You Know how I Admire Victor Davis Hanson

In fact I admire him so much I am not even going to quote here... I want you to read it all for yourself. This man is very wise. His latest:
What We Are Learning About the Era of Obama
Now, click on it and go read it.

Wack-a-Mole

Jules Crittenden had this in his blog yesterday, but I didn't get it put up. A very interesting article.

Double Reverse Wack-A-Mole

It’s the latest in Democratic strategic thinking. Sen. Russ Feingold in the Wall Street Journal. Bear with me, because this is really complicated, and also doesn’t make any sense. But I think this is how it works.

Remember when the Dems said the Iraq war was bad, we needed to get out, because all we were doing was making al Qaeda stronger? That didn’t entirely turn out to be true, but they wanted us to stop wacking the mole in Iraq and go wack it in Afghanistan, where the mole had been keeping its head down.

OK, we wacked the daylights out of the al Qaeda mole in Iraq instead, which the locals really appreciated, because they had had it with the AQ mole at that point. Then, because the mole was popping up again in Afghanistan, we ramped up mole-wacking operations over there … with new, improved rubber mallet wielding tachniques, thanks to our mole-wacking experience in Iraq. At the same time, we applied increasing pressure on the Paks to wack the mole on their side of the arcade.

Feingold explains that wacking the mole in Afghanistan will just make it pop up even more in the Paks’ tippy nuclear-armed wack-a-mole machine. This is actually convenient in terms of long-term Democratic strategy, to set aside the wack-a-mole analogy for a minute and speak plainly, because if you don’t have troops on the ground in a place, Pakistan for example, then you don’t have to withdraw them. It makes abandonment a lot easier.

Go to Jules Crittendem.com to read the rest of his post, then click on over to the Wall Street Journal to read the article by Russ Feingold.

Senator Dodd on Obama

I didn't see this on television, I read it on Politico.
Dodd says Obama needs to 'step up'

Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) says President Barack Obama needs to "step up" and give Congress more of a framework to work with on health care reform. "I think the president's got to decide," Dodd said Sunday, "to step up and really frame this again for us." Speaking in an interview on NBC's "Meet the Press," Dodd said Kennedy's death should inspire senators to turn down the temperature and partisanship as they take on legislative battles, including health care and climate change, this fall. "If you want to honor Teddy's memory," Dodd said, "start acting like senators again."

I'm not one to laud Mr. Dodd but this is the truth, they do need to start acting like senators and not Democratic Party shills for Obamacare.

Fake, But Accurate - Now More Fakery

Traditional Tibby sent this link on Thursday, but I didn't read it till today. And, I saw Bernard Goldberg on a talk show telling about this, but didn't post it. Today I realized it needed to be posted.

It is disgraceful - Mary Mapes and everybody in charge, knew that George W. Bush volunteered to go to Viet Nam as a pilot during his Air National Guard duty in Texas. They knew but hated him to such a degree they trumped up false documents to accuse him of cowardice, just weeks before the national election! And everybody in the press knew after the investigative report of CBS came out!!! How many times can one say "Disgraceful!"

Read the blog here: http://vivianlouise.wordpress.com/

Kennedy and the USSR

There have been several news items of Ted Kennedy's note to the President of the USSR Yuri Andropov in 1983. A note turned up in the archives in 1991. It is treated in Commentary Magazine Aug. 30th by James Kirchick. You can read it there. Ted Kennedy wanted to defeat President Reagan by the KGB man’s description:

“to arm Soviet officials with explanations regarding problems of nuclear disarmament so they may be better prepared and more convincing during appearances in the U.S.A.” In return, Kennedy would broker a series of television interviews with Andropov on the major American networks.

He goes on to say:

Even if the motive for Kennedy’s freelance diplomacy had been solely his sincere displeasure with the policies of the Reagan administration, his action would have been ethically improper. But the memo indicates that what primarily drove Kennedy was not disagreement with the administration — which, according to the Constitution, is charged with directing foreign policy — but political ambition:
“Tunney remarked that the senator wants to run for president in 1988,” the memorandum continued. “Kennedy does not discount that during the 1984 campaign, the Democratic Party may officially turn to him to lead the fight against the Republicans and elect their candidate president.”

The American Thinker has an article on the same note from the archives. Both are excellent articles and you will want to read both. Paul Kengor writes:

Shortly after the announcement of Ted Kennedy's death, I had already received several interview requests. I declined them, not wanting to be uncharitable to the man upon his death. Since then, I've seen the need to step up and provide some clarification.

The issue is a remarkable 1983 KGB document on Kennedy, which I published in my 2006 book, The Crusader: Ronald Reagan and the Fall of Communism (HarperCollins). The document is a May 14, 1983 memo from KGB head Victor Chebrikov to his boss, the odious Soviet General Secretary Yuri Andropov, designated with the highest classification. It concerns a confidential offer to the Soviet leadership by Senator Kennedy. The target: President Ronald Reagan. (A pdf file of the original Russian language document and an English translation is available here.)

With Kennedy's death, this stunning revelation is again making the rounds, especially after Rush Limbaugh flagged it in his "Stack of Stuff." I'm being inundated with emails, asking basically two questions: 1) is the document legitimate; and 2) what does it allege of Senator Kennedy?

First off, yes, the document is legitimate. If it were not, I would have never reported it. Over the years, from my book to radio and web interviews, I've provided specifics. Briefly summarized, here are the basics:

The document was first reported in a February 2, 1992 article in the London Times, titled, "Teddy, the KGB and the top secret file," by reporter Tim Sebastian. Russian President Boris Yeltsin had opened the Soviet archives. Sebastian discovered the document in the Central Committee archives specifically. When his article appeared in the Times, other on-site researchers dashed to the archives and grabbed their own copy. Those archives have been resealed.

The Times merely quoted the document and ran a tiny photo of its heading. Once I got ahold of it later, I published the entire text (English translation) in my book.

These are long, detailed articles. I am glad they are getting some play. Read them both

A Heartwarming Story of An Abandoned Baby

I didn't intend to post a story of this type, but this is just so great. Maybe these baby and birthing posts have to do with the fact that my own first great grand child will be born soon.

This is from the AZ Central website of the Arizona Republic.
Reyes readies for college 18 years after abandonment
by Richard Ruelas

On the first day of her life, she was dumped in the trash.
Her story of abandonment helped create a state program that provides a safe alternative for unwanted newborns, a haven where scared mothers can drop off their babies.

But for Esperanza Reyes, that narrative was never her own. The young woman who started life as Baby Hope, a name given to her by hospital workers, did not know abandonment. She knew only familial love and acceptance.

The girl was about 3 hours old when paramedics found her May 7, 1991. It was trash day. Neighbors had stuck their barrels out along 30th Avenue in southwest Phoenix for curbside pickup, one of the few services this part of the city seemed to get. The sidewalks were dirt. There were no nearby parks. It appeared this clump of unkempt homes was left to fend for itself.

It was an unusually hot week for early May. The afternoon temperature would hit 99 degrees, but at 5 a.m., it was a comfortable 70 degrees.

Roy Grammer was on his way to his job as a carpenter for the city of Phoenix. As he pulled out of his driveway, he saw a man motioning frantically toward a barrel.

"I thought, 'I need to go over there,' " he said.

The baby was buried under 18 inches of trash but was crying loudly
enough to be heard.
Go read the entire story. via LaShawn Barber on Facebook

A Very Good Idea for September 11th

I got this in an email from a friend. Many of you probably did also, so just DO IT!

Subject: September 11

We have a little less than one month (less now) and counting to get the word out all across this great land and into every community in the United States of America.

If you forward this email to least 11 people and each of those people do the same .... you get the idea.

THE PROGRAM:
On Friday, September 11th, 2009, an American flag should be displayed outside every home, apartment, office, and store in the United States . Every individual should make it their duty to display an American flag on this eighth anniversary of one of our country's worst tragedies. We do this to honor those who lost their lives on 9/11, their families, friends and loved ones who continue to endure the pain, and those who today are fighting at home and abroad to preserve our cherished freedoms.

In the days, weeks and months following 9/11, our country was bathed in American flags as citizens mourned the incredible losses and stood shoulder-to-shoulder against terrorism. Sadly, those flags have all but disappeared. Our patriotism pulled us through some tough times and it shouldn't take another attack to galvanize us in solidarity. Our American flag is the fabric of our country and together we can prevail over terrorism of all kinds.

Action Plan:
Here's what we need you to do .
(1) Forward this email to everyone you know. Please don't be the one to break this chain. Take a moment to think back to how you felt on 9/11 and let those sentiments guide you.
(2) Fly an American flag of any size on 9/11. Honestly, Americans should fly the flag year-round, but if you don't, then at least make it a priority on this day.
Thank you for your participation. God Bless You and God Bless America !

NPR Covers the Tea Party Express

NPR reports:

Conservative political activists associated with the so-called "Tea Party" protests have started a cross-country bus convoy dubbed the Tea Party Express. They plan to stop in 33 cities.

Tea Party Express organizer Mark Williams, also a conservative talk show host, said there is a lot of dissatisfaction in the country right now focused on issues from health care reform to the national debt.

"We figured it's about time for somebody to run to the front of the parade and say, 'Follow me,' and to try and herd all these cats into a semi-coherent message," Williams said.

The Tea Party Express is scheduled to conclude Sept. 12 with a rally in Washington, D.C.

Go read it here. Listen to it there if you like.
And remember It will be in San Antonio Thursday, September 3rd, 11 a. m. Go here for details. (via Instapundit)

A Very Interesting Take on the President and his People

Neo-Neocon a very interesting blogger in her own right, has titled her post today
Lamaze class and Obama: the morning after .

This is what she says:

Whatever could the connection be between Lamaze class and President Obama?

When I was pregnant I went to Lamaze class to learn breathing and relaxation techniques that would help me during my delivery. I was a pretty good student. I practiced assiduously, and when my husband squeezed my hand (or whatever paltry exercise was supposed to simulate the pain of labor) I huffed and puffed right through it like a champ.

I made a tape of favorite music to soothe me between pains. I packed a little bag to take with me. In short, I was all prepared.

Except I wasn’t, as it turned out. Not at all. I don’t know about
others, but for me Lamaze class turned out to be something between a cruel joke and a cruel lie.

She goes on to equate labor as being very hard and quite a surprise, but nothing compared to what comes later for the next, 21 or so, years. I had a little chuckle at her analogy, but it is very good. Read it all.

Many of the Blogs are Reporting on the Rasmussen Reports

on the Low Approval Rating our Esteemed President

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Sunday shows that 32% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Forty-two percent (42%) Strongly Disapprove. That’s the highest level of Strong Disapproval yet recorded for this President and it gives Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -10 (see trends).

If Americans could vote to keep or replace the entire Congress, 57% would throw out all the legislators and start over again. Just 25% would vote to keep the Congress.

All in all, it seems maybe the American voters have woken up to what they have done to the country by electing a socialist leaning president.

On Kennedy, From the National Review Online

Champagne Socialism

Senator Edward Kennedy was, and will remain, an outstanding example of a champagne socialist. Sociologically speaking, the type has been well recognized for quite some time. Indeed, in Turgenev's great novel, Fathers and Sons, the hero Bazarov asks at one point if you can't drink champagne just because you call yourself a socialist. The French similarly talk about those who vote on the Left but dine on the Right. Such people are exploiting their privileged position in society to curry favor with those less privileged, and so find the way to continue being privileged while also being applauded for it. Clever, or what?

The obituaries for Edward Kennedy have been more or less unmitigated eulogies. The general inference is that he was an outstanding and constructive politician with vast achievements to his credit. At most, there is an apologetic little insertion somewhere of the word “flawed” as though that excused and explained his failure to become president. In simple fact, he owed everything in his career, especially his position in the Senate, to the fact that he had been born who he was, too well-connected and too rich ever to have to work his passage on his own. If this isn't privilege, what is? The years of good living and self-indulgence showed in his face, as once handsome features turned coarse and bloated. Physically, he could only waddle. As for morals, Chappaquiddick is only one incident among others when his behaviour proves him to have been a man of bad character....

He has enjoyed the sort of lifelong allowance that once would have been made for a corrupt eighteenth-century English duke. It is hard to believe that he was ever sincere in the populist causes he took up, declaiming about righting wrongs only to go home and commit plenty more wrongs of his own without having to account for them. That's champagne socialism for you, and it seems a taste everybody and anybody can get drunk on.

There is a little more at the Corner of the National Review, this is the gist of it.

If You are in San Antonio go to Whole Foods Market

Alamo City Pundit reports on a buycott to be held on Tuesday 9/o1:

Your Alamo City Pundit (hey — that’s me!) is calling for a “Buycott” of the San Antonio Whole Foods Market at the Quarry Market. A “Buycott” is a Reverse Boycott — bring your grocery money for the week, and a little more to support Whole Foods.

In keeping with the “Reverse Boycott” idea, Alamo City Pundit is requesting that we keep this as low key as possible. No demonstrations, no signs, no loud angry noises to cause problems for the staff at Whole Foods — leave that to the Liberal Leftoids. However, wear your Tea Party T-Shirts if you’ve got ‘em, or any other apparel supporting Whole Foods, the Constitution, or other similarly appropriate stuff. Let the staff quietly know you’re there, and that you support them. (Red, White, and Blue would be good).

You can read more about it at Alamo City Pundit.

Sometimes there is Good News

From the LA Times blogs there is this article by Tony Perry:
Marines will not seek to reinstate charges against top officer in Haditha killings

The Marine Corps has decided not to seek to reinstate criminal charges against a former battalion commander at Camp Pendleton for a 2005 incident in which his troops killed 24 civilians in Haditha, Iraq.

Instead, the Marine Corps will convene a Board of Inquiry to hear testimony and recommend whether Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani should be demoted to major for purposes of retirement.

Even if such a recommendation is made and then accepted by
the Secretary of the Navy, Chessani's retirement pay would still be based on being a lieutenant colonel.

The Marine Corps had sought to try Chessani for dereliction of duty for not ordering a war-crimes investigation when his Marines killed the 24, including three women and seven children. Chessani, who was not present when the killings occurred, reported to his superiors that the deaths, while tragic, were the result of fighting between Marines and insurgents.

Go to read the whole thing, sometimes good happens.

Gutting the CIA

This title from an article by Jack Kelly in the Toledo Blade. He says:

A BLOATED corpse remains, but life and spirit have left the CIA. A troubled agency that can ill afford it has had a very bad week. Attorney General Eric Holder - who before his confirmation hearings told senators he wouldn't - has appointed a special prosecutor to pursue CIA interrogators who discomforted al-Qaeda bigwigs to get them to talk.

The Senate Intelligence Committee has sided with the director of national intelligence in a dispute with the CIA over who should appoint the top U.S. intelligence officer in each foreign country. Currently, the top officers are CIA station chiefs.

The Obama Administration announced the President has approved the creation of a unit, which would report directly to the National Security Council, to interrogate high-level terror suspects.

The CIA's terrible week illustrates that CIA Director Leon Panetta has as little clout with the President as he has respect from his subordinates.

According to an ABC News report, Mr. Panetta engaged in a "profanity-laced screaming match" last month over the decision to make public the 2004 CIA Inspector General report on interrogations.

Mr. Panetta lost the respect of most of his troops when he told the House Intelligence Committee in June the CIA had concealed from it a secret program to assassinate al-Qaeda terrorists. This wasn't true, as Mr. Panetta learned when he belatedly talked to his predecessors. Congress was never briefed on the plan because it was never implemented.

There's speculation Mr. Panetta will resign in protest or be fired. It may not matter much. The CIA has not been central to intelligence for quite some time.

Read it all, it is sad for the country's security, but oh so true.

If you Are tired of the Kennedy Eulogies go read this

I do not want to demonize Ted Kennedy anymore than he personally did to himself, but I also am not inclined to idolize him because his last name is Kennedy. In this article Mark Steyn cuts to the chase. I'm not even going to give it more space than this. Go read it here if you want to see what he says.

Let's Not turn Loose of this Katrina crutch

I don't want to appear less than compassionate, but....
I lived in Louisiana for 30 years, I know the infrastructure there and how very political the happenings of Katrina were. And they just can't let it go. It was Bad Boosh's fault. I happen to know that the first responsible is the mayor, the second is the governor. Kathleen Blanco could not make a decision and federal help was delayed because of it. I'm writing a personal opinion on this because I saw this in this morning's Politico.

President Barack Obama, marking the fourth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, said in his weekly address that he will visit New Orleans later this year. The announcement comes after a front-page editorial in Thursday's New Orleans Times-Picayune, entitled "We're counting on you, Mr. President," called on Obama to visit and to make good on campaign promises for further federal help in fortifying and rebuilding the city.....

Obama said that strengthening storm infrastructure is a priority, adding an implicit repudiation of FEMA's performance under President Bush: "In Washington, that means a focus on competence and accountability – and I’m proud that my FEMA Administrator has 25 years of experience in disaster management in Florida, a state that has known its share of hurricanes."

Read it all at Politico.

The Wall Street Journal Tells us all about the Health Adviser to the President

Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, health adviser to President Barack Obama, is under scrutiny. As a bioethicist, he has written extensively about who should get medical care, who should decide, and whose life is worth saving. Dr. Emanuel is part of a school of thought that redefines a physician’s duty, insisting that it includes working for the greater good of society instead of focusing only on a patient’s needs. Many physicians find that view dangerous, and most Americans are likely to agree.

The health bills being pushed through Congress put important decisions in the hands of presidential appointees like Dr. Emanuel.
They will decide what insurance plans cover, how much leeway your doctor will have, and what seniors get under Medicare. Dr. Emanuel, brother of White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, has already been appointed to two key positions: health-policy adviser at the Office of Management and Budget and a member of the Federal Council on Comparative Effectiveness Research. He clearly will play a role guiding the White House's health initiative.

Read it all in the WSJ.

From the New York Times...
Some Catholic Bishops Assail Health Plan
by David D. Kirkpatrick

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has been lobbying for three decades for the federal government to provide universal health insurance, especially for the poor. Now, as President Obama tries to rally Roman Catholics and other religious voters around his proposals to do just that, a growing number of bishops are speaking out against it.

As recently as July, the bishops’ conference had largely embraced the president’s goals, although with the caveat that any health care overhaul avoid new federal financing of abortions. But in the last two weeks some leaders of the conference, like Cardinal Justin Rigali, have concluded that Democrats’ efforts to carve out abortion coverage are so inadequate that lawmakers should block the entire effort. (bold by ed.)

Others, echoing the popular alarms about “rationing,” contend that the proposals could put a premium on efficacy that could penalize the chronically ill.

Read the whole article.

A Little Irony going On Here- From Jessica's Well

Democrat Jim Moran asks for the ID of a town hall questioner
Honestly, you can't make this stuff up.
Democrats now require an ID to ask a question at a Town Hall.....but not to actually vote.

Consequences of Obamacare

by David Kopel in the Volokh Conspiracy
Economic projections of the consequences of Obamacare:

A brand-new Issue Paper from the Independence Institute features an analysis by Arthur Laffer on the national and Colorado consequences of Obama care, based on a one trillion dollar increase in health care subsidies over the next decade. These consequences include:

Overall, total federal expenditures will be 5.6 percent higher than otherwise by 2019, adding $285.6 billion to the federal deficit in 2019.

An increase in national health care expenditures by an additional 8.9 percent by 2019.An increase in medical price inflation by 5.2 percent above what it would have been otherwise by 2019.

Reduce U.S. economic growth in 2019 compared to the baseline scenario by 4.9 percent for the nation as a whole and 4.3 percent in Colorado.

Higher medical inflation and overall expenditures will ultimately lead to government expenditures that exceed the $1.0 trillion in expenditures on health subsidies. The net present value of all additional federal government
expenditures through 2019 that will occur as a result of a federal health care reform is $1.2 trillion, or a $3,900 bill for every man, woman, and child in the U.S.

Despite the additional $1 trillion in expected health care subsidies by the government, 30 million people would remain uninsured. The cost to reduce the number of uninsured by 16 million people is $62,500 in subsidy expenditures per person insured.

Be sure to read that Issue Paper, too.

Toyota is leaving California and sending even more business to Texas

This is how Alamo City Pundit Puts it:

GM Screws Thousands of CA Union Workers; San Antonio Picks Up the Slack

I’m sure you’re quite familiar with the story; GM (and Chrysler) goes hat in hand to the Federal government — Federal government nationalizes GM, fires CEO, restructures company, offers “Cash for Clunkers” to get people to buy cars from new Government Motors monstrosity . . .
However, somewhere along the way, the idiots restructuring GM an Chrysler – most of whom have never actually worked outside of government in their lives – forgot about the NUMMI plant in California where GM and Toyota make cars (and trucks) together.

And apparently, the Unions thought Toyota would just play along with the madness:

FREMONT, Calif. — Toyota Motor Corp. officially confirmed Thursday that it will relocate production of the Tacoma pickup from a plant in Northern California to its state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in San Antonio by next summer. As part of the plan to shift Tacoma production to San Antonio, Toyota will stop making vehicles at the New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. plant — its first manufacturing facility in the United States, which started in 1984 as a 50-50 business deal with General Motors — in March 2010.
Toyota’s decision to end its 25-year relationship with the NUMMI plant, which also produces the Corolla, came nearly two months after GM said it was pulling out of the joint venture.

Read here to see his theory on exactly what might have happened.

More from the American Thinker Blog:
Barack Obama doesn't care what you think
By Drew Brown

Don't believe me? Just pay attention to the next two weeks. The organization Barack Obama developed to get elected and still leads, Organizing for America, is attempting to hold pro-healthcare rallies throughout the country right before Congress reconvenes. Said another way, the president who swore to represent you is sending his promoters to tell you to support his agenda. Americans, Obama neither listens to you nor cares what you think.....

What I am concerned about, and warning everyone about, is the media machine that uses these organized events to broadcast the agenda. Framed differently, these activities aren't meant to convince attendees that healthcare is good; these activities are meant to manufacture the news, spread propaganda tropes, and over-inflate the image of the pro-socialized healthcare forces. PR stunts. The Obama modus operandi is to make his goons look bigger than they are. These
are the people who will make a group of twenty conservatives appear diminutive with a far-away camera angle, and then give individual interviews to all three liberal attendees. It's just like a real estate agent photographing a small house from the best angle. Organizing for America is an illusion. It is the Wizard of Oz.

The operating methods are predictable enough. Health Care for America Now is the other group involved, and they've enlisted union leaders to send their grunts along. You'll recognize Obama-style unionists when you see them; they are good at getting media attention; they're frequently loud, make for good angry mobs, and get bulk rates from Kinko's on the signs their illiterate members carry. I'm just grateful many unionists aren't this way, and oppose this bill, too.

And you will see them. The operation will be simple; bus in supporters, give speeches, tell lies, and do not give any opposition an opportunity to speak. It's Obama's election campaign all over again, brought to you by Obama's own campaign committee. America, we have seen this tired strategy over and over, and here it comes again. I wouldn't be surprised if Green Day put on a free concert to get a crowd so they could record all those people listening to the local senator for the 30 second pause. Again.

Go read it all, realize what we are up against and start fighting for your place in the crowd.

Who are The Protesters?

Obama supporters, not health care protesters, are real mob
By: Roger Abbott and Iain Murray Special to The Examiner

This is run as an op-ed in the San Francisco Examiner:

President Barack Obama’s supporters have marginalized upstart protesters by referring to them as angry Astroturf mobs doing the bidding of talk radio and Big Pharma. Yet, there is, in fact, a radical, divisive, mass movement on the march — on the left.

In his seminal work on mob behavior, “The True
Believer,” Eric Hoffer provides a compelling analysis of the conditions
necessary for a revolutionary movement to attract a mass following. He writes:

“For men to plunge headlong into an undertaking of vast change, they must be intensely discontented yet not destitute, and they must have the feeling that by the possession of some potent doctrine, infallible leader or some new technique they have access to a source of irresistible power. They must also have an extravagant conception of the prospects and potentialities of the future. Finally, they must be wholly ignorant of the difficulties involved in their vast
undertaking. Experience is a handicap. The men who started the French Revolution were wholly without political experience. The experienced man of affairs is a latecomer. He enters the movement when it is already a going concern.” [Emphasis ours.]

It’s striking how closely Hoffer’s description — written in 1951 — matches Obama’s movement today. Most “netroots” activists who
rallied around Obama were not impoverished victims, but affluent, mostly white activists with visions of a new, “progressive” America.
They invested their hopes and dreams in Obama, as did a number of disenchanted moderates and Republicans. The utopian expectation that Obama could exorcise the country’s sins and conflicts was extravagant. He also lacked executive experience.

The town hall and Tea Party protesters, in contrast, make for a poor mass movement, however discontented they may be. They do not feel empowered — quite the opposite — they have no charismatic leader, no majorities in Congress, nor a clear, overarching alternative agenda to support.

As always go read it all.

This is why I love Ann Coulter

She has such a way with words. This is her latest in Human Events:
Liberal Lies About National Health Care: Second in a Series (Collect All 10!)

With the Democrats getting slaughtered -- or should I say, "receiving mandatory end-of-life counseling" -- in the debate over national health care, the Obama administration has decided to change the subject by indicting CIA interrogators for talking tough to three of the world's leading Muslim terrorists.

Had I been asked, I would have advised them against reinforcing the idea that Democrats are hysterical bed-wetters who can't be trusted with national defense while also reminding people of the one thing everyone still admires about President George W. Bush.

But I guess the Democrats really want to change the subject. Thus, here is Part 2 in our series of liberal lies about national health care.

Go read it all and then make sure to read Part 1.

John Corzine is right about this

US sen. says Gadhafi should be 'barred' from NJ
from AP's My Way News

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) - Gov. Jon Corzine and New Jersey federal legislators joined an angry chorus of opposition Wednesday to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's expected stay in the state, where 38 victims of the bombing of Pan American Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, lived before their deaths in 1988.

Corzine and Democrats U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez and U.S. Rep. John Adler protested anticipated plans by Gadhafi to stay in the northern New Jersey community of Englewood when he addresses the United Nations General Assembly next month. Menendez said he should be "barred" from New Jersey.

Indeed he should, and from anywhere else in the USA

Ted Nugent Doesn't Hold Back

Here is an interesting video I just got - I don't know the date, but I do know Ted Nugent knows how to say what he believes.
http://biggeekdaddy.com/miscvideos/TedNugent.html

Tea Party Express

Is coming to a town near you. San Antonio to be exact.
Not a long visit, but you might want to be there.
Thursday, September 3rd, 11 a. m.
Go here for details.

We don't Hear Enough from Victoria Toensing

She has a post up in The Corner of the National Review online. She lays out what will happen next time the members of the CIA, or any other interrogator, is asked to get critical information, their hands will be tied by the implications of what can happen to them and their families. It is well worth reading.

Is ACORN Really in Retreat?

Matthew Vadum writing in the American Spectator thinks they are. Read it, he lists many places where they are in actual retreat. My question is what is the new guise they will rise under?

I have seen Michelle Malkin on many shows explaining exactly how the "Progressives" morph and change into something that looks innocuous but is actually more devious and harmful.

On yesterday's show Glenn Beck showed the same thing, tracing the roots of the problem back to the thirties. (I actually didn't see the beginning of that segment, just the last four blocks. If you subscribe to his website you might want to view it there.)

ACORN is under attack, but like medusa, that only causes it to rise again in numerous guises. Let's keep on top of this so we will know who is who in the lineup.

They are not Talking About Fair and Balanced

They are talking about stopping all conservative talk, on radio, TV and believe me, it will extend to the internet. The following is from CNS news.
Inspired by Saul Alinsky, FCC 'Diversity' Chief Calls for ‘Confrontational Movement’ to Give Public Broadcasting Dominant Role in Communications
by Matt Cover

Mark Lloyd, chief diversity officer of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), called for a “confrontational movement” to combat what he claimed was control of the media by international corporations and to re-establish the regulatory power of government through robust public broadcasting and a more powerful FCC. Lloyd expressed his regulatory call to arms in his 2006 book, “Prologue to a Farce: Communications and Democracy in America”
(University of Illinois Press).

Lloyd expressed his regulatory call to arms in his 2006 book, “Prologue to a Farce: Communications and Democracy in America” (University of Illinois Press). In the book, Lloyd also said that public broadcasting should be funded through new license fees charged to the nation’s private radio and television broadcasters, and that new regulatory fees should be used to fund eight new regional FCC offices.

These offices would be responsible for monitoring political advertising and commentary, children’s educational programs, number of commercials, and content ratings of the programs. Frequently referencing one of his heroes, left-wing activist Saul Alinsky, Lloyd claims in his book that the history of American communications policy has been one of continued corporate control of every form of communication from the telegraph to the Internet.

Please read the whole thing. As Glenn Beck says, "it's coming...."

Chris Mathews is a Joke

According to Jeff Poor on the Newsbusters blog, Chris thinks Obama Not Getting Enough Love for Economic 'Comeback'

Try to keep a straight face when you hear this: President Barack Obama isn'tgetting enough media love.

That's the world view of MSNBC "Hardball" host Chris Matthews - at least when it comes to the economy. According to Matthews, there has been a plethora of positive economic news - from a stock market that has shrugged off the threat of bad liberal policy, i.e. cap-and-trade or ObamaCare, to the actions of newly reappointed Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke of pumping liquidity into the economy.

While you are still laughing go read it all.

The Ark is the name of an email making the rounds

It's got some really pretty storm pictures, rain pictures, too. We haven't see that in a long time. You've just got to see the punch line.
Click here http://home.att.net/~hideaway_today/t133/noah.htm

Gunning for the CIA

That seems to be the case. I really thought there might actually be someone principled in the Obama Administration, but apparently I was wrong.
From the Wall Street Journal Online:

Liberals and the CIA - A real 'Plame-gate,' minus the outrage.
by Bret Stephens

There is nothing more important than protecting the identities of CIA officers. So I need everybody to be clear: We will protect your identities and your security as you vigorously pursue your missions.
—Barack Obama at CIA headquarters, April 2009.

Once upon a time, Valerie Plame Wilson was a hero to liberals everywhere, a covert CIA operative whose cover was blown by a vindictive Bush administration out to ruin its critics. Today, liberals within government and without are betraying covert CIA operatives as if it were the very essence of virtue. Consistency, principled or foolish, has never been a hobgoblin of the liberal mind.

Consider Attorney General Eric Holder's decision Monday to investigate and potentially prosecute about a dozen previously closed cases involving alleged detainee abuse by CIA officers or contractors. Whether those agents and contractors are innocent or guilty—or whether they were simply working within parameters they believed were necessary and permissible, and circumstances they deemed urgent, but which the Obama administration has retroactively decided were not—are matters that will be determined in due course. The 2004 CIA report on which Mr. Holder based his decision says that the most damaging allegations are "too ambiguous to reach any authoritative determination regarding the facts."

What's nearly certain, however, is that the names of the agents will soon become a part of the public record, either directly or through leaks that the liberal press will have no scruple about printing.

You will want to read the rest, go here.

Cindy Sheehan and her End the War Effort

From the Christian Science Monitor
Peace activist Cindy Sheehan targets Obama’s vacation
by Dave Cook

Cindy Sheehan, the peace activist who camped out in the summer of 2005 near President Bush’s Texas ranch, is heading for President Obama’s vacation site in Martha’s Vineyard, Mass.

Ms. Sheehan, whose son Casey was killed in the Iraq war, said in a press release Monday that she would hold a press conference Wednesday morning at the Oak Bluff’s Elementary School on the island resort. That is where the White House press corps is working during the president’s vacation.

“We need to give the president the moral backbone he needs” to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Sheehan said last week, speaking on MSNBC.

Sheehan seeks what she said is “immediate, complete, and as safe as possible withdrawal” from the Middle East.

Mr. Obama “doesn’t represent real change,” Sheehan charged, noting that July was the worst month yet for casualties of US soldiers in Afghanistan. The “only change I have seen in foreign policy is, unfortunately, things are getting worse” in Afghanistan and Iraq, Sheehan said on MSNBC.

More on this, so read it all.

Cheney Statement on release of the Interrogation Documents

Cheney Statement on CIA Documents/Investigation

Former Vice President Dick Cheney gave The Weekly Standard a statement Monday night about the CIA documents and the coming Justice Department investigation.

The documents released Monday clearly demonstrate that the individuals subjected to Enhanced Interrogation Techniques provided the bulk of intelligence we gained about al Qaeda. This intelligence saved lives and prevented terrorist attacks. These detainees also, according to the documents, played a role in nearly every capture of al Qaeda members and associates since 2002. The activities of the CIA in carrying out the policies of the Bush Administration were directly responsible for defeating all efforts by al Qaeda to launch further mass casualty attacks against the United States. The people involved deserve our gratitude. They do not deserve to be the targets of political investigations or prosecutions. President Obama’s decision to allow the Justice Department to investigate and possibly prosecute CIA personnel, and his decision to remove authority for interrogation from the CIA to the White House, serves as a reminder, if any were needed, of why so many Americans have doubts about this Administration’s ability to be responsible for our nation’s security.

This is the entire blog post by Steven Hayward on Cheney's Statement.

From Bloomberg News
Court Orders Federal Reserve to Disclose Emergency Loan Details
By Mark Pittman

The Federal Reserve must for the first time identify the companies in its emergency lending programs after losing a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit.

Manhattan Chief U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska ruled against the central bank yesterday, rejecting the argument that loan records aren’t covered by the law because their disclosure would harm borrowers’ competitive positions.

The Fed has refused to name the financial firms it lent to or disclose the amounts or the assets put up as collateral under 11 programs, most put in place during the deepest financial crisis since the Great Depression, saying that doing so might set off a run by depositors and unsettle shareholders. Bloomberg LP, the New York-based company majority-owned by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, sued on Nov. 7 on behalf of its Bloomberg News unit.

“The Federal Reserve has to be accountable for the decisions that it
makes,” said Representative Alan Grayson, a Florida Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, after Preska’s ruling. “It’s one thing to say that the Federal Reserve is an independent institution. It’s another thing to say that it can keep us all in the dark.”

The judge said the central bank “improperly withheld agency records” by “conducting an inadequate search” after Bloomberg News reporters filed a request under the information act. She gave the Fed five days to turn over documents it told the reporters it located, including 231 pages of reports, and said it must look for more at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, which runs most of the loan programs.
Read it all at Bloomberg News.

Myabe we Should Teach the Teacher

From the Washington Post online:
Teachable Moments Lost
by Richard Cohen

Let's go back to that "teachable moment." It was proclaimed by Barack Obama after he said that police in Cambridge, Mass., had acted "stupidly" in arresting Henry Louis Gates Jr. for essentially being black in his own house. It has been a month now, and the one sure thing we have learned in this extended teachable moment is about Obama himself. He can't teach.

This is clear when it comes to two of the major challenges confronting his administration: health-care reform and the war in Afghanistan. Both are losing popular support. Increasingly,Americans are becoming convinced that Afghanistan will cost lots of lives and that health-care reform will cost lots of money -- and both will have paltry payoffs or none at all. Teacher, please explain.

Obama cannot -- or, to be both fair and precise, he has not been able to. This is because of an insufficiency I have noted previously -- his distinct coolness, an above-the-fray mien that does not communicate empathy. If you recall, for instance, that teachable moment about Gates, you will remember it was about racial profiling and such. Commentators galore jumped right in and in some cases -- Glenn Beck comes to mind -- proved they were whores for controversy, but Obama stayed above the fray. Class was in session but he was not.

Go read it all.

So Many Parallels to an earlier times

I find this to be a very scary idea. Interrogators in the White House. This is from the Washington Post, a usually pretty liberal paper. Where is this going?

New Unit to Question Key Terror Suspects Move Shifts Interrogation Oversight From the CIA to the White House
by Anne E. Kornblut

President Obama has approved the creation of an elite team of interrogators to question key terrorism suspects, part of a broader effort to revamp U.S. policy on detention and interrogation, senior administration officials said Sunday.

Obama signed off late last week on the unit, named the High-Value Detainee Interrogation Group, or HIG. Made up of experts from several intelligence and law enforcement agencies, the interrogation unit will be housed at the FBI but will be overseen by the National Security Council -- shifting the center of gravity away from the CIA and giving the White House direct oversight.

Read it all in the Washington Post.

9/11 is Sacred to Us

Obama's Plan to Desecrate 9/11
By Matthew Vadum, in the American Spectator

The Obama White House is behind a cynical, coldly calculated political effort to erase the meaning of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks from the American psyche and convert Sept. 11 into a day of leftist celebration and statist idolatry.

This effort to reshape the American psyche has nothing to do with healing the nation and everything to do with easing the nation along in the ongoing radical transformation of America that President Obama promised during last year's election campaign. The president signed into law a measure in April that designated Sept. 11 as a National Day of Service, but it's not likely many lawmakers thought this meant that day was going to be turned into a celebration of ethanol, carbon emission controls, and radical community organizing.

The administration's plans were outlined in an Aug. 11 White House-sponsored teleconference call run by Obama ally Lennox Yearwood, president of the Hip Hop Caucus, and Liv Havstad, the group's senior vice president of strategic partnerships and programs.

Yearwood, who uses the honorific "Reverend" before his name, has been in the news in recent years, usually for getting arrested. After Democrats took back Congress, the rowdy activist was handcuffed outside a congressional hearing in September 2007 when Gen. David Petraeus was to testify. Yearwood told the "Democracy Now" radio program that he wanted to attend the hearing to hear Petraeus give his report. "I knew that when officers lie, soldiers die," he said. On the Aug. 11 call, Yearwood and other leaders kept saying repeatedly that they wanted 9/11 to be used for something "positive," "forward-leanin," and "productive," said a source with knowledge of the teleconference.

The plan is to turn a "day of fear" that helps Republicans into a day of activism called the National Day of Service that helps the left. In other words, nihilistic liberals are planning to drain 9/11 of all meaning. "They think it needs to be taken back from the right," said the source. "They're taking that day and they're breaking it because it gives Republicans an advantage. To them, that day is a fearful day."

A coalition including the unsavory left-wing pressure group Color of Change and about 60 far-left, environmentalist, labor, and corporate shakedown groups participated in the call. Groups on the call included: ACORN, AFL-CIO, Apollo Alliance, Community Action Partnership, Deep South Center for Environmental Justice, 80 Million Strong for Young American Jobs, Friends of the Earth, Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, Mobilize.org, National Black Police Association, National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, National Council of Negro Women, National Wildlife Federation, RainbowPUSH Coalition, Urban League, and Young Democrats of America.

This is just the half, read the rest. via Lucianne.com

Missile Defense Scuttled?

From the San Franciso Examiner
Obama’s dirty missile defense secrets
By: James Carafano

While campaigning for president, Barack Obama promised to support missile defense that was “pragmatic and cost effective” and “does not divert resources from other national security priorities until we are positive the technology will protect the American public.”....

The intended message: A President Obama would not be negligent on national
security. Once in the White House, he would protect Americans.

That was the promise. Americans believed it. And it helped carry him into the Oval Office with a comfortable majority.

Now that Congress is home for the summer holidays, we have time to reflect on the defense authorization bill they left behind. Unfortunately, the bill indicates that the president’s missile defense promise will not be kept. And Obama has no one but himself to blame.
The Pentagon budget the president sent to Capitol Hill would have slashed production and deployment of U.S.-based missile interceptors by about one-third. The cuts would have come from missile defenses that are already tested, proven and, for the most part, paid for. So
much for the promise of “pragmatic and cost-effective” defenses.

Case in point: The Obama budget included absolutely zero funds to replace “Missile Field One.” This Alaskan missile field, now part of the missile defense shield, includes the first silos built to test the long-range interceptors.

The silos were not built for long-term use. They now need to be replaced. But the Obama budget request zeroed out that funding, even though the budget still retained an already paid for fleet of interceptors.
Go read it all.

A New Jimmy Carter Book is Out

I'm sitting here this morning listening to C-span's Washington Journal. Mike Evans, author of Jimmy Carter: The Liberal Left and World Chaos: A Carter/Obama Plan That Will Not Work. I'm pretty sure it will run again sometime today or tonight. Be sure to listen, if you can.

This is one of those books we should all read. It may be we feel that way about him already, but this book has all the facts. The liberals are calling in with total disbelief, or the "don't bother me with the facts" syndrome.

I'm planning to order the book, some of you might want to do that, too. We need to get that book list organized and this should be on it.

Are Some More Equal than Others?

It seems this may have been posted here before, but here goes again:

Congressman John Fleming ( Louisiana physician) has proposed an amendment that would require congressmen and senators to take the same healthcare plan they provide to us (under proposed legislation they are curiously exempt). Congressman Fleming is encouraging people to go on his Website and sign his petition (very simple - just first, last and email). I have immediately done just that at: http://fleming.house.gov/. Please urge as many people as you can to do the same! Congress should have to accept the same level of health care for themselves and their families that they provide to us.

Daschle's Dealings

From the New York Times:
Daschle Has Ear of White House and Industry
by David D. Kirkpatrick

Six months have passed since the morning when Tom Daschle, the former Senate Democratic leader, under fire for not paying certain taxes, called President Obama in his study off the Oval Office to withdraw his nomination as health secretary and reform czar.

But these days it often seems as if Mr. Daschle never left the picture. With unrivaled ties on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue, he talks constantly with top White House advisers, many of whom previously worked for him.

He still speaks frequently to the president, who met with him as recently as Friday morning in the Oval Office. And he remains a highly paid policy adviser to hospital, drug, pharmaceutical and other health care industry clients of Alston & Bird, the law and lobbying firm.

Now the White House and Senate Democratic leaders appear to be moving toward a blueprint for overhauling the health system, centered on nonprofit insurance cooperatives, that Mr. Daschle began promoting two months ago as a politically feasible alternative to a more muscular government-run insurance plan.

It is an idea that happens to dovetail with the interests of many Alston & Bird clients, like the insurance giant UnitedHealth and the Tennessee Hospital Association. And it is drawing angry cries of accommodation from more liberal House Democrats bent on including a public insurance plan.

If you have the stomach for it, read the rest.

Do We have a Deciding Moment?

Wizbang asked it this way:

Is Obama Opposition Reaching The Tipping Point?
Posted by HughS

Malcolm Gladwell wrote a fascinating book a few years ago
titled The Tipping Point. The theme of the book is that some social/consumer habits can change dramatically in a very short time period of time and bring with that change disproportionately large results. This point of change is what the author described as the "tipping point", a phrase which has entered the vernacular of today's politics....

This is a fascinating book that studies the phenomenon of social trends, epidemic behavior and behavioral changes that shock societies in their suddenness. Given the current political environment this book is required reading. It explains much about the "inevitability" (the epidemic effect) of social phenomena similar to the Obama effect and the epidemic qualities that influenced the political environment that led to his sweeping victory in 2008.

I was reminded of this when I read a post by Jennifer Rubin at Contentions that asks if the electorate has reached the tipping point with President Obama:

What has coalesced, it seems, over the past week is the perception that Obama is angry, panicky, and without a game plan, and that his critics no longer cower. In short, out there something has changed: opposition and criticism of the president is everywhere--in mainstream media, in casual
conversation, and in local press. The assumption that Obama knows best has been shattered, and the perception sinking in among the pundit class and ordinary voters (some of whom were quite favorably disposed to him before the health-care
debate) is that the president is out of touch and just plain wrong when it comes to his desire to reinvent health care for 300 million Americans. In sum, it's become "in" to criticize, quite openly and vehemently, Obama on his signature
initiative. It remains to be seen whether this is a Katrina-like event--a tipping point after which the public simply tunes out their president. Recent history is filled with examples of course corrections and presidents who regained their effectiveness and political domination after a serious
legislative setback. Bill Clinton comes to mind. But given this president's extraordinarily high self-regard, it remains an open question whether Obama is capable of--what's the phrase?--self-reflection. Is he able to see that he's lost the respect and the trust of the public and that it may be time to rethink not just the public option but the entire conception of health care as well?

Is the electorate nearing the tipping point where a wave of "anti Obama" sentiment reaches epidemic levels?

Read it all here.

One of our Nation's Finest

Really Socked it to Brian Baird, a Democrat from Washington's 3rd District...

If you haven't already seen the video here is a good link
http://hotairpundit.blogspot.com/2009/08/marine-corp-veteran-at-town-hall.html

Go view and read the comments.

Debt is Bad

By Ray Hoese

I thought about calling this piece "Nature Abhors a Debt" -- because that's what it comes down to. Disrupting the natural order of things, which is never good. I'll get into that later.

I stuck with the title "Debt is Bad" because it's a simple truth that has been brain-washed out of our culture. And we need to remember that debt is bad. No matter what kind, no matter where. We (our TMZ-watching, McDonalds-eating, global-warming-fearing culture) has been marketed to so heavily by banks and financial institutions, that although we say we "know" debt is bad -- our behavior says we like debt. And why not, we are told every day that "debt is good".

Commercials on television urge us to take a day off work and go to the aquarium with our kids -- with our Visa card. Or take our spouse on a long-deserved vacation to a Caribbean island. Or get that mattress now and PAY NO INTEREST TILL NEXT YEAR!

And now our president is telling us that debt is good. His words say "debt is bad." But his actions say otherwise. A lot of other politicians have been saying it too.

Debt is bad. Very bad. Because you are literally borrowing from your future paychecks to make payments. And when you do that, you typically double the price of the item being purchased. That's right. You double it. Anyone who has bought a house and taken 30 years to pay off their mortgage knows if the house was $100,000, by the time they paid it off, they had paid an additional $100,000 in interest. And that can be acceptable for something like shelter. You have to pay for it anyway, so there is something to be said for taking on that enormous interest load. But it is still bad.

Bankruptcies in the United States saw an incredible surge in the last 20 years, correlated directly to the increasing number of credit cards. And now, people do the same thing (double the price of goods) with credit cards, for things like clothing and food. Most of us know the math by now. Credit cards, thanks to huge interest rates, huge late penalties, huge over-limit penalties, means a pair of $50 shoes can easily cost you $100 if you use a credit card and don't pay it off within two weeks of buying those shoes.

In the last decade or so, well-meaning politicians and government regulators who wanted everyone to own a house, pushed the practices of the credit card companies over to the mortgage lenders. Give out mortgages like credit cards was the message. And guess what happened. They marketed mortgages just like they did credit cards. They preyed on us because they can and that's how they make money. With a drug-pusher like mentality. "Go ahead, try it... first one is on me..." And people, because they are... well, human, went for it just like they went for credit cards. But this wasn't $500 here and $1500 there. This was hundreds of thousands of dollars bundled into billions of dollars of debt.

And the house of debt collapsed. Why? Nature abhors a vacuum. Debt is a vacuum. An absence of something. A hole. Nature always fills in holes. Or spaces. Doesn't matter where. Nature don't care. That's how it works. If the holes are made by termites in the supports of a house, eventually the house collapses. The spaces made by the termites are structural vacuums. I hate to be repetitive, but debt is an absence, a vacuum. And a little can be tolerated here and there. But any more than a little, and poof -- collapse. It takes a while to build up to, but collapses are typically instantaneous. One big boom. The result of years of building to a critical threshold. Just like the recession we're now in. Years and years of housing bubble driven by all the buyers -- who should not have become buyers. But they did because loans were easy to get. Too easy.

Oxygen debt. We can all hold our breath for a minute. Some longer. But after a few minutes, well, nature closes up shop and moves on. Calorie debt. The strongest athletes in the world, like ultra-marathoners and riders in the Tour de France, show incredible stamina over great distances. But if they push it (and they do) eventually they run out of the chemicals that keep their bodies going and they collapse. We love watching it on TV. But it's no fun when it happens to us. And we watch our friends or ourselves spend, spend, spend -- using credit cards. And it's no surprise when bankruptcy is the result.

Debt is a bad idea. Acceptable-bad on small scales, and a really bad idea for anything more. Collapse is the inevitable result if you go overboard. The news that our 10-year debt forecast is now at $10 Trillion is overboard by any accountant's calculations.

Financially successful people share many common behaviors. One of them is that they hire good accountants, and then they listen to them. They do what they say. Too bad our government doesn't listen to their accountants.

And though the Democrats of late have taken to increasing debt like drug-addicts given a new Visa card by their dealer; plenty of Republicans were, are, and have been very bad debt-pushers for the last 20 years too. I've got no blinders on about that. That's why I have a very poor view of Congress. They are dishonest, negligent, and naive. Stealing from our future paychecks that pay taxes and fund this country.

There is a collapse coming. The collapse has two possible forms. The collapse of political power -- and the various politicians who are driving the debt. They could be driven from office by voters who realize the debt is bad and getting worse. The other option is that our financial structure as we know it will collapse into a true depression. Bread lines and all.

I'm hoping for the first one. And voting that way too.

Post Script to send to the uninformed: (Why debt is bad in 100 words.) There are two ways to buy something: pay for it now, or pay later. If you set money aside for 10 months and then purchase something with it, you then own it, free and clear. If you purchase the item first, then set money aside (giving it to the lender) over months, it typically takes twice as long and costs twice as much. It's that simple. Worse, you never really own it until that debt is paid. Until the vacuum is filled. You may think you own it becasue it sits at your house, but nature knows better. (And so does the repo man.) It is nearly impossible to financially collapse doing it the first way. It is very easy to financially collapse doing it the second way.

And yes, I am a Dave Ramesy student. Amen.

Scott Johnson at Powerline blog has posted some comments from Professor Paul Rahe of Hillsdale College.

Why are the Democrats in such trouble?
I think that the answer is three-fold.

First, as I argued in my last Powerline (post, the so-called "stimulus bill" was passed in both the House and the Senate in a manner suggestive of tyranny. It was written in camera with the help of a legion of lobbyists, and it was presented and shoved through before anyone in Congress even had a chance to read it, much less think about it, and the same argument could be made concerning the passage of the cap-and-trade bill in the House and the Obama administration's handling of the bailout and the bankruptcy proceedings of Chrysler and General Motors.

Second, the first of these bills was an obvious scam - a massive pay-off to Democratic party constituencies at the expense of the American taxpayer on a scale that guarantees much higher taxes before long and that almost certainly will drive up interest rates. In the long run, it is not a stimulus bill in any shape or form. It is the sort of spending certain to retard growth.

Third - as I argued in some detail in "Obama's tyrannical ambition," rationing was the point of the Obamacare proposal.

By now, of course, everyone - apart from those so partisan that they believe every lie foisted upon them by the party apparat and those who flack for it at CNN, ABC, MSNBC, and the like - understands as much. They recognize that all of the talk, dripping with compassion, about the supposed health care crisis and the need to cover the uninsured was a cover for an attempt to do away with Medicare and replace it with something less costly. And this prospect they do not like it one bit.

There is a lot more from Professor Rahe at the Powerline Blog, go read it all.

General Petraeus is a Great Man

This article is from Scotland, via Lucianne.com.

Petraeus: it's the human terrain that wins the war
By Eddie Barnes

ON A blustery August afternoon in Edinburgh last week, the most celebrated military commander of his age was quietly doing the rounds with a group of injured British soldiers in the south of the capital.

The commander of US Central Command, General David Petraeus, was talking about his legendary running exploits.

Ten years ago, he fractured his pelvis after falling 60ft to the ground
when, at the end of a skydiving jump, his parachute collapsed.

At the newly opened Army Recovery Centre in Edinburgh, funded partly by the Homes for Heroes campaign, Petraeus was attempting to encourage a soldier who, similarly, had suffered a pelvic injury. Petraeus had managed to continue his running exercises in no time – just as, after being accidentally shot in the chest in another life-threatening accident, he is said to have proven to doctors that he could leave hospital by doing 50 press-ups.

If you admire the General as much as I do, you will want to read the entire article.

More New Mexico Polictical Corruption

What do you expect when they used the old LBJ trick for their balloting.
From the Wall Street Journal Online comes this report:
New Mexico Roiled By Fresh Graft Case
By STEPHANIE SIMON

Elected officials in New Mexico are renewing calls for an ethics overhaul after the state's attorney general this week unveiled the latest in a long string of political-corruption cases.

Longtime Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron, who left office in
2006, has been indicted on 50 felony counts of embezzlement, tax evasion and money laundering in an alleged scheme to siphon off at least hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal election funds.

Ms. Vigil-Giron, a Democrat who served three four-year terms as
secretary of state, is accused of colluding with a political consultant and two Democratic lobbyists -- also under indictment -- to profit from grants intended to educate voters and boost turnout in the 2004 election.

Read the whole sorry story. It shows that the Democrats have always accused the Republicans of exactly what they were themselves doing.

We can Pray This Happens

via Lucianne.com the Las Vegas Review Journal has this article:

2010 SENATE CAMPAIGN: Polls show potential GOP challengers would beat Harry Reid Tarkanian claims early GOP lead
by BENJAMIN SPILLMAN

It's the highest stakes ever for a Nevada election, and former boxer Sen. Harry Reid is on the ropes early. Either Republican Danny Tarkanian or Sue Lowden would knock out Reid in a general election, according to a recent poll of Nevada voters.

The results suggest the Democratic Senate majority leader will have to punch hard and often in order to retain his position as the most accomplished politician in state history, in terms of job status.

Good news if it works our way. Go read the whole article

This is just Sad

Whole Foods Protesters Miss the Salad Bar

Well, if you click the link what you see is one little lady protestor who does wish she could go inside but....
“I miss being in there,” she says, nodding towards the door.

But single payer, or at least a public option, is more important to her than the salad bar, which she will not visit despite having driven all the way from Fredericksburg, Va.

Go read the complete story, this is an educated woman, a liberal professor of anthropology at American University. And as it turns out a tool of the union who is back the protest against Whole Foods. Just sad.

Let's Not get Complacent About This

Obama's Approval Rating
by Mike Rappaport

It almost makes you have faith in the American people:

President Barack Obama's job approval rating has sunk to a record low of just 45%, the latest Zogby Interactive poll shows. Fifty-one percent of likely voters now say they disapprove of the President's job performance.

I say, "almost" because the American people did elect Obama just this last year. In their defense, he was running against an incredible boob. But still. I mention this poll because some have suggested that the Rasmussen poll is an outlier. It is. But the other polls are catching up.

from The Right Coast Blog

Just In case You Didn't Hear about This

White House Admits It Hired Firm to Spam Americans on Health Care

Just click it to read the whole thing.

Even the New York Times??!!

I don't read Hugh Hewitt much and don't get him on the radio, but I understand it would be good if I could. This post showed up in a link from Lucianne.com.
New York Times To Seniors: Be Afraid. Be Very Afraid.

Even the New York Times has to admit that Obamacare would push granny and gramps to an early grave. Sure, Robert Pear tries to deliver the news gently, but if the Times is telling the seniors to be worried, that's an unmistakable signal to seniors that Obamacare is very bad news for them. The Democrats in Congress are trying to build their political base on the backs of the nation's elderly, and the elderly won't forget that in 15 months. After years of warning seniors that the GOP was gunning for them, the Obama-Pelosi coalition has emerged as the single greatest threat to the Greatest Generation (and even the front edge of the Boomers.)

President Obama's dropping approval ratings don't fully reflect the senior's increasing fear of his proposals. But they will, and very soon. The more the president invests in Obamacare, the more Congressional Democrats will pay in next fall's elections. An abandonment of the botched plan could lead to an Obama rebound and a fresh round of willingness to believe in his potential to chart a new course in American politics, but given his increasingly strident rhetoric, his circle of advisors and their interests, and his commitment to Alinskyite/Chicago rules, expect him to press forward no matter how disastrous the consequences to the Blue Dogs and various Senate Democrats.

This is the entire post from Hugh Hewitt at Townhall.com/blog

The United Nations is Getting Some Bad Press

That means it must really be bad. This is an article from Foreign Policy, but notice all the references in the article.

Still Going Nowhere Man
by Jacob Heilbrunn
A scathing confidential memo by a senior Norwegian diplomat leaked to the press yesterday has taken public what up until now has been the quiet and increasingly despairing concern at the United Nations about Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Indeed, Ban might now be facing what must have seemed unthinkable only a few months ago: a single term as the head of the United Nations.

In her damning memo, Deputy U.N. Ambassador Mona Juul called Ban -- the South Korean foreign minister elected secretary-general in 2007 -- "spineless," "charmless," and, most importantly, "incapable" of setting an agenda. Her critique echoed a series of pieces in the international press -- in The Economist, The Times of
London, and by yours truly in Foreign Policy -- that in recent months have called Ban out for his miserable performance, citing his lack of vision, leadership, or policy prowess. Of course, Ban and his staff have aggressively tried to combat this emerging image. My own article drew an outraged letter from Ban's chief of staff, who claimed my criticisms were part of some unnamed "political agenda." I doubt he
can say the same of Juul's.
Read it all, this is just a teaser. via Lucianne.com

Canadians Fight to Stop Diminished Services

I belong to an international china painting "list" where all topics are allowed, not just painting. This month there have been many letters regarding the health care debate. We received this one from a Canadian reader:

I have been reading about the issues with proposed change to your health care and all the comments pro and con.

Just thought I would show you what we are doing here in Fort Erie Ontario, because the Niagara Health System has systematically reduced our services and beds, and have been slowly been changing our hospital into a nursing home. They are going to close our emergency department and turn it into an Urgent Care Centre (glorified walk in clinic) on Sept. 27,2009. This will leave close to 40,000 people without immediate emergency care. Frightening thought as we are on the U.S. Border and the busiest crossing.

We formed a group, (mostly seniors, but now getting the younger generation) we wear bright yellow shirts with NO emblazoned on the front, and have been fighting with all we have. We have had rallys, written letters to all parliamentarians, picket lines, letters to newspapers, and the list goes on.

Two weeks ago there was a little TV news item showing the final segment of, what has to be, a very expensive video fund raising campaign by the Niagara Health System, depicting a race to the finish line to make the last 14 million dollars for their new hospital that is over an hour away from here. It showed a bit about a man running to win and has trouble making it, a small child steps out to them him that he can do it as it is our time.

This is to be aired in early fall. Well guess what !!!!

Have a look at this youtube video that I put on line two days ago. We are certainly not actors, and we didn't care what we looked like, we did our own version, using their catch words and story line. We pre-empted their Big Show. Now maybe they will know that the seniors are willing to step up to the plate to fight for all of the citizens, not just for the Fort Erie Douglas Memorial Hospital that was built by the community for the community.

My sister June was the runner and she taught drama to grade 4 students, so was in her element, and although I am certainly not a public speaker managed to do the commentary. Our young boy goes to our church and has done a few commercials.

Look at the first link and laugh if you like. We certainly did. One comment that came in to me was "Sports Bra" You will know why when you see it.

I suddenly couldn't think of what I wanted to say and said a "S" word, so if you will be offended by it don't look at the outakes, in the second link. Pass these two links to everyone you can think of, as the more it is viewed the better our change is to make the government listen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwmKcXLBDFI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAatGn8F_Ow

Fight On! Canadian Friends and God Bless You.

A Tale of A Cash for Clunker Victim

From the Volokh Conspiracy: by Jim Lindgren
The Death Throes of a Corvette.---

In the Great Depression, the government paid to destroy crops in order to prop up farm prices — about as dumb a policy as can be imagined.

Today the government pays to destroy cars in order to ... frankly, I don't know why.

"Cash for Clunkers" appears to be a bizarre combination of the "broken windows fallacy," the desire to change the climate of the planet, and staggering administrative incompetence. In other words, "Cash for Clunkers" hits the trifecta: bad economics, bad science, and bad government.

Witness the dying gasps of a Corvette. (video)

Check Out the Map in this Article

From Real Clear Politics:
Amateur Hour at the White House
by Jay Cost

I just about fell out of my chair yesterday when I read this in the Washington Post.

President Obama's advisers acknowledged Tuesday that they were unprepared for the intraparty rift that occurred over the fate of a proposed public health insurance program, a firestorm that has left the White House searching for a way
to reclaim the initiative on the president's top legislative priority.

This confirms a suspicion I have had for some time, and made clear
a few weeks ago: Democratic leaders in the White House and on Capitol Hill have only recently begun to take seriously the internal divisions within their own party.

Frankly, I am stunned that they would be caught off guard by this.
How could they not have anticipated this? How could they possibly have been surprised that the left and right flanks of the party would not see eye to eye?

To explain my utter, complete astonishment at this bone-headed mistake, I need a visual aid. The following is courtesy of Google Maps. It marks the district offices of four types of congressmen:

Click here to see the map and read ALL of the article.

Truth Will Out

Newspaper corrects 'Jackass' Keith Olbermann mixup

Thank goodness, The Times newspaper is the forthright, ethical institution that it is. And when a mistake happens, it rushes to set the journalistic record straight with an honest repair. (Snip) TV listings: The Prime-Time TV grid in Thursday's Calendar section mistakenly listed MTV's "Jackass" show on the MSNBC cable schedule at 7 and 10 p.m. where instead MSNBC's "Countdown With Keith Olbermann" should have been listed.

copied entirely from the Lucianne listing.I didn't read the LA Times link, because I just wasn't that interested but thought it amusing enough to pass on to the readers. If you want to read it click the above link.

Have you read "We the Living" by Ayn Rand?

Well, I haven't either, but I am old enough to remember the title. I sure didn't realize there was a movie. This is another link from Lucianne.com .

Ayn Rand and Socialized Medicine
by Erika Holzer

In an essay I wrote a few months ago, I raised a rhetorical question in response to the huge increase in sales of Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged. Yes, there was a gratifying surge in the sales of Rand’s magnum opus. But why?

Given the no-holds-barred assault on free-market capitalism and individual rights, why the unprecedented boost in sales of a 52-year-old thousand-page novel, but no corresponding boost in Rand’s equally relevant and highly persuasive non-fiction?

Here’s how I answered my own rhetorical question:

“One evening back in the mid-60s, when my husband and I were Ayn Rand’s lawyers [and] the three of us took a break from business ... Rand drew a fascinating distinction about the impact that ... fiction, as opposed to nonfiction, has on readers. ‘Reading non-fiction,’ she told us, ‘is mainly an intellectual exercise whereas fiction
involves the reader in a personal experience. It’s the difference between reading a technical manual on flying a jet airplane as opposed to experiencing the actual sensation of hurtling through space in one. The manual may be educational, even stimulating, but the plane ride is happening to you.’” (Emphasis Rand’s.)
Go read the entire article to get the story of the movie, you will find it very interesting.