Striving to be the worst!

This should not be used to imply that some other woman would be a bad speaker. So far, the worst speakers of the House have all been Obamocrats (nee Democrats). Pelosi falls to the back of the pack of speakers.

In an era of symbolic breakthroughs, Speaker Nancy Pelosi is closing in on a dubious achievement — being the least effective leader of the House in the modern era.

The 17 speakers since Longworth have mostly maintained or enhanced the power and prestige of the post, but with a train wreck taking shape in the House, Pelosi may be remembered for diminishing the office.

What he means, when he says; The language of Obamacare

Says: "If we do not act, 14,000 Americans will continue to lose their health insurance every single day. These are the consequences of inaction.”
Means: "Yes, We estimate that because of our new healthcare plan, 14000 Americans will lose their jobs daily, and thus their health insurance."
Says: "If we do not reform health care, your premiums and out-of-pocket costs will continue to skyrocket."
Means: "With health care reform, instead your taxes will skyrocket to offset the decline in premiums and out-of-pockets costs, by 2 to 1."
Says: "The health care legislation I am seeking will bar insurance companies from denying coverage because of pre-existing medical conditions."
Means: "Since there will be no insurance companies this is technically true; the new government insurance plan will not deny coverage, but won't provide payment for care of pre-existing conditions."
Says: "If you already have health insurance, reform means more security and stability."
Means: "Yes, security and stability for the million person army of new government employees that will be hired to regulate your new health coverage and you get the security in knowing your taxes are going up. "
Says: "Under my health care plan you will be able to keep your private health insurance."
Means: "That is until either the company goes out of business, or it needs to be renewed at which time it will be illegal to have private insurance. Oh, by the way, we will tax for you having it and then tax you again when you lose it!"

Stealing the fruit of our hardwork

Nice summary of the payroll robbery bill moving through the House - Pelosi's adulteration of Obamacare: The Pelosi Jobs Tax,

Cornell economists Richard Burkhauser and Kosali Simon predicted in a 2007 National Bureau of Economic Research study that a payroll tax increase of about this magnitude plus the recent minimum wage increase will translate into hundreds of thousands of lost jobs for those with low wages. Pay or play schemes, says Mr. Burkauser, “wind up hurting the very low-wage workers they are supposed to help.” The CBO agrees, arguing that play or pay policies “could reduce the hiring of low-wage workers, whose wages could not fall by the full cost of health insurance or a substantial play-or-pay fee if they were close to the minimum wage.” (Emphasis mine)

Lose, Lose When You Talk About Race

Lose, Lose When You Talk About Race

President Obama and the subject of race remind me of the proverbial camel’s back and straws: the American people shrugged off “typical white person”, then forgave the clingers speech. They bristled a bit about “No more disown Rev. Wright than…” and started to become concerned about “downright mean country” and Michelle’s never before being proud of the good old U.S. Sotomayor’s “wise Latina” and self-referencing “as a Latina” ad nauseam did not help. Nor did Attorney General Holder’s slur that we were “cowards.” And now the Gates affair. Minor of course. But it is the proverbial straw that finally seems on this issue to really be breaking the back of the American people, who are not only tired of racial evocation, but tired of Barack Obama and those elites around him using race for self-serving sermonizing—especially given their former confidence in Obama to lead us to racial transcendence. So read on…

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Obama has aura but doesn't know how to legislate | Washington Examiner

Obama has aura but doesn't know how to legislate | Washington Examiner

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Frank threatens banks to stop foreclosures | Washington Examiner

Frank threatens banks to stop foreclosures | Washington Examiner

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The Identity Culture

Every now and then Thomas Frank, over at the WSJ, puts out an okay column. Today's, The Gates of Political Distraction, is one of those, though he still cannot help his liberal leanings. In this column he did a pretty good job of placing the blame for the Gates' affair squarely where it belongs on Gates and the Obama. The point that is missed, though, is that the affair really doesn't have much to do with class-politics (lets face it, both the Obama and Gates are pretty low-class people). It is about race-identity politics. As long as there are Gates's and Obamas in the world there will be race politics. Gates is a professor of African-America Studies a course more useless than basket weaving. These studies courses arose out of the Civil Rights movement and have created a host of high profile professors, Gates, Cornel West and others who have recently come under scrutiny for what some might call un-professorial behavior. These courses were created to give academic credence to the victim movement. One can understanding taking a history course that traces African-Americans in America but a course that tries to explain to black people that they are black and it is whities fault - that I don't understand. Gates should apologize for being an ass, and the president should apologize for shooting his mouth off out of ignorance.

A book worth reading??

Charity Aimed at Change. As usual, one cannot judge a book by its cover and this, despite the title, Billions of Drops in Millions of Buckets, by Steven H. Goldberg, could be a book worth reading or it could be just another liberal blather text. I don't know anything about Goldberg but the premise of the book is a bit troubling. It sounds like another one of those "just throw more money at it" type of theses. With the changes on the horizon for Charitable giving more and more of the smaller charities will be squeezed as the bigger ones gobble up funding - under the misnomer that bigger charities are more effective than smaller ones. A sad fact is that most charities, big and small are not very effective. One of the case studies in the book, that the book's reviewer, William A. Schambra, notes is education and all of the various programs to improve education. I would be interested in reading Goldberg's views here. The reasons why education in America is in such a dismal state has little to do with funding levels than with the homogenized, one size fits all approach that the social engineers have been pushing for the last 50 years. Within the educational community - those dimwits that get degrees in education and then cook up theories on how to better educate children - there has not been an original idea for 30+ years. The current belief is that everyone should go to school and everyone should go to college; everything thinks the same and learns the same and so everyone should be educated the same. Educators are afraid to hurt a student's feelings so everyone is treated the same. Grades don't mean anything anymore and the best and the brightest are treated the same as those no so best and bright. Education has become a dumbing down process - a sinking to the lowest common denominator. In the end everyone suffers. Rather than recognizing that everyone is different and learns differently and thus needs to have their education tailored to their abilities we collectivize everyone and seek the lowest term and then gear the class to that term. The result is that the smart students are bored and the not so smart are never helped and those in the middle - the C students get an F level education. The best out of the box thinking I have come across was a series of articles in the Wall Street Journal by Charles Murray of The Bell Curve, fame. He called a spade a spade, by pointing out that not everyone needs to go to college and that our educational system is wasting valuable resources pushing this liberal wrong headed agenda. Rather than just recognizing that not everyone needs to read Shakespeare or do calculus our educational system keeps pushing students into lose-lose situations. His point was that instead of tailoring the educational system to the lowest level students, we need to tailor it for the upper level students and recognize that those at the bottom might be better served by learning a vocation and then getting a job that they can do and succeed at. By pushing them into college we do them a disservice and waste resources. The majority fail out of college, end up in poor jobs and lead miserable lives. Money cannot solve this problem, but clear thinking can.

Liberals and Tax Cheats

Seems like everytime I turn around the IRS is sending me a letter wanting me to pay taxes on this and that - the last time on income that we never had but was double reported. Charles Rangel, on the other hand, as one of the leading Obamocrats gets away with tax fraud and only a promise to pay to pay back taxes. Jeeze, if I tried that I would be in jail right now: Morality and Charlie Rangel’s Taxes.

Jersey's Democrat Political Mafia

Corruption in the Garden State: Born to Take:

Brigid Harrison, a professor of politics and law at Montclair State, says that old political machines have proven extremely durable, and that today the two big powers are the Democratic Party branches in Hudson County near New York and Camden County near Philadelphia. “It’s like the Mafia,” she told the Law Blog. “If you take out one family, the other family takes up more authority.” She’s predicting a power shift to Camden since members of the Hudson crew were pinched by the FBI.

Unions Not Cars

Further proof that the bail of the auto industry was not about saving American car makers but about paying for the votes of union workers, WSJ: The UAW’s Defined Benefactor.

The Truth Will Not Be Tolerated!

WSJ: Bullying CBO.

A Post Racial World - NOT

For one to assume that just because the President is Black implies that he is not a racist is just naive and plain Dumb. From my own experience the two most racist people I have ever met in my life were both from government protected minorities - one a native American man who always referred blacks by the n-word and the other was a black woman who was using her protected status to trap fellow employees in a racial harassment net so that she could sue and retire - she nearly succeeded twice with a couple of my unfortunate colleagues. So, I am always suspicious when claims are made that the Obama is moving us passed our alleged racism. Instead I think he is doing more to give legitimacy to minority racism. Over at Riehl World a short missive: Obama Destroyed His Post-Racial Theme.

It's Never Been About Health Care - Has it?

Karl Rove: ObamaCare in Trouble

Democratic leaders, including the president, are now backing away from a vote on health care before August. But that’s not likely to decrease voter angst. Americans for Prosperity and others are already organizing voters to attend public meetings with members of Congress this summer. My guess is that members of Congress are about to hear a lot from their voters on the government takeover of health care, new energy taxes, the failed stimulus, record deficits, and growing joblessness.

Really Tightening the Belt

WSJ: Grounding the F-22

President Obama claimed a triumph for spending rectitude yesterday after the Senate stripped out funding for the Air Force’s F-22 Raptor fighter. Credit $1.75 billion in savings, or a third of a percentage point of the overall 2010 defense request. Only a couple of trillion more, and Mr. Obama will have a balanced budget.

One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.

Tomorrow, July 20th, will be the 40th Anniversary of the first landing on the moon by the Apollo II astronauts. Despite our inability to repeat the moon missions of the Apollo era does not mean, that we do not celebrate that historic event, in fact it mandates that we do. This nation needs to wake up and remember when it was great. It is lost in this age of mediocrity epitomized by the current mediocre president.

"Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed."

The Supreme Court and The War on Terror

Just another reason why Sotomayor should not be put on the bench (because we know the answer to the last question): Judges Don't Belong on the Battlefield:

This new state of play has already affected U.S. military operations. American special forces, have now limited their activities in the Afghan-Pakistan border region -- where al Qaeda and the Taliban are now most active -- to avoid claims by enemy fighters that they were captured outside of Afghanistan, in Pakistan. If those enemy fighters were captured outside of Afghanistan, then according to the Maqaleh decision, they are eligible for habeas relief. This provides a strategic sanctuary for Pakistan-based enemy operatives, who are now effectively immune from U.S. ground attacks.

Heads up from El Greco.

Bravo Ms. Noonan

One of Peggy Noonan's best columns in a long while: Sotomayor Hearing Escapes Gravity:

Everyone is noting the 40th anniversary, on July 20, of the moon landing. Good. It was an epic moment in history, though its memory is accompanied by an unsatisfied feeling, as if Columbus came to America and then no one followed. People will ask again why we've stopped visiting other places and have instead spent the past few decades watching the space shuttle orbit the Earth. There are many reasons for this (budgets, the end of the space race, an inability to understand the human imagination) but let me throw forward this one: The space program of the past 32 years unconsciously mirrored a change in American psychology. Once, we saw ourselves as a breakthrough people, a nation with a mission to push beyond ourselves. Now, in the age of soft narcissism, we just circle ourselves. Which is what the shuttle does: It is on an endless loop, going 'round and 'round and looking down at: us.

We should take our eyes off ourselves. We should go someplace again. It would remind us who we've been, which would remind us who we are.

RIP Mr. Cronkite

Walter Cronkite has died. He was 92. Thirty+ years ago, before the media swung so far to the left he was an icon of news - but in his latter years he became just another leftist mouthpiece and spokesman for the socialist movement. But it is sad to see the old guard pass on.

Apollo XI - 40th Anniversary - What Happened to us?

Forty Years ago today Apollo XI lifted off from Kennedy Space Center and 3 days later Man was standing on the moon. Today, the best we can do is stand in line for the restroom.

The Great Bloviator

Daniel Henninger: Obama and the Speech

Here's the problem: Mr. Obama is not the nation's Speaker in Chief. He's not a senator, and he's no longer a candidate. He's the president. A president's major speeches are different than those of anyone else. That high office imposes demands beyond the power of a podium. Inspiration matters, but the office also requires acts of leadership. A U.S. president's words must be connected to something beyond sentiment and eloquence. Too much of the time, Barack Obama's big speeches don't seem to be connected to anything other than his own interesting thoughts on some subject.

Lincoln's eloquence flowed from the pain of the Civil War. Washington's Farewell Address, perhaps America's greatest political speech, was a magisterial summing up after leading an army to victory in the Revolution and then the nation's beginning. FDR's remembered speeches were pushed into life by the Depression and then world war.

Ronald Reagan's great "tear down this wall" speech in 1987 at the Brandenburg Gate was just one piece in an elaborate Cold War endgame strategy.

When he speaks as president, Mr. Obama's audiences have reason to expect that some concrete actions or policies will flow from seemingly major statements. Other than more diplomats talking, I don't think much of anything is going to follow these. The Speech was pretty much it. (Emphasis mine)

More Hot Air to follow!

Saying it again, but differently!

Chris Stirewalt, Washington Examiner: When in doubt, soak the rich, whoever they are,

Today, nearly 40 percent of American workers pay no income tax whatsoever thanks to things like the Earned Income Tax Credit and other deductions. On the other side of the ledger, the top 6 percent of earners cover 60 percent of all income taxes.

In 1980, the bottom half of earners accounted for 7 percent of all income taxes. Today it is less than 3 percent. Conversely, the top 10 percent once paid half of the taxes, rather than the 70 percent they do today.

The trend is away from the shared sacrifice of the post-New Deal era and a return to the old model of soaking the rich. The problem now, though, is that the price of government requires defining rich down. To make the nut on government spending, congressional mandarins have included your dentist and high school principal.

Still, somehow, non-taxpayers were still eligible for "tax refunds" when Washington sought to "stimulate" the economy out of its deepening torpor. By sending poor people $300 or $600, the hope was that they would act irrationally and buy Chinese-made, big-screen televisions or knobby tires for their pickup trucks, or whatever congressmen suppose their constituents like to buy.

The Sosomayor Hearings - Just more bad acting

Compared to the performances by Justices Roberts and Alito during their confirmation hearings, that of Sotomayor has been rank and amateurish. On nearly every controversial topic from her past she has backtracked giving the impression that though she said what she said and did what she did she did not mean any of it and was basically just plain stupid. This form of denial or the moving Mea Culpa, is no doubt the result of hours of professional coaching by the Obama's team of first class liars. It is the classical liberal mantra, my past is my past, I am different now. More to the truth is that they will say whatever needs to be said then when they have the job they could go back to being themselves. Sotomayor will be the next justice on the bench. There is nothing that the Repubs can do to stop it because content of character does not matter to the Obamocrats. She is an Hispanic women and a left idealogue - what more could they ask for. She could say anything and do anything and she would be confirmed. So, wonders why it is that she is denying her past behavior. Why not just fess up to her liberal beliefs and let the world see what kind of crap the Obama has chosen for the High Court. As they say in the computer world "garbage in, garbage out."

Michelle Malkin has a nice summary of media commentary on the Soto(or is that Soso)-hearings: Sotomayor’s so-so reviews thus far:

What do these bad reviews for Sotomayor mean? It doesn’t mean she won’t get confirmed. The White House has no intention of closing this show now and admitting defeat, and the Senate Democrats won’t let Sotomayor fail in order to protect their new President. However, her performance adds fuel to the Republican argument that Barack Obama nominated Sonia Sotomayor not because she was the best possible candidate and not because she was a moderate, but strictly for political purposes. None of this will affect her tenure on the Supreme Court, but it will provide further evidence that Obama has a big problem in selecting people for his administration, and that there seems to be little effort at vetting nominees for important positions.

In short, every prevarication and stumble Sotomayor makes deepens the impression that Obama is not a competent executive. That’s the real danger for Obama in these hearings, and the tough questioning of Jeff Sessions and Lindsey Graham has made it a reality.

Here is an interesting exchange between Sotomayor and Jon Kyl (R. AZ): The 'Empathy' Paradox.

The Results of Modern Relativism

A former Justice Department Official, John Yoo, speaks out against recent stupidity by Inspectors Generals over intelligence gathering: Why We Endorsed Warrantless Wiretaps,

Clearly, the five inspectors general were responding to the media-stoked politics of recrimination, not consulting the long history of American presidents who have lived up to their duty in times of crisis.

Thinking by the inspectors general is exactly the reason we cannot go back to the moon and why we are just pondering a trip to mars. It pervade every aspect of our government - NASA in particular regarding space - the universities and a great deal of society. Rather than having the can do - just do it - attitude that put us in space, that allowed us to win WWII, we have become mired in the defeatist mentality of the 1960s and promulgated by the press. We have become a risk adverse society and a society too trusting and has forgotten that evil does exist. The relativism that pervades all aspects of our government and State Run press (and liberals) prevents us from being great. To the relativist there is no such thing as good and evil just shades of gray and thus al Qaeda isn't an evil to be fought and defeated it is a lost child that needs to be understood. The Obama is a product of this liberal defeatist mentality and his foreign police and these witch hunts are outcomes of that way of not-thinking.

Cops - Bad examples when it comes to driving

Crock of the Month Story: Police officers busted by speed cameras get ticket reprieve:

Speeding is a regular part of a police officer's job and cops shouldn't be expected to remember why they were speeding weeks or months after a speed camera catches them, attorney James Shalleck said.

Yes, speeding can be required but there are rules for its occurrence. Police just like everyone else are supposed to obey the laws unless required by their jobs. Was there evidence that their lights were flashing? I see cops in Santa Fe break every rule of driving on the road, speeding, illegal lane changes, reckless driving, tail gating, and most egregious - yacking on their cell phones. Santa Fe police are some of the worst drivers in the nation and NM police in general are horrible and these are the people to whom other drivers look to set a standard - and a bad standard it is. Hang the coppers from the highest yardarms - arrrrgh!

People who work for NPR are Special!

If he were an editor at Fox News, there would be calls for having him strung up: Letters pour in for former NPR editor in child porn case.

Three EQUAL Branches

I wish that I had time to sit and watch the Sotomayor hearings from start to finish. What I have caught is well within expectation: Republicans being respectful but direct on Sotomayor's shortcomings and the importance of the "Rule of Law" and the Obamocrats fawning and gushing and whining about the Republicans not playing fair -whatever that means.

Most Americans forget the the President is not the most powerful man in America - as an individual he seems more powerful, but within the Constitutional definitions and restrictions of the office of the President, he is no more powerful than any member of Congress or of the Supreme Court. The founding fathers understood that as a Nation we needed one voice in world affairs and one leader on the battlefield and those powers were given to the President, but on equal level and footing are the Congress and the Supreme Court - the checks and balances. Each branch of the government equal and independent of the other. Sadly, this congress has become subservient to the Obama and his crank agenda. There is little that the President can do without consent of Congress and specifically the Senate. All laws originate in Congress and laws regarding the budget in the branch of the people, the House of Representatives. The president may seek agreements with other nations, but those agreements have to be ratified by the Senate - thus we do not have the silly Kyoto Protocol. The role of the Supreme Court is to protect the people and other nongovernmental entities from the encroachment of government. Remember the Constitution does not define the rights of the people but delineates certain restrictions on our rights by the government. The government is not out keeper, we are its. This is a very important idea to remember. Sotomayor and others like her will ascend to the Supreme Court and there, their liberal socialist government centric views will do a lot of harm to our way of life as more and more government infringements on our rights are found to be Constitutional. Sotomayor's judicial views are not of restraint of government but of the supremacy of government and the right of government to determine the outcome of all of those under its control. That she is Hispanic and that that gives her a unique (though not so much) perspective of the world is fine, but when that perspective comes into conflict with the Constitution, then she needs to bow to the superior perspective - the Constitution. Her role as a Supreme Court justice is not to bend the law to her outcome but to let the law determine the outcome - and that is what the Obama and Sotomayor and all liberals cannot understand.

Update: I should like to add something that I too forgot and that everyone forgets, the Fourth and most important branch of government - The People. As Lincoln said, "...that government of the people, by the people, for the people..." We have forgotten that there is no power higher than that of the people. Because we are a Republic we have chosen people to represent us within the governing body, but the government still belongs to us. It should not be some self serving, self feeding entity that it has become. It sucks more and more of our freedoms into it and claims that it is giving us new freedoms. The Obama with his stimulus spending and his outlandish budget and his Green energy plan and his socialized health care initiative is not creating new rights, he is destroying old rights.

Let the Circus Begin - What Republican Senator should do

The Sotomayor confirmation hearings begin today. They are a mere formality given that the Obamocrats have the votes to put her on the bench without a single Repub. The hearing will begin with a lot of oooing and aaaahing and gushing by the Obamocrats - not because she is the best, or even in the ball park, but because she is the Messiah's pick. The left will even try to short circuit the Repubs strategy by asking her questions about her speeches and bad rulings. Of course they will do in a manner that makes her look like the hero in each case. This will have a potentially deflating effect on the Repubs, if they let it. Many repubs will be worried about the Hispanic vote if they push too hard on her. To them I say - get another job. Your job is not to bow to political expediency, it is to uphold the Constitution by doing your job. She is a poor choice by any measure despite what Chuck "Up her hiney" Shummer says. There will be a lot of grandstanding by the Obamocrats as they talk up Sotomayor's sappy life story while avoiding anything of substance. A few Repubs will chime in with some platitudes then - cameras snapping and clowns doing what clowns do. There will be an attempt at some measure of decorum but given Sotomayor's liberal "rock star" status it will be a circus. The State Run Media will accuse the right of picking on her even if all they say is good morning judge. It is not a good time to be a Republican right now, because so many of those in Congress that we have championed and supported through thick and thin, have sold out to left. They want their jobs more than they want to do the right thing. The right thing for the Republicans to do is hold dignified hearings, in which they take Sotomayor to task for every thing she has said, written and thought, and to push her on her rulings from the bench. Do it non-confrontationally and with respect, then vote NO for her confirmation - in the subcommittee and in the main Senate Chambers. The Obama already does not expect a bipartisan confirmation and will use that to sway Hispanics in the next election. So, the Republicans are on the down side anyway it is sliced, so they should do the right thing - not the easy thing - and vote no. Bush nominated more Hispanics to high positions, including the Supreme Court than the Obamocrats will do even if the Obama is in office in 2013, so the Republicans have nothing to be ashamed of when it comes to Hispanics. It was the Obamocrats that blocked their Bush appointees. Republicans need to push this home with the Hispanics and address traditional Hispanic issues when the time comes. The next elections will not be about Hispanic voters but about whether or not the Republicans can find their rudder and steer their ship in the "right" direction.

Update: There is a real comedy going on with the Sotomayor hearings. Whenever I walk passed the TV, which is on Fox News, there is some Obamocrat, this time Dick Dirtbin, regurgitating ad nauseum, Sotomayor not so inspiring life story. It is what an Obamocrat does when they have nothing of substance to say - the say nothing, with great solemnity about nothing. You would think they were singing the praises of a departed hero, but instead they are droning on about a so and so. As Randy Barnett says in his WSJ column today:

If you suspect this week's Senate confirmation hearings for Sonia Sotomayor will be, like "Seinfeld," a show about nothing, you are probably right.

Sotomayor, Cats and Water

Saying Liberals and the Constitution is like saying Cats and Water. Cats don't dislike water when they are thirsty, they just don't like being immersed in it. This is the same for Obamocrats and Liberals in general, there are parts of the Constitution that they like, they just don't want to have to be immersed in the entire document. For example, the main body of the Constitution they reject almost entirely, except for the passage: "provide for the general welfare," which they interpret quite literally in the modern sense that government should provide for everyone who does not want to provide for themselves. The rest of the Constitution, which defines the structure of our government and the restrictions on that government - they reject - it goes against a liberal's sensibilities to restrict government. Likewise, they like a few of the Amendments, the first - but only the parts that allow for pornography, a State Run press and restriction of "hurting feelings speech," - the PC clause. Forget anything about religion. They like the 4th and 5th amendments because those allow crooks and murders to get off free because some police officer forgot to say, "Do you understand these rights as I have read them to you," which most idiots don't. And they really like the 14th amendment, which basically says, if you are member of a minority you have more rights and are more equal than the members of the majority. They really like the 13th Amendment - which gives the government the right to steal your hard earned paycheck and give it to the lazy - "support the general deadbeat."

Sotomayor will most surely end up on the bench. The liberals have the votes and will certainly overlook any and all flaws - even if she murdered someone. In their view all Obamocrats and Liberals (a redundancy I know) are above the law. Despite the certainty of Sotomayor's confirmation that does not let the Repubs off the hook. They cannot leave it up to the State Run media to air any of her deficiencies and so the responsibility lies with them to push her on every one of her mucked up rulings and all of her liberal rant speeches.

The Left hand knows not what the Right hand is doing

What do you do to divert attention from your falling ratings and bad policy decisions, you investigate the Bush Administration: Independent’s Day.

Mea Culpa

The Obama is an unbelievably audacious person. In a Washington Post column (here) he writes:

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act was not expected to restore the economy to full health on its own but to provide the boost necessary to stop the free fall. So far, it has done that. It was, from the start, a two-year program, and it will steadily save and create jobs as it ramps up over this summer and fall. We must let it work the way it's supposed to, with the understanding that in any recession, unemployment tends to recover more slowly than other measures of economic activity.

That is a blatant lie. The claim was, if we didn't pass this horrendous squander bill (almost $800 Billion) then the economy would spiral out of control - money was needed immediately. Well hardly any of the money has flowed out and most that has, has been to welfare programs that produce no return and in fact create negative economic flow. People are still losing jobs and most of the spending is further out than two years. The economy is showing signs of an upturn but no one - no one - can tie any of it to the Porkulus. The good news is, it seems he is not interested in another Porkulus bill - at least he is saying that now. The bad news is, he want to squander more money on other things - not calling it stimulus just squandering. I suspect that he is not interested in another Porkulus bill because he about to drop an economic Hydrogen Bomb on us with his socialized medicine plan and is in the process of destroying our ability to generate energy:

Already, we're making progress on health-care reform that controls costs while ensuring choice and quality, as well as energy legislation that will make clean energy the profitable kind of energy, leading to whole new industries and jobs that cannot be outsourced.

We believe it's time to reform our community colleges so that they provide Americans of all ages a chance to learn the skills and knowledge necessary to compete for the jobs of the future.

Yes, true not outsourceable, because they will be someplace else already. He adopts all of Europe's worst socialist programs and ignores the evidence of their failure - as in Spain and clean energy. So, when one is at a loss about what to do when your economic policy is a failure - squander money on education programs until you think of something else to waste the money on. No one will object too loudly (or so he thinks) to spending money improving education - until they look at what all that money has done for K-12 education - turned it into a cesspool of wasted minds.

Indeed the Obama is a truly adacious person but he is desperate now. His minion Biden cannot keep his trap shut so rather than going in front of the public and say - "We screwed up," he writes an OpEd piece as though it gives more substance to his fluff.

Update: Bill Kristol responds here. Read some of the comments below his response to see the type of audience that typically reads the State Run Washington Compost - all the news that's fit to wrap your fish in.

Wonder Where Americans Will Live

Another item worth taking a gander at, this is our limp-minded Obamocrats in action:

Here's To The Heroes

Via El Greco:

The Proof is in the Numbers; The second one at least

Science News: Statistical tests suggestive of fraud in Iran’s election; A closer look at voter ballot data reveals suspicious anomalies.

An American statistician says strong statistical evidence backs up the claims of Iranian protestors that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s victory in the June election was fraudulent.

Walter Mebane of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor analyzed Iranian election data and found anomalies strongly suggesting that ballot boxes were stuffed with extra votes for Ahmadinejad. Mebane also identified 81 towns where further investigations are likely to find evidence of fraud.

Think Boss Tweed

USA Today: Billions in aid go to areas that backed Obama in '08

Counties that supported Obama last year have reaped twice as much money per person from the administration's $787 billion economic stimulus package as those that voted for his Republican rival, Sen. John McCain, a USA TODAY analysis of government disclosure and accounting records shows. That money includes aid to repair military bases, improve public housing and help students pay for college.

Should we be surprised? Democrat political machines have been reaping the benefits of government graft for over a hundred years - and before. The Obamocrats are rotten to the core. On top of this money will flow to areas populated by groups that tend to vote en masse for anyone that will promise them a buck - it's kind of like when the machine men would stand outside a voting area and hand out food and money to voters - the Obamocrats have just applied and old routine in a different way.

Democrats Continue to Lie

This is rich: Democrats Say C.I.A. Deceived Congress. Lying rats run to the same side of the sinking ship. So, Pelosi lies and Panetta lies to cover her lie - and thus the reason you don't put Democrats in charge of anything important. Oh what a sad world the Obamocrats have created and they wish to inflict it upon all of us. It did not take long for Obamocrat to become synonymous with Liar.

The Stupidity of The Race and Identity Culture

Sheila Jackson Lee, Obamocrat and professional funeral crasher from Texas has proposed the most idiotic thing in history - Michael Jackson on a stamp and a nation holiday for him. Heck why not the same for Clinton (Bill that is). I have nothing against Michael Jackson but there is absolutely nothing special about him. He set no trends, except for being ultra freaky (a black guy trying to be a baby talking white guy). How do you propose idolizing a typical entertainer who was hundreds of millions in debt and worse than Howard Hughes in his fetish isolation. He was found innocent of pedophilia but doubts still remain. Sheila Jackson Lee is just another petty black congress person - a member of the socialist Black Caucus group that visited their socialist brother Castro in Cuba and found it a delightful visit. She's petty and a poor example of a representative of Americans - think Georgia's Cynthia McKinney. Both are race baiters and kind of low brow politicians. It is going to take some time and some history before Michael Jackson is worthy of any form of public praise. In the mean time, Sheila Lee should stick to what she does best - talking at funerals.

Update: At least Pelosi has a bit of sense: Pelosi says no to Michael Jackson memorial resolution.

I guess what really yorks me about all of this, Jackson Lee's audacity, is that we have taken away days dedicated to real heroes like Washington and Lincoln and Jefferson and lumped them into a single holiday that includes the likes of Clinton and will eventually include the Obama (gag) and yet we can give an entire day to Martin Luther King, who was a great man, but not to the level of a Washington or even an FDR and certainly not a Teddy Roosevelt. King had the honor of being the last man standing during the early days of the race movement - not even Kennedy like him and Johnson saw him as a tool, a means to a perverted end. Now along come the clown Jackson Lee and want to put Michael Jackson into the pantheon of great people - jimminy, might as well line up ever other entertainment freak and give them a day also.

The Obama, Health Care and Lemmings

Karl Rove: Obama Can't Be Trusted With Numbers; So why should we trust him with health care?

Mr. Obama has already created a river of red ink. His health-care plans will only force that river over its banks. We are at the cusp of a crucial political debate, and Mr. Obama's words on fiscal matters are untrustworthy. His promised savings are a mirage. His proposals to reshape the economy are alarming. And his unwillingness to be forthright with his numbers reveals that he knows his plans would terrify many Americans.

Indeed, why should Americans trust the Obama with Health care? Every day now, his minion Biden is out soft peddling the failure of stimulus plan and talking up all of the great benefits that will come from Socialized Medicine - as a way of diverting American's attention from their growing economic woes. Regarding the stimulus:

He also said the stimulus would "save or create up to four million jobs." Vice President Joe Biden said the massive federal spending plan would "drop-kick" the economy out of the recession.

But the unemployment rate today is 9.5% -- nearly 20% higher than the Obama White House said it would be with the stimulus in place. Keith Hennessey, who worked at the Bush White House on economic policy, has noted that unemployment is now higher than the administration said it would be if nothing was done to revive the economy. There are 2.6 million fewer Americans working than Mr. Obama promised.

And on his claims of great benefit if we socialize medicine:

For example, the administration strong-armed health-care providers into promising $2 trillion in health savings. It got pharmaceutical companies to promise to lower drug prices for seniors by $80 billion over 10 years. The administration also trotted out hospital executives to say that they would voluntarily save the government $150 billion over 10 years.

None of this comes near to being true. On the promised $2 trillion, everyone admits that the number isn't built on anything specific -- it's an aspirational goal. On drug prices, a White House spokesman admitted that "These savings have not been identified at the moment." It is speculative that these cuts will actually be made, when they would begin, or whether they would reduce government health-care spending.

None of this will stop the administration from arguing that its "savings" will pay for Mr. Obama's $1.5 trillion health-care plans.

The numbers just don't add up, so why are so many Americans following him over the edge? Part of it can be blamed on the State Run Media, which refuses to report the truth.

Minority Rule

When something works count on the minority and Congress to screw it up: Cellphone Politics.

The First Hypocrit (or is that Drooler)

Known affectionately in America as the First Hypocrite, the Obama Preaches democracy to Moscow Students. That is hypocrisy of the first order. Here, the president that turned his back on the Iranian democracy movement and tossed Honduras overboard for a fellow socialist (Oh by the way, in Chavezland and other socialist Latin American countries the Obama is referred to quite affectionately as El primer Kisser del asno.), is "preaching" to students that have more knowledge and understanding of what democracy is about than the Obama will have if he lived to be 10000 years old. The Obama is little different from their own persecutor Putin. Both seek to suppress rights and freedoms and control the flow of information and both are socialists/communists of the first magnitude. If I were the Obama I would immediately higher a crank historian to start writing the history of my administration - it is so far, less than six months in - an utter disaster. I might have the historian focus on a bunch of little accomplisments, like not peeing on self when using the potty seat, or hey not drooling while eating - or maybe working hard to ween self from TOTUS. A pile of little accomplishments like those above could, in 2 or 3 generations really change America's attitude about the First Drooler - oh sorry The Obama!!

Obama and Company Sink to New Levels of Sleaze

Support for the Honduran Despot Zelaya increases in Obama Administration: Zelaya to Meet Hillary Clinton:

The Obama administration heightened its support Monday for ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya a day after his failed bid to re-enter his country by air, offering that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would meet the exiled leader in Washington as soon as Tuesday.

The Communist administration of the Obama just can't break ties with Latin American thugocracies.

Obamonomics and sinking ships

Susan Ferrechio: Cantor says Biden misread stimulus, not economy

"My sense is that there wasn't any misreading of the economy, in fact the president and vice president had forecasted economic doom if we did not act quickly," Cantor said. "What it is they misread was the stimulus bill and got the prescription wrong."

Read the Pelosi response at the end: "Yes, the ship is sinking but if we just keep pouring more water into the hold it will eventually float to the surface."

NICE Healthcare!

WSJ: Of NICE and Men

The NICE precedent also undercuts the Obama Administration's argument that vast health savings can be gleaned simply by automating health records or squeezing out "waste." Britain has tried all of that but ultimately has concluded that it can only rein in costs by limiting care. The logic of a health-care system dominated by government is that it always ends up with some version of a NICE board that makes these life-or-death treatment decisions. The Administration's new Council for Comparative Effectiveness Research currently lacks the authority of NICE. But over time, if the Obama plan passes and taxpayer costs inevitably soar, it could quickly gain it.

Biden Admits, AGAIN, that Obamanomics is a FAILURE!

Biden: We 'Misread the Economy'

Big admission from Vice President Joe Biden today.

"The truth is, we and everyone else misread the economy,"

Biden acknowledged administration officials were too optimistic earlier this year when they predicted the unemployment rate would peak at 8 percent as part of their effort to sell the stimulus package. The national unemployment rate has ballooned to 9.5 percent in June -- the worst in 26 years.

"The truth is, there was a misreading of just how bad an economy we inherited," said Biden, who is leading the administration's effort to implement it's $787 billion economic stimulus plan.

Actually, Joe, old boy, only you and your master, the Obama and all of his economist dimwits got it wrong. Classic liberal spin "everyone else" is code for we want to push the blame off on our predecessor and his team. And "The truth is," you inherited a recovering economy and then drove it into the ground. You and the Obama can't blame this on anyone but yourselves. When you destroy basic industries like the auto industry and threaten every other big business and spend money like it is going out of style - what do you get - the current economic mess.

When the Obama looked the other way

O'Grady: Honduras at the Tipping Point, Why is the U.S. not supporting the rule of law?

It is really not that hard to understand why the US is not supporting the rule of law. To be technically correct, it is the Obama not supporting the rule of law - can't blame this on the US. Then you have Jimmy Carter, a tawdry specimen of a human being, if ever there was one, involved in certifying Venezuela's election results that clearly had Chavez losing - until a last minute miracle occurred. Currently Carter holds the title of worst president in American history. He may lose that title to the Obama. Carter was given a Nobel Peace prize soley for criticizing Bush in public. There was a time when getting a Peace prize was an honor of prestige. Now it means nothing more than being a leftist, or a dictator lover or a terrorist. For the US to maintain any semblence of world prestige it has to continue to stand for freedom and democracy - Sadly the Obama is not up to the challenge.

Because it is Protected Does Not Make it Right

Eugene Volokh: Flag Burning and Free Speech

Volokh is a smart fellow and I agree with his arguments but not the sentiment of burning a flag. It shows huge disrespect for ones country to do so and the only message one can take away from the act is that "I hate my country." Well, for those who chose to burn our country's flag there is an alternative - Go find another country where the flag doesn't have any meaning - Europe I hear is full of such countries and there is always Chavezland in South America or Cuba.

Palin Resigns!

Well, I am not sure why Sarah Palin is resigning as Governor but I am disappointed. It is of course her choice but I think that she should have at least stuck it out through the end of her term. There is a plethora of blog-blips and articles on the subject at the Washington Examiner:

David Freddoso: Palin's resignation

Mark Tapscott: Conventional wisdom cannot explain Palin

Chris Stirewalt: Nobody likes a quitter, Sarah Palin

RACHEL D'ORO: Palin resigning as Alaska governor

Fun Physics!

A very fun and educational site - link sent to my by a dear friend. Check it out: Sixty Symbols - Physics and Astronomy.

Declaring Independence

When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident:

That all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed;

The above lines are the parts most often recalled by those who have read the Declaration of Independence, but there is another line that follows that is of importance and often forgotten and of significant meaning in today's world - a line that the Obama should heed when he is condemning others who are seeking the freedoms that they are entitled to:

But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security.

That is what the Iranians are trying, that is what the Hondurans are doing - that is what any peoples wanting to taste freedom do.

REMEMBER THOSE WHO HAVE GIVEN SO MUCH FOR OUR FREEDOM

Links to our founding documents:

The Declaration of Independence and an Image

My copy hangs above the door in my home office. Sorry the picture is a bit rough - hard to photograph from below!!

It is bad when even the Russian's can comment on the decline of our nation, via El Greco an article by Mat Rodina - Russian Blogger: American Capitalism Gone With a Whimper:

First, the population was dumbed down through a politicized and substandard education system based on pop culture, rather then the classics. Americans know more about their favorite TV dramas then the drama in DC that directly affects their lives. They care more for their "right" to choke down a McDonalds burger or a BurgerKing burger than for their constitutional rights. Then they turn around and lecture us about our rights and about our "democracy". Pride blind the foolish.

Then their faith in God was destroyed, until their churches, all tens of thousands of different "branches and denominations" were for the most part little more then Sunday circuses and their televangelists and top protestant mega preachers were more then happy to sell out their souls and flocks to be on the "winning" side of one pseudo Marxist politician or another. Their flocks may complain, but when explained that they would be on the "winning" side, their flocks were ever so quick to reject Christ in hopes for earthly power. Even our Holy Orthodox churches are scandalously liberalized in America.

The final collapse has come with the election of Barack Obama. His speed in the past three months has been truly impressive. His spending and money printing has been a record setting, not just in America's short history but in the world. If this keeps up for more then another year, and there is no sign that it will not, America at best will resemble the Wiemar Republic and at worst Zimbabwe.

Time to stand up to tyranny!

"THESE are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph."

So said Thomas Paine in the introduction to The Crisis. Indeed these are times to try men's souls. The Obama and his merry band of socialist thugs are trying their damndest to subvert our freedoms and enslave us forever to a beheamouth government monster. So, indeed now is the time for the "Sunshine" soldier to get off the couch and stand to arms for this country lest we become another third world country like the land of the Obama's ancestors.

Further Thoughts

There is little doubt that Sotomayor will be confirmed to the Supreme Court - despite her myriad deficiencies as a jurist (Ricci). They say that a body like that of the Supreme Court is greater than the sum of its part - I fear, though, that with Sotomayor it will be somewhat less than that sum. Even with the Bleeding Heart nature of the other liberals on the court there is little of the blatant racism that attaches itself to the Obama and his court pick. One can have compassion and one can empathize but the law care not for all of that - it is "blind." And it is the defining character of a supreme, Supreme Court, jurist to be able to rise above their emotions and make decisions solely on the basis of the Constitution. If they feel that the law is not right then there is a mechanism outlined in the document - that the liberal justices so often spurn - for changing the law. It is not the job of a justice to enact laws but to interpret laws. So, when you are reading your Constitution this weekend think how the Obama's many new programs fit into the fabric of government as outlined in that document - my belief is that you will find non.

The Fourth of July

Bennett and Cribb: The Last Best Hope of Earth.

With the 4 of July upon us and this being the Obama's first 4th while in office it might do him some good to go to the National Archives and actually look at the documents that he is destroying daily with all of his socialist nonsense. It might do him good to see the document that led to eventual freedom for slaves - something that he and his family line known nothing of. The Obama calls himself a constitutional lawyer but that he really cares or knows nothing of the Constitution - he and others like him fixate on the a few amendments in the Bill of Rights and the 14th amendment and the rest of the document are a few bits of superfluous paper - for every day he ignores the core of the document as he constructs new government edifices that are in direct contradiction to the structure of our government prescribed in the Constitution. The Constitution is not the Bill of Rights. The Constitution is 7 articles - defining the form, structure and LIMITED responsibilities of our 3 branches of government and several amendments beyond the Bill of Rights.

Tomorrow, the 4th of July, it would do all of us good to read the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, because without the former, we would not have the latter. The basic rights of humanity - Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness - in that order and in that order of importance - are spelled out in the Declaration of Independence and from those three flow all else - and with those three we are held to a high level of responsibility - a fact forgotten by today's spoiled government dependent generations. Starting from these three fundamental and un-dissolvable rights the rules by which human kind interact derive. There is no right to a house, or fancy clothing or a car or an iPod or healthcare - these latter "things" are all individual responsibilities - part of being a person pursuing Happiness. So, on the 4th the Obama might consider how it has become a right for someone to have some government handout just because that someone chooses not to get it for themselves.

Amendment: I need to amend the above post to include the most significant and relevant document of all mankind, from which all of the laws of our great country are derived - The Bible. Despite the leaning of the Obama, this country was founded on Judaeo-Christian principles - ALL of the founding fathers were of Judaeo-Christian descent and any attempt by a warped liberal left to make us believe otherwise is foolish nonsense. For America, there is no other source than the Bible to look to when it comes to human laws and behavior -PERIOD!

I volunteer ---- Congress, that is!

Science News: Become a guinea pig

Volunteering to take part in clinical trials is a duty whose importance should be viewed on a par with voting, they say. Toward this end, the NIH researchers argue that recruiting ads should stop referring to participants as “everyday heroes,” because this implies that volunteering requires action above and beyond what should be expected of us. Rather, recruiting programs should implore people to do their part, like World War II era campaigns for recycling, rationing and folding bandages.

You can tell that the Obama has infused his distorted "moral" obligation and "duty" rant (akin to Biden's, "It's your duty to pay taxes" carp) into the NIH. I volunteer - 535 members of Congress - they're pretty useless - don't you think???!!!

The real culprit in the housing crisis

This is important, read the whole article, from the WSJ: New Evidence on the Foreclosure Crisis

A simple statistic can help make the point: although only 12% of homes had negative equity, they comprised 47% of all foreclosures.

What about upward resets in mortgage interest rates? I found that interest rate resets did not measurably increase foreclosures until the reset was greater than four percentage points. Only 8% of foreclosures had an interest rate increase of that much. Thus the overall impact of upward interest rate resets is much smaller than the impact from equity.

The difference in policy implications is enormous: A significant reduction in foreclosures will happen when and only when housing prices stop falling and unemployment stops rising.

Unfortunately, recent attempts by politicians such as Barney Frank (D., Mass.) to again artificially increase homeownership levels might delay this return to sustainable equilibrium prices.

And we want to put this Sleaze on the high bench!?

Michael Barone: Firefighter case shows seamy side of racial politics

Bazelon and Judge Sotomayor, who voted to uphold the city's decertification of the promotion test, are typical of liberal elites who are ready to ratify squalid political deals -- and blatant racial discrimination -- in return for the political support and the votes that can be rallied by the likes of Kimber. You supply the numbers on Election Day, and we'll supply the verbiage to put a pretty label on your shenanigans.

But I think we ought to reserve some of our sympathy for the purported beneficiaries of this wretched discrimination, the black firefighters. Their champions -- Kimber and DeStefano, Bazelon and Judge Sotomayor -- are telling them that their way up in life should not be determined by the content of their character or by mastery of their worthy craft, but by the color of their skin. Not by a fair and unbiased test, but by dishonest wire pulling and threats of political retaliation.