Can we have a plan for Afghanistan please? I know things like the Olympics, date-night, and voting “present” on just about all the issues of the day are super, super important for American and the world, but in case the vigor of your schedule has caused the brilliant recesses of your vast intellect to become temporarily cluttered, I think having a plan for the War in Afghanistan would be very, very nice to have along with yourtaxpayer funded date-nights.
So, before too many more soldiers get killed in Afghanistan,wouldn’t it be great if you could come up with a specific, victory-oriented plan before next year? Our soldiers are the best in the world and can accomplish whatever we ask of them, but they need a well-defined mission too. I mean, if our soldiers are to still be deployed and be in pitched battles and possibly wounded and killed, wouldn’t it make sense if they also had a goal or big picture to strive for? I’m just sayin’.
With the news that Chicago would not get the Olympic games in 2016 (and in fact, came in last place in the voting by the IOC), despite Obama’s lobbying for it, Rush Limbaugh gave one of his brilliant opening monologues on the subject. Rush’s sentiments express pretty much what I am feeling, a “serves him right” sense that Obama deserved this, after constantly tearing into the United States when overseas over the past nine months. Rush’s final point is right on the money: if Obama couldn’t convince the IOC to give Chicago the Olympics, how is he going to convince Iran to drop its nuclear program?
Karl Rove appeared on the O’Reilly factor yesterday, which was guest-hosted by Juan Williams. Williams challenged Rove on why the Bush administration did nothing to try to prevent the housing crash and the problems with Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac. Rove sets the record straight, pointing out how the Republicans and Bush administration had a bill to reform Freddy and Fannie in 2005, but that it was filibustered by the Democrats, along with then newly-elected Senator Barack Obama:
The American people still blame President Bush for the financial collapse. While I fault Bush for some of his handling of the crisis (Tarp, specifically), the bulk of the blame for this crisis belongs to liberal policies and Democrat politicians. This information needs to be spread as much as possible, so that when the next shoe drops in this crisis (and it will), Conservatives can place the blame squarely where it lies, on the shoulders of liberal policies.
With a very important war in Afghanistan, troops still on the ground in Iraq, unemployment at 9.8%, the stimulus not working, Social Security and Medicare bleeding money faster than expected, health care on the verge of apocalypse (if you listen to our Dear Leader), I’m just soooooooo glad that President Obama, his wife Michelle Obamasaurus, and “The Oprah” gave a personal pitch to the IOC in Copenhagen, Denmark, for the 2016 Olympic Games to be hosted by Chicago.
Too bad it didn’t work out.
And boy is Chicago’s Mayor Daley gonna be mad! I’d hate to be Obama when he gets that phone call! Anyway, Rio won and probably should have: South America’s never held the Olympic games, Rio’s a fun town for tourists, and the alternatives were pretty weak: Spain’s on my sh*t list since they capitulated to the terrorists after the March 11, 2004 train attacks; the IOC doesn’t respect or like America no matter how much Obama conveyed his personal story, which I’m sure made rejecting Chicago first all the more sweet in their eyes; and all the while there’s everybody’s #2, Tokyo.
Since Obama made his push for Chicago such a personal thing, knelt down to the IOC like no President would ever have even thought of doing in the past without an absolute guarantee of success, shilled for a notoriously corrupt mayor in a notoriously corrupt and violent city on a trip costing millions, all while he continues to vote “present” on the real issues of the day, I have to agree with these sentiments from our favorite bully, Nelson:
Pew Research came out with a poll (pdf) indicating that support for abortion is now tied at 50-50. The poll’s sampling size was over 4000, so statistically it’s a pretty decent size (no one’s poll is perfect, though). However, the largest demographic shift they found was amongst Catholics, who may have started actually listening to the homilies at mass. The trends also indicate that liberals are relaxing their views while conservatives are “retrenching” on the issue. Very cool.
So, overall nearly every group showed a pro-life shift except for non-religious young people, who want abortion as free-wheeling as ever, and blacks whose numbers did not shift noticeably. It’s a wonderful sign that more people’s sensibilities on this issue are shifting towards a position which embraces the sanctity of life.
Freshman Democratic Florida Congressman Alan Grayson undoubtedly tried raising (or razing, perhaps) the political discourse on health care in this country when he added this gem on the House floor the other day:
What a doof! He was trying to make a point that people without health care do eventually die (unlike the rest of us on health care… apparently we don’t die?). So, no socialized health care, people die, must be the Republican’s fault plan all along. Dumb logic and presented in a campy and asinine way. I expect more thought and better visuals from an 8th grader.
On the merits, though, none of the Republican plans have de facto death panels, steer the nation towards rationing, nor do any current Republican plans take half a trillion dollars away from those who need it most on Medicare. Seems to me that on the issue of “dying quickly” Grayson’s talking about the wrong party! No apologies from Congressman Doof, though. But, what did we really expect from this crew?
I’ve had a few days to digest what all the to-do about the arrest of director Roman Polanski in Switzerland last Saturday is all about. After 31 years of avoiding US authorities, the law finally caught up with the famed director.
Here’s the short story: Polanski drugged and raped a 13-year-old girl back in 1977, admitted guilt and plea-bargained the crime to “statutory rape,” then jumped bail and fled the country before any sentence was passed on him. That’s all I knew until earlier today when I became aware of the details of that girl’s grand jury testimony: 44-year-old Polanski gave this 13-year-old girl quaaludes mixed with champagne by the jacuzzi at a friend’s place and forced himself on her doing his best pedophile version of a cheap 70s porn flick on this poor girl.
Here’s the deal: he was the adult in the room, he knew what he was doing was wrong, and the girl was obviously too young, immature, and intimidated to see the consequences of not just running away. He admitted guilt, paid the girl’s family in a private settlement and did some time in a mental institution before bolting. But that’s just it — he left town.
For Hollywood and the French, he’s done his time. Many in Hollywood (including Woody Allen and Martin Scorsese) have signed a petition calling for Polanski’s release! Apparently to them, the statute of limitations on the heinous rape of a minor has passed. Whoopi Goldberg even said what Polanski did was not “rape rape.” I don’t get it… did he kind of rape her? Sort of rape her? Accidentally rape her? I’m confused, especially when I read the details! Rape is rape — imagine this happened to your 13-year-old daughter, cousin, sister or niece. Rape is rape.
Though it happened over 32 years ago, he still never did his time for the crime and should be extradited here and sit in a prison until he’s satisfied the demands of our legal system.
As we all know, the beginning of last year’s recession was triggered by a series of events, including the failure of two quasi-government agencies, Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac, precipitated by the over-abundance of sub-prime mortgages given to people who had no capability of paying them back. A year later, it appears that we have not learned our lesson. A third Government entity, the FHA, is on the verge of collapse:
The agency (FHA) acknowledged this month that a new but still undisclosed HUD audit has found that FHA’s cash reserve fund is rapidly depleting and may drop below its Congressionally mandated 2% of insurance liabilities by the end of the year. At a 50 to 1 leverage ratio, the FHA will soon have a smaller capital cushion than did investment bank Bear Stearns on the eve of its crash. Its loan delinquency rate (more than 30 days late in payments) is now above 14%, or from two to three times higher than on conventional mortgages. Its cash reserve ratio has fallen by more than two-thirds in three years.
The reason for this financial deterioration is that FHA is underwriting record numbers of high-risk mortgages. Between 2006 and the end of next year, FHA’s insurance portfolio will have expanded to $1 trillion from $410 billion. Today nearly one in four new mortgages carries an FHA guarantee, up from one in 50 in 2006.
Now, it is possible that FHA will not default. If housing prices suddenly and dramatically rise in several states (e.g. California, Nevada, etc.), then FHA may end up being able to cover its losses! Yet again, the troubles being experienced by FHA are the outgrowth of unchecked liberalism. There has been no real housing reform since last year’s disaster, and the government is still making risky loans to those who cannot afford them. Couple this with the record number of imminent foreclosures, and it becomes obvious to anyone with even a basic understanding of economics that the market is not fixed, it is simply in stand-by until the next collapse. Obama and the Democrats are doing nothing to fix it because their worldview does not see the problem, and the next collapse will be squarely on their shoulders.
The City Council of Berkley, CA, voted to become signatories to the U.N. treaties on human rights, torture, and racial discrimination. Now, I knew liberals often lived in delusional realities, but I never thought a liberal city council would consider themselves an independent nation, capable of signing U.N. treaties. I wish some independent, Conservative lawyer in Berkley (I know, that description is riddled with oxymorons) would mount a legal challenge just for the theater of a trial in federal court.
Liberals are hilariously funny when they are not taking dangerous action such as scrapping missile defense and taking over one-fifth of the American economy.
Laura Ingraham has created an online petition/list of principles that she feels can propel the Republicans to victory in 2010. Dubbed “Ten for Ten“, the idea seems to mirror somewhat the Contract With America created by Newt Gingrich and the House Republicans in 1994. The idea is being spread by RedState and Michelle Malkin, and has been signed onto by prominent members of the Republican Study committee and some congressional candidates such as Marco Rubio in Florida. Ingraham’s platform proposals are:
Taxpayers’ Bill of Rights: Limit federal spending growth to the percentage in population growth plus the rate of inflation; provide taxpayers the option of filing a post-card sized return using a low, flat tax rate of 15%.
End Tax-funded abortions: Stop federal payments to Planned Parenthood and prohibit any taxpayer-subsidized health insurance plan from covering abortion.
Defend American Border: Complete America’s border-protection initiatives using remaining funds from the so-called stimulus bill.
King Dollar: Preserve a strong dollar so that Americans’ savings aren’t wiped out by inflation and the U.S. dollar remains the world’s reserve currency.
Empower American Business: Immediately slash corporate tax rates to 15% and scrap the capital-gains tax altogether.
Defend America: Strengthen America to defend our homeland and fully fund an operational, layered missile-defense system.
Statism Exit Plan: De-fund czars; immediately cease bailout payments to failed companies; ban future bailouts.
End Generational Theft: As few believe America’s entitlement programs will be able to pay benefits to future generations, provide younger workers the choice of diverting payroll/Social Security taxes into personal retirement accounts.
Restore America’s System of Justice. Introduce penalties for frivolous lawsuits, where those who launch unsuccessful lawsuits are liable for the defendants’ legal bills.
American Energy Independence All-of-the-Above strategy that embraces alternatives, expands and accelerates exploration and production of oil and natural gas, and jumpstarts dramatic increases in nuclear power.
While not a bad start, I think that these principles need further fleshing out and more specific policy items. I also think that there are a few items missing, including cutting spending in wasteful programs, balancing the budget, looking at term limits, addressing health care in a Conservative way, addressing education in a Conservative way, and more. The original Contract With America was a list of specific policy proposals that the Congress would vote on, and I think something similar needs to be done here.
I applaud Laura for the effort of seeking to define a platform that the Republicans can run on. It is sad (and this is no knock against Laura) that a radio talk show host needs to be the one who comes up with something like this. It illustrates the lack of a good leader in the Republican party, at least at the time being. Laura’s ideas should be embraced, expanded upon, refined, and used across the country as a platform for Republican politicians to run on in 2010, as a party cannot simply build an enduring majority simply on opposing the party in power.
According to a recent New York Slimes Piece, several states across the nation are passing laws and resolutions outlawing the proposed government mandate requiring all citizens to have health insurance. The Slimes piece, of course, takes a swipe at the efforts as mostly symbolic and posing little chance of success, but in reality, these laws could set the stage for a major battle over state sovereignty and state’s rights. It is likely that the state laws will not be upheld (the states cannot regulate the Federal Government). However, there are other constitutional questions to consider.
In an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, David Rivkin and Lee Casey argue that the insurance mandate does not pass constitutional muster. The federal government is subject to enumerated powers, and can only perform functions under those powers. Yet the over-broadly interpreted commerce clause, through which the federal government has advanced its power in the last century, does not apply here according to Rivkin and Casey. Forcing individuals to have insurance by the act of them being residents of the United States hardly constitutes commerce, and if that mandate were passed, where could the government stop? It would be no stretch to argue that the Federal Government has the power to force all Americans to buy a car, or to own a home, or to buy a rubber hose (if the Government ever became beholden to the rubber hose industry). It is then at least plausible, I think, that the Supreme Court would overturn the mandate based on the commerce clause argument.
Since the Democrats do see the fallacy of using the commerce clause, they are also utilizing Congress’s power to tax as a means of trying to slip the mandate through. Yet the power to tax in this case is a taxation against behavior, not against an overt act of commerce as taxes are currently levied. As Rivkin and Casey point out, if this passes as a tax, then Congress can tax you for not eating your veggies.
Now, the Supreme Court is completely unpredictable (thank you, Justice Kennedy) and may indeed consider the mandate Constitutional. But in reality, by any plain reading of the Constitution, it is not (lawyers, please validate me or correct me if I am wrong). Whether the justification is States Rights, the Commerce Clause, or the Power to Tax, the Federal Government attempts to exceed its authority with this act, putting yet another major limit on our freedoms, and setting the precedent for a further erosion of freedoms in the future.
Conservatives often joke about the seeming messiah-complex of Barack Obama, and how many of his followers seem to look at him as almost a deity. Such claims are often bolstered by such events as schoolchildren chanting to him, substituting his name into lyrics originally written about Jesus. Now, a group of community organizers known as the “Gamaliel Foundation” has taken it to a whole new level, chanting for Obama to “hear our cry” and praying “deliver us, Obama.”
This is sick stuff. Michelle Malkin has details on the Gamaliel Foundation and its connections to Barack Obama, and it is disturbing. The movement has connections to Saul Alinsky, and they worked closely with Obama in the 1990s in Chicago. This video highlights the problem and danger of Marxist-based social change movements. Because there is no belief in a Creator or grounding in a religion, the figure head of the Socialist movement becomes deified. This was done with both Lenin and Stalin in the Soviet experiment. The danger here is that if this indoctrination and deification of Barack Obama spreads, it leads to tyrannical rule. Now, it is likely not to happen here in the United States, but if a significant portion of Obama’s hard-core followers think this way, they themselves could become dangerous.
Vanderleun over at American Digest has come up with a simple and effective exit strategy that the U.S. could employ for the Afghan and Iraqi wars. I must say, his plan is compelling, given recent world events.
Unfortunately, I don’t think this strategy fits into the HopeAndChange strategy of talking to dictators and thugs. Sorry Vanderleun, you have to realize that we need to be nice to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and maybe then, he’ll like us!
President Obama touted the importance of the Afghanistan war during the 2008 election campaign. He consistently accused Bush of ignoring that campaign, and focusing too much on the Iraq front. Obama promised that when he was president, he would take whatever steps necessary to obtain victory in Afghanistan (wait, we can’t say victory anymore, can we?) Since this campaign is supposedly very important to Obama, and he sees it as critical to our national security, one would think that he would want regular updates and strategy sessions with the commanding general in charge of Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal.
Yet Obama has seen it fit to have a meeting with McChrystal only once so far in his Presidency, and that was back in April and via Video Conference. Contrast that to President Bush, who met often with generals (warning: MSNBC link). In actuality as we all now know, Obama’s foreign policy pronouncements during the campaign were nothing but bald-faced lies. In truth, he cares little or nothing about foreign policy and America’s place in the world. He holds no interest in whether or not we defeat the terrorists in Afghanistan or in Iraq, and would much rather us become an isolationist nation so that he can pursue making us into his little socialist republic.
This illustrates the danger of Barack Obama. While his domestic policy agenda is certainly troubling and likely to bring about disastrous results, it is his foreign policy that is truly frightening. His speech to the United Nations spoke of a change of direction in U.S. foreign policy that would weaken our nation and end our superpower status, a status that has been so vitally important in keeping stability and peace in the world throughout this last century. This foreign policy is showing itself to be ineffective in Afghanistan and basically neutered in its attempt to deal with serious issues arising in Iran. We can fix the Domestic agenda in two years time by electing a Republican congress to block much of his remaining policies and attempt to roll back any disasters passed by this congress, but we have to live with Obama’s foreign policy for the next 3+ years. God help us.
A conclusion one can make by the fact that American elementary school children score amongst the best in the world while American high school kids score terribly when compared to our international counterparts would be that the longer a child spends in the American public education system, the dumber they get — I should know, I teach in a public school.
So, what’s Obama’s solution to this? Kids need to spend MORE time in the failing system, with longer school days and shortened summer vacations! Typical government m.o.: our program isn’t working, so let’s put MORE money and resources into it! Importantly, you’ll have to pay teachers, support staff and the custodians enough to compensate for the extended work time, along with more vigorous maintenance expenses since the desks, paper, electronics, chalkboards, and bathrooms, etc. will be used more and wear out faster. Where will the local towns get the cash to compensate? Higher property taxes of course, along with more reliance on state and national government funds, which means less local control. Great. The above link indicates that we already spend more time in schools than other nations who score better than we do, so classroom-time is not the most critical factor; it’s what’s going on in those classrooms.
As a teacher I wouldn’t mind shorter, more frequent breaks rather than a two-month hiatus in the summer. I also believe that at age 14 the kids should take a test directing them to a trade school or college prep course with real internships their last two years – despite what we tell our kids, they ain’t all going to college and wasting their time from 10-12th grade does nothing but increase the dropout rate and keep our kids stagnant at an important time in their development. Teach them a skill or send them off to university. Those are reasonable changes what wouldn’t cost much more after the initial transition, instantly improve the workforce and give some kids the sense that their education is worth something.
The “Internets” is a big place and sometimes in the ebbs and flows of life and politics some goodies go by without notice! Here’s a great JibJab satire I missed from last June, which I only just heard about today:
(Note: the first two minutes is the fun, the last minute is a JibJab commercial)
I am generally not a fan of the Millennial Generation (born c. 1982-1999) because they’ve mostly been coddled by their helicopter parents, they’ve had the bar lowered in regards to failing in school, and they expect success and rewards simply for showing up. Their sense of entitlement is a little scary. Glued to the Internet and feeling that their cellphones are an actual appendage, Millennials are a scared, weak crew under the surface who’ve never quite learned how to play with others, lest they plug into their technology and rot all the way to the therapist’s couch where everyone else is to blame and the psychotropic drugs are like candy.
No wonder sociologists have now dubbed the struggles we all went through in our 20’s a syndrome called the “Quarter-Life Crisis.” It took me nearly two years after college to find a full-time teaching job: substitute teaching (shudder), working at an electronics plant testing LEDs with few English-speaking people, getting turned down dozens of times to my face after interviews (if I even got an interview), and relocating 220 miles away from nearly everyone I knew just to work without a guarantee of success. It was tough, emotionally taxing, but necessary steps in obtaining my dream of teaching high school history.
My story is not a sob story – it’s not even unusual. It’s called “growing up and getting a job.” We all did it. So, Millennials are having a tough time? Cry me a river: it’s not a syndrome, it’s actually having to work for something, get creative, accept an entry level job rather than that unrealistic $100,000 a year managerial position two months out of college that you were hoping for.
That’s a real world perspective. Millennials, however, grew up in a world where everyone wins, everyone gets a trophy, and no one is better than anyone else at anything. No wonder they’re screwed up before they’ve even done anything! Granted the latest recession is a bad one, which will likely remain so because of the anti-business environment created by the Obama Nation. These kids voted for Dear Leader thinking everything would be cool with Obama. It’s funny how many people are liberal before they have to pay real taxes or make their way in the world. How’s that “hope and change” now that Millennials are staring at a 52.2% youth unemployment rate? My advice: you voted for it, make sure you vote against it.
Despite my harsh criticism and cynicism, I really can appreciate how hard these kids have it coming out of college, but here’s a phrase many have never heard before said to them in pure Gen-X style: “Suck it up!” It’s time the Millennials learn that life is defined more by our failures than our successes. How we respond when times are tough says more about our character and our ability to persevere than any of the gifts we are handed. So, in these tough times stop whining, toughen up, and show a little character — your generation could still do great things if it showed a little backbone.
The latest incarnation of that flaming bag of excrement (aka “Obama Care”) reduces the mandatory penalty for opting out of the system from $3800 to $1900. It’s still crap, but in a smaller pile. Yet, when one looks more closely at this reduction, there’s a funny little addition to the fine’s subtraction – failing to comply with the new government-mandated fine could also lead to a misdemeanor charge, a $25,000 IRS fine, or up to a year in prison!
So, possibly putting us in jail, fining us nearly twelve times more money than advertised, and giving us a criminal record, is ultimately what we get for Max Baucus “reducing” the $3800 fine in half. HUH?!? That sounds so poorly surreptitious that I almost wonder if this is a joke: Baucus selling the plan as a cut in brand-new unnecessary fine, without mentioning that the consequences of not comply with that unnecessary fine are astronomically worse than previously stated. Seriously? Are we supposed to laugh or light up the torches?
Republican Senator John Ensign needed to squeeze this info out of the Joint Committee on Taxation just to bring it to light. Sadly, Maine’s brighter RINO, Olympia Snowe, is apparently considering supporting this bill. I’m sorry, but having any of Maine’s mentally deficient Senators support this should not be considered “bipartisan”; rather it should be incontrovertible proof that the whole bill is a bad idea!
Yesterday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave a speech to the United Nations stating plainly that Iran is insidiously destabilizing the region through proxy wars, openly threatening Israel while denying the Holocaust, and thumbing its nose at the IAEA (not big deal there, but an honorable mention seemed obligatory). Hence, a stronger hand is needed by the world community to deal with what will potentially be the first nuclear nation that openly sponsors terrorism (generally a bad combination in my view).
In a bold move, Netanyahu called the UN out, defending democracy and freedom against an aggressive tyrannical regime in Iran — you know, the kind of stuff a bold President should have said in such absolute terms defending one of our closest allies. But, Obama doesn’t seem to brag much about America and our long history of defending freedom and resisting tyranny very much in front of dictators.
Anyway, here’s the part of Netanyahu’s speech which has stirred the most buzz:
One thing our nation has learned since September 11, 2001 is that we must be constantly vigilant against the threat of terrorism man-made disasters. In fact, vigilance against terrorist attacksman-made disasters is almost as important as not offending those who may feel like outsiders. Thankfully, the CBS newsflash is successful on both fronts. Not only did CBS inform Philadelphia that suspicious activity is afoot. They also made sure that their description of the suspects contained no identifying feature other than the fact that the suspects were men. No mention of race, ethnicity, religion. Nothing. Bravo!
So Philadelphians, make sure you do your part in the War on Terror Initiative to Preserve the Self-Esteem of Disadvantaged Groups in the Midst of Man-Made Disasters. Alert the authorities right away if you see a nondescript man with a camera.
We all know that the sub-prime mortgage mess precipitated a housing bubble that got us into this economic disaster we now find ourselves in. Yet while many are trying to convince us that the economy is recovering, further disaster looms on the horizon. Without getting into the whole dangerous situation that the massive amount of debt created in the past year causes, it appears the housing market is not done causing trouble. Some analysts are predicting a second, worse housing crash in the next year or two. Over 7% of current mortgages are late (a record in August), and analysts predict 3-4 million homes being foreclosed in the next few years. With Obama’s mortgage assistance program essentially a bust, and the government seriously running out of money, the outlook over the next few years is grim.
I honestly believe that we are going to see the failure of liberalism during this term. While I would love to say that it would be a good thing if that were to happen, the consequences are too grave. The policies of the last 70 years have slowly been building to this unsustainable point, and there will come a day when budget trickery and shady Fed accounting won’t be able to get us out of economic disaster, and I fear that this will happen in the next few years. With the enormous debt, the imminent collapse of Social Security, the massive increase in government spending, and the second housing bubble burst, liberalism is going to bring our economy to its knees. The only silver lining in all this is that liberalism as an ideology may end up being discredited for a generation or more. I hope it doesn’t come to this, but I fear that I am right.
Before the election, we had the famous yet creepy Obama Youth video (made into the even more famous yet hilarious Pyongyang Remix). Now, a year later, we have children at a public school in the state of New Jersey (sorry Ryan) taught to chant to their dear leader. It appears the cult of Obama is alive and well and on full display in many of our public schools:
I’m glad I hadn’t eaten before watching that. Sick.
Members of the United Nations Security Council put their differences aside earlier today and passed a resolution committing themselves to a world without nuclear weapons. Not only was the vote overwhelming, it was unanimous. Even Russia and China agreed to pursue a situation in which they get rid of their weapons.
Today’s vote tells us that anything is possible. If the U.N. Security Council can commit itself to ridding the world of nuclear weapons, how far off can other far-reaching resolutions be? Personally, I can’t wait until the U.N. commits itself to eliminating the need for money while providing every person in every nation in the world (except Israel of course) with their own Super-Mario Bros.-style warp zones.
Sarah Palin spoke at CSLA in Hong Kong yesterday, an Asia-Pacific investors conference. Her speech was very well received, getting accolades from such diverse publications as the Wall Street Journal and the (ghasp) New York Times (Texas For Sarah Palin has a good Roundup). The speech was tailored towards the investor event, but also seemed very much like a kickoff of a campaign theme. In it, Sarah outlined her political philosophy of Conservatism rooted in the principles of Reagan and Thatcher. She calls herself a “common-sense” conservative, and talks both about the fact that government is not the solution to every problem, but also states why government is not the solution better than anyone in recent memory, and why liberalism does not work:
You can call me a common-sense conservative. My approach to the issues facing my country and the world, issues that we’ll discuss today, are rooted in this common-sense conservatism… Common sense conservatism deals with the reality of the world as it is. Complicated and beautiful, tragic and hopeful, we believe in the rights and the responsibilities and the inherent dignity of the individual.
We don’t believe that human nature is perfectible; we’re suspicious of government efforts to fix problems because often what it’s trying to fix is human nature, and that is impossible. It is what it is. But that doesn’t mean that we’re resigned to, well, any negative destiny. Not at all. I believe in striving for the ideal, but in realistic confines of human nature…
The opposite of a common-sense conservative is a liberalism that holds that there is no human problem that government can’t fix if only the right people are put in charge. Unfortunately, history and common sense are not on its side. We don’t trust utopian promises; we deal with human nature as it is.
Palin also addresses the cause of the financial crisis (government), major domestic issues such as ObamaCare and Cap-and-Tax, and foreign policy, including America’s place in the world and its relationship with China (for more quotes, see Sarah’s Facebook page, and this Wall Street Journal article). The Palin that showed up at this speech was poised, spoke intelligently on many major issues, and set the stage (in my opinion) for 2012. Her themes spoke of the positive impact of the American people and the negative impact of Government. While attacking the problems, she conveyed optimism that America would meet this current challenge and emerge even stronger than before. Hopefully, this is the first of many major appearances by Sarah, as the star-power that she brings, coupled with good policy speeches such as this, could have quite an impact on the American political scene.
This has been the week of exposing shady practices in the Obama Administration’s promotion of its proposed ObamaCare legislation. First, the ever-compelling blog network run by Andrew Breitbart (who exposed the ACORN scandal), has uncovered tapes of a high-ranking Obama staffer offering grant money to artists through the National Endowment of the Arts, if only they push ObamaCare, Cap-and-Tax, and other Obama initiatives.
Then, Sen. Max Baucus threatened insurance-company Humana for sending out a mailing to its customers stating that ObamaCare will cut Medicare. This is a documented fact, according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office. Medicare Advantage (or Medicare Part C) is a modern-version of Medicare that has been wildly successful. It was created by the Republicans in 1997 to give Medicare recipients choice. Rather than the traditional fee-for-service plans of traditional Medicare, Medicare Advantage allows block grants to go with the patient to private insurance plans. The plan has been so successful that at least 25% of Medicare recipients are enrolled in it after roughly a decade of implementation, and the plan itself generates a profit (an indication that private industry will always beat out the government). Democrats have never liked this wildly successful plan, so they have designs to cut it extensively to pay for ObamaCare, and now are threatening legal action against a private company for telling the truth.
Finally, a recent development explains why the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) is heavily promoting ObamaCare, even though its member base stands to lose a lot as part of the plan. It seems that the pending legislation would provide a huge financial boon to the AARP, making it worth their while to promote the legislation. Kickbacks, anyone?
Overall, the tactics used by the administration to rally supporters and depress opponents of ObamaCare have been found to be shady at best, and possibly illegal in some cases. This doesn’t even get into the sneaky parliamentary procedures they are planning to try to get it passed. The administration is desperate for ObamaCare to pass, both for the perceived success of the Obama Administration, and for the long-term statist designs that the left has on this country. It is obvious that they will stoop to almost any means to get done what very few people in this country want.
This afternoon, just after 5:15pm, it became fall in the Garden State. Fall’s my favorite season: football’s back, I get paid again, in-season apples, hayrides, Halloween, my birthday, and so on. Plus, I love light-jacket weather with a slightly chilly evening — must be a New England thing.
Anyway, I used to love this TV commercial because it reminded me of Fall-time, I was in college getting ready to begin my teaching internships when I first saw it (1998-ish… college was a little blurry), and I liked the general vibe of the song. I looked for that song, “Pink Moon” by Nick Drake for years (before the days of Google’s instant Internet question gratification), by stumbling across a song on the “Garden State” Soundtrack by Drake. I still don’t really know what a “pink moon” is and I never owned a Cabrio, but I still like the commercial:
“A good fallback for Democrats is to remind the nation of the George W. Bush presidency.”
Frankly, that’s really really weak. Benchmarks or not, running against a political ghost doesn’t create jobs, incentivize business, or pay the bills. The DNC can try it and see what happens. If the best endorsement of your candidate’s record is to cite someone else’s in this fashion then re-election looks like a tough prospect. Plus, some people don’t have much of a problem with George, especially in lieu of the last eight months of damage and drift from the Obama Nation.
The primary rule in politics and sports lies in the phrase: “What have you done for me lately?” If Jon Corzine in NJ wants to run against George W. Bush, that’s his prerogative. However, NJ Republican Chris Christie will be running against Jon Corzine and his horrible record on taxes, corruption, unemployment and business.
The only bit of buzz that came out of Obama’s Fox-less tour of the (yawn) Sunday shows was this exchange between Obama and former Clintonista George Stephanopoulos on the issue of whether or not the mandatory insurance fine provision in the Baucus Plan adds up to a big tax increase:
Of course, this from the same guy who said no family making under $250,000 a year will see a tax increase, but will allow the Bush tax-cuts to expire in 2011, increasing EVERYONE’s taxes if they pay them. As a public school teacher, I will not be making close to $250,000 in 2011, but my taxes will necessarily go up. So I tend not to trust Obama on taxes mostly because Obama doesn’t really understand the whole tax-increase concept thing, which is evident from his unscripted moment here on Stephanopoulos’ show: situation normal, all f*&%ed up in Washington.
Jay Leno had a little fun with ACORN last week on his new show. Being that it’s on NBC, I’m pretty sure no one saw it so here’s snippet:
If conservative values end up being defended at the expense of liberal ones in the popular culture, a sea-change is definitely underway. What I mean is: if it becomes cool to pick on ACORN, they have no chance! I know ACORN is an enormous target and an easy punchline, but if Lib organizations and causes can be turned into the pop culture jokelines they are, Liberalism is in serious trouble. All Libs have in the popular culture is their image (certainly not their substance) – the perception of being “nice” and “caring” about things. Take that perception away from them and get out the popcorn as we watch them implode.
