Obama Getting Desperate to Nationalize Health Care

When a politician says "It's not about me", you can rest assured that it is all about him. It is like that Seinfeld episode where George gets dumped with the old "It's not you it's me" routine, to which he forcefully replies, "Nobody tells me it's them not me, if it's anybody it's me!" In this instance, George was stubbornly honest.

So Obama says health care reform isn't about him. Never mind his pledge to work in a bipartisan spirit. This is the same guy who told Republicans, "I won" when the complained about the process of pushing through the stimulus bill. This is mostly about him and his cult like supporters. This is the guy who ran a messianic campaign extolling that "We are the ones we have been waiting for."

Again, setting aside his promise to work across the aisle, this is a bill that was crafted by Democrats but now has a growing contingent of Democrat opposition.

According to National Journal, Obama told a Democrat Congressmen who was concerned about the cost of the legislation, that if they don't support the bill (even though Obama has admitted he isn't clear on all the bill's details) they will "destroy [his] Presidency."

Better his Presidency than the fabric of the nation and the principles of its founding.

The Cost of Health Reform

CATO's Chris Edwards reminds that budget forecasts for major health programs are usually extremely optimistic, short by a wide margin:

When Medicare was launched in 1965, Part A was projected to cost $9 billion by 1990, but ended up costing $67 billion. When Medicaid’s special hospitals subsidy was added in 1987, it was supposed to cost $100 million annually, but it already cost $11 billion by 1992. When Medicare’s home care benefit was added in 1988, it was projected to cost $4 billion in 1993, but ended up costing $10 billion. Or consider that when Massachusetts Commonwealth Care was put into place in 2006, it was expected to cost about $725 million annually, but the expected cost for 2009 is now almost $1 billion.

http://www.cato.org/pubs/tbb/tbb_0609-57.pdf

Sherry Palmer?

Today's

The CEO of Overstock.com has an op/ed in the Washington Times about interchange fees charged by the credit card companies. Note in the comments section, some credit card company stooge has a rebuttal.

Thomas Sowell - Magic Words in Politics

NextGov.com - Heritage's Web 2.0 Activism

WSJ - More States Look to Raise Taxes

Mercatus Center - Analysis of BO's Budget

UKTimes - US General says Iraq withdrawal timetable might be skipped to fight terrorists

Science - Dramatic Images Volcano's Lightning

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An interview with Laetitia Sadier and Tim Gane of Stereolab:

Today's Reading/Listening List

I've never understood the left's infatuation with communist, thug dictators. In the latest chapter of this romance, seven Members of Congress just went to Cuba to kowtow to Fidel Castro. Apparently, they went with concerns about human rights, but not about the retched situation in Cuba, but in regard to Cuban spies arrested in the U.S.

NY Post - BO's Amateur Hour: Appeasing Islamists in Turkey

Obama bows before the Saudi King?!

ABCNews - TARP Panel Says Crisis far from Over
Reuters - Govt to Delay Stress Test to Prevent a Market Reaction
USAToday - Housing Agencies that repeatedly fail audits to get $300 million in "stimulus" funding
"Congress gave the Obama administration permission to withhold stimulus aid from housing authorities that the Department of Housing and Urban Development lists as "troubled" because of factors such as poor maintenance and financial management. But HUD decided to release the money to these authorities because they "should have the opportunity to improve their housing," spokeswoman Donna White said."

The Universe Divided (Blog) - 10 Worst Excel Practices
"2. Using cell references

Don’t you hate those formulas like =C1*B6-H3+F5?. They’re horrible to work with. Wouldn’t it be easier to see =Rate*Hours-Discount+ExtraCost?
Well, that’s possible. Just click on the C1 in the top left corner and type the name ‘Rate’, then press Enter. From then on, C1 has an alias of ‘Rate’, and you can use it in formulas."

The Marines Greet the President:




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Martin Denny - Quiet Village

Biden Has a WIBDIT Moment

Biden the Boneheaded credited the stimulus for creating a fire station funded during W's term.

WIBDIT?

WIBDIT? What If Bush Did It?

This President is getting away with all kinds of stuff that would have been excoriated by the media. Nearly every day he gets a pass on something that would have been amplified and repeated everywhere under the previous Admin. So next time the Obamateur, his boneheaded VP Biden, or his disgraceful Secretary of State does something stupid, just imagine, WIBDIT? What if Bush Did It?

So, BO goes across the pond and gives the Queen of England an iPod. You know if W did this Letterman and all those other late night jerk asses would be having a field day. But here comes the kicker, the iPod was full of Fraudbama's own speeches.

Today's Reading/Listening List

Budget:
AP - Analysis: Dems Punt Hard Choices on BO's Budget
CRS - THE BUDGET RESOLUTION AND SPENDING LEGISLATION
CRS - THE FEDERAL BUDGET: CURRENT AND UPCOMING ISSUES
CRS - SUBMISSION OF THE PRESIDENT'S BUDGET IN TRANSITION YEARS

AP - Another Obama Nominee with Tax Trouble

AP - Obama's No Tax Hike Pledge Up in Smoke

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/8_tools_to_track_your_footprin.php

Joseph Stiglitz - BO's Ersatz Capitalizm

Google Tip: If unread messages in your inbox are still hidden by other mail, it's easy to find them by searching for is:unread label:inbox. You can search for unread messages with other labels, too - just replace "inbox" with the label in question.

AFP - Russian Locks up 6 in Capsule for 3 Month Experiment


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Al Green now available on eMusic.

Listening to music from 1956.

Today's Reading List

FoxNews - The UN's Climate Change Program Involves Trillions in Wealth Transfers

NY Post - New Era of Spend and Blame

Michelle Malkin - BO's Favorite Solar Panels - The Rest of the Story

Google Blogoscoped - Google Docs Gets a Drawing Program

NY Post - Girardi to Try Jeter as Leadoff Hitter

Today's Reading/Listening List

Jonah Goldberg posted a letter from an NRO reader questioning Obama's claim that his potentially trillion dollar "investment" in health care will ensure long-term economic solvency.
Jonah; I have never seen this point made: all of Europe, which has nationalized health care already, is also experiencing the current economic crisis. Why does Obama believe that bringing national health care here will in any way save us a similar economic crisis in the future? He keeps repeating that only if we get health care costs under control will we have “real” prosperity, but the countries that have already “tackled” this problem in the past were not spared their own economic meltdowns.

Back on March 4, Obama boasted:
"The budget plan I outlined next week includes $2 trillion in deficit reduction. It reduces discretionary spending for non-defense programs as a share of the economy that -- by more than 10 percent over the next decade, to the lowest level in nearly half a century. I want to repeat that. I want to make sure everybody catches this, because I think sometimes the chatter on the cable stations hasn't been clear about this. My budget reduces discretionary spending for non-defense programs as a share of the economy by more than 10 percent over the next decade, and it will take it to the lowest level in nearly half a century."
Note that time frame. All these reductions will be achieved in 10 years. And the actions taken toward this are conveniently planned for the out-years. In the meantime, his budget proposes a 11.5 percent increase in non-defense spending

TPC - Analysis of Tax Provision in BO's Budget

There may be no such thing as a free lunch, but 2 Congressmen insist the highways are free, and they should stay free, dammit!
HR 1071, Keeping America's Freeways Free Act! To prohibit the imposition and collection of tolls on certain highways constructed using Federal funds.

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NmNkNzNhZDA2ODMzNGVlZmM3YmI5NmNiNWUxNDUyZDI=

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NDEzMGE2ODA4ZjU2NDlmNDU4MzY5ZTY1NGZiNjkzMjc=

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=ODQyMGQwNWUxYjk4ODcyNWJkMzU5MjBkMmNjYTVjYjA=


GovExec - The Stimulus Czar

NewScientist.com - Space storm alert: 90 seconds from catastrophe

Bird Talk - Parrot Gender Quiz

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Music from 1950 and 1951.

Including Yma Sumac:

Today's Reading/Listening List

You know things are bad when the EU is blasting your budget:

AP - EU presidency: US economic plans 'a way to hell'

NextGov - Officials criticize Defense's 'unreliable' health record
The Defense Department's top health officials lambasted the department's central electronic heath record system that manages patient files for millions of active duty and retired service members, saying it frustrates doctors because it crashes as often as once a week and generates duplicate records. ... MHS has developed new versions of AHLTA based on a Web services model, which it plans to field in less than three years, according to Morris. Casscells declined to estimate the cost of the new system, because he said he is working with the Office of Management and Budget on the details. But he said the cost will come in "well below" the $15 billion he estimated a year ago.

NYT - Dear AIG, I Quit

Live Science - Why Toddlers Don't Do What They're Told

Washington Post - Clouded Leopards Cubs Born at National Zoo


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Django!

Today's Reading/Listening List

GovExec.com - Postmaster General to face Congress over compensation
The Postal Service, which is a semigovernment agency that has not received an operational subsidy from Congress since 1982, faces another massive deficit that Potter estimates will reach $6 billion in fiscal 2009.

This follows deficits of $2.8 billion in fiscal 2008 and $5.1 billion in fiscal 2007. The service last turned a profit of $900 million in fiscal 2006. Potter's $857,459 package in includes base compensation for fiscal 2008 listed at $263,575, according to Postal Regulatory Commission records with a $135,041 performance incentive bonus, deferred until he leaves office. His other compensation includes $77,347 in perks, including parking, life insurance premiums, airline clubs, spousal travel and security, plus his $381,496 pension.

Also deferred until he leaves office is accrued annual leave totaling more than $245,000, as of September 2008, which he will receive in a lump sum. He has been in office since June 2001.

GovExec.com - Budget resolution comes into focus

DC Examiner - Why can't we decline Medicare benefits?George Will - And So Begins Another Week Of Malfeasance

Newsbusters - CNN's 'Vast Grassroots Network' for Obama Not So Vast

Arnold King - A Metaphor: The Toxic NCAA Bracket

AP - Parrot awarded for yelling about choking baby

SearchEngineWatch.com - LinkedIn Enables RSS Feeds to Enhance Sharing in Groups
Cool Tool - http://www.wordle.net will generate word clouds if you can get it to work.

A few useful HTML codes: http://net.tutsplus.com/articles/web-roundups/10-rare-html-tags-you-really-should-know/

~~

I'm glad to hear Letterman finally got married. His son deserves it.

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Today's Reading/Listening List

Two weeks until opening day of regular season baseball!

~~

Lil' Timmy "Turbo" Geithner is releasing the long-promised details on the administration's toxic asset security plan. They want public-private partnerships to buy up the bad assets that are causing the credit crunch.

Question: What private entity is going to participate in this relationship when they would clearly be the junior partners? Who would want this government dictating salaries?

AP - Treasury's toxic asset plan could cost $1 trillion

~~

GovExec.com - Obama releases guidance on acceptable stimulus spending
"Whenever a project comes up for review, we're going to ask a simple question," the president said. "Does it advance the core mission of the Recovery Act? Does it jump-start job creation? Does it lay the foundation for lasting prosperity?"

Umm, sir, with all due respect, much of your Recovery Act doesn't advance that mission.

~~

Politico - Is BHO punch drunk?

Politico - Sen. Conrad looks to cut BO's budget

Reuters - Economic crisis dire, risk of unrest and war - IMF

Gov. Mark Sanford in the WSJ - Why South Carolina Doesn't Want "Stimulus"

NRO - Democracy in Europe: It’s lethargic and uninspiring — and ours could be like it soon.

NRO - Going Galt: Ayn Rand’s books are booming — but what about her ideas?

The Bulletin -Obama Continues To Set Records For Incompetence

Science's 10 most beautiful physics experiments

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Last week I finished up a chronological listening tour of classical music. This week I am beginning a new tour of the non-classical music in my collection from the late 1920's through 2009. Starting with:

Nipper's Greatest Hits of the 1930s and assorted Benny Goodman. I was surprised I couldn't find a youtube clip of Cab Calloway's Zah Zuh Zaz.

Love

Obama and Biden's Greatest Hits

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/toby_harnden/blog/2009/03/20/top_10_gaffes_by_barack_obama_and_joe_biden_

Today's Reading/Listening List

Politico - Obama gets into trouble without his teleprompter.The Hill - 1 Rep gives back AIG political donations

Alaska - Palin to refuse 30 percent of the Stimu-Lie

GovExec.com - So-called "fiscal conservative" Blue Dogs release budget guideline
"The group supports Obama's "very ambitious agenda," Rep. Allen Boyd, D-Fla., a Blue Dog leader and senior member of the Budget Committee, said on Wednesday."

So under their rational, it is fiscally conservative to back an unprecedented expansion of the government, as long as you tax the crap out of productivity to pay for it. The media should stop calling them "fiscally conservative," because that is pure BS. They are tax and spend liberals.

GovExec.com - Stimulus oversight panel continues to staff up
Committee Chairman Edolphus Towns, D-N.Y., agreed that preventing fraud was necessary to ensure that billions of dollars aren't wasted. Citing fraud analysts, he estimated that U.S. organizations lose 7 percent of revenue to fraud and waste annually. When applied to the stimulus package, that 7 percent would amount to $55 billion in lost funds.
"And the sad truth is, once fraudulent dollars go out the door, the federal government historically is only able to collect pennies on the dollar," Towns said.

TaxVox - Taxing AIG Bonuses: Worse Than Paying Them

GoogleBlogoscoped - Gmail gets an undo for sent mail

AP - Macaw photo

Obama's NCAA bracket picks performed on par with his presidency so far - poorly.

When BO gave Brit PM Gordon Brown that DVD box set, lots of people jokingly wondered whether they would work on DVD player, to prevent piracy, DVD formats vary in different regions of the world. Well it turns out they do not work.

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Punky Irish band, Blood or Whiskey.

Obama and His Best Friend

Found this picture on the front page of www.whitehouse.gov.

As an added bonus for his hyper-inflated ego, it also looks like his teleprompter can double as a mirror.

Today's Reading/Listening List

NRO - LBJ Returns

Fascinating bit of info from the Cold War:
Sky.com - Undercover Putin in Reagan Ruse

Bastard Nation
AP - 40% of births to unwed mothers

CNNMoney - Keeping an Eye on the $timulus

Reuters - UN pushing for global tax again

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Wrapping up my 6 month-long tour of Classical and 20th Century Music today with:
Steve Reich - You Are (Variations)

And a piece I haven't heard before, Aaron Jay Kernis's Symphony in Waves.

~~

Went to see if The Tossers had anything new on eMusic, but all of the studio albums that used to be there are gone. Similar thing happened with Josh Rouse, but in that case I still had a few of his previous albums in my "Saved for Later" list and hadn't downloaded them yet. The biggest example of music disappearing from eMusic is of course, the Rolling Stones, whose catalog was available on the website for only a week or two.

Today's Reading/Listening List

Washington is all in outrage over the AIG bonuses. Some Members are contemplating a punitive tax on the recipients to get the money back. Will they consider giving back all the campaign contributions they received from TARP-corporations through the years of the bubble?

For example, Obama received $101K from AIG.

~~

Michelle Malkin -The Kabuki Theater of AIG Outrage

Washington Times - Obama climate plan could cost $2 trillion
Tax Foundation - Cap-and-trade average annual household burden would be $1,218

AP - Health care overhaul cost may reach $1.5 trillion

More change you can believe in!
MSNBC - Obama Budget Strategy Breaks Bipartisan Pledge

No wonder Obama wants to run the 2010 census directly from the White House:
Fox News - ACORN to Play Role in 2010 Census

SkyNews - The Teleprompter President's Teleprompter Blunder

"Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen was just a few paragraphs into an address in Washington when he realised it all sounded a bit too familiar.

It was. He was repeating the speech President Barack Obama had just read from the same teleprompter.

Mr Cowen stopped, turned to the president and said: "That's your speech."

A laughing Mr Obama returned to the podium to take over but it seems the script had finally been switched and the US president ended up thanking himself for inviting everyone to the party.

Mr Obama is an accomplished orator but is becoming known in America as the "teleprompt president" over his reliance on the machine when he gives a speech.""

~~

Obama is trying to cram a lot of government expansion through Congress this year. Some Democrats are concerned that the Hill will be overloaded, but Obama's Teleprompter defends tackling many problems at the same time.

Taxpayer Rallies Continue!


~~

Paste - Demetri Martin's 224-Palindrome Poem

Lisa de Moraes - Idol's Twangy Grand Ole Opry Week

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Steve Reich - Nagoya Marimbas


~~

The major piece that was on my listening list today was Glenn Branca's "Symphony No. 5" and I will have to channel Simon Cowell by declaring it to be self-indulgent, vapid rubbish. On to Arvo Part's De Profundis to clear my head.

Oh!

Today's Reading/Listening List

The beginning of a trade war?
Reuters - Mexico slaps tariffs on U.S. goods in truck feud

Reuters - Fossil sea monster's bite makes T-Rex look feeble

AP - Justice Thomas: Americans don't sacrifice as much
"Our country and our principles are more important than our individual wants," Thomas told close to 400 people who greeted him with a standing ovation at Washington and Lee University, a Shenandoah Valley liberal arts school.

He quoted President Kennedy's famous, "Ask not what your country can do for you" speech, but said Americans today are more likely to say, "Ask not what you can do for yourselves or your country but what your country can do for you."

Washington Post - Anger Over Firm Depletes Obama's Political Capital
Asked why the administration is attempting to claw back the bonuses now but did not do more to block the payments earlier this month when it was authorizing the latest $30 billion in new loans to the struggling insurer, Gibbs was unresponsive.

"The administration is taking the steps today to go back and see what can be done," he said.

Politico - Tax Hikes Put WH on Defense

Bloomberg - Wells Fargo forced into TARP

AP - 8 Dems oppose quick debate on cap-and-trade

John Goodman - Revisiting the (Health Care) Syllogism

Insider Online - Look to Europe for Health Care Solutions?

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The Pogues - The Body of an American (live)


The Pogues - Waxie's Dargle

Today's Reading/Listening List

Politico - Cheney warns 'Obama wants massive expansion'

KYPost.com - Thousands Support The Cincinnati Tea Party
Michelle Malkin - No Duh! White House "worried about bailout backlash"

WashPost - Obama to activate his email zombies to support his tax hikes

AP - Budget crunch cuts illegals' health care

OpenCRS - A Medicare Primer
"In FY2009, the program will cover an estimated 45 million persons (38 million aged and 7 million disabled) at an estimated total cost of about $492 billion, accounting for over 3% of GDP."

Rep. Barton - Under Obama Cap-and-Trade Plan, Taxpayers Will Face $522 Tax Hike

Victor Davis Hanson - Making Orwell Proud

FoxNews - ACLU Urges California District to Let Kids Leave School for Medical Treatment Without Parental Consent

Discover - 20 Things About Time
"The Department of Energy estimates that electricity demand drops by 0.5 percent during Daylight Saving Time, saving the equivalent of nearly 3 million barrels of oil."
~~~

The Smithsonian improved its online calendar. It used to be displayed as one long list, now they've made it very flexible, there are more items listed than in the past, more options to choose which items to see, and several different ways to subscribe to the calendar: RSS, month email, or download an iCalendar. And results can be filtered by museum, too.

Ditto for the Washington Post's Event Finder. They've made it easier to browse by day and type of event.

~~~

Google no longer supports its text/photo clipping application, GoogleNotebook. I use it on occasion to save references. The service is still there, but they won't be making any more updates to it. I'm not sure if they are letting any new people signup for it or not. Wired.com has a wiki of alternatives here.

~~

A colleague just told me about this new series on the History Channel: Battles BC. Mondays at 8 & 9 PM (EST). Tonight's episode: Hannibal: The Annihilator. Should be good!

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Washington Times - Brain in step with offbeat music

Steve Reich - The Desert Music
Here is an excerpt of my favorite section of the piece:

Today's Reading/Listening List

Malkin - Tea Party update: Revolution is brewing

WSJ - Obama's Poll Numbers Are Falling to Earth

WSJ - Obama's Rosetta Stone

China:
Thanks to our unstoppable over-spending, China owns our sorry asses. How soon till they start dictating our tax policy?
AP - China "worried" about US Treasury holdings
WSJ - Wen Voices Concern Over China's U.S. Treasurys
Bloomberg - Treasuries Drop as Stocks Gain, China Asks for Debt Assurance

AP - 10 kids drink windshield wiper fluid in daycare

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eMusic Suggestion:
Pillow-soft music for lazy afternoons: Kirk Hammett, one of Metallica's chief axmen, gave Miranda Lee Richards her first guitar lessons way back when, but don't expect Light of X to resemble Ride the Lightning. Despite her metal-god tutelage, Richards excels at making pillow-soft music for lazy afternoons. She's Keren Ann with just a little more verve, Norah Jones with less reserve. (Link to artist on eMusic)

Paste - Seinfeld cast to appear in Curb Your Enthusiasm

Steve Reich - Different Trains

A few changes

Yahoo!Briefcase is closing on March. Makes sense since Yahoo!Mail now has unlimited storage. So if you've got items stored there, better retrieve them before they disappear into the ether.

GMail made some little changes that have improved the program. It is now much easier to add labels. Click on the label button and a text box appears. I'd long been meaning to make a suggestion about this, but they seem to have read my mind.

Google also recently added two notable gadgets for GoogleDesktop - a GoogleCalendar gadget and a handy GoogleDocs gadget.

I had trouble getting them both to work. Re-installing GoogleDesktop to make sure I've got the latest version, so we'll see if it works in the morning.

Today's Reading/Listening List

Reuters - Oil companies flee to low-tax Switzerland

WSJ - Obama, Geithner Get Low Grades from Economists

Victor Davis Hanson - Now Obama Tells Us? What an Honest Campaign Would Have Sounded Like

Federal $$$ Oversight:
GovExec.com - Stimulus creates major challenges for agency money managers
GovExec.com - TARP staffing continues to increase
GovExec.com - Panel questions Treasury's oversight of TARP funds

GoogleBlogoscoped - GoogleReader Adds Comments

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Lisa de Moraes - Can the Judges Save "Idol"?

Terry Riley - The Harp of New Albion
(More Info) (eMusic)

Today's Reading/Listening List

Morton Feldman's "For Stephan Wolpe" (also available from eMusic)

James Pethokoukis - Putting Obama on the Couch

YouTube - Nancy Pelosi at Home

Politico - Congress at Work "$1 billion an hour" (They didn't add in SCHIP spending.)

Veronique de Rugy - A list of all the bailout/stimulus measures since last September

Associated Press - Extreme cheapskates: Tightwads revel in frugality

Space.com - Catch Venus Before it Disappears (3 weeks to go!)

♫♫
MP3 - It Ain't Your Money to Spend!

Lisa de Moraes - 13 Unlucky for "American Idol"

Google Had a Leak

Google's new-ish online Document applications are very handy for collaborating with colleagues, or for working on a document or spreadsheet without having to email it back and forth from work to home. But there is a downside to working in the cloud - security and privacy becomes a greater concern.

Yesterday, Google reported a "software bug" that shared documents that were meant to be private. Only a small fraction of accounts were affected, but given the number of people who use Google, that is still a lot of people.

This isn't just a concern for Google. Now there is a federal push to digitize patients' health records. So presumable there will be large government-run databases of people enrolled in Medicare and Medicaid. One risk is that decisions concerning health care with be centralized under some new federal czar, another is that all this private information will be breached. Governments have a poor record of managing and securing these types of database.

Yep, They're Bad

http://www.badpaintingsofbarackobama.com/

The Democrats' Keynsian "Stimulus" Explained

An economics student asks his professor to explain how the stimulus will help the economy. The professor replies that he doesn't have time to explain it now, but if the student will come by his house in the evening he will do his best to explain it.
The student shows up that night and the professor asks him to help him with an issue in his pool first. "Take this bucket and fill it with as much water as you can from the deep end of the pool. Then, carry it around and pour it into the shallow end."

Confused, the student complies, but quickly becomes frustrated. Finally he puts down the bucket and says, "This is pointless! I've been doing this over and over again and now I'm tired. Besides, it hasn't changed anything!"

The professor smiles and says, "Exactly."

That's a Shame

Remember those TV ads selling Obama Presidential Coins? They were pretty much a scam.

So Much for Energy Security

The porked up and bloated omnibus spending bill being squeezed through Congress by Democratic leaders will not fund the initiative to double the size of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Apparently the Dems idea of "energy security and independence" involves Americans all driving around in little clown cars and paying more for food thanks to the diversion of corn for the production of the highly inneficient fuel known as ethanol.

By the way, this omnibus bill increases its programs spending by 8 percent.

Enemies Lists Are "Fun"

Obama's creepy Press Secretary thinks it "fun" to use the power of the Oval Office to target individual private citizens who disagree with the Administration's War on Prosperity. I would be very surprised if Gibbs is still in this job come summer.

Fraudbama Presented a Fraudulent Budget??!

The inestimable Krauthammer thinks so.

Even worse, the policies in his budget are destroying wealth.

Obama's Training Wheels

Obama can't even make the shortest address with the assistance of his steadying TelePrompter.

See the Politico.

News for the Boy

1) A hand print fossil reveals that some dinosaurs' arms were likely positioned upward, not downward as depicted in the Jurassic Park movies.

2) Fossil hunters in Colombia find a 43-foot long snake!

3) A paleontologist in England discovers 48 new species.

Colorful Chart

LastFM generated this chart of the artists I've been listening to this year.

(Click to embiggen.)

This Redistribution of Wealth Business is Tricky

A little parable from Monty Python:

Dennis Moore Part 1


Dennis Moore Part 2


Part 3


Part 4

At this rate, we won't need an emissions cap

Barack "Senator Government" Obama wants to impose an annual $80 billion tax on all consumers via a "cap-and-trade" program to regulate emissions. We won't need it. His platform contains enough assaults on productivity and other fuel taxes that emissions will decline as Atlas Shrugs and manufacturers close shop or relocate to friendlier climes. Oh look at that, the Dow plummeted again. Thanks, Obama. Here's your more equal society, wealth is destroyed and dependency on the government is increased.

Not Too Likely

Representative Pence has called on the President to veto the $410 billion pork-infused omnibus bill. This ain't gonna happen. Barack "Senator Government" Obama will not stand in the way of federal bloat.



PENCE CALLS ON PRESIDENT OBAMA TO VETO BLOATED SPENDING BILL

“House Republicans trust President Obama will veto any spending bill that is not consistent with his campaign commitment…”

Washington, DC- U.S. Congressman Mike Pence, Chairman of the House Republican Conference, made the following statement today after joining House Republican leaders in sending a letter to President Obama requesting he veto the massive omnibus spending bill:

“In only a few months, Democrats have passed massive spending bills at the taxpayer’s expense. To make matters worse, the manner in which this legislation was forced through Congress was not transparent or honest. For example, the trillion-dollar ‘stimulus’ spending bill was rushed through Congress without any Member having read it. And, the $410 billion legislation that passed this week contained nearly 9,000 ‘airdropped’ earmarks, most of which were not even considered in committee let alone on the House floor. This is unacceptable.

“House Republicans trust President Obama will veto any spending bill that is not consistent with his campaign commitment to ‘fiscal responsibility and accountability and ensuring that spending commitments are paid for without burdening our children and grandchildren.’ And, since the Democrats’ bill also goes against President Obama’s pledge to ‘slash earmarks to no greater than 1994 levels and ensure all spending decisions are open to the public,’ we urge him to stand by his word.

“We side with the American people who are tired of business-as-usual with Washington’s out-of-control spending habits. Our nation’s families and small businesses are being forced to make sacrifices and cut down on spending and we believe, so should government. American taxpayers deserve better.”

Gimme, Gimme, Gimme!

I was skimming through the channels earlier and paused on CSPAN's live broadcast of the "Black State of the Union. "Some angry looking freak of a woman with bulging eyes was gesticulating wildly. You'd think that community would be happy now that a half-black man was elected President. I had it on mute but it looked to me as though she wanted something, I guess it was money: more welfare, more federal housing, more food stamps, Medicaid and Medicare, gimme gimme gimme! I think I was onto something because, then as if on cue, the Master of the Art of the Shakedown, Jess Jackson, stood and took a bow.

The mainstream black leaders are anything but mainstream. That label should belong, at the very least, to a more moderate cohort, not these radical leftists. These people have moved beyond Marxism. As embodied in Obama's budget, the mantra "To each according to his need" has been replaced by "To each according to his want." And they have also discarded, "From each according to his ability." Obama is leaning heavily on 5 percent of taxpayers to pull the wagon bearing the rest of society.

This is not a formula for a stable and prosperous democratic Republic.

Iraq "End Date"?

Fraudbama strikes again. He gets his lapdog media to report that "Obama sets Aug. 2010 as Iraq end date." Wow! Our troops will be out of Iraq in a year and a half. Joyous day!

Oh wait, no they won't.

Even with the drawdown, a sizable U.S. force of 35,000 to 50,000 U.S. troops will stay in Iraq under a new mission of training, civilian protection and counterterrorism.

And this is only possible thanks to the belated surge, belated in that Bush should have kept up much more pressure early to keep Iraq stabilized after the successful toppling of Hussein.

Now I Don't Need to Go to the CPAC Dinner

Text for Rep. Mike Pence’s Address to Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC)

[As Prepared for Delivery]

As I stood on that cold January day atop the grassy hills surrounding the fort, in the theatre of my mind I could almost see the armada sailing up the river with hulls overflowing with the pride of having sacked the Capitol of the young country with little opposition.

But the long night would not end as they hoped. Here, amidst these earthen barricades, a small determined band of patriots would save the revolution because they would not yield.

I stand before you today, at a historic moment for the conservative movement, and for this great country. The coming weeks and months may well set the course of this nation for the next generation.

This Administration and this Congress is barely a month old, and already the problems facing this nation have grown in magnitude -- eclipsing the ones the nation faced when voters cast their ballots in November.

How we, as conservatives, respond to these challenges could determine whether America retains her place in the world as a beacon of freedom; or whether we slip into the abyss that has swallowed much of Europe in an avalanche of socialism.

While some are prepared to write the obituary on capitalism and our movement, I believe we are on the brink of a great American awakening.

I can feel it, I can hear it. Our nation's founding revolution began with the rumblings of discontent. Back home in Indiana last week I heard it - along with a lot of straight talk and common sense. Hoosiers recognize pork when they see it, and they recognize what bailing out every failing business in America means: we're burying generations under a mountain range of debt.

One Indiana farmer at a town hall meeting last week summed it up nicely: “What you're hearing out here Congressman is whole lot a frustration.”

This wise man summed up the feelings of the American people, and I couldn't have said it better. People have good reason to be frustrated.

On Election Day, only 22 percent of Americans described themselves as “liberal,” yet voters sent to Washington the most liberal, one-party government in our nation's history.

So what happened?

The truth is, Republicans didn't just lose a few elections, we lost our way. We walked away from the principles that minted our national majority and the American people walked away from us.

So we're in the wilderness. The only question now is, what are we going to do about it?

There sure is a lot of advice out there, some of it even from Republicans.

We keep hearing that Republicans have to come up with new ideas and that we have to use new technology to take those ideas to voters who haven't been coming our way lately.

Yes, we need to offer positive alternatives.

Yes, we need to take our message to every community in America.

But more than anything else, we need to be willing to fight - for freedom and free markets and traditional moral values.

We need to be the loyal opposition.

We should support the president and his party in Congress whenever principle permits. And we must vigorously oppose the Administration and the liberal Democrat majority every time consistency to principle demands.

After an election defeat, Winston Churchill described the duty before us saying, “it is the duty of every English party to accept political defeat cordially and to do their best endeavors to secure the success or to neutralize the evil of the principles to which we have been forced to succumb.” Churchill added, “it is good that we have no wish to be unfaithful to so wholesome a tradition.”

And neither do House Republicans.

And we will be that faithful and loyal opposition, we will stand up to the big government plans of the left and we will speak for the average American every day!

Like we did on the vote of the so-called stimulus bill. Every single House Republican opposed it on the floor of Congress. Every one.

The time for go-along to get along is over.

Margaret Thatcher used to say: “First you win the argument, then you win the vote.”

Although we lost the legislative battle, we won the argument because we proposed a better solution: tax relief for working families and small businesses. Twice the jobs, at half the cost.

Republicans won the argument because we got back to basics: fighting for the principles and ideals that make this nation great.

We got back to fighting for basic economic freedom: free enterprise and fiscal responsibility

This is the way back for our movement and our party.

Fighting for free enterprise means standing up for free markets. The freedom to succeed includes the freedom to fail. We must defend entrepreneurial capitalism against the onslaught of the American left.

Even in these challenging economic times, especially in these challenging times.

The American people know what makes sense and what doesn't.

We can't borrow and spend our way back to a growing economy.

We cannot bail out every failing business in America.

And we cannot ask hard working families who have played by the rules and paid their mortgages to bail out the irresponsible decisions of others.

Yet, that's exactly what the Democrats are doing.

Worse, Americans aren't being asked, they're being told.

Earlier this week President Obama announced a plan to raise taxes in a recession to pay for massive federal spending on universal healthcare and global climate change. But, there is no hope in mountains of debt and there is no change in higher taxes.

The truth is, they just don't get it.

After writing a stimulus bill that was nothing more than a wish list of liberal spending priorities and power grabs, Speaker Nancy Pelosi went to the House floor and said, “every American is asking, 'what's in it for me?'”

She thinks the American people are a bunch of congressmen!!

No, Madame Speaker, they wanted to know what's in it, period. Which is more than you can say for the 246 Democrats who cast their votes for it.

The American people weren't asking, “what's in it for me?” They were asking, “what's in it for America?” What's in it that will strengthen the foundations upon which our prosperity rests?

As the details of that bloated bill emerge, the answers to “what's in it for America?” are all too clear. What's in it for America is generations of debt, burdening our children and grandchildren with debt tomorrow to fund liberal priorities today, all with sore little chance of stimulating the economy.

Americans are not happy. And they know this is not just about dollars and cents, this is about who we are as a nation.

As Reagan said in 1964, it's about whether “we abandon the American Revolution and confess that a little intellectual elite in far-distant capital can plan our lives for us better than we can plan them ourselves.”

My money is on the American people.

The morning after the banking bailout vote last fall, I was back home in Indiana and a man of modest means approached me, hat in hand, told me he'd lost his job the day before but came by to thank me for voting against the Wall Street bailout.

He looked me right in the eye and said, “Congressman, I came by to thank you because I can get another job but I can't get another country.”

For that brave American and on behalf of his right to live and work in freedom, Conservatives must oppose the march of big government that will stifle our recovery and change the nature of our country forever. And we must oppose it with everything we've got.

And it's not just our economic freedom that is coming under assault. We're also going to have to fight for our freedoms in the workplace and on the airwaves.

Free elections, without fear of intimidation or reprisal, are essential to an open democratic society. It has been the hallmark of this country since its birth; men and women going to cast their ballot in support of an idea or a candidate they believe best represents their interests.

The so-called, “Employee Free Choice Act,” envisions a world where workers would be denied privacy and forced to vote in an atmosphere of intimidation.

By pushing for Card Check, Democrats are trying to drive democracy from the workplace.

But the working men and women of America deserve better and Republicans will defend their right to a secret ballot.

And the freedom to listen to what we want, who we want, when we want is also a blood-bought American right.

Despite assurances to the contrary from the White House, Democrats from Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Illinois Senator Dick Durbin to California Senator Diane Feinstein all openly advocate a return of the so-called Fairness Doctrine to the airwaves of America.

But there's nothing fair about the Fairness Doctrine. Allowing bureaucrats to decide what opinions can be expressed on the public airwaves is nothing more than government rationing of free speech and it must be opposed.

We cannot permit the Democrats to censor the airwaves of America. We must pass the Broadcaster Freedom Act and once and forever, send this Doctrine of Censorship to the ash heap of broadcast history.

Finally, fighting for freedom means ensuring the blessings of liberty to our posterity, born and unborn. We must stand for the sanctity of life.

Ending an innocent human life is morally wrong.

It is also morally wrong to take the money of millions of pro-life Americans and use it to promote abortion at home and abroad.

The largest abortion provider in America should not be the largest recipient of federal funding under Title X. The time has come to deny any and all federal funding to Planned Parenthood of America.

And Congress must restore the historic restrictions on foreign aid under the Mexico City policy. President Obama and Congress were wrong to allow our tax dollars to provide abortions around the world and the protections of the Mexico City and Kemp Kasten must be restored.

It's clear to most people around the country that we face some pretty challenging times. Public confidence in many of our institutions has been shaken, and remains unsteady.

We must take action to get this economy back on track, and the American people back to work - meaningful action, the kind that creates and saves private sector jobs, not government bureaucracies.

And there is something more we must do. We must recognize that our present crisis in not merely economic and political but moral in nature.

At the root of these times is the realization that we are struggling because so many in authority have walked away from the timeless truths of integrity, personal responsibility. An honest day's work for an honest day's pay, and the notion that we should live and work in a way that treats others as we would want to be treated.

The Old Book says, “if the foundations crumble, how can the righteous stand?”

If the foundations of integrity and personal responsibility crumble, indeed how can a free society endure?

The truth is, we must get back to basics

Recently, U.S. News & World Report called to say they had heard a rumor that I open my staff meetings at the House Republican Conference in prayer.

Only in Washington, D.C. is being caught in private prayer a newsworthy event.

We told them, “Yes, the Congressman does open meetings in prayer. We pray for the President, for colleagues in both parties, and sometimes we even pray for the press!”

The truth is that in times like these it is good to “remember what your knees are for.”

Our Founders believed in prayer, as did one of our greatest presidents. An Indiana farm boy named Abe Lincoln.

At the height of a civil war and on the eve of a bloody battle on a field in Gettysburg, President Lincoln fell to his knees and prayed. Lincoln later recalled to a Union general, “I don't know how it was, and I cannot explain it, but soon a sweet comfort crept into my soul. The feeling came that God had taken the whole business into His hands and that things would go right.”

Like millions of Americans, I've been spending some time on my knees lately and I've got the same feeling that, in the midst of these dark days, by His grace, things will go right again.

I close where this address began, standing, as I did just a few short weeks ago, on the barricades of Fort McHenry in Baltimore Harbor.

Facing overwhelming opposition, and what must have seemed like the inevitable advance of defeat, a small band of regulars withstood 25 hours of bombardment at the hands of the British fleet.

And when the sun rose and smoke cleared, because of their courage and determination, our flag was still there.

A poem was written, an anthem inspired and a nation reborn to freedom and independence.

Inspired by their example, let us conservatives resolve this day that we, like they, will stand and fight; we will not yield.

And with determination and courage and faith, we, like those Americans so many years ago, will hold the banner of freedom high and the good and great people of this land will rally to our cause.

So help us God.

Geting more out of GoogleDocs

Wired.com started a wiki page with some tips for using Google Docs.

Fraudbama's Thermostat

Obama on the campaign trail:

We can't drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times . . . and then just expect that other countries are going to say OK.

Obama in the White House (from the NYT):

The capital flew into a bit of a tizzy when, on his first full day in the White House, President Obama was photographed in the Oval Office without his suit jacket. There was, however, a logical explanation: Mr. Obama, who hates the cold, had cranked up the thermostat. “He’s from Hawaii, O.K.?” said Mr. Obama’s senior adviser, David Axelrod, who occupies the small but strategically located office next door to his boss. “He likes it warm. You could grow orchids in there."

Over Torre

I've been sick of Joe Torre's act for a couple of years now. Glad to see some in the New York press are finally over Joe, thanks to his new book.

The Post's Kevin Kernan sums it up:

The irony is that Torre, who always preached teamwork, wasn't about that here.

Over London

Here are some impressive photos of London at night.

Wishing You a Happy Ashura!

Shi'ite Muslims gash their heads with blades during a ceremony marking Ashura in Nabatieh, south Lebanon, January 7, 2009. Ashura, the most important day in the Shi'ite calendar, commemorates the death of Imam Hussien, grandson of the Prophet Mohammad, in the 7th century battle of Kerbala.

REUTERS/Sharif Karim (LEBANON)

Bushisms

The Associated Press put together a list of Bush's goofy quotes over the years. I'll take these over Clinton's legalistic prevarications and Obama's vainglorious windbaggery any day:

• "I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully." — September 2000, explaining his energy policies at an event in Michigan.

• "Rarely is the question asked, is our children learning?" — January 2000, during a campaign event in South Carolina.

• "They misunderestimated the compassion of our country. I think they misunderestimated the will and determination of the commander in chief, too." — Sept. 26, 2001, in Langley, Va. Bush was referring to the terrorists who carried out the Sept. 11 attacks.

• "There's no doubt in my mind, not one doubt in my mind, that we will fail." — Oct. 4, 2001, in Washington. Bush was remarking on a back-to-work plan after the terrorist attacks.

• "It would be a mistake for the United States Senate to allow any kind of human cloning to come out of that chamber." — April 10, 2002, at the White House, as Bush urged Senate passage of a broad ban on cloning.

• "I want to thank the dozens of welfare-to-work stories, the actual examples of people who made the firm and solemn commitment to work hard to embetter themselves." — April 18, 2002, at the White House.

• "There's an old saying in Tennessee — I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again." — Sept. 17, 2002, in Nashville, Tenn.

• "Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we." — Aug. 5, 2004, at the signing ceremony for a defense spending bill.

• "Too many good docs are getting out of business. Too many OB/GYNs aren't able to practice their love with women all across this country." — Sept. 6, 2004, at a rally in Poplar Bluff, Mo.

• "Our most abundant energy source is coal. We have enough coal to last for 250 years, yet coal also prevents an environmental challenge." — April 20, 2005, in Washington.

• "We look forward to hearing your vision, so we can more better do our job." — Sept. 20, 2005, in Gulfport, Miss.

• "I can't wait to join you in the joy of welcoming neighbors back into neighborhoods, and small businesses up and running, and cutting those ribbons that somebody is creating new jobs." — Sept. 5, 2005, when Bush met with residents of Poplarville, Miss., in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

• "It was not always a given that the United States and America would have a close relationship. After all, 60 years we were at war 60 years ago we were at war." — June 29, 2006, at the White House, where Bush met with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.

• "Make no mistake about it, I understand how tough it is, sir. I talk to families who die." — Dec. 7, 2006, in a joint appearance with British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

• "These are big achievements for this country, and the people of Bulgaria ought to be proud of the achievements that they have achieved." — June 11, 2007, in Sofia, Bulgaria.

• "Mr. Prime Minister, thank you for your introduction. Thank you for being such a fine host for the OPEC summit." — September 2007, in Sydney, Australia, where Bush was attending an APEC summit.

• "Thank you, Your Holiness. Awesome speech." April 16, 2008, at a ceremony welcoming Pope Benedict XVI to the White House.

• "The fact that they purchased the machine meant somebody had to make the machine. And when somebody makes a machine, it means there's jobs at the machine-making place." — May 27, 2008, in Mesa, Ariz.

• "And they have no disregard for human life." — July 15, 2008, at the White House. Bush was referring to enemy fighters in Afghanistan.

• "I remember meeting a mother of a child who was abducted by the North Koreans right here in the Oval Office." — June 26, 2008, during a Rose Garden news briefing.

• "Throughout our history, the words of the Declaration have inspired immigrants from around the world to set sail to our shores. These immigrants have helped transform 13 small colonies into a great and growing nation of more than 300 people." — July 4, 2008 in Virginia.

• "The people in Louisiana must know that all across our country there's a lot of prayer — prayer for those whose lives have been turned upside down. And I'm one of them. It's good to come down here." — Sept. 3, 2008, at an emergency operations center in Baton Rouge, La., after Hurricane Gustav hit the Gulf Coast.

• "This thaw — took a while to thaw, it's going to take a while to unthaw." Oct. 20, 2008, in Alexandria, La., as he discussed the economy and frozen credit markets