Friday, August 14, 2009

Two Speakers in One!


James Taranto:



• "I say to the president, Mr. President, if you think that our troops in Iraq are there to fight for democracy, do not destroy it at home by cutting off our freedom of speech. . . . "So I thank all of you who have spoken out for your courage, your point of view. All of it. Your advocacy is very American and very important. . . . There's nothing more articulate, or more eloquent, to a member of Congress than the voice of his or her own constituent. . . . I'm a fan of disruptors," -- Nancy Pelosi, speaking to a San Francisco town hall meeting, Jan. 17, 2006

• "I think they're AstroTurf. You be the judge. They're carrying swastikas and symbols like that to a town meeting on health care." -- Nancy Pelosi on disruptive constituents, Aug. 5, 2009


The World's Coolest Cabs


Jan sent this one in.






I wonder how much a ride in a Maybach cab costs?

"The radon business is a scam"


A commenter at City-Data appears to confirm what has always been my suspicion: the "radon" threat is about as real as global warming. Which is to say, you've got a better chance of hitting a 565-foot home run in Yankee Stadium with a six iron than being harmed by radon.

I just got a contract on my house. Buyer had a home inspection done. Inspector owns a radon mitigation business on the side. Radon test comes up positive (above 4 pc/cl) [and] I'm told I need to get it fixed. Buyer's realtor who recommended inspector says she trusts him fully to do treatment.

I say no way. I will not reward someone who benefits by finding a problem. That's why I never let the termite company that found the "problem" to be the one that fixes it.

So I haven't decided what to do, so in the meantime I did some reading. And after about six hours, I came to the inescapable realization that RESIDENTIAL RADON DANGER IS A HOAX.

It's put out by the same folks who are selling us man-made global warming; WHO, the EPA, the NIH, all of whose best interests it serves to create crises so they can get money to keep "studying" the problem.

Here are some nagging hitches I am finding:

EPA's magical 4 picocuries/cubic liter threshold is arbitrary. There have never been tests of the effects of varying amounts of radon in a home setting. The only tests come from mine shafts in Pennsylvania where miners developed cancers, and where radon was among 25 or so radioactive elements present The results pf these findings were extrapolated to homes. In other words, THERE HAS NEVER BEEN A SINGLE VERIFIABLE CASE WHERE RADON IN A HOME WAS LINKED TO AN OCCURRENCE OF CANCER. Even the EPA has admitted it.

From a 1994 EPA report: "Facts Concerning Environmental Radon": "To date the EPA has had little success in stimulating home owners to measure levels in their homes which would be the first step in the process of deciding on a course of action if a high radon level is found. This is partly because it is difficult to get people concerned that their home, a place that one looks to for security, is a potential source of hidden danger. Also, it has not yet been possible to generate convincing data on increased risk at or below 4-8 pCi/liter"

What? No evidence of increased risk in the 4-8 range? Yet the EPA recommends action on any reading above 4? And all the radon companies are making $800 to $2000 setting up bogus vent systems for this number pulled out of thin air? And all the realtors, like sheep, fall into line?

Finally, two most widespread claims about radon all come from one source, the EPA:

1) Radon is the second-leading cause of lung cancer

2) 21,000 people die of lung cancer each year due to radon.

The rub here is that these two statements, long considered gospel, FAIL TO SEPARATE SMOKERS VS. NONSMOKERS. Furthermore, the numbers used are on the HIGH END of the actual findings which said 3,000 to 32,000. Ergo, it is IMPOSSIBLE TO MAKE EITHER CLAIM ABOVE without pulling numbers out of thin air.

ERGO, THERE IS NO WAY TO TELL WHETHER RADON OR SMOKING CAUSED CANCER IN THE ABOVE CASES.

Below is the sole source for these two claims which have been repeated thousands of times, so much, in fact, that they are considered gospel. It is from the public summary of the EPA report, "Biological Effects of Ionizing Radiation".

Note: "EVER-SMOKERS' is defined as ANYONE WHO IS SMOKING OR HAS EVER SMOKED.

"The BEIR VI committee's preferred central estimates... are that about 1 in 10 or 1 in 7 of all lung cancer deaths-amounting to ... about 15,400 to 21,800 per year in the United States- can be attributed to radon among ever-smokers and never-smokers together."

"The number of radon-related lung cancer deaths resulting from (our analysis) could be as low as 3000 or as high as 32,000. Most of the radon-related lung cancers occur among ever-smokers, and because of the synergism between smoking and radon, many of the cancers in ever-smokers could be prevented by either tobacco control or reduction of radon exposure."

So...."15,400 to 21,800 per year in the United States- can be attributed to radon among ever-smokers and never-smokers together".....So how in the HELL can they arrive at the claim that "21,000 people die in America from radon each year? It's a bogus lie.

And from that lie sprang the industry of radon mitigation for residential homes that we are all paying for.

When you think about it, anybody with an IQ over 75 would question the idea of paying a thousand bucks to "cure" a problem you can't see or smell; a problem nobody has ever noticed or observed negative results from; a problem that apparently didn't even exist until 1984.

But this information doesn't help me on my house sale. The buyer believes there's a serious threat. The realtor believes it. If I show them this stuff, they won't believe it. I'm probably stuck paying for a mirage.

Word.

SEIU-linked Familes USA issues health care "study" pushing single-payer, MSM gratefully reprints nationwide


Families USA, a group that supports socialist causes, is working with public sector unions to fund $12 million in television ads supporting single-payer, government-run health care.


And when Families USA issued another of its curiously biased press release "studies" today, the mainstream media hungrily threw the stories into their content management systems, eager to reprint the press release in support of a big government takeover of health care.

A sampling of headlines, customized by region:

• Florida: Study: Fla. health insurance costs grow at triple the rate of income
• Maine: Health Insurance Premiums in Maine Skyrocketing, Study Indicates
• Connecticut: Study: Health care costs grow 7x faster than pay
• New Hampshire: NE health costs rise faster than pay
• Nevada: Report: Health care costs rising faster than wages
• Pennsylvania: Report: Health care costs rising faster than wages

There are certainly ones I missed. Put simply, the MSM just donated hundreds of thousands of dollars in free advertising in order to help market the leftist agenda.


Note that this is the second time the decripit, dying mainstream media has conspired with Families USA to push socialized medicine on a resistant American public.

How come these groups never complain about government costs growing? After all, at least private insurers have to compete with one another. Who does the federal government compete with?

Oh, that's right. These groups despise America's laws, our traditions, our Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, which strictly forbid the federal government's interference in these affairs.

No matter, the progressives say that the Constitution is "living and breathing" (unlike the mainstream media), so they can morph it into any illegal direction they prefer.

The death of old media can't come quick enough.


Smart Cars: A good way to reduce end-of-life health care costs


The mainstream media hasn't exactly picked up the story, but we're starting to see "Smart Car" drivers die in fatal accidents. Last week, a North Carolina man perished in a fatal accident after he ran through a stop sign while driving his Smart Car.

In February, South African soap opera star Ashley Callie died after her Smart Car plowed into a Renault head on.

Don't get me wrong, a Smart Car is infinitely safer than, say, a motorcycle. But it's not exactly the kind of car I'd put my wife and kids in.

When it comes to CAFE standards and the like, the Democrats' environmental nutjob supporters are intent on pushing us into these rolling deathtraps.

Presumably, this is part of their grand plan to save money on Democrat-controlled health care once they jam socialized medicine down our throats.


Related: Real cars of genius. Image hat tip: Dvice, "Why Smart cars are a dumb choice for car rentals".

Larwyn's Linx: Axelrod's 'Viral' Email

Have a great link you'd like me to review? Drop me an email or reply via Twitter.

Nation

AstroTurfing Dirty Tricks, Non-Existent Town Halls: Ace
Obama and the Permanent Campaign: Rove
Boxer's Book Signings: a Bold, New Forum: Hewitt

The health care battle and the ghost of Terry Schiavo: McLaughlin
Axelrod's 'Viral' Email: Ace
Why is Harry Reid chuckling?: Power Line

Rising opposition against Democrat health care takeover: GOPleader
My OFA Adventure: PJM (Blumer)
Fake Dem Doctor and Unhinged Che Fan Redux: GWP

Economy

The IRS: The New Health Care Enforcer: LegalIns
Granholm cure for MI woes: $1B in new taxes: BlogProf
Tax Withholding Is Bad for Democracy: WSJ

Regions Financial's $22.8 Billion Dollar Sink Hole: Zero Hedge
Transparency! Obama Refuses to Release Clunker Sales Data: JWF
Tort Reform Lowers Costs. So Why Isn't It in Obamacare?: PJM (Benoit)

Climate & Energy

Australian Senate defeats Cap-and-Trade: AT (Lifson)
Debbie Stabenow Has 6th Sense For Global Warming: "I feel it when I'm flying": BlogProf

Media

Obama Behind Beck Boycott: Atlas
Fairness Doctrine Raises Its Ugly Head Under New FCC “Diversity Czar”: Greenroom
'Yale's New Motto: Cowardice and Surrender': Corner

Major Garrett slams Spokes-Idiot Robert Gibbs: Atlas
More Cramer BS: Denninger
Town Hall Outrage and Media Cooperation: AT (Tate)

World

Muslims, Arabs among J Street donors: JPost
Former KGB officer: U.S. President raised on our lies: PJM (Atbashian)
The Saddam Hussein/Al-Qaeda Relationship: PJM (Eichenlaub)

SciTech

Palin slams Obama on existence of 'Death Panel': BlogProf
Palin target Zeke Emanuel backs off care rationing: Times
Dirty Secret #1 in Obamacare: Norris

Cornucopia

Alleged Discovery of ‘Real’ Mt. Sinai Could Change Middle East Forever: PJM (Mauro)
Calling for Pizza in 2012: MoneyRunner

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Gold Digger


You know you have too much coin on your hands when:




You coat your $100,000 car with 40 pounds of solid gold.

That would be roughly 640 ounces or, say, $600,000.


Hat tip: Golden Porsche.

Not Photoshopped


Li Wei specializes in "action art": photographs that defy reality without a bit of touch-up.


Environmental Graffiti has more.

Crony Capitalism: Obama and Big Pharma's Deal Revealed


Capitalism, no matter what progressives say, isn't evil. The free market is the most empowering of all economic systems. It knows no race, creed, religion or color.

The restaurant owner does not know the skin color of the farmer who grew his produce. The truck driver does not know the religion of those who manufactured his cargo. The steelworker can safely ignore the genealogy of those who designed his lunchbox.

Yet the Statist can not tolerate the free market, for it defies his control.

It resists his abilities to regulate, dictate and oversee. Thus is born "crony capitalism".

In this instance, elements of the pharmaceutical industry, who are crawling into bed with the Obama administration, enrich themselves at the expense of the American taxpayer.

A memo obtained by the Huffington Post confirms that the White House and the pharmaceutical lobby secretly agreed to precisely the sort of wide-ranging deal that both parties have been denying over the past week.

The memo, which according to a knowledgeable health care lobbyist was prepared by a person directly involved in the negotiations, lists exactly what the White House gave up, and what it got in return.


It says the White House agreed to oppose any congressional efforts to use the government's leverage to bargain for lower drug prices or import drugs from Canada -- and also agreed not to pursue Medicare rebates or shift some drugs from Medicare Part B to Medicare Part D, which would cost Big Pharma billions in reduced reimbursements.

In exchange, the Pharmaceutical Researchers and Manufacturers Association (PhRMA) agreed to cut $80 billion in projected costs to taxpayers and senior citizens over ten years. Or, as the memo says: "Commitment of up to $80 billion, but not more than $80 billion."

Representatives from both the White House and PhRMA, shown the outline, adamantly denied that it reflected reality. PhRMA senior vice president Ken Johnson said that the outline "is simply not accurate." "This memo isn't accurate and does not reflect the agreement with the drug companies," said White House spokesman Reid Cherlin.

The pharmaceutical industry has pledged $150 million in television advertising money to pimp socialized medicine.

That, my friends, is crony capitalism at its finest.

Crony capitalism is antithetical to the free market -- it is the Democrat Party distorting, twisting, perverting industries to advance its Statist agenda. Like Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the "War on Poverty", the Democrat agenda is always control.

As if you needed more proof.

Somewhere, a skull is burning.


Hat tip: Larwyn.

A More Accurate Stimulus Construction Sign


If you drive around the Chicago-land area, odds are you'll come across plenty of signs like this one:

A more accurate version would read something like this:

Mark Levin was spot-on when he said that this administration is "guilty of child abuse" (MP3).

No one asked the next generation their permission, yet they'll be saddled with this oppressive, catastrophic debt. The liberals, the Democrats, the progressives -- whatever they call themselves these days -- purport to be compassionate. Yet, they are enslaving our children, our grandchildren and successive generations in their relentless quest for more power.

It's imperative we begin to turn this madness around in 2010.


Linked by: Patriot Room. Thanks!

Larwyn's Linx: Camille Paglia and the plan that doesn't exist

Have a great link you'd like me to review? Drop me an email or reply via Twitter.

Nation

Camille Paglia and the plan that doesn't exist: Wizbang
Fishy Statements: Hennessey
Experts Agree: ObamaCare is a Trojan Horse for Single Payer: Verum

Five freedoms lost under Obamacare: AT (Fenig)
Dem admits abortion covered in ObamaCare: GWP
Obama Failed to Master Alinsky's Rule #12: AT (Shiver)

Dem Rep Who Opposes Photo ID To Vote Requiring Photo ID For Town Halls: Blumer
With Palin gone, Dems focus on another female conservative: BlogProf
Pre-judging origins of the swastika on David Scott's sign: Barrack

Economy

Voters, should learn from the past, not ignore it: Ottumwa
Fed reverses plan to buy U.S. debt: Times
What Health Care Reform Process Should Look Like: Kesler

Big Business for Obamacare: Stossel

Media

BUSTED: McCaskill's henchman tore up the Rosa Parks poster: Wizbang
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm: Patterico
Obama camp plants fake doc, Che Guevera fan at Jackson Lee forum: LST

Roxana Mayer: I’m Not a Doctor But I Play One at Town Hall Meetings: Patterico
Busted! Updated with video: BlogProf

World

Mary Robinson -- an empty suit with a little bit extra: Power Line
So who's counting?: Atlas

SciTech

Windbelt, Cheap Generator Alternative, Set to Power Third World: PopMech

Cornucopia

Squirrel is surprise star of holiday photo: Telegraph (UK)
Shepard Fairey - MENSA MEMBER SINCE…. NEVER: IOTW
Kamp Obama: Teach Kids to Punch Back Twice as Hard!: Cube

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Top Ten Lies About My Health Care Plan, by President Barack H. Obama


10   According to the Congressional Budget Office, under the House bill, in the year 2015 about 8 million uninsured Americans would remain uninsured and pay higher taxes. This would violate my pledge not to raise taxes on anyone earning less than $250,000 per year. Conclusion: The CBO is lying.

9   The CBO says that the House bill would increase the budget deficit by $239 B over the next ten years. This conflicts with my goal of not increasing short-term deficits. Conclusion: The CBO is lying.

8   The CBO also says that under the House bill, about 3 million people who now have employer-sponsored health insurance would lose that coverage because their employer drops it, violating my bold promise that no one will lose the health plan they have now. Conclusion: The CBO is lying.

7   I have repeatedly assured the public that under the proposed health care reforms there will be no "rationing," and that everyone will continue to receive the best available treatment options. Yet my previous statements and some of my top health care policy advisers have questioned the "sustainability" of expensive major medical procedures for the elderly or the terminally ill. Conclusion: My old self and my advisers were lying.

6   The CBO states that the House bill would increase long-term budget deficits by ever-increasing amounts, making our long-term debt problem even worse than it is today. This of course conflicts with my contention that “health care reform is entitlement reform,” and that health care reform is the lynchpin of spending within our means. Conclusion: The CBO is lying.

5   I recently stated that it is “outlandish” to suggest that I favor providing government-run healthcare for the tens of millions of illegal immigrants currently in the US. However, I also said I want healthcare reform done this year, and a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants passed in 2010. Conclusion: I'm lying, but I forget which time it was.

4   The office of Senator Robert Menendez and La Raza have asserted that illegal immigrants care more about health care reform than 'amnesty'; that "the useless barriers of citizenship would not be in this bill"; and that "If the American people find out that this bill is about giving health care to non-citizens, they will rise up against it." Conclusion: Menendez' office and La Raza are both lying.

3   The President’s Medicare Commission proposal would probably save about $2 billion over ten years, and a significant concern that it would save no money at all. Conclusion: The CBO is lying.

2   In my 10 August 2009 "town hall" meeting, I flatly stated that, "I have not said that I am a supporter of a single-payer system."

However, an uncut, unedited AFL-CIO video clip from 2003 shows me saying, "I happen to be a proponent of single-payer universal healthcare plan... A single-payer universal healthcare plan - that's what I'd like to see. But as all of you know, we may not get there immediately. Because first we got to take back the White House, and we got to take back the Senate, and we got to take back the House." Conclusion: I was misquoted, taken out of context and redacted, but am telling the truth now.

1   During the campaign, I promised a series of open and honest health care reform debates to be broadcast on CSPAN. I committed that health care reform debates would never be held behind closed doors; that the details would be openly discussed; and that public access to the debate process would ensure that special interests could not influence reform bills. At that time, I believed the American people deserved to know exactly what was to be included in any health care reform legislation voted on by Congress. Conclusion: I was lying then, but I promise that I am telling the truth now.

I demand that anyone responsible for these lies be held to account!


Based upon: "Correcting misinformation about ObamaCare". Linked by: I Own the World., Cold Fury, Double Plus Undead, The Astute Bloggers. Thanks!

From Alinsky to Axelrod: Pro-ObamaCare Protesters Were Bused In for NH Town Hall; Nazi Posters Were Carried in by Democrat Plants


"I don't want people thinking I just have a bunch of plants in here" -- President Barack H. Obama, 11 August 2009, describing the highly scripted New Hampshire "Town Hall" meeting.

Meanwhile, Obama's paid minions -- the public sector union bosses, the community agitators, the trial lawyers and other beneficiaries of socialized medicine -- were busy busing in counter-protesters to balance out the thousand-plus enraged taxpayers who are watching their liberty disappear like sand in an hourglass.

So it's like this: your non-representative representatives in DC are lining up with the taxtakers against you, the taxpayers.

Then they claim you're an organized mob of paid lobbyists, astroturfers, and Nazi thugs.

As for plants and astroturf?

David Axelrod (who Business Week profiled as an inventor of astroturf in 2008) and Barack H. Obama are the disciples of Communist Saul Alinsky.

One of Obama's early mentors in the Alinsky method was Mike Kruglik, who had this to say to an Ryan Lizza of The New Republic, about Obama:

"He was a natural, the undisputed master of agitation, who could engage a room full of recruiting targets in a rapid-fire Socratic dialogue, nudging them to admit that they were not living up to their own standards. As with the panhandler, he could be aggressive and confrontational. With probing, sometimes personal questions, he would pinpoint the source of pain in their lives, tearing down their egos just enough before dangling a carrot of hope that they could make things better."

The agitator's job, according to Alinsky, is first to bring folks to the "realization" that they are indeed miserable, that their misery is the fault of unresponsive governments or greedy corporations, then help them to bond together to demand what they deserve...

Sound familiar?

And remember Nancy Pelosi's accusation that taxpayers who protested socialized medicine were Nazi thugs carrying swastikas?

Note the black man holding up the poster. This screenshot was used in reports by the MSM who painted the protesters as Nazis. Here's the thing, though - that black man is a Dingell supporter! Last Friday, Frank Beckmann on his show broadcast on WJR 760 AM interviewed an eyewitness that said not only were union thugs let in through a side door before anyone else was let into the venue, but that he clearly saw from his vantage point that very Obama as Hitler poster in that back hallway after the union thugs took their seats.

...A couple that were at [Dingell's] meeting said there was a black man outside with a sign comparing Obama [with] Adolf Hitler. After the meeting ended and when everyone was leaving this same man was handing out [Dingell] campaign flyers.

Warm up the buses. We've got newly hired plants to ship around the country!


Hat tips: Gateway Pundit, WMUR and Hot Air Pundit.

The Ultimate Wedding Dance


Parkway Rest Stop posted this amazing clip several months ago and it's worth a revisit. It generated so many comments, PRS had to close the comment form. So I'll pick up the gauntlet and open it up for your feedback.


I’ve seen plenty of “first dances” at weddings, but this one is a gem. I’d like to have a couple cocktails with this couple.

Thanks to my friend Brian, the Air Force Vet.

Enjoy this amazing video.

Indeed.

The Ferrari-Superbike Hybrid


From the fevered imagination of some guy who couldn't quite make up his mind... comes this carbike.





Via: Chillout Point.

Comparative Journalism 101


Exhibit A: The New York Times, 11 August 2009, Isabel Kershner:

Fatah Party Election Brings in a New Generation



Fatah, the mainstream Palestinian nationalist party, elected a mostly new leadership committee, ushering in a younger generation and ousting some prominent veterans, according to preliminary results released here on Tuesday.

The new leaders are considered more pragmatic than their predecessors and grew up locally, in contrast to the exile-dominated leadership they are replacing. But many are familiar names who have already played active roles in Palestinian society and the peace process...

Exhibit B: The Jerusalem Post, 12 August 2009, Khaled Abu Toameh:

Analysis: New faces of an unreformed, hard-line Fatah



Many of the newly-elected members of Fatah's Central Committee may be younger than their ousted predecessors, but that does not necessarily mean that they are more reform-minded or less corrupt.

Nor does the election of the young guard representatives signal a shift toward moderation...

...The assumption that Muhammad Dahlan, Jibril Rajoub, Marwan Barghouti and Tawfik Tirawi are more moderate than old-timers like Ahmed Qurei, Nabil Sha'ath and Hani al-Hassan is completely mistaken.

Fatah's strongman in Lebanon, Sultan Abu al-Aynain, who was also elected as member of the committee, is being described by some media outlets as one of Fatah's "fresh faces."

But Fatah insiders say Abu al-Aynain is known as a "ruthless thug who does not hesitate to liquidate anyone who stands in his way."

So it is with extreme pleasure that I relay this Silicon Alley Insider story titled, "NYT Could Take A $1 Billion Bath Selling The Boston Globe".

Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of anti-civilization moonbats.


Idea: Dan from New York.

Larwyn's Linx: SEIU's orders to drown out opposition magically disappear

Have a great link you'd like me to review? Drop me an email or reply via Twitter.

Nation

I am Kenneth Gladney: Breitbart
Questions for your health care town hall: Greenroom
Parent of handicapped child: Democrat thugs are harrassing me: FreeLight

Democrat Energy bill requires doubling nuke use: Times
No funds for F-22s; but plenty for Congress' new Gulfstreams: Pools
Obama's Biggest Lie of the Day (So Far): Ace

Did Anti-Palin Blogger Get Paid For No-Show Job?: McCain
Beat me in St. Louis: MoneyRunner
Real Astroturf: SEIU busted: Perfunction

Pelosi plays Elmer Fudd, gets caught in own trap: Greenroom
Astroturfing in August: Ace
President Obama promised us change. He’s delivering.: Troglopundit

President of Some of the People: PJM (Priestap)
ObamaCare: A Canadian Wait Time Preview: Schlussel
Another Town Hall, Another Democrat Plant: MoneyRunner

Economy

Let the invisible good times roll: DHB
The New GM Buries News About Its Financial Health: BizzyBlog
Subject: Town Hall Mania: Corner

Car charitable donations suffer due to 'Clunkers' program: FreeLight
Fun with nodes: Zero Hedge
AP On Michigan's Budget Problem: You Know, The Taxes Are TOO LOW Around Here!: BlogProf

Media

Obama 'Braces' for Staged Town Hall: JWF
Classy vs. Classless: GWP
Angry mob mauls Crowder: Malkin

Obama: Government health care will be like, um, the post office: Hot Air
MSM: Bill Ayers- Respected Professor of Education... Tea Party Protester- Un-American Nazi Mobster: GWP
Celebrating a Black Conservative Who Has Always Put Country above Color : FGF

Illustrated Guide to Obamacare Human Props (and an Incurious Mainstream Media): Malkin
CPUSA: Take to the Streets for Obama: S&L

World

Is Anyone Listening to What The Arabs Are Saying About Israel?: GM (Grobman)
A confused Afghanistan-Pakistan policy: Blatt
Bolton: maybe honoring a hack like Mary Robinson really isn't such a good idea: Ace

Chavez flails: PJM (Miller)

SciTech

And You Thought a Prescription Was Private: Yahoo! Finance
GM touts Volt with 230 mpg city rating (by using Enron accounting methods): BlogProf
Traffic cams anger Maryland drivers: Times

Cornucopia

Is this the best ad of the year?: TigerHawk
Merkel's cleavage heats up German vote campaign: Breitbart
Seinfeld Bloopers: Parkway

CABLE NEWS RACE
NIGHT OF AUG 10, 2009

FOXNEWS O'REILLY 3,814,000
FOXNEWS HANNITY 3,118,000
FOXNEWS BECK 2,417,000
FOXNEWS GRETA 2,388,000
FOXNEWS BAIER 1,988,000
FOXNEWS SHEP SMITH 1,833,000
MSNBC OLBERMANN 1,243,000
MSNBC MADDOW 1,082,000
CNNHN GRACE 875,000
CNN KATHY GRIFFIN 810,000
MSNBC HARDBALL 710,000


Tuesday, August 11, 2009

"The President is Lying"


Congratulations are due to the White House for keeping its health care disinformation "snitch line" -- which some critics assert is blatantly illegal -- going for an entire week.

"The White House is in bit of a conundrum because of this privacy statute that prohibits the White House from collecting data and storing it on people who disagree with it... [t]here's also a statute that requires the White House to retain all communications that it receives. It can't try to rewrite history by pretending it didn't receive anything... If the White House deletes anything, it violates one statute. If the White House collects data on the free speech, it violates another statute."

[Judge] Napolitano [is] referring to the Privacy Act of 1974, which was passed after the Nixon administration used federal agencies to illegally investigate individuals for political purposes.

Perhaps some enterprising blogger could file a Freedom of Information Act request to ensure that all such reports are made public (as an aside, since more than a dozen administration officials are former members of the mainstream media, it's pointless to assume that professional "journalists" will do so).

Linda Douglass, White House Communications Director, is playing the role of Josef Goebbels (or, in more politically correct terms, the Minister of Propaganda), repeating the "Big Lie" over and over again, to anyone who will listen.

KURTZ: Naked Emperor News is not exactly a well-known Web site, but when posted a video featuring some of Barack Obama's past comments on health care, it was trumpeted by "The Drudge Report," which, in classic faction, boosted it into the mainstream media. But the administration, rather than ignoring the thing, decided to take on Drudge. Linda Douglass, the former journalist who now works for the White House, weighed into this YouTube war with her own video.

We're going to show you part of the attack video and then the White House response.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: And my commitment is to make sure that we've got universal health care. I would hope that we set up a system that allows those who can't go through their employer to access a federal system or a state pool of some sort.

There's going to be potentially some transition process. I can envision a decade out or 15 years out or 20 years out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DOUGLASS: Hi, I'm Linda Douglass. I'm the communications director for the White House Office of Health Reform. And one of my jobs is to keep track of all the disinformation that's out there about health insurance reform. And there are a lot of very deceiving headlines out there right now such as this one. Take a look at this one.

This one says, " Uncovered Video: Obama Explains How His Health Care Plan Will Eliminate Private Insurance."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KURTZ: And joining us now to talk about the White House media strategy is Linda Douglass.

Welcome.

Why did you decide to take on Matt Drudge and put up that video, which, of course, calls more attention to the original attack video?

DOUGLASS: Well, you know, one of the things we learned during the campaign was that if you give people all the facts, they become better informed. You know, there were all kinds of myths and smears that were used against then-Senator Obama during the campaign.

And what we discovered is, if we encountered them with the real facts, people really paid attention. They understand what the truth is when they seek it. And in this case, this was a bunch of clips that were taken out of context with a headline that said the president wants to eliminate private insurance. Well, that is the absolute opposite of what he's talking about doing.

KURTZ: Well, hold on. When you say taken out of context, that video featured clips of Barack Obama before he was president. The dates were given. He was talking about health care. It's his own words.

How is that illegitimate?

DOUGLASS: Well, as you know, you can take a sound bite here and a sound bite there. They took pieces of sound bites from different periods of time, they put a chyron -- that's the words on a screen -- that says "wants to eliminate private insurance" to go along with these sound bites that they cobbled together.

And our point is that he is saying exactly the opposite. The health insurance reform that we're talking about is built upon the current private insurance system. That's what it is.

(CROSSTALK)

KURTZ: Right. That is not his current plan. So, you can say well, it misrepresented or perhaps suggested that this is his position now.

DOUGLASS: His current plan...

KURTZ: But apparently he did have a different position when he was senator, and that's legitimate to throw out there.

DOUGLASS: He didn't have a different position when he was a senator. But the point is...

KURTZ: What do you mean he didn't have a different position? He talked about -- first he talked about single payers, supporting that. It was years ago. And then he talked about making a transition over 10 or 15 years to fully government insurance.

DOUGLASS: What he talked about early on was, look, if we could start over all again, maybe it would be fine to have a single payer system. But we're not going to start all over again.

There's legislation that is being written in Congress that will become the law that he signs. That is legislation that is built upon the private insurance system. If you like the coverage you have at work, you can absolutely keep it. It doesn't change except you're protected from onerous insurance regulations. So, that's the legislation that's going through Congress, and that's what he's promoting as president.

KURTZ: The woman behind this Naked Emperor Web site is Pam Kish. She's a 42-year-old California mother and a children's book illustrator who has this very anti-Obama side. She's not affiliated with any large or political group.

Doesn't she have the right to speak out?

DOUGLASS: Of course she does. And we have the right to correct the information.

You know, one of the things we're going to be doing this week is making available a Web site where people can go to get the facts about health insurance reform. There's a lot of misinformation, and there is, as I said in the video, a lot of disinformation. That's information that's meant to mislead you.

So, we're going to have a new site where people can go, they can get the facts, they can share it with family and friends. They can look at some videos. We're going to have some fact sheets and we're going to make it possible for people to get the answers to the questions that they're seeking.

KURTZ: OK. Well, I'm still skeptical on whether using someone's actual words is disinformation, but another thing that the White House did in recent days that has drawn some flak, particularly on the right, is to ask people in this effort by you to collect what you had called disinformation to send in e-mails of those who perhaps are not representing adequately the president's health care plan. That was talked about on a number of programs, including "The O'Reilly Factor."

Here is Bernie Goldberg and Bill O'Reilly talking about this effort.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BERNARD GOLDBERG, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: I'm really glad you used the word "hypocrisy," because that what runs through all of this.

Yesterday, somebody in the Obama administration, Linda Douglass, who I know and I think you know, said that if you have any fishy -- her word, fishy information, misleading information about Obama's health care plan, send it to us at the White House.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KURTZ: He went on to say that if the Bush administration had tried this, it would be a page one scandal story in "The New York Times."

DOUGLASS: Well, as I said before, there's a tremendous amount of misinformation, disinformation, myths, rumors that are being circulated all over the place for people who are trying to scare -- this happens every time you try to do something with the health care system. There's tons of special interests who have a vested interest in keeping things the way they are. So, there's a lot of effort to scare people, and what we've asked people do is, if they're worried about something they've heard, send in the information.

We don't have a list. We're not keeping any of the sources of information. I mean, those are all crazy charges.

KURTZ: Well, you're not keeping it, so why is it crazy? Republican Senator John Cornyn has asked the White House to stop this, and he says this could raise the specter of a data collection program.

DOUGLASS: Well, we're not -- there's no list being compiled. The information is not being retained. The sources are not being tracked.

But if there's a rumor going around, as there have been many rumors going around, we say let's take a look at the rumor and see what the truth is. And so, the information is all around and examined and looked at. And we provide the truth for people on a Web site that I think they're going to find very helpful as they try to get the truth about health insurance reform.

In today's town hall meeting, President Obama flatly stated that, "I have not said that I am a supporter of a single-payer system."

CNN omitted a far more damaging video clip from 2003, in which Obama states, "I happen to be a proponent of single-payer universal healthcare plan... A single-payer universal healthcare plan - that's what I'd like to see. But as all of you know, we may not get there immediately. Because first we got to take back the White House, and we got to take back the Senate, and we got to take back the House."

Everyone knows the truth and Douglass is lying. Democrats have been pushing for single-payer for decades as part of their effort to expand the scope and control of government over the people. To continue to build the welfare state and to make voters even more dependent on their largesse.

Barack Obama's said as much. Barney Frank's said it. Jan Schakowsky's said it. Union bosses have said it. Democrat health care experts have said it.

A "public option" is a thinly-disguised mechanism to destroy private insurers. After all, if the government writes the rule book for the insurers -- and competes with them -- it's pretty clear how that competition will turn out.

As Mark Levin said last week, "The President is lying".

And everyone knows it.

Linda Douglass is truly the Minister of Propaganda.

Senate Ethics Panel High-Fives Dodd, Conrad For Savvy Mortgage Deals


The Senate Select Committee on Ethics found "no substantial credible evidence" that Senators Chris Dodd (D-CT) or Kent Conrad (D-SD) violated Senate ethics rules in accepting sweetheart mortgage deals from Countrywide Financial, the company at the very heart of the current financial crisis.

By the way, about that phrase "Senate ethics rules": ouch, my tummy hurts from laughing.

The committee went on to congratulate the Senators for their astute financial judgment in accepting the "Friends of Angelo" bonuses while exercising regulatory oversight of the very financial institutions that were about to implode.


Conrad, for instance, received a discount of $10,5000 in fees and a unique mortgage deal in financing a little over $1.1 million.

Dodd, the powerful Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, threatened filibuster after filibuster over additional regulation of the mortgage market while accepting funds and sweetheart mortgages from the very organizations he was supposed to be regulating.

Dodd is also the subject of a Judicial Watch ethics complaint on an unrelated matter: how the Senator came to own an Irish seaside mansion while understating the property's true value on his disclosure forms.

"Disguising [the] gift [of the mansion] would provide a motive for Senator Dodd to fail to report the property's true value on his [disclosure] since 2002... By all appearances, ...Dodd used his position and influence... to intervene of behalf of his friend and convicted felon, Edward Downe Jr., and in received in turn a significant discount in the purchase of property in 2002...


...Further, it appears... Dodd failed to report this gift on his annual [disclosure], as required by law, and may have falsified his reports in the years following the full acquisition..."

In addition, it was reported in April that Dodd raised hundreds of thousands of dollars from financial services companies like Citi, Fidelity, Vanguard, and the like. Since some of these firms accepted TARP funds, it may be fair to say that when Dodd voted for TARP, he voted to put money in his own pockets.

Don't hold your breath waiting for an ethics investigation into any of these areas.

So the lesson, you tax-paying rubes, is this: Congress is above the law. And don't you forget it, peons.


Related Reading:
Above the Law: A Handy Guide to Democrat Corruption
The Secret Garden (and Mansion) of Christopher Dodd

Jesse Griffin, Anti-Palin Hit Blogger, Paid With 'Stimulus' Dollars?


Dan Riehl, Stacy McCain and Joseph Culligan are unraveling the backstory of Jesse Griffin, the liberal blogger who spread a set of curious rumors regarding Sarah Palin. Curious because, although they were completely unsubstantiated, the fables gained rapid currency throughout the left side of the blogosphere.

Griffin's fairy tales include Palin's impending divorce and Trig's scandalous secret.

So who is Jesse Griffin?

Well for one thing, we know he is a disreputable blogger who, even while underemployed as a part-time public school teacher in Anchorage, lives in a home valued at more than $300,000.

Riehl emails, "...This story has it all. Major tax liens, employee that isn't there but presumably paid, organizing partner that doesn't exist, high-powered progressive activist couple benefitting from stim-related funds. You name it, even sex..."

In a nutshell, Griffin's erstwhile employer can be linked to a powerful Democrat power couple: Catherine New and Eligio G. White.

White heads up Clinica Sierra Vista, a "community health center" that just took in roughly $4.3 million of taxpayer money in the form of "Stimulus" funding.

Riehl writes, "Out of the $850 million Michelle Obama was pushing during a visit to a community health center last month, Clinica Sierra Vista made off with over $4.3 million in taxpayer dollars:"

First Lady Michelle Obama paid a visit to a Washington, D.C., health center to underscore the critical role the national network of health centers play in health care. She visited Unity’s Upper Cardozo Health Center to announce the Obama Administration’s support for the renovation and modernization of health centers through the American Recovery and Re-Investment Act (ARRA), with the allocation $850 Million to construct or renovate health centers in urban and rural areas.

Did taxpayer -- Stimulus -- dollars help fund hits on Sarah Palin?

Someone's helping pay Griffin's mortgage and, like him, we're just asking questions here.

And at least the Stimulus package may have "saved or created" one job: Jesse Griffin's professional rumor-festering.

Read Riehl's article to get the entire scoop. It is citizen journalism at its finest.