Bizarro World

This is the best (and shortest) comment about last night's debate between Brown and Coakley in Massachusetts for, wait for it.... "Kennedy's seat" Here's the great takeaway quote:

"Note how easily [debate moderator David] Gergen reached back for what he thought was a blazing fastball — “You’re going to sit in Teddy Kennedy’s seat!” — and discovered that it was a hanging curve that [Senate candidate Scott] Brown knocked over the Green Monster at Fenway, where it’s still bouncing around somewhere on the Mass Pike."

http://bigjournalism.com/mwalsh/2010/01/12/does-the-kinsley-rule-apply-to-journalists-too/#more-5194

One of these days, folks are going to look around and realize the new GOP conservatives running for office this year (Brown, Rubio) are the epitome of the Dems they have always thought they were voting for (cool, young, hip, smart) and the Dems are the Dinosaurs, old fogies and racists they have typically associated with Republicans ("Negro dialect" Harry Reid, Botox intoxicated Nancy Pelosi and the assorted crooks from Chicago currently running loose in DC spending our money like drunken sailors....

Ft. Hood and the suicide of Western Civilization

The jihadist Major Nidal Malik Hasan's attack on servicemen at Ft. Hood once again proves that we face a deranged enemy that must be defeated.

However, the real story here is America's willing cooperation in its own defeat. A half-century of hyper-sensitive political correctness is beginning to take a serious toll on our country. My point is well encapsulated by the statement of the Army Joint Chiefs of Staff, General George Casey, following the incident:

Our diversity not only in our Army, but in our country, is a strength. And as horrific as this tragedy was, if our diversity becomes a casualty, I think that’s worse.

Yes, you heard that right. Losing our "diversity" (which apparently is defined by having a known Islamist sympathizer in a high-ranking army position) would be worse than losing the 13 servicemen that were mercilessly gunned down at Ft. Hood.

Frankly, this statement amazes even me. In this day and age in America, it is deemed more important to have impeccable multicultural "diversity" credentials than it is to protect the lives of our citizens and servicemen. If a few people have to die in the name of "diversity", then so be it!

General Casey should be removed from his position for his insensitive and downright dangerous view on this incident. I won't hold my breath, as I'm pretty sure his boss shares the opinion.

The President wasn't lying....

Joe Wilson apologized to President Obama for the manner in which he shouted at the President, calling him a liar during his speech on health care to a joint session of Congress on September 9, 2009, but he should also apologize on the substance. President Obama did not lie. Here’s what the President said before Rep. Wilson shouted out.

“There are also those who claim that our reform efforts would insure illegal immigrants. This too is false. The reforms I’m proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally.”

Now parse those words. President Obama is telling the truth about his reform proposal. He’s just hoping those listening don’t comprehend what his words actually mean. Reform opponents are not claiming that reform would INSURE illegals, they claim that reform would NOT insure illegals. They claim, rightly so, that this reform does not address the illegal immigrant problem vis-à-vis health care. Obama says reform would NOT apply to illegals. He’s absolutely right!

Illegals would not have to get insurance. They would not have to provide documentation to the IRS that they are insured by a government approved plan. They would not have to carry cards or documentation everywhere they go to prove they are covered. They will not have to pay the taxes that are sure to come as the program grows and corruption, waste, fraud and abuse proliferate (as with all government programs).

All they have to do is continue doing what they are already doing – go into any emergency room and get all the care they need and walk out again without paying a dime.

President Obama was telling the truth – illegals won’t be insured; this law will not apply to them. They’ll get everything for free like they do now and we’ll all end up paying the bill, as we do now.

The Rabbit Hole

"The senator’s actions in the hours and days after emerging from that pond tell us something ugly about Kennedy the man. That he got away with it tells us something ugly about American public life." Mark Steyn

Amidst the hagiography of this weekend's laying to rest of the mortal remains of one man, Steyn reminds us that we're all complicit when we allow the truth to slide down the rabbit hole.

Remember that Robert Packwood, Republican Senator, was driven from public life (when was the last time you heard his name) because he patted a woman's bum in the elevator. His biggest regret? That he wasn't a liberal Democrat. He'd be sitting in Harry Reid's seat now if that were the case.

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=MjZlNjA1MTRmYWViNjMwMDUyNjc1ZTg0NDQwZjk2ODc=&w=MA==

Objects of Cultural Disdain

John Podhoretz, the movie critic refers to "Object(s) of Cultural Piety" or OCP. Once something or someone becomes an OCP, it (or he/she) must be the subject of veneration. As a movie critic, he points out that once the commercially genius Steven Spielberg (Jaws, Raiders, Jurassic Park) directed Schindler's List, he went from venerated because he could make money to someone just plain venerated. This is when he became an OCP. No matter what sludge he has produced or directed in subsequent years (Lost World, the latest Indiana Jones movie), no one can criticize him. Podhoretz makes the same case for Pixar whose last two movies have been duds when compared with Toy Story or Nemo.

I was thinking about his great point when I saw this today...

http://hotair.com/archives/2009/06/09/letterman-top-ten-palin-has-a-slutty-flight-attendant-look/

David Letterman's "joke" about 14 year old Willow Palin is so beyond the pale that I couldn't understand how a mainstream TV personality could possible get away with it.... And then I understood. Sarah Palin is an OCD - an Object of Cultural Disdain. All the right people hate her and so they can laugh at the thought of her little girl having sex with Alex Rodriguez in the dugout. And they all think that the people who watch his show would laugh too and it never crossed their small minds that people just might be offended.

Sarah Palin is a big girl and can take it even though the mischaracterizations of her are untrue, unfair and insulting. But you know how far down the "cool" list she is when someone like Letterman feels he can say such crude things about her child and not just get a way with it, but be slapped on the back as a great comedian.

Of course it also made me wonder how fast he would have been fined, fired and roasted over open coals if he had dared say something like that about Malia Obama (she's 11). As well he should be. How much hate does it take for a Letterman (or an audience member or viewer who laughed) to not see that? The problem with the veneration of the Obamas (OCP's if there ever were any) is that the worshipers of gods always need devils to hate. And sometimes those devils turn out to be innocent children.

So is there a middle ground in the abortion debate?

Regina Brett, columnist for the Cleveland Plain Dealer, wrote this today:

http://www.cleveland.com/brett/blog/index.ssf/2009/06/abortion_debate_needs_to_inclu.html

I figured that I'd try to answer her question.... Here's my reply to her:

Ms. Brett -

I read your Plain Dealer article on abortion today with interest. Your article basically answers the question you ask at the beginning as to why those "in the middle" are quiet - it's ambivalence. You know life is precious. You have your own joyful experience to attest to that. But you also know that life presents great challenges to us as well, and we want to have all options available to us to resolve those challenges. That is where the rubber meets the road, so to speak.

You speak of your wanted grandchild with love and affection. You speak of the unborn child of a 17 year old who doesn't want to be pregnant with more detachment (naturally - there's no relationship). But what's the difference between those two fetuses? One is wanted and one is not? Is that how we value human life? Sadly, it is. And that's what makes abortion such a corrosive issue. If life is precious, how can we close our hearts to precious life - any precious little life? The unborn child of that 17 year old is of no less value than your grandchild, is he/she? How can humans with warm hearts actually think in those terms? But we do when it comes to the political issue of abortion. Insisting that they are "equal under the law" would make us pro-life. Insisting they are not makes us pro-choice. But how do we describe those who want to believe those two lives are equally precious, but don't want to tell that 17 year old what to do with "her body?" It makes us confused and unable to reconcile those positions. That's why we stay quiet. We can't face our own moral confusion, so we shrug our shoulders and keep our mouths shut.

It's politically unpopular to proclaim all life to be precious, but in every other aspect of our lives, except abortion, we do that. We give thanks when a child overcomes cancer - because life is precious. We take part in relays for life to cure cancer - because life is precious. We mourn the loss of our oldest relative who has passed - because life is precious. We recoil in horror at the holocaust, at the memory of 9/11 and at senseless gun crimes - because life is precious. But we avert our eyes when we walk past a Planned Parenthood clinic - because life is precious, but those lives aren't protected because we don't want to impose our values and tell someone what to do with their own challenges.

So we remain silent. Thank you for bringing this to our attention. For years, I wanted to have it both ways too. I tried to reconcile my own precious children's lives with the "need" for legalized abortion on demand. I finally realized that I could not. I work to protect those little lives by supporting services like Maggie's Place - a new facility in Cleveland that takes in pregnant women who wish to keep or adopt out their babies. I try to make people aware that our abortion laws are toothless. Women do not have enough protection against predatory abortion providers - they are not given options and our culture doesn't insist that they receive them. Our culture doesn't support adoption and we should do more to do, as you say, focus on preventing abortion.

My hope and prayer is that every woman would be careful with her body and not put herself in a position to have to choose abortion, that she would value life so much that she would take responsibility and I pray that all of us would support her if she is pregnant and cannot support both herself and he child. We must do more, Regina. I thank you for bringing this up. I hope we can all find more answers - but the most important thing we must do is to face the question you raised today - and loudly proclaim that all life is precious and we will do all we can to change a culture that merely wishes to dispose of life when it's not wanted. That, Regina is no answer.

Thanks and best wishes.

Pam

John Brown and George Tiller

The death of abortionist George Tiller at the hands of a cold-blooded murderer has the left agitated and excited about an opportunity. Within an hour of his death, the blogs were alive with accusations that talk radio, right-wing blogs and anyone who is pro-life had blood on their hands and insinuated that "rhetoric" was the cause of this murder.

They want to equate those of us who value life, who believe abortion on demand to be a stain on our country and, most importantly, speak up about the issue, with a murderous individual. It suits them to use this tragedy for Tiller's family for their own purposes - to try to shut us up.

Democrats have done this before. In 1859, John Brown, an ardent abolitionist, incited a deadly insurrection at Harper's Ferry to draw attention to the plight of the slave. Abraham Lincoln, condemned him as a "misguided fanatic." But Southern democrats alleged that his rebellion was the tip of the abolitionist iceberg and represented the wishes of Lincoln and the Republican Party. It was in their best interest to tie this fanatic with legitimate abolitionists.

Not one mainstream pro-life organization or individual will stand with the man who took Tiller's life. (Interestingly enough, there were plenty of mainstream abolitionists who did stand with John Brown - among them Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau who praised his actions.)

George Tiller's death is a tragedy for his family. He is a victim of a murderous hatred. He is not a victim of the pro-life movement. I fear that his death will be all the excuse many need to equate speech with action and will attempt (and may succeed) in shutting us up. If that happens, every American who values free speech will be able to mark Sunday, May 31 as the day free speech died along with George Tiller.

Mark Steyn is inspiration...

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=YWU3ZmJjODBjMTllNTg2ZTk5MGZiMWU1NTM5ZTMzMjU=

It is lonely over here on the right, but I know from history, from understanding human nature and basic common sense, what works. Socialism doesn't work. Libertarianism doesn't work. Anarchy doesn't work, monarchy doesn't work, feudalism doesn't work, communism doesn't work (do we even really need to say that anymore??), fascism doesn't work, corporatism doesn't work. The only thing that works is what has made the USA the strongest, richest, most free, most generous, most tolerant nation in the history of mankind. Ordered liberty. Free enterprise secured by a moral people who think that respecting and trying to live up to the 10 commandments and the golden rule is a good way to live life. What drives me crazy is why intelligent people do not seem to understand this - what's right in front of their eyes. There is no utopia - there is no perfection. Human beings over the course of thousands of years, have tried every which way to organize themselves and when it's finally found, (our constitution) we are so eager to discard it....

All nationalized healthcare guarantees you is a place in line...

It's illegal in Canada for a doctor to receive payment from a willing patient for medical treatment denied by the national healthcare board - even if that treatment is the only thing standing between the patient and death. If you have terminal cancer in England, you will not be allowed to receive drugs, available in the US, that may extend your life. The government board has deemed it not cost effective and the individual's needs are not valued. The needs of the community to save money are more important.

Watch the videos on this site and know that you have been warned....

http://www.facesofgovernmenthealthcare.com/

Recessions are great at "spreading the wealth"

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=ZDFiZTM5NTEzZDVhOWY2MDU3NTFjYzQ4YWY1OWI4MTI=

[I]f, in the abstract, liberals were given a deal in which economic inequality was reduced from its levels of the 1990s and 2000s, but at the price of 8.5 percent unemployment, wouldn’t they take it? Isn’t that the basic bargain embraced in the European model they so adore? Less wealth, less inequality, less employment — recession-era America already has some of the characteristics of a European social democracy.

Some wisdom from Sen. Schumer

It's what gives Washington and government a bad name. It's sheer stupidity.

It would be nice if he would apply this wisdom to the federal government's other stupid endeavors, not just to yesterday's Air Force One photo-op stunt.

Arlen Specter switches parties

Good riddance. Don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.

No comment needed

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2009/04/a_rahm_bomb_for_jane_harman.html

"Tax cut" alert

I work for a small company and I'm really the only employee except the owner. He has an accountant who reviews my bookkeeping every month and he handles all the payroll and tax issues. I asked him yesterday (as I was preparing my payroll check) if I should change the withholding amount because I understood that the Obama tax cut passed by Congress (and heralded today by the President in his speech at noon), would give me an extra $7-$13 in my paycheck. Brian told me that I had a choice. He said I could "pay it now, or pay it next April." Not being an accountant, I asked him to please explain...

It seems that this "tax cut" is not really a tax cut at all. It's a "cut" in what is being withheld by the employer. But there is no mention of any actual tax cut in the tax tables. You STILL OWE THE SAME AMOUNT. The total tax will be due in April 2010, so you'll have to give it all back or hope that your deductions will counter balance what you owe. So if you got a nice refund this year (which is just a tax free loan to the government), it will be much smaller next year (multiply the higher balance you get times the number of paychecks and you'll have an idea.) And if you owed money this year, prepare to pay a lot more next year.

Congress and the President know this, of course, and the media should too, but it's not mentioned, except in a few places. So, do yourself a favor. Check this out, of course and if you confirm it, tell your employer to NOT "give" you the extra cash, unless you take it and put it in your piggy bank marked "IRS-due 4/15/10."

Cheers.

Health-Status insurance

A CATO policy paper on how "health-status insurance" could be the free-market fix for the health care industry we're looking for:

http://cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=9986


This is very well written, and makes complete sense to me. The idea is to decouple short-term "health insurance" (that is, the premium you pay to cover this year's health insurance) from "health-status insurance" (which would cover the increased health insurance premiums you would have to pay if your medical situation worsens).

Obama calls for "a world without nuclear weapons"

In response, I call for a world without swords. Look at how progressive and peace-loving I am!

Two thoughts on "The bow"

First - the White House issuing a statement denying that the President bowed to King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia last week will force the Drive-Bys to cover the issue.

Second - When people see the video most people will know the White House is not just spinning, but lying. And they may wonder that if this White House lies so easily about something so obvious, what else might they lying about?

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0409/White_House_No_bow_to_Saudi.html

Re: DC Opportunity Scholarships

Hope-and-change beat NR to the punch this time, although the analysis here is much better than mine.

Money quote:

If you have any doubt as to whether this program should exist, ask yourself a simple question: Would you enroll your children in violence-ridden D.C. public schools with decades-long records of academic failure? Bill and Hillary Clinton didn’t. Barack and Michelle Obama didn’t. Members of Congress don’t.

What about you? Would you enroll your children in those schools?

The DC Opportunity Scholarships issue provides a perfect test of the President's "I'm a pragmatist, not an ideologue" line that so many of his supporters believe. Those supporters should take a close look at this issue and ask themselves if the President and his administration are behaving pragmatically or ideologically.

GM total confidence

As the anger welled up inside me after coughing up $800 in underpaid federal income taxes tonight, I couldn't help but think about those sappy GM total confidence ads that are all over television.

The voice-over tells us that "America needs a comeback". Apparently, America can't stage a comeback unless you (yes, you) don't go out right now and buy a GM. Concerned that you might not be able to afford a new car payment, especially if you lose your job? You shouldn't be, because GM will make your car payment for you if you lose your job. Think that buying a car, which depreciates as soon as you drive it off the lot, might not be the best investment you could make right now? Not to worry, as GM is guaranteeing the trade-in value of your car at NADA clean value. Apparently, GM decided not to publicize the fact that the federal government now backs their warranties as a part of their "total confidence" plan, but they very well could have -- it fits nicely into the whole picture.

Given that the federal government, for all intents and purposes, now controls and financially backs General Motors, I couldn't help but think about how much of my $800 underpayment (not to mention the thousands in withholding I already paid, at 0% interest) will end up in the pockets of idiots who go out and buy a car that they can't afford, lured in by the "total confidence" offered by Government Motors. I probably shouldn't think too much of it, though, since I'm already funding that idiot's mortgage, his idiot kid's college education, and his whole family's health insurance (well, I guess that last one won't take effect until next year). Why shouldn't I fund his car as well? I mean, that's the patriotic thing to do, right? I'd have to be some sort of cold-hearted selfish jackass to dare claim that I deserve the right to buy my own house, car, health care, or education with the money I earned. Right?

Stop making sense

http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/04/stop_making_sense.html

It's neither the law nor the facts, but what you can get the jury to do.

While absorbing that concept, consider that about one third of the US population thinks the phrase, "to each according to his need, from each according to his abilities," is in the US Constitution. One third also believes that the US government conspired in the 911 attacks. A majority thinks sheep farts have more to do with temperature variations on earth than the ball of nuclear fire the size of 1.3 million earths that is eight light-minutes away.

And now, as stock markets plummet around the globe and our national debt is set to triple in just two years, the number of people who believe we are on the right track has tripled.