my office with its justification for telling a company it can't communicate with its seniors.

"Over the past several months, we've seen a pattern of intimidation by supporters of the administration's health care proposal -- including efforts to demonize serious-minded critics at town hall meetings across the country.

"Now we're seeing something even worse: the full power of the federal government being brought to bear on businesses by the very people writing the legislation.

"This was troubling enough in itself. It's even more troubling now that we're told that Humana was exactly right in what it was telling clients. Americans were already skeptical about the administration's plan. They should be even more skeptical now."

Link to Transcrips of NEA/Propaganda Ministry Artistic Call to Arms

Via Kausfiles...
http://www.slate.com/blogs/blogs/kausfiles/archive/2009/09/23/the-grants-of-others.aspx
The link is to the bighollywood.com file on the transcript for the NEA/Propaganda Ministry demand that those receiving grans from the NEA begin aggitating for nationalized health care insurance.
a) These were organizations that depend on the NEA for grants. It's not that they were explicitly asked by NEA and other government officials to support the president's policy agenda. It's that they were asked to vaguely but passionately get with the program by people who seemed to have an uncomfortably flimsy idea of the boundaries between promoting the President's public service plans and making art and community organizing ... and supporting the president's policy agenda. Maybe it's all one big activity--the president's "very aggressive agenda" at the national level, with "service" at the local level meaning being an "agent of change" and learning to "connect with ... progressive groups" (as White House official Buffy Wicks put it on the conference call). Praxis! Cue will.i.am. ...

b) I don't read the what's said on the conference transcript as an explicit call to support Obamacare (though several grantees did just that a few days later). It's a call to support the public service initiative. But what if you are a potential NEA grant applicant and you don't believe there should be a public service initiative? Maybe, like the late Jack Kemp, you think it's a waste of talent. That particular political conviction is apparently officially inconceivable. If you share it, don't expect a fat grant anytime soon. Robert Heinlein interpreters hoping to stage a community theater production of Stranger in A Strange Land: The Musical are advised to look elsewhere.

c) It's obviously not just the fault of the one NEA official who participated in the call and has now been relieved of his assignment, but rather a problem in the culture of the incoming Obamaites--at least the incoming Obamaites who are sufficiently low-level and unwonkish to be assigned to the NEA. Maybe Landesman should order a viewing of The Lives of Others to underscore to them what (in admittedly extreme form) people who worry about politicizing funding for the arts are worried about.

d) Sure, the meeting tarnished the NEA but it also tarnished Obama's public service initiative, which now looks like it's being propped up by subtly coerced participation from government grantees, and steered into being an "agent of change" for "progressive" causes. I await the strongly-worded denunciation from prominent fellow national service supporters like Newsweek's Jon Meacham.

e) Who is this "former NEA Director of Communications" that Landesman keeps referring to? Does he have a name? Is he an un-person? Are they airbrushing him out of group photos? Is his name an unpronounceable symbol, like Prince's? Landesman has only been on the job a few days and he's sounding East German already.

Instapundit's Poll

Glenn Reynolds put out an expanded/updated poll, with twice as many choices as before and STILL Sarah Palin is far in the lead with nearly 10,000 votes cast so far...

Who would you most favor as GOP nominee in 2012?

Selection Votes
Bob Corker 3% 267
Mitch Daniels 4% 396
Mike Huckabee 2% 146
Bobby Jindal 8% 815
Sarah Palin 31% 2,988
Ron Paul 4% 357
Tim Pawlenty 11% 1,018
Mike Pence 2% 201
David Petraeus 16% 1,504
Mitt Romney 15% 1,426
Other 5% 474

9,592 votes total
.
Sarah has just about twice as many votes as anyone else...yet the National Party still ignores her...at their peril.

Just Wait Until Major Media Gets a Hold of This Story

Via AP:

MANCHESTER, Ky. — When Bill Sparkman told retired trooper Gilbert Acciardo that he was going door-to-door collecting census data in rural Kentucky, the former cop drawing on years of experience warned: "Be careful."

The 51-year-old Sparkman was found hanged from a tree near a Kentucky cemetery and had the word "fed" scrawled on his chest, a law enforcement official said Wednesday, and the FBI is investigating whether he was a victim of anti-government sentiment.

Manchester, the main hub of the southeastern Kentucky county, is an exit off the highway, with a Walmart, a few hotels, chain restaurants and a couple gas stations. The drive away from town and toward the area Sparkman's body was found is decidedly different, through the forest with no streetlights on winding roads, up and down steep hills and sparsely populated.

Now you know that the liberal media is going to paint this as a Tea Party member run amok. After all, we're all violent (Nancy Pelosi) racists (Jimmy Carter) who are just looking to murder anyone connected with the Federal goverment. But then, eastern Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia, western Virginia, North Carolina have always been something "anti-governement" about them. In my opinion, it stems from the "revenooer" period of Prohibition, when many mountaineers distilled moonshine whiskey to sell to the lowlanders. I do hope that the indivual(s) who did this heinous crime are caught and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. We cannot as a country allow murder or intimidation to go unpunished. (It's a shame Eric Holder doesn't understand this--he WON'T prosecute the New Black Panther's in Philadelphia)

Chavez Admirers in this Administration

We have now, a FCC "Diversity Czar" who firmly admires Hugo Chavez. So much that he has said publicly his admmiration. Mr. Lloyd praised Mr. Chavez while attending a June 2008 conference on media reform, saying the dictatorial Venezuelan President For Life had led "really an incredible revolution - a democratic revolution."

In a video clip of the conference...Mr. Lloyd seems be siding with the anti-American leader against independent media outlets in his own country, some of which supported a short-lived coup against Mr. Chavez in 2002.

"The property owners and the folks who then controlled the media in Venezuela rebelled - worked, frankly, with folks here in the U.S. government - worked to oust him," Mr. Lloyd said. "But he came back with another revolution, and then Chavez began to take very seriously the media in his country."

Mr. Chavez has in fact closed the country's oldest television network, RCTV, off the by refusing to renew its license. He replaced it with a state-run station that showes only cartoons and old movies despite tens of thousands of protesters who marched in the streets against the shutdown. His government has also threatened to shut down Globovision, one of two remaining television channels that are left to criticize Mr. Chavez.

And this is what Mr. Obama and his loyal minions are attempting to do. Shut down opposition to their plans to create America into an image of socialist eastern Europe of the 1950-90's. But the thing is, where are all those worker's paradise's now? What happened to the Deutche Demokratic Republik? Polska Rzeczpospolita Ludowa (People's Republic of Poland)? Hungarian Soviet Republic? Republica Socialistă România¹ (Socialist Republic of Romania)? What political systems do these countries use now? Where are the groups that controlled them? Simply put, the people threw them out and inn some cases (Romania) executed them for the crimes they committed under their regimes.

Is this what we want in America? I sure as hell don't. I hope that America will wake up before we have a goverment in power that controls our daily lives to the extent that those evil regimes controlled the people there.

Transcripts from NEA/Propaganda Conference Call

Hit the title link for some frightening transcripts from the NEA conference call. The National Endowment for the Arts denies initiating, or even participating in politically based phone conference last month. But if you scroll down and actually read the transcript of what was said, and by whom, you'll get a better picture of what this administration is trying to do.

They want to mobilize the arts to push this adminsitration's agenda. This is what totalitarian societies do. To quote Roger Kimball, of pajamasmedia.com/rogerkimball,

“There is a German word for what we are witnessing at the NEA and elsewhere in the Obama administration’s effort to push its agenda. It is Gleichschaltung. It means two things: first, bringing all aspects of life into conformity with a given political line. And second, as a prerequisite for realizing that goal, the obliteration or at least marginalization of all opposition.”

Do we as a country want a department that produces propaganda at the behest of the ruling regime? Do we want a country that marches in lockstep just like the NAZI's and Soviet Union did? Is this the direction we want this country to go?

Should Lawmaker's Actually Read the Bills they Vote On?

This is from the volokhconspiracy.com, and posted by David Post.

Should Lawmakers, Um, Read the Laws They're Voting On?: Sounds like something you'd ask in a third-grade civics class. But an odd editorial in today's Washington Post, takes to task "a group of well-meaning professional activists — and, so far, over nearly 60,000 online petitioners" who have demanded that members of Congress sign a pledge "never to vote on any bill unless they have read every word of it.". . . At some point, it's fine for members of Congress to rely on expert staff members."...But I know that there are plenty of people who agree with what the editorial is saying, and who think that there's no point in demanding the impossible.

I'm not a fool - I know full well that not a single member of Congress read every word of, say, the 1,427-page Waxman-Markley energy bill. But I think we give up something valuable if we accept that as acceptable behavior. I guess it didn't occur to the editorialists at the Post that if members of Congress actually tried to live up to this most basic obligation, that 1,427-page long bills would no longer be introduced, which would surely, all other things being equal, be a good thing for the Republic.

Glenn Reynolds of instapundit comments "That's not a bug, that's a feature." I agree, if Congress spent more time actually THINKING about what they are inflicting upon the country, they'd spend far less time actually doing it. Perhaps if we, as a country actually required our elected representatives to actually read what they are enacting BEFORE it's voted on, as well as well as providing public access to every single bill presented before Congress, we might have far more sanity in our government. That's something that's been sadly lacking over the past twenty years.

Worried About the National Debt?

Via Instapundit.com:

Simple charts vividly demonstrate the immensity of the exploding debt problem now faced by the United States. The large expansion of debt in World War II looks like a small blip compared to what's coming if we do not change policy. Click here to see the charts I used to compare U.S. debt history with CBO projections in my Economics lectures at Stanford today. The source is the spreadsheet for CBO's alternative fiscal scenario in its June Long-Term Budget Outlook.

If our Congress keeps spending at the rate they are now...we'll run out of money in 40 years. That's our grand children's time. Can we afford this any more?

VOTE THE BUMS OUT! All of them, regardless of party. It's time for a clean slate in Congress. It'll take 6 more years to clean out the Senate, but we can get rid of the House, next year!

Was there a Secret Deal w/Drug Companies?

Did the Obama Administration make a secret deal with pharmaceutical companies for advertising FOR a health insurance takeover by the government? This video seems to say just that. Senator Tom Carper (D Del) seems to be saying that the government is welshing on their agreement to provide pro-health insurance advertising as part of an agreement with the government.

I'll tell you — if someone negotiated a deal with me and I agreed to put up say, 80 dollars or 80 million dollars or 80 billion dollars and then you came back and said to me a couple of weeks later — no no, I know you agreed to do 80 billion and I know you were willing to help support through an advertising campaign this particular — not even this particular bill, just the idea of generic health care reform? No, we're going to double — we're going to double what you agreed in those negotiations to do. That's not the way — that's not what I consider treating people the way I'd want to be treated

I thought this sort of thing was illegal. Of course, getting Holder to prosecute any one is impossible. If its not illegal, at the very least it's unethical. But then, when did ANY Chicago politician ever let ethics get in the way of anything. After all, in Chicago, the ends justify the means.

via National Review

An Instapundit.com Poll, Who Would You Prefer as GOP Nominee in 2012?

Who would you most favor as GOP nominee in 2012?

Selection Votes
Mike Huckabee 3% 252
Sarah Palin 40% 3,910
Condi Rice 17% 1,634
Mitt Romney 21% 2,114
Bob Corker 6% 551
Other 14% 1,426

9,887 votes total
pollcode.com free polls

I'd say the results speak for themselves. The GOP leadership has gone far astray from what the rank and file would like to see done. They've become, in and of themselves, the party of expediency...not the GOP. This follows from my post below about three women we in the "grass roots" would like to see become de facto leaders of our party, and not be ignored by our "elite leaders".

A Relative Thing

The above picture is of MajGen George Pickett, CSA. my wife thinks I strongly resemble him...I don't, but you decide, below is me taken via my laptop camera. You decide.

Comments please...

Coolest Pickup Ever

This has to be the coolest pick up truck ever devised. It's a SportChassis P4 for Oakley, and can haul 30,000 lbs of trailer. I'm not a redneck but damn, this is a cool pickup. I mean if you have $150,000.00 or so to blow on a truck why not get the very biggest one?

SPECS:
Base Model M2 106 SportChassis
Engine CUMMINS ISC-330 8.3L 330 HP@2000 RPM; 2200 GOV, 1000 LB/FT @ 1400 RPM
Exterior Foot Print 118" from base of wheels to top of air horn
99" wide from door to door, not including mirrors
264" from grill to bumper
Brake System Air Brake Package
WABCO 4S/4M Anti-Lock Brake System
Tires MICHELIN XD2 255/70R22.5 16 Ply Radial Front Tires
MICHELIN XD2 255/70R22.5 16 Ply Radial Rear Tires
Wheels F/L Domed Turbo 22.5X8.25 10-HUB PILOT Aluminium Front Wheels
F/L Domed Turbo 22.5X8.25 10-HUB PILOT Aluminium Rear Wheels
Cab Exterior 154" BBC High-Roof Aluninium Conventional Crew Cab
Air Cab Mounts
Single 11" Round Air Horn Mounted Under Cab
Dual Bright Heated West Coast Mirrors with LH/RH Remote

Obama Has Close Ties to ACORN

ABC was the only news organization that interviewed President Obama a Sunday news show that bothered to ask him about Acorn, a left-wing community organizing group whose federal funding was cut off last week by both the House and Senate.

John Fund, of the Wall Street Journal writes,

‘Frankly, it's not something I've followed closely," Mr. Obama claimed, adding he wasn't even aware the group had been the recipient of significant federal funding. "This is not the biggest issue facing the country. It's not something I'm paying a lot of attention to," he said

“Mr. Obama added that an investigation of Acorn was appropriate after an amateur hidden-camera investigation had found Acorn offices willing to abet prostitution, but he carefully declined to say whether he would approve a federal cutoff of funds to the group,” Fund writes.

“Mr. Obama took great pains to act as if he barely knew about Acorn. In fact, his association goes back almost 20 years. In 1991, he took time off from his law firm to run a voter-registration drive for Project Vote, an Acorn partner that was soon fully absorbed under the Acorn umbrella. The drive registered 135,000 voters and was considered a major factor in the upset victory of Democrat Carol Moseley Braun over incumbent Democratic Senator Alan Dixon in the 1992 Democratic Senate primary.”

“Mr. Obama's success made him a hot commodity on the community organizing circuit. He became a top trainer at Acorn's Chicago conferences. In 1995, he became Acorn's attorney, participating in a landmark case to force the state of Illinois to implement the federal Motor Voter Law. That law's loose voter registration requirements would later be exploited by Acorn employees in an effort to flood voter rolls with fake names.”

As he has often in the past, Mr. Obama obfuscates his ties with yet another group/individual who has become a liability. He has been actively assisted by the media, who have refused to vet any of his appointees, or his associates/associations.

First there was Reverend Wright, who was thrown under the bus for his incindiary comments. Mr. Obama at first stood by him, but once it became clear that Wright would threaten his winning the Democratic Primary, he was tossed under the bus.

Most recently, it's been Van Johnson, a self avowed communist who signed the "truther" petition. Once it became clear this was becoming a major story, he was tossed under the bus, but only before it would become a "news" story since major media outlets refused to cover it. Most major media outlets only reported on the story AFTER he resigned, then only in passing.

Now, it's ACORN. A criminal enterprise the mascerades as an organization of community activists. If a conservative organization were actively advise someone to do what ACORN has been exposed doing (starting a bordello) do you think major media would give them a pass on national reporting? I think not.

Is Iran in the Throws of a Revolution?

Via Neoneocon...An article by Michael Ledeen in,
http://pajamasmedia.com/michaelledeen/2009/09/21/the-death-spiral-of-the-islamic-republic-iii/

When a tyrannical regime dies, you can see the symptoms in the little things. Late Friday afternoon, after millions (yes, millions–this according to Le Monde, France 2, and L’Express, with the BBC saying that the demonstrations were bigger than those at the time of the Revolution) of Greens mobbed the streets and squares of more than thirty towns and cities to call for the end of the regime, there was a soccer game in Azadi Stadium in Tehran. It holds about a hundred thousand fans, and it was full of men wearing green and carrying green balloons. When state-run tv saw what was happening, the color was drained from the broadcast, and viewers saw the game in black and white. And when the fans began to chant “Death to the Dictator,” “Death to Russia,” and “Death to Putin, Chavez and Nasrallah, enemies of Iran,” the sound was shut off. So the game turned into a silent movie.

But the censors forgot about the radio, and the microphones stayed open, so that millions of listeners could hear the sounds of the revolution. And in Azadi Stadium, as in most parts of the country, the security officers either walked away or joined the party…

Look at what didn’t happen in the streets last Friday. Not a shot was fired at the millions of demonstrators in Tehran. There are YouTubes of police fraternizing with the Greens. There are stories of Revolutionary Guardsmen helping the demonstrators, and even the Basij didn’t dare to attack or arrest, with a handful of exceptions (one of which is notable: in Tabriz, if I remember correctly, they started to round up some people, and the crowd turned on them, freed the would-be victims, and beat the Basijis to death).

If this account is correct, then within the year, the Islamic Republic of Iran, in it's present form will cease to exist. This would be a boon to the world, especially if the new regime ends support to groups like Hizb'Allah and Hamas, as well as their support of islamic terrorists in Afghanistan and Africa. Khamenei and Ahmadinejad, as well as the rest of the top leadership in Tehran, are all dead men walking. But the fact that Mr. Obama has chosen to open "a dialog" with Khamenei/Ahmadinejad, as well as European attempts to secure oil/gas revenue will be to quote Mr. Ledeen,

As so often, Martin Luther King Jr. summed it up perfectly: “In the end we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”

Republican Leadership Has Lost Touch With the Base

After talking with many people who make up the base of the Republican party, I have come to the conclusion that our "elite" leadership (those in Congress & as well as the RNC) have lost touch with those of us at the "grass roots" level. Our leadership has come to the conclusion that a woman (regardless of ethnic background) can't be elected to high office in this country.

Witness the marginalization of former Alaska Governor, Sarah Palin. She has been completely sidelined by the national party, and pretty much ignored. This despite the huge numbers of people who came to hear her talk during the past election cycle. Her poll numbers haven't really wavered, all the while our "leaders" have treated her with disdain. I don't believe that she will run in the 2012 election cycle, however, I strongly suspect that she building a national network, much as Ronald Reagan did in the late 1960's and early mid '70's. That network led to his election in 1980 by a comfortable margin.

In fact, Mrs. Palin has been instramental in helping to derail Mr. Obama's and an irrisponsible Democratic lead Congress' misguided attempts to sieze control of the health insurance industry in this country. This while the Republican Congressional leadership, Mr. Boehner & Mr. McConnell, flails around aimlessly. They, in Congress, are the root of the problem and certainly not the cure. The Republican's feckless spending in the early mid-part of this decade led to the loss of our majority in Congress.

Another potention leader who is very well thought of, but has also been cast into the outer darkness is Condaleeza Rice, Mr. Bush's Secretary of State. An excellent article in Forbes, she is described as,
(http://money.cnn.com/2009/09/21/news/economy/condoleezza_rice_gop.fortune/)

"She's smart. She's experienced. She's worldly. Republican strategists worried about their party's future should take heed."

Rice is mostly known as George W. Bush's Secretary of State. But she is also a concert pianist who once dueled with Yo-Yo Ma and played solo for the Queen of England; a Russian scholar and football fanatic who once listed NFL commissioner as her dream job; a black woman who grew up in the segregated South and is now something of a rock star among the 'tween girl set. (She plans to edit a version of her book about her parents for young girls.)

In other words, her appeal is broad. Onstage, Rice sounds alarms about the threat of terrorism while still sounding reasonable. She offers compassion for women in oppressive societies while hard-headedly tying their plight to America's national security. "I think that societies that treat women badly are dangerous societies," she insists.

Yet another woman of substance who is a member of our party is Margaret Cushing "Meg" Whitman , who as of this writing is planning a for the Governoship of California. Ms. Whitman, was very successful as CEO of Ebay and has the sort of background that is sadly lacking in Congress: she has an understanding of business and economics that the vast majority of Congress lacks.

If we, as a party, truly desire to show that we, as a party are the genuine leaders in equality, we must allow these more than able women to become part of the leadership of our party. All three are literally the embodiment of the feminist ideal. Mrs. Palin is successful in every metric that the "liberal left" uses to measure a true feminist (hence their extreme hatred to her--a family life and successful career), who yet repudiates their liberal attitudes. Ms. Rice is much the same, she is of African descent, yet has chosen the Republican party as representative of her views on life. And Ms. Whitman has had a more than successful career in business and has chosen to run for high public office. By ignoring these women, our leadership has chosen a path of slow destruction.

UPDATE: In a Brainfart, I mistakenly identified the Republican leader of the Senate as Mitchell, oops...Its Mitch McConnell...fixed now

Mr. Obama Lied, Wilson Was Right

The president during his appearance on an ABC News program Sunday morning, talked at length about his proposal to require everyone in this country to obtain health insurance that meets government approval:

For us to say that you've got to take a responsibility to get health insurance is absolutely not a tax increase. What it's saying is...that we're not going to have other people carrying your burdens for you anymore. Right now everybody in America, just about, has to get auto insurance,. Nobody considers that a tax increase. You just can't make up that language and decide that that's called a tax increase.

According to the Associated Press, the largest U.S. news-gathering organization and one of the world's leading suppliers of news, this is B**l Sh*t.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Memo to President Barack Obama: It's a tax. Obama insisted this weekend on national television that requiring people to carry health insurance -- and fining them if they don't -- isn't the same thing as a tax increase. But the language of Democratic bills to revamp the nation's health care system doesn't quibble. Both the House bill and the Senate Finance Committee proposal clearly state that the fines would be a tax.

As Chris Reed of Reason Magazine says,

This is the civil version of Joe Wilson's rant. We need more such civility, starting next with the president's claim that under his proposal those who are happy with their current health insurance would be able to retain it as is. Bunk.

So, Mr. Obama, a tax is a tax when CONGRESS SAYS IT IS, not when you say it ain't.

UPDATE: Via Roger L. Simon, an excellent brief article,
http://pajamasmedia.com/rogerlsimon/2009/09/20/stephanopoulos-and-acorn-obama-lies-again/