Showing posts with label Hillary. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hillary. Show all posts

Thursday, March 06, 2008

Hillary peeved with unauthorized biography

 
"The chapter on Bill's affair with Monica did not have to have a 'pop-up' section!"

Wednesday, March 05, 2008

Someone get the stunt double on the set

 
The National Review's Kathryn Jean Lopez:

An e-mail, from a male reader:

Notice how no one is referring to Hillary Clinton as the "Come Back Kid" like they did when McCain was down and out and then started winning.

That's because Hillary doesn't remind anyone of a "come back kid." She reminds most of us of Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction — particularly the scene at the end of the movie where she rises up out of the bathtub and tries one last time to kill Michael Douglas.

I've got your movie poster right here. You can thank Reliapundit for the idea.

I feel shriveled.

Catching pigs

 
There was a chemistry professor in a large college who had some exchange students in the class. One day while the class was in the lab, the professor noticed one young man, an exchange student, who kept rubbing his back and stretching as if his back hurt. The professor asked the young man what was the matter. The student told him he had a bullet lodged in his back. He had been shot while fighting Communists in his native country who were trying to overthrow his country's government and install a new Communist regime.

While telling his story, he looked at the professor and asked a strange question: "Do you know how to catch wild pigs?" The professor thought it was a joke and asked for the punch line. The young man said that it was no joke.

"You catch wild pigs by finding a suitable place in the woods and putting corn on the ground. The pigs find it and begin to come everyday to eat the free corn. When they are used to coming every day, you put a fence down one side of the place where they are used to coming.

"When they get used to the fence, they begin to eat the corn again and you put up another side of the fence. They get used to that and start to eat again. You continue until you have all four sides of the fence up with a gate in the last side. The pigs, used to the free corn, start to come through the gate to eat that free corn again. You then slam the gate on them and catch the whole herd.

"Suddenly the wild pigs have lost their freedom. They run around and around inside the fence, but they are trapped. Soon they go back to eating the free corn. They are so used to it that they have forgotten how to forage in the woods for themselves, so they accept their captivity."

The young man then told the professor that this is exactly what he sees happening in America. The government keeps pushing us toward Communism/Socialism and keeps spreading the free corn out in the form of programs such as supplemental income, tax credit for unearned income, tax exemptions, tobacco subsidies, dairy subsidies, payments not to plant crops (CRP), welfare, subsidized housing, school programs, medicine, drugs, etc. We continually lose our freedoms, just a little at a time.

We should always remember two truths: There is no such thing as a free lunch, and you can never hire someone to provide a service for you cheaper than you can do it yourself. If you see that all of this wonderful government 'help' is a problem confronting the future of freedom in America, you might want to send this on to your friends.

If you think the free ride is essential to your way of life, then you will probably ignore this post. Heaven help us when the gate slams shut!

Hat tips: Story sent by Steven G. and "pig ready for the spit" photo from Dragon Lady's Den

It's 3AM and somewhere a phone is ringing

 
It's 3AM.

Your children are safe and asleep.

But there's a phone ringing in the White House. Something's happening in the world.

It's 3AM and the President just received a phone call.

The President's husband is missing.

A President's got enough to worry about, right?

(Voice-over): I'm Barack (name redacted) Obama, and I approve this message.

Photo: Eight years after Bill Clinton left the DC area...

 
The third grade class photo at Beltway Elementary School.

Tuesday, March 04, 2008

Joe Wilson (husband of Valerie Plame) attacks Saint Obama

 
Over at the Stuffington Roast, serial storyteller Joe Wilson has formally attacked Barack Obama, calling his judgment "hollow" and his record "empty":

There is no credible reason to conclude that Obama would have acted any differently in voting for the authorization had he been in the Senate at that time. Indeed, he has said as much. The supposed intuitive judgment he exercised in his 2002 speech was nothing more than the pander of a local election campaign, just as his current assertions of superior judgment and scurrilous attacks on Hillary Clinton are a pander to those who now retroactively think the war was a mistake...

...It is hard to discern whether Senator Obama is a man of principle, but it is clear that he is not a man of substance. And that judgment, based on his hollow record, is inescapable.

I love it when a plan comes together!

Hat tip: The Astute Bloggers

Intrade says it ain't even close: Hillary's toast

 
Prediction Market Intrade pegs Hillary's chances at precisely between slim and none.


"Want straight answers on what will happen in politics and current events? Answers without partisan bias or wishful thinking? You can't do much better than the prices at Intrade."

                                    -- Professor Robin Hanson, Professor of Economics, George Mason University

Photo o' the Day: 'Yes, we CAN'!

 
Even now, at the tail end of primary season, certain themes have begun to emerge and they are worth passing along. Even though she has faced a long, sticky streak of defeats, Hillary has pushed hard to remain a firm and regular candidate.

Having found her own voice, she's released much of what was inside her, eliminating the doubts while bearing down upon her goal. She has fertilized the minds of her listeners and left the droppings of her wisdom along the campaign trail. No longer is she the butt of jokes; her campaign runs have been truly impressive, squeezing out every last vote.

Though she had plunged in the polls, it's entirely possible she can pull a remarkable comeback out of her --er-- hat and flush the competition.

Photo of Hillary's makeshift office in Austin, Texas: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images. Hat tips: Gateway Pundit and Larwyn. With apologies to National Lampoon's Dr. Humphrey C. Cornholt, Principal, C. Estes Kefauver High School.

Monday, March 03, 2008

Hillary: well, Obama... could... be a Muslim...

 
On the March 2 edition of CBS' 60 Minutes, Steve Kroft interviewed Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton regarding the persistent rumors that Obama is a crypto-Muslim.

KROFT: One of the things that we found in Southern Ohio -- not widespread -- but something that popped up on our radar screen all the time, people talking about it, this idea that you're a Muslim.

OBAMA: Right. Did you correct them, Steve?

KROFT: I did correct them.

OBAMA: There you go.

KROFT: Where's it coming from?

OBAMA: You know, this has been a systematic email smear campaign that's been going on since, actually, very early in this campaign. Clearly, it's a deliberate effort by some group or somebody to generate this rumor. I have never been a Muslim, am not a Muslim. These emails are obviously not just offensive to me, somebody who's a devout Christian who's been going to the same church for the last 20 years, but it's also offensive to Muslims because it plays into, obviously, a certain fear-mongering there.

KROFT: It happened again last week when this photo of Obama, in ceremonial African tribal dress during a visit to Kenya, was featured prominently on the Internet and attributed to people in the Clinton campaign. Senator Clinton disavowed any knowledge of it.

KROFT: You don't believe that Senator Obama is a Muslim?

CLINTON: Of course not. I mean, that's -- you know, there is no basis for that. You know, I take him on the basis of what he says. And, you know, there isn't any reason to doubt that.

KROFT: And you said you'd take Senator Obama at his word that he's not a Muslim.

CLINTON: Right. Right.

KROFT: You don't believe that he's a Muslim --

CLINTON: No. No. Why would I? There's no --

KROFT: -- or implying, right?

CLINTON: No, there is nothing to... to... base that on, as far as I know.

KROFT: It's just scurrilous --

The reaction from the left wing blogs and the mainstream media (but I repeat myself) was predictable.

Newsweek: All You Need Is Hate

Stuffington Roast: Hillary Crossed the Line

MSNBC: It's close

MyDD asks "what's with the weird qualifiers?"

Media Matters shrieked that it was all a distortion.

Bob Cesca took it at face value: "In case you missed it, Senator Clinton basically said that there could be some truth to the rumors."

Cliff ("never heard of him") Schecter said, "This crossed the line. I am officially angry. Take my word for it."

Drudge Retort asked Hillary to "please shut up."

Obama supporter "A Bag full of Health and Politics" was incredulous: "Lest there be any doubt: Hillary Clinton is the worst kind of bigot, the poser who pretends to be tolerant... It figures, because it was Clinton who was behind the original incarnation of the smear, which appeared in Insight Magazine in January of 2007."

And Pat Dollard says Hillary's "throwing in 'kitchen sink' stuff, too... She is hitting Obama for not being candid about NAFTA, and she is even making some odd (and unpleasant) statements on his religion."

Well, I for one have no idea whether Obama is a Muslim or not. But I would recommend he steer clear of Malaysia for a while.

Also see: Gateway Pundit rolls up the extensive coverage.

Saturday, March 01, 2008

Barack Obama's Honesty Parade (#183): NAFTA and jobs

 
BARACK OBAMA HONESTY PARADEBarack Obama's mailers to Ohio citizens hammer NAFTA as unfair to the state's workers.

Talk about the politics of fear!

Unfortunately for Obama, the brochure's content appears to be as truthful as the politician's image as a bi-partisan healer. According to the Wall Street Journal, thanks to NAFTA, Ohio's biggest trading partners are now Mexico and Canada:

Ohio workers would pay a heavy price for pulling out of Nafta. Canada and Mexico are the top two markets for exports from Ohio, accounting for more than half of the state's exports in 2006. According to the Ohio Department of Development, 283,500 workers in the state earn their living in the export sector, with machinery, car parts, aircraft engines and optical/medical equipment among the leading exports.

Hillary hits the red button

 
Hillary's new ad -- "It's 3AM, who do you want answering the phone" -- spurred a cacophony of harsh reaction from the left. Don Surber blog-wrangled some reactions into edible form and concluded:

The Kossers are going bananas. That makes the whole ad doubly good: It smacks Obama and makes the Kossers kry: "Clinton Campaign Stoops to Fear and Division."

Yea, the Kossers have been so bipartisan and willing to compromise over the years... maybe more Democrats agree with Obama's Kumbaya naivete, but most Americans want the president to act at 3 AM, not sit there and try to talk to the enemy — without preconditions.

Or someone who instead of pressing the button instead issues a press release denouncing "fear mongering."

Fear-mongering? I'll show you fear-mongering in a campaign ad...


01:18:42 PST: Port of Los Angeles

An unmarked cargo van drives cautiously into a warehouse complex adjacent to America's busiest container port.

04:18:45 EST: Port of New York, New Jersey Marine Terminal

A small van parks in an alley abutting the Customs facility at the East Coast's busiest seaport.

04:20:12 EST: In Dearborn, Michigan, six messages are sent to six different text pagers, three of which ride in a van in Los Angeles; three others of which sit in a van parked in New Jersey.

Two occupants in each van receive the messages. The text of each message reads: A'uzu billahi minashaitanir rajim. Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim. Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar.

In the back of each van is a three-by-three-by-two plywood box, which contains a carefully packaged and shielded device. The occupants of each van meticulously unbox their respective devices.

Inside each device is a core of approximately 60 pounds of enriched uranium, produced in an Iranian nuclear reactor ostensibly for purposes of "clean, safe energy."

Once unboxed, each device exposes an igniter on one of its sides. The design of the igniter reveals that each device is a "gun-type" atomic weapon.

The gun device is similar to "Little Boy", the bomb detonated over Hiroshima. While such a design is obsolete for technically advanced countries, the gun method does not require significant engineering or manufacturing prowess. It is therefore perfect for terrorist organizations.

Within moments of the pages being received, a tidal wave of fire engulfs New York City.

And a massive plume of smoke rises over the Port of Los Angeles.

At 4:26 EST, secure phones throughout government begin ringing. Including one on the President's nightstand.

* * *

I don't know about you, but thinking about another Jimmy Carter or Bill Clinton in the White House when the next terrorist attack occurs (which it inevitably will) isn't very comforting.

Thursday, February 28, 2008

What Democrats won’t tell you about Healthcare reform

 
Namely, that frivolous medical malpractice lawsuits are one of the biggest causes for the rapid rise in healthcare costs. Why won’t Democrats tell you that? Because trial lawyers uniformly back Democrats in order to fight tort reform and maintain their multi-billion dollar revenue stream.

Watchdog site Trial Lawyers Inc. defines the term “tort tax”:

While [aggressive lawsuits have] been a bonanza for Trial Lawyers, Inc., it has been a drain on the American economy and a serious threat to the livelihood and lifestyle of many Americans. America’s tort system costs over $200 billion annually; even assuming that the underlying lawsuits have merit, much of this cost is wasteful and excessive—at least $87 billion, according to the president’s Council of Economic Advisors.

The overall cost of this “tort tax” on our economy over the next ten years will be more than $3.6 trillion... almost triple the size of the 2001 and 2003 Bush tax cuts combined.

Meritless lawsuits:

...Trial Lawyers, Inc.'s medical-malpractice lawsuits are legion: of the 46,000 members of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, 76 percent have been sued at least once, 57 percent at least twice, and 41.5 percent three times or more. And the litigation industry tends to file far more cases than actually have merit: nearly half of malpractice suits — 49.5 percent — are dropped, dismissed, or settled without payment. Indeed, in a study of medical-malpractice cases filed against New York hospitals, the Harvard Medical Practice Group found that in the majority of medical-malpractice claims, the plaintiff exhibited no medical injury whatsoever; the plaintiff was injured by doctor negligence only 17 percent of the time.

The High Costs of Malpractice Liability:

So if Trial Lawyers, Inc.'s suits against doctors are wide-ranging, and often meritless, just how much do they cost? By 2003, medical-malpractice liability costs in the United States had reached an astounding $26 billion annually. That staggering sum represents a 2,000 percent increase over costs in 1975. At 12 percent per year, the growth rate in medical malpractice costs since 1975 is four times the rate of inflation and twice the rate of medical-care inflation.

In jury trials, million-dollar verdicts are now the norm. Fifty-two percent of all awards exceed $1 million while the average award now weighs in at $4.7 million...

The Investments:

...PAC donations from the Association of Trial Lawyers of America (ATLA)—Trial Lawyers, Inc.'s government-relations "home office"—are perennially among the nation's highest to the Democratic Party.[224] Democrats receive 93 percent of ATLA's contributions, which helps explain why every Democratic senator opposed the president's medical-malpractice reform bill in the last Congress.[225]

PAC gifts, however, only scratch the surface of litigation-industry giving, which Trial Lawyers, Inc.'s leaders and their firms bundle and distribute directly to candidates. Senator John Edwards's presidential campaign was almost wholly funded by the lawsuit industry..

Ann Coulter adds:

...the Democratic Party treats doctors like they're Klan members. They wail about how much doctors are paid and celebrate the trial lawyers who do absolutely nothing to make society better, but swoop in and steal from the most valuable members of society.

Maybe doctors could get the Democrats to like them if they started suing their patients.

It's only a matter of time before the best and brightest students forget about medical school and go to law school instead. How long can a society based on suing the productive last?

(Has anyone else noticed the nonexistence of a charitable organization known as "Lawyers Without Borders"?)

[My ex-roomate, now a Doctor] makes $380 for an emergency appendectomy, or one-ten-thousandth of what John Edwards made suing doctors like her, and one-fourth of what John Edwards' hairdresser makes for a single shag cut.

Edwards made $30 million bringing nonsense lawsuits based on junk science against doctors. To defend themselves from parasites like Edwards, doctors now pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical malpractice insurance every year.

If we're going to reform healthcare, I’d suggest we start with the trial lawyers and cap every single form of medical malpractice lawsuit.

Monday, February 25, 2008

Did the Clinton campaign release pictures of Obama in Somali Muslim Garb?

 
US News & World Report implies that the Clintons may have been behind the controversial photo of Obama wearing Somali Muslim clothing during his 2006 visit to Kenya.

An internet posting of a simple photo of Sen. Barack Obama today became the best example yet of how the Democratic presidential campaign has turned into a nasty and bitter fight as Sen. Hillary Clinton sinks from the inevitable nominee to an also-ran. It all started early today when the Drudge Report posted the picture of Obama in a tunic and turban while visiting Wajir, a rural area in northeastern Kenya in 2006. It was standard stuff, apparently, as visiting dignitaries typically try on the local garb, our friend Lynn Sweet of the Chicago Sun-Times reports. Matt Drudge wrote that the photo was being circulated by Clinton staffers in an apparent attempt at fear-mongering. Said his sources: "Wouldn't we be seeing this on the cover of every magazine if it were HRC?" the standard reference to Clinton...

Error Theory, Sweetness and Light, Astute Blogger and Gateway Pundit have excellent follow-ups on the controversial photo.

Sunday, February 24, 2008

Obama's myth of the "suffering" middle class

 
The "war on the middle class" is provably an invention of the Democrats and the mainstream media. But I repeat myself.

Barack Obama, John Edwards and Hillary Clinton have all highlighted the "suffering" of the middle class... the "two Americas"... and that the average Joe is getting squeezed by the wealthy.

Reason TV has produced an exceptional series of videos that shatter conventional myth-making using (brace yourself, "progressives") facts. This quick summary of Living Large - the vanishing Middle Class should encourage you to watch the entire seven minute video.

The mainstream media has relentlessly marketed the idea that the middle class is getting shafted by the rich.

News programs, pundits and politicians claim that the middle class is, in fact, vanishing.

The concept that only a select few "rich people" have unlimited wealth and that everyone else is "poor" has been a constant of the Democratic presidential campaign: John Edwards' two Americas... Hillary Clinton's "Spread Prosperity"... and Barack Obama's "suffering" families.

Economist Michael Cox is author of Myths of Rich & Poor (Why we're better off than we think).

Cox says that looking at raw wages isn't an appropriate measure. First, it omits benefits. Second, how much things truly cost is the most important metric.

"Is the cost of everything going down? No. Is the case of the vast, vast array of things Americans purchase going down? Absolutely."

Money is the typical way we measure how much things cost. But Cox thinks we should use a more appropriate measure: time. "The best way to measure cost is work time: how long do I have to work in order to afford to buy something?"

Take the cost of a typical consumer product like a cell phone. In the eighties, the movie Wall Street depicted mobile phones as the rich person's toy. The original cell phones cost upward of $4,000... the average worker had to labor 460 hours to buy one!

Today, however, the typical $50 phone is less than three hours work.

460 then, three now. A huge decline in the costs associated with these products, which any middle-class person can now easily afford. There are many other products and services that have likewise dropped dramatically in price.

In terms of time, the cost of a car has dropped 70%.

Food is 84% cheaper.

Clothes are 87% cheaper.

Even housing is going down. We look at housing prices and assume that costs are going up. But houses are two-and-a-half times larger with fantastic amenities. Dishwashers, stoves, microwaves, central heat and air, fireplaces, etc. are common in the average home.

The cost of a cross-country flight has plummeted by 95%.

Such progress, yet so many middle-class Americans feel lousy.

For example: a CBS news poll marketed by the broadcaster that claims only 19% of Americans feel they are "getting ahead in life".

Gee, I wonder why? Maybe less Americans would feel that way if the mainstream media didn't promote the patently false message of doom and gloom.

The concept that the middle class always gets shafted by the rich is a constant theme in today's media.

People are always told it's more difficult to make ends meet.

"It's not the high cost of living... it's the cost of living high. That we insist on having everything; having so much more."

Too bad the reality-based perspective is never considered newsworthy.

"There is suffering out there; there has always been suffering; and we will always have suffering out there... but how does it compare to the past? Americans are richer today than at any time in history. We should really be thankful..."

* * *

Shhhh... no one tell the Democrats that many middle-class Americans have toys like motorcycles, boats, luxury SUVs, etc.... and that some are even obese.

Hat tip: Parkway Rest Stop