... in the dictionary is a picture of the Obama regime. They call Benjamin Netanyahu "desperate and weak" for his opposition to the Iran deal. Read the article and comments at the Treehouse.
IBD says that the Norks and Iranians are corroborating on a heavy-lift ICBM. If these rogues can put a payload into orbit then everybody is vulnerable -- not just Israel and South Korea -- to a high-altitude EMP attack as well as direct attacks on cities. If they decide to drop one on Washington, D.C., I hope they do it during the State of the Union speech, and I certainly hope all the fools that enabled it are in attendance. Nuclear bombs are the ultimate non-partisan solution.
I remember back in the late '70s that Jimmy Carter caught some flak for approving or going along with the neutron bomb which was supposed to kill people but leave the infrastructure. Too bad there isn't one that could kill the newsreaders and talking heads and leave the rest of us in peace.
I suppose that's a little harsh, but, whatever one's view on biblical eschatology, I don't see where we can possibly benefit from offering Israel as a sacrificial lamb to the Islamic extremists.
Monday, December 2, 2013
Tuesday, November 26, 2013
The Politics of the Armored Limousine
The ever brilliant Mr. Van der Leun posted in commemoration of the death of John Kennedy a reminder that a man was not all that died that day. Kennedy rode through the streets of Dallas in an open convertible. No president or other Important Person has done so recently. Even the Pope had the bulletproof Popemobile after the attempt on John Paul II's life.
Today, the President, whoever he is, and the Vice-President, cabinet members and other "vital" politicians ride in vehicles that are veritable tanks on wheels. The Beast, as the President's ride is called, is resistant to bullets, bombs, and poison gas. Its tires cannot be flattened. It is vulnerable only to bad fuel or betrayal.
I'm not suggesting that the security around our national leaders be lessened, but one is inclined to suspect that the sense of isolation and invulnerability could lead to bad policy. As politicians found out during the Obamacare debate, for all their talk about "democracy", meetings with constituents can be uncomfortable if not intimidating. Most of these politicians are wealthy and have private security for themselves and their families as well as arranging for the presence of local law enforcement when the Secret Service is not part of the equation.
I suppose the question is whether they have armored cars because they think they are elite, or if they think they are elite because they have armored cars. In any case, in my opinion, the political class -- the self-anointed ruling class in America would be well advised to make themselves more approachable -- even if it makes them more susceptible to attacks.
I feel sorry for Gabrielle Giffords as she is a talking vegetable dragged around by her politically ambitious husband, just as I have pitied Jim Brady being used by his dreadful wife as a prop for Handgun Control Inc. But the fact is that people choose this life. Other people -- better people, in my view -- choose to become pilots, soldiers, sailors, and Marines and put their lives on the line at the behest of the man ensconced in the Beast with a lot less between them and death than the politicians have. Law enforcement personnel are at greater risk for death and grievous injury than the President. Though, as we have noted before, police officers are at number 10 on the top ten of hazardous occupations, far behind fishermen, loggers, pilots, and farmers. I don't see politicians anywhere on the list.
Not that I want to find out, but I have to wonder what kind of legislation we would get if the ruling class were really accountable to the serfs.
Today, the President, whoever he is, and the Vice-President, cabinet members and other "vital" politicians ride in vehicles that are veritable tanks on wheels. The Beast, as the President's ride is called, is resistant to bullets, bombs, and poison gas. Its tires cannot be flattened. It is vulnerable only to bad fuel or betrayal.
I'm not suggesting that the security around our national leaders be lessened, but one is inclined to suspect that the sense of isolation and invulnerability could lead to bad policy. As politicians found out during the Obamacare debate, for all their talk about "democracy", meetings with constituents can be uncomfortable if not intimidating. Most of these politicians are wealthy and have private security for themselves and their families as well as arranging for the presence of local law enforcement when the Secret Service is not part of the equation.
I suppose the question is whether they have armored cars because they think they are elite, or if they think they are elite because they have armored cars. In any case, in my opinion, the political class -- the self-anointed ruling class in America would be well advised to make themselves more approachable -- even if it makes them more susceptible to attacks.
I feel sorry for Gabrielle Giffords as she is a talking vegetable dragged around by her politically ambitious husband, just as I have pitied Jim Brady being used by his dreadful wife as a prop for Handgun Control Inc. But the fact is that people choose this life. Other people -- better people, in my view -- choose to become pilots, soldiers, sailors, and Marines and put their lives on the line at the behest of the man ensconced in the Beast with a lot less between them and death than the politicians have. Law enforcement personnel are at greater risk for death and grievous injury than the President. Though, as we have noted before, police officers are at number 10 on the top ten of hazardous occupations, far behind fishermen, loggers, pilots, and farmers. I don't see politicians anywhere on the list.
Not that I want to find out, but I have to wonder what kind of legislation we would get if the ruling class were really accountable to the serfs.
Monday, November 25, 2013
A Report on Newtown to be Released
According to Fox News, the Connecticut State's Attorney will release a report on the school shooting in Newtown, CT last December.
The summary will deal mainly with the murderer's background and the police response. Most information about the events of that day is still sealed and unavailable:
I suppose some of the evidence might be too painful and gruesome for the parents and those close to the victims to read. Still, I have a hard time believe that is the bulk of the information. All suppression of information accomplishes is to feed into various conspiracy theories and make the thoughtful wonder exactly what is being kept from the public.
Fox follows the Bushmaster narrative:
That's not true. As my post about Obama's blood ballet from March of this year speculates, based on the available information at the time, not more than 105 of the spent shell casings could have come from the rifle. The remainder -- at least -- 49 rounds would have been fired from a handgun.
We would like to know the truth.
The summary will deal mainly with the murderer's background and the police response. Most information about the events of that day is still sealed and unavailable:
The report expected Monday afternoon will not include the full evidence file of Connecticut State Police, which is believed to total thousands of pages. The decision to continue withholding the bulk of the evidence is stirring new criticism of the secrecy surrounding the investigation.
Dan Klau, a Hartford attorney who specializes in First Amendment law, said the decision to release a summary report before the full evidence file is a reversal of standard practice and one of the most unusual elements of the investigation.Klau suggests that, rather than representing the state of Connecticut, the state's attorney is acting as a private attorney for the families of the victims.
I suppose some of the evidence might be too painful and gruesome for the parents and those close to the victims to read. Still, I have a hard time believe that is the bulk of the information. All suppression of information accomplishes is to feed into various conspiracy theories and make the thoughtful wonder exactly what is being kept from the public.
Fox follows the Bushmaster narrative:
[The murderer] killed his mother inside their Newtown home before driving to his former elementary school, where he fired off 154 shots with a Bushmaster .223-caliber rifle within five minutes. He killed himself with a handgun as police arrived. (Name redacted by me.)
That's not true. As my post about Obama's blood ballet from March of this year speculates, based on the available information at the time, not more than 105 of the spent shell casings could have come from the rifle. The remainder -- at least -- 49 rounds would have been fired from a handgun.
We would like to know the truth.
Thursday, November 21, 2013
Government Schools -- They Own Your Children
They just rent them out to you at night in exchange for your tax dollars.
Down in the Greenest State in the Land of the Free, Jim Howe was arrested for picking up his son from school on foot instead of in a car.
I'd be surprised if Howe's phone is not swamped with messages from ambulance-chasers who can smell the settlement money like a shark smells blood.
Folks need to pull their kids out of these government indoctrination centers.
As far as Deputy Aytes goes, I know his kind. They aren't bad guys; they just never pass up a rare opportunity to get a little spurt of testosterone. He is an idiot.
Down in the Greenest State in the Land of the Free, Jim Howe was arrested for picking up his son from school on foot instead of in a car.
Jim Howe, father of two children enrolled in South Cumberland Elementary in Crossville, Tennessee, arrived at the school on foot at dismissal time: 2:00 PM. But a new school policy states that students may only leave at 2:00 PM if their parents are picking them up in cars. Walkers must wait until 2:35 PM.The link includes a video shot by Howe's fiancee of the encounter between the father and a deputy sheriff/school resource officer, Avery Aytes. I can only imagine the carnage which would have ensued had this been my father back in the good old days. I'm not sure I would have been as nice as Mr. Howe if I had been in his place. Fortunately, this being the age of the ubiquitous digital image and sound capture, Deputy Aytes and South Cumberland Elementary can be seen by the world for the petty despots they are.
Howe maintained that the policy was meant to apply to students walking home by themselves, not students walking home with their parents.
“You don’t need a reason as a parent to go get your children,” he told school officials.
I'd be surprised if Howe's phone is not swamped with messages from ambulance-chasers who can smell the settlement money like a shark smells blood.
Folks need to pull their kids out of these government indoctrination centers.
As far as Deputy Aytes goes, I know his kind. They aren't bad guys; they just never pass up a rare opportunity to get a little spurt of testosterone. He is an idiot.
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
It Might Be Time for a Good War
So, Obama's approval numbers drop under 40%. Big deal. We're still stuck with him and his systematic destruction of private health insurance. However, it is interesting to see that despite the Dow playing tag with 16,000, the economy is not helping the White House Occupant. Partly, of course, because, apart from the runaway train that is the markets in which we are burning the furniture for fuel, the economy isn't doing that well. The Bureau of Labor Statistics seems to have published Bogus Lying Statistics last year to get a dramatic and inexplicable drop in the unemployment rate.
I've known a lot of good, solid, intelligent people who are or were government workers. It's not the majority. We don't have to assume malicious intent. Wait, actually we do:
Today's consumer spending report says October 2013 spending was up nearly four percent over October 2012. The market seems to like that -- well, except for the fact that it came from the Census Bureau. What a surprise that we might be a little bit leery of their numbers.
For a few days there it looked like the certain appointment of Janet Yellen as Fed Chair with her undying devotion to QE would check the pressure on bond rates. Looks like they are creeping back up.
It's a little known fact about Yellen that she play the dwarf Doc in "Snow White and the Seven Dwarves". George Carlin had a bit long ago about the drugs each dwarf used (emphasis added):
Sorry I got off track what I meant to talk about was Obama's polling. Yes, he is at 37% approval and 57% disapproval in the CBS poll used by Townhall. Obamacare is disapproved by 61% to 31% approved. Forget a fix. Repeal this monster.
The one I still can't believe is that 60% of the people in this country ever thought Obama was honest and trustworthy. That's what the polls showed during the 2012 campaign -- and that's why the liar won. In this latest poll, the number who think he is honest has dropped to 49%. That's still ridiculously high. Some may attribute his misleading "assurances" about the ACA to ignorance. But the fact is that he lied repeatedly and blatantly, about insurance, about the economy, and about Benghazi, among other things. If he had told the truth, his "signature" legislation, Biden's BFD, would never have gotten a vote in the Senate or the House.
Meanwhile, beware, as always, of distractions. The propaganda wing huddles in newrooms in Washington, New York and LA at this moment polishing shiny objects to pull across our screens, and nothing is as effective as a "Good War".
I've known a lot of good, solid, intelligent people who are or were government workers. It's not the majority. We don't have to assume malicious intent. Wait, actually we do:
Ironically, it was Labor’s demanding standards that left the door open to manipulation.
Labor requires Census to achieve a 90 percent success rate on its interviews — meaning it needed to reach 9 out of 10 households targeted and report back on their jobs status.
Census currently has six regions from which surveys are conducted. The New York and Philadelphia regions, I’m told, had been coming up short of the 90 percent.
Philadelphia filled the gap with fake interviews.
“It was a phone conversation — I forget the exact words — but it was, ‘Go ahead and fabricate it’ to make it what it was,” Buckmon told me.
Census, under contract from the Labor Department, conducts the household survey used to tabulate the unemployment rate.
Interviews with some 60,000 household go into each month’s jobless number, which currently stands at 7.3 percent. Since this is considered a scientific poll, each one of the households interviewed represents 5,000 homes in the US.
Buckmon, it turns out, was a very ambitious employee. He conducted three times as many household interviews as his peers, my source said.
Today's consumer spending report says October 2013 spending was up nearly four percent over October 2012. The market seems to like that -- well, except for the fact that it came from the Census Bureau. What a surprise that we might be a little bit leery of their numbers.
For a few days there it looked like the certain appointment of Janet Yellen as Fed Chair with her undying devotion to QE would check the pressure on bond rates. Looks like they are creeping back up.
It's a little known fact about Yellen that she play the dwarf Doc in "Snow White and the Seven Dwarves". George Carlin had a bit long ago about the drugs each dwarf used (emphasis added):
The seven dwarfs were each on different little trips. Happy was into grass and grass alone … Happy, that's all he did. Sleepy was into reds. Grumpy, too much speed. Sneezy was a full blown coke freak. Doc was a connection. Dopey was into everything. Any old orifice will do for Dopey. He's always got his arm out and his leg up. And then, the one we always forget, because he was Bashful. Bashful didn't use drugs. He was paranoid on his own. Didn't need any help on that ladder.You have to keep the boys supplied.
Sorry I got off track what I meant to talk about was Obama's polling. Yes, he is at 37% approval and 57% disapproval in the CBS poll used by Townhall. Obamacare is disapproved by 61% to 31% approved. Forget a fix. Repeal this monster.
The one I still can't believe is that 60% of the people in this country ever thought Obama was honest and trustworthy. That's what the polls showed during the 2012 campaign -- and that's why the liar won. In this latest poll, the number who think he is honest has dropped to 49%. That's still ridiculously high. Some may attribute his misleading "assurances" about the ACA to ignorance. But the fact is that he lied repeatedly and blatantly, about insurance, about the economy, and about Benghazi, among other things. If he had told the truth, his "signature" legislation, Biden's BFD, would never have gotten a vote in the Senate or the House.
Meanwhile, beware, as always, of distractions. The propaganda wing huddles in newrooms in Washington, New York and LA at this moment polishing shiny objects to pull across our screens, and nothing is as effective as a "Good War".
Monday, November 18, 2013
What We Are Up Against
Know your enemy. To that end, P.J. Comix of the DUmmie FUnnies, has long delved in the dark but shallow end of the intellectual pool at the Democrat[ic] Underground forum. This week, a DU regular criticized the Obamacare rollout.
Most of the responses are predictable. A couple, you might find enlightening -- including P.J.'s bracketed response:
There are some other good ones. Follow the link and read the whole thing, if you haven't seen it.
Another DU participant says put everyone should be forced onto Medicare, which will be bankrupt soon. In fact, Obamacare is an attempt to take some of the pressure off Medicare and Medicaid. It fails in that, too, as most of the people who have "enrolled" so far have been referred to Medicaid.
The posters at DU, like those at Free Republic on the Republican side, tend to be Political True Believers and party loyalists. Some, as noted by the second quote, are focused only on The Enemy and his destruction -- this is the case at Free Republic as well. They seem to think that if the other party could be eradicated, we would instantly enter a new golden age.
There is no hope in politics.
The first quote illustrates another problem. Yes, all of us who can understand a balance sheet and have any inkling of the rules of economics or grade-school arithmetic did know what the ACA would eliminate lower cost policies that did not include unnecessary coverage. That's true on both sides of the issue. Those of us opposed to the law said this repeatedly, and those who supported it denied it repeatedly AT THE TIME. In order to get the law passed, it's supporters -- to be blunt -- lied. Over and over again. They lied -- they would say -- for the greater good.
Of course, they will fail. The penalty -- which John Roberts traitorously called a tax -- is what the young and healthy, the single male who does not need maternity coverage, will pay. It's cheaper. Other people will be forced to drop their suddenly more expensive coverage. Emergency rooms and Medicaid will become more burdened. The insurers will not be able to cover the additional costs of pre-existing conditions. I wonder if maternity is now a pre-existing condition?
"The pregnancy test is positive."
"We should go buy insurance for the next year."
Most of the responses are predictable. A couple, you might find enlightening -- including P.J.'s bracketed response:
We all knew this is what would happen because it needed to happen. Healthy people will have to pay more to more equally share the burden. Single men would have to purchase pregnancy coverage to more equally share the burden. Young people would have to pay more to more equally share the burden. The ENTIRE plan was based on this logic.
[And this DUmmie says this like this is a good thing.]
...
I'd rather people with sh*t plans pay 10x more for new policies...than give the Republicans a win.
[The people who will now be paying 10x more for their policies--come next November, THEY are the ones who will be giving the Republicans a win. Bank it. And THAT is the realization that is giving Mr. Pitt the angst. He knows that this ObamaCare "fix-up" will NOT redound to the glory of the Democrat Partyin 2014. Will the Shill is, and always will be, a loyal party hack, and if that means having to throw Team Obama under the bus, he will do it.]
There are some other good ones. Follow the link and read the whole thing, if you haven't seen it.
Another DU participant says put everyone should be forced onto Medicare, which will be bankrupt soon. In fact, Obamacare is an attempt to take some of the pressure off Medicare and Medicaid. It fails in that, too, as most of the people who have "enrolled" so far have been referred to Medicaid.
The posters at DU, like those at Free Republic on the Republican side, tend to be Political True Believers and party loyalists. Some, as noted by the second quote, are focused only on The Enemy and his destruction -- this is the case at Free Republic as well. They seem to think that if the other party could be eradicated, we would instantly enter a new golden age.
There is no hope in politics.
The first quote illustrates another problem. Yes, all of us who can understand a balance sheet and have any inkling of the rules of economics or grade-school arithmetic did know what the ACA would eliminate lower cost policies that did not include unnecessary coverage. That's true on both sides of the issue. Those of us opposed to the law said this repeatedly, and those who supported it denied it repeatedly AT THE TIME. In order to get the law passed, it's supporters -- to be blunt -- lied. Over and over again. They lied -- they would say -- for the greater good.
Of course, they will fail. The penalty -- which John Roberts traitorously called a tax -- is what the young and healthy, the single male who does not need maternity coverage, will pay. It's cheaper. Other people will be forced to drop their suddenly more expensive coverage. Emergency rooms and Medicaid will become more burdened. The insurers will not be able to cover the additional costs of pre-existing conditions. I wonder if maternity is now a pre-existing condition?
"The pregnancy test is positive."
"We should go buy insurance for the next year."
Friday, November 15, 2013
No Gloating
Really, I don't know if Obamacare is going to be Obama's Katrina, Stained Blue Dress, No New Taxes, Iran-Contra, Iranian Embassy, Nixon Pardon, Watergate, Tet Offensive, or what. It doesn't matter. Those of us who have opposed the ACA and Obama's policies in general would certainly be glad to see this Frankencare monstrosity die an ignominious and fiery death. But I still think it is wrong to gloat.
At American Thinker, Thomas Lifson suggests "Obama's fallen and he can't get up".
Meanwhile, Fouad Ajami offers a WSJ editorial: When the Obama Magic Died.
There is a lot of truth to what is being said. Obama's blatant lies have been exposed. I am not sorry, but I am not celebrating. Correspondence from our Democrat Senator, Claire "Ma Hogg" McCaskill indicates that the left is still trying to focus on the "website glitch". The same can be gleaned from Obama's non-apology during his press conference. His subsequent speech in Cleveland yesterday was defiant. He will veto any bill that would offer a permanent fix, defund, or repeal the ACA.
Obama's solution is to make an executive change to the law to allow current policies to continue through 2014. Constitutionally, he has zero authority or standing to do this. This is legislation passed by Congress. It is, unfortunately, the law of the land, upheld by a Supreme Court decision. It is in effect. There is nothing he can legally do about it. If his "solution" is allowed to go forward, the rule of law in this country is not just dead but rotted and stinking. We might as well bury it, disband Congress, and accept Teh Won as Dear Reader.
It is hard to say whether Obama and his team are malicious or simply abominably stupid. Not that is necessarily an either-or choice. Surely no one in this country who has ever taken a class on the U.S. Constitution would be that purely ignorant. It looks like maliciousness with desperation a la cart.
At American Thinker, Thomas Lifson suggests "Obama's fallen and he can't get up".
Meanwhile, Fouad Ajami offers a WSJ editorial: When the Obama Magic Died.
There is a lot of truth to what is being said. Obama's blatant lies have been exposed. I am not sorry, but I am not celebrating. Correspondence from our Democrat Senator, Claire "Ma Hogg" McCaskill indicates that the left is still trying to focus on the "website glitch". The same can be gleaned from Obama's non-apology during his press conference. His subsequent speech in Cleveland yesterday was defiant. He will veto any bill that would offer a permanent fix, defund, or repeal the ACA.
Obama's solution is to make an executive change to the law to allow current policies to continue through 2014. Constitutionally, he has zero authority or standing to do this. This is legislation passed by Congress. It is, unfortunately, the law of the land, upheld by a Supreme Court decision. It is in effect. There is nothing he can legally do about it. If his "solution" is allowed to go forward, the rule of law in this country is not just dead but rotted and stinking. We might as well bury it, disband Congress, and accept Teh Won as Dear Reader.
It is hard to say whether Obama and his team are malicious or simply abominably stupid. Not that is necessarily an either-or choice. Surely no one in this country who has ever taken a class on the U.S. Constitution would be that purely ignorant. It looks like maliciousness with desperation a la cart.
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