Saturday, March 13, 2010

Complete and Unconditional Surrender

Papa B sends in a link to a newsreel from 1945.












A related must-read: No Substitute for Victory.


Video: Final Surrender, 1945.

Kudos to Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman for his Negotiating Stance with the Public Sector Unions -- Fire Everyone, Rehire Those Willing to Work

Las Vegas faces a $70 million budget shortfall with wages and benefits of public sector employees comprising a huge percentage of the total. Mayor Oscar Goodman asked union members to forgo scheduled pay raises and instead take 8% cuts in salary over the next two years.

Predictably, the unions haven't been running to City Hall to cut a deal. But given what's been commonplace in the beleaguered private sector, the mayor's proposal is hardly out of line.

Otherwise, city officials say they're prepared to fire 146 workers if some concessions aren't in place by June 1, when the new fiscal year begins. And Mayor Goodman took it a step further on Wednesday, and threatened to fire the lot of them -- the entire municipal bureaucracy -- and then rehire those who are willing to come back at reduced hours.

...Well here's a clue for you [Union bosses]. If you really want to save jobs and do what's best for your members, you'll realize that the city can't remain solvent if it doesn't get a handle on compensation costs. If it takes a "bully" to force government union leaders to understand that struggling taxpayers are neither willing nor able to ensure that city workers make it through this recession unscathed, so be it.

Mayor Goodman deserves praise for his courageous attempts to rein in his city's out-of-control public sector unions. His proposal is fitting and worthy of wide publicity. Other municipalities -- struggling over wayward budgets in stormy economic weather -- should take the cue.


Clue Bat Finally Finds Side of Abe Foxman's Head

Dan from New York:

The ADL is a dyed-in-the-wool liberal outfit and its national director for life, Abraham Foxman, has spent a good deal of time defending Barack Obama's attitude toward Israel and the Administration's handling of the "peace process." However, the tone and manner of Obama/Biden/Clinton's reaction to Israel's Jerusalem construction announcement seems to have shook up our hero, who narrowly survived the Holocaust. Maybe Abe is hearing footsteps from his past and senses the possibility that the next knock on his door might not be room service.

Administration's Dressing Down of Israel is a 'Gross Overraction'


We cannot remember an instance when such harsh language was directed at a friend and ally of the United States.

New York, NY, March 12, 2010 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today said it was shocked and stunned by the Administration's public dressing down of Israel by saying it had "undermined trust and confidence in the peace process, and in America's interests," as related by Assistant Secretary of State Philip J. Crowley in his daily briefing. Crowley was referring to the announcement about future building in Jerusalem made during Vice President Joe Biden's Israel visit.

Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director, issued the following statement:

We are shocked and stunned at the Administration's tone and public dressing down of Israel on the issue of future building in Jerusalem. We cannot remember an instance when such harsh language was directed at a friend and ally of the United States. One can only wonder how far the U.S. is prepared to go in distancing itself from Israel in order to placate the Palestinians in the hope they see it is in their interest to return to the negotiating table.

It is especially troubling that this harsh statement came after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly and privately explained to Vice President Biden the bureaucratic nature in making the announcement of proposed new building in Jerusalem, and Biden accepted the prime minister's apology for it. Therefore, to raise the issue again in this way is a gross overreaction to a point of policy difference among friends.

The Administration should have confidence and trust in Israel whose tireless pursuit for peace is repeatedly rebuffed by the Palestinians and whose interests remain in line with the United States.

The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world's leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.

Not only is Obama no friend of Israel, more importantly for us, it appears he's no friend of the United States Constitution, American traditions or even our ethos.

If only Democrats could save some invective for, oh I don't know... say, the nuclearized Mullahs of Iran?


Update: Soccer Dad observes that "One man's conspiracy theory is another man's track record."

Friendly Reminder for the Congressional Easter Recess

Remember, folks: tarring and feathering has a long and proud history in these United States.

Not that I'm recommending it, mind you. But that history part is true.


Image Credit: Protestors Tar and Feather a Tax Collector during the Whiskey Rebellion in Pennsylvania, c.1790 (Art.com).

Pelosi: I'm delighted the President will be here to burn the Constitution in Effigy... it's going to be historic.

Yesterday evening, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi celebrated the imminent passage of a sweeping health care reform bill by burning the Constitution in effigy, a symbolic act that she said expressed her disdain for the document.

Under White House pressure to act swiftly, House and Senate Democratic leaders reached for agreement Friday on President Barack Obama's health care bill, sweetened suddenly by fresh billions for student aid and a sense that breakthroughs are at hand.

"It won't be long," before lawmakers vote, predicted Speaker Nancy Pelosi [as] officials worked to maximize Obama's influence over lawmakers who control the fate of legislation that has spawned a yearlong struggle. They said he would delay his departure on an Asian trip for three days -- until March 21 -- and he will go to Ohio next week for a campaign-style pitch for his health care proposals.

..."I'm delighted that the president will be here for the passage of the bill; it's going to be historic," said Pelosi, D-Calif. -- though there's no guarantee the House can act by then. A procedural vote in the House Budget Committee is set for Monday afternoon, but as of late Friday lawmakers still hadn't gotten the final analysis from the Congressional Budget Office that they need to go forward.

By tying a nationalization of the student loan business into a reconciliation bill, Pelosi hopes to convince skeptical House Democrats that she's serious about fixing the Senate bill.

House Democrats plan to tack a major reform of the nation's student loan system onto the health care overhaul bill, a move that could help corral votes in the House but might make the bill's passage more complicated in the Senate.

House Democrats have been skeptical of voting for the Senate version of the health care bill [because the] Senate bill contains a number of provisions they don't like -- including federal aid targeted at specific states that critics say was used to buy votes and a tax on high-cost insurance plans. House Democrats fear that, after they approve the current Senate version of the bill, the Senate won't be able to pass the reconciliation bill and fix the objectionable parts.

What's their endgame? Even a simpleton or a Democrat (but I repeat myself), would admit that it has nothing to do with health care. It's a political calculation: Democrats are willing to lose Congress in November if they can create a brand new unfunded entitlement that will cement the power of government over the citizen.

...the president and leaders of the majority party have become infected with a kind of mania. President Obama and Democratic congressional leaders seem determined to ram through a severely flawed piece of legislation by any means necessary, heedless of the desires of the American people or the negative impact on the system they mistakenly say needs to be saved.

...All they need to do is pass the bill, and the poor, frightened, deluded American people will see the wisdom of their decisions. Hence House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's memorable (and revealing) comment, "We have to pass the [health care] bill so that you can find out what is in it." In her imagination, once the bill is signed, voters won't remember the struggle, just the glow of the accomplishment. Rip off the bandage; you'll feel better after the sting.

The Democrats' headlong drive is leading to bouts of political insanity, such as the aptly named Slaughter rule, which potentially could allow the House of Representatives to "deem" the health bill passed without a final vote. That the Democratic leadership would consider resorting to such a stunt betrays a high degree of contempt for the electorate...

This rogue Congress and this President have already taken over insurance companies, banks and two car companies. And they've screwed up everything they've touched, from Fannie Mae, to General Motors, to "Cash for Clunkers".

Now Democrats want to touch off another huge economic calamity by nationalizing one-sixth of the U.S. economy and taking control of the student loan business. Not only are these efforts clearly unprecedented in all of American history, they are both antithetical to our founding and completely, utterly unconstitutional.


Update: March 16th in Washington: Stop the Constitution Butchers... Stop Pelosi’s Slaughter House.


Our Close Friends and Allies in the Middle East

Lebanese man arrested for 'honour killing'

A Lebanese man has been arrested in northern Lebanon for killing his sister earlier this week in what authorities described as an honour killing, a security official said on Friday... Lebanese law stipulates extenuating circumstances for so-called honour killings, in which male relatives kill female kin they suspect of illicit behaviour with men.

Man faces life for burying daughter alive

Prosecutors in Turkey are seeking life in jail for the father and grandfather of a girl who was buried alive for befriending boys, local judicial sources said Monday... the body of 16-year-old Medine Memi was found in a sitting position with her hands tied, in a hole in a chicken pen outside her house... A post mortem showed a significant amount of soil in her lungs and stomach, meaning she was buried alive, forensic experts have said.

Jordanian gets 10-yrs in 'honour killing'

A Jordanian on death row for the murder of his married sister who used her mobile too often in an apparent "honour killing" has had his term commuted to 10 years in jail, a judicial official said Monday.

Jordanian gets 15 yrs for 'honour killing'

A 21-year-old Jordanian man was sentenced on Monday to 15 years in prison with hard labour for killing his married sister last year over an alleged affair, a court official said... He was charged in May 2008 with premeditated murder after fatally stabbing his 18-year-old sister 26 times in different parts of her body because she allegedly "lived and slept with another man"... Under Article 340 of the penal code, a defendant who "surprises his wife or any close female relative" in an act of adultery or fornication may invoke a defence of "crime of honour" should they murder the woman.


Larwyn's Linx: Constitution Be Damned -- ObamaCare Vote Next Week

Have a great link you'd like me to review? Drop me an email. You can also install a Larwyn's Linx blog widget.

Nation

Constitution Be Damned: ObamaCare Vote Next Week: Red State
Pelosi's 3-21 Deadline and a Slaughter House Horror: Malkin
Holder Lied: 7 Briefs Withheld During Confirmation: GWP

If You Try the Slaughter Rule...: Red State
Stopping Obamacare: Weekend Targets: Hewitt
FBI Documents: Obama Spiked ACORN Investigation: BigGovt

Economy

Graham, Schumer Amnesty Plan goes to Obama: GWP
'Let's fund abortions to keep health care costs down': Hot Air
Dems consider drastic moves to pass health bill: Heartland

Does any Democrat understand how an economy works?: RWN
Following the Money: Wizbang
Hope-less: GMAC won't repay $6.3 billion of bailout: BlogProf

Change: Dept. of Education Buying More Shotguns: BarkBat
Michigan: Come See the Stupid: Powers
Loans over Babies: Dems may have Health Care Deal: Patterico

Climate & Energy

Life Imitates Satire: New Gallup Stats Show Real AGW Skepticism Hockey Stick: Zombie

Media

AP Goes APE Over Texas School Book Changes: Howling
Palin Slams Obama and Crazy Alan Grayon in FL: GWP
Howell Raines Rails Against Fox News: Wizbang

Mark Levin Calls for Expulsion of Rep. Louise Slaughter: Wizbang
Robo-Blogging: Meet EvilFeed!: Snapped Shot
More Progressive Perfidy from the City Voted the "Craziest in the US": Fox Teeth


Neither Rain, Sleet, Snow or Wife With a Broken Neck Will Keep Harry Reid From His Appointed Rounds of Screwing America: Powers
Isn't It Time To Euthanize Reid's Wife?: Riehl
I'd just written more than a thousand words on the aptly named "Slaughter Option" and then...: American Digest

World

AP Slips in ‘Poverty’ as Reason For Nigerian Massacres: RWN
Fox's Beck, Krauthammer & Kristol: Wrong on Wilders (Much to Talal's Delight): West
Reaction to the Inaugural British Tea Party Event: PJM

The Age of Faith: Belmont Club
North Korean Slave Labor in Russia: Verum Serum

SciTech

Archaeologists uncover headless corpses of 51 Vikings executed by Saxons in Dorset killing field: BarkBat
Microsoft races to plug IE hole after exploit code released: CNet

Cornucopia

iOwnTheWorld Contest -- with Celebrity Judge!: iOTW
Oldest Trick in the World: Mind Numbed Robot
Robo-Plow -- Start Building for Next Year: American Digest


Friday, March 12, 2010

RED ALERT: We Are Now Living Under Martial Law -- House Democrats Appear Set to Pass Senate Bill Without Voting On It

The Washington Examiner reports that House Democrats appear poised to adopt a rule that would pass the Senate health care bill without actually voting on it.

Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-NY) is preparing to pass the health care overhaul through the House of Representatives without a vote, as was originally reported by the National Journal's Congress Daily. Mark Tapscott observes that such a maneuver would be the penultimate refutation of the people's will.

In the Slaughter Solution, the rule would declare that the House "deems" the Senate version of Obamacare to have been passed by the House. House members would still have to vote on whether to accept the rule, but they would then be able to say they only voted for a rule, not for the bill itself.

Thus, Slaughter is preparing a rule that would consider the Senate bill "passed" once the House approves a corrections bill that would make changes. Democrats would thereby avoid a direct vote on the health care bill while allowing it to become law!

Constitutional attorney Mark R. Levin asks, "They're going to present a rule, issued by her committee as chairman, that says that the House already adopted the Senate bill when we know it didn't?"

U.S Constitution, Article I, Section VII, Clause II.

Every Bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate, shall, before it become a Law, be presented to the President of the United States; If he approve he shall sign it, but if not he shall return it, with his Objections to that House in which it shall have originated, who shall enter the Objections at large on their Journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If after such Reconsideration two thirds of that House shall agree to pass the Bill, it shall be sent, together with the Objections, to the other House, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by two thirds of that House, it shall become a Law. But in all such Cases the Votes of both Houses shall be determined by Yeas and Nays, and the Names of the Persons voting for and against the Bill shall be entered on the Journal of each House respectively...

According to Levin, James Madison himself gave special care and attention to this clause in the Constitution.

Levin: And do you want to know why? Because this clause goes to the heart of this Republic.

This clause goes to the heart of how our representative body, that is Congress, makes laws. And so I want you to [observe] how particular the Framers were... They have to pass a Bill to present it to the President...

This is one of the most exacting clauses in the Constitution.

And, to the best of my knowledge, which extends over three decades, no Congress has previously tried to institute policies without actual statutes.

Here we have the President of the United States and Congressional leaders actually talking about the possibility of a brazen and open violation of one of the most fundamental aspects of our Constitution and Republic! How we actually make laws!

Let me be as clear as I know how. If this is done, this will create the greatest Constitutional crisis since the Civil War. It would be 100 times worse than Watergate.

...It would be government by fiat... meaning there would be no law... the mere discussion by officials in this government is such a grotesque violation of the actual legislative function of Congress [that it] puts us... at the brink. At the brink.

This is why we conservatives revere the Constitution. This is why we stress the Constitution's words have meaning and historical context and must be complied with. Because otherwise we have anarchy, which leads to tyranny.

This is a crucial lesson for those of you who... aren't sure what your beliefs are, or if you have any beliefs. Or aren't sure if you even care. We have an effort underway by the one of the most powerful chairmen in Congress, the woman who heads the Rules Committee, ...openly discussing gutting Congress. Gutting Congress.

And if this is done, this is about as close to martial law as you'll ever get... So Louise Slaughter, a Representative from New York, is discussing, in essence, martial law. Now I can tell you, if they pursue this process, and try to impose this kind of a law, without actually passing a statute, that I will be in a race -- with scores of others -- to the courthouse to stop this.

I can't think of a more blatant violation of the U.S. Constitution than this. And the liberal media has essentially ignored it!

...It's not only absurd on its face -- that these power-hungry ideologues, party-first-country-second types, would make the claim that the House voted on something it never voted on... that's not only absurd on its face, it's blatantly unconstitutional!

Please stay tuned for updates to this post as we will provide additional insight from Levin and other Constitutional experts.

Update 11-March-2010 21:03 ET:

Levin: I wanted to bring additional firepower on this subject, my buddy Arthur Fergenson, who is a Constitutional expert and who has argued cases in front of the Supreme Court, including Buckley vs. Valeo...

What do you make of this unbelievable -- that they're even talking about, this chairman of the Rules Committee -- acting as if members of the House voted on something when they didn't actually vote on it?

Fergenson: It's preposterous. It's ludicrous. But it's also dangerous. It's dangerous because, first, ...because [the U.S. Constitution's] Article I Section VII says every bill -- and it capitalized "bill" -- ...it is common sense that the bill is the same item, it can't be multiple bills, it can't be mashups of bills. And, in fact, in 1986, Gene Gressman, no conservative, and one of the experts -- the expert -- on Supreme Court practice... was writing an article that was dealing with a less problematic attempt to get around this section of the Constitution... [Ed: the line-item veto] and he wrote, "By long usage and plain meaning, 'Bill' means any singular and entire piece of legislation in the form it was approved by the two houses."

...the bills have to be revoted until they are identical. Both chambers have to vote on the bill.

If this cockamamie proposal were to be followed by the House and there were to be a bill presented to the President for his signature, that was a bill that had not been voted on -- identically by the two Houses of Congress -- that bill would be a nullity. It is not law. That is chaos.

I cannot recall any circumstance in which that has happened.

...What we have here is a measure, that if Obama signed it, would immediately affect taxation, it would change rules of practice in the insurance industry, it would regulate 17% of the nation's economy, and it would be done without any legal basis whatsoever!

Update 11-March-2010 21:12 ET:

Fergenson: It's like, the closest I can think of is martial law! The President would have no authority -- there would be no law! It's not like it would be constitutional or not. There would be. No. Law.

Levin: What do you make of people who sit around and even think of things like this? To me, they are absolutely unfit to even be in high office!

Fergenson: You're right, Mark. And I would go back to what caused Gressman to write this... he was asked for his comments by the Senate... because the Senate was trying to do the equivalent of a line-item veto. And, in 1986, you were in the Justice Department under Attorney General Meese... there was a proposal... to take a bill and divide it into little pieces and.. then the President would sign each one or veto each one. That was unconstitutional. A Senate Rules Committee reported it unfavorably.

Update 11-March-2010 21:36 ET:

Levin: You know what's interesting about this... Attorney General Ed Meese considered it unconstitutional even though President Reagan had wanted a line-item veto. And President Reagan agreed that it was unconstitutional without an amendment to the Constitution...

...Speaking for myself, I would tell the people who listen to this program that you are under absolutely no obligation to comply with it [this health care bill] because it is not, in fact, law. Do you agree with me?

Fergenson: I agree with you. I believe it would be tested by the Supreme Court. I believe that, under these circumstances, chaos would reign. There is no obligation to obey an unconstitutional law. The courts are empowered to determine whether it's unconstitutional... it's not a law.

Under this scenario, the various arms of the federal government will be acting under a law that does not exist.

Update: March 16th in Washington: Stop the Constitution Butchers... Stop Pelosi’s Slaughter House.


Linked by: Michelle Malkin, Protein Wisdom, iOwnTheWorld, Theo Spark and VikingPundit. Thanks!

The SEIU Is At War With You

Public sector unions are at odds with taxpayers.

Unions came into being to ensure workers received a reasonable share of company profits. But public sector unions serve the opposite purpose: they seek only to rape the taxpayer, because governments don't make profits -- they simply levy taxes.

And now, after decades of abuse, public sector unions' outrageous pension and wage obligations -- far beyond those of the private sector -- are crushing towns, cities, counties and states.

Given the horrible economy, will these taxpayer-funded unions agree to wage cuts? Let's review some headlines from around the world to answer that question.

Greeks return to work as debt crisis looms
Monsters and Critics.com
Unions from garbage collectors, tax officials and taxi drivers have stepped up protests in recent weeks and the main private and public sector unions...


Union chief upbeat ahead of talks with Government
Ireland Online
General Secretary of IMPACT Peter McLoone says he is upbeat ahead of today's "difficult and challenging" talks on resolving the public-sector pay row....


Council leaders to defy public-sector pay freeze with 6.5% rise
WalesOnline
A UNION leader expressed outrage last night after it emerged that most council leaders in Wales have been recommended for a pay rise of more than 6.5%. ...


Public sector pension costs may reach £79bn a year
Independent
Neil Walsh, the union's pensions officer, said: "The report makes it clear that public sector pensions are far from being the unsustainable burden on ...

Public sector unions are an anachronism that must be dismantled for this country to survive. But the prognosis, based upon Europe's experience, is decidedly poor unless we take care of business in November.


Larwyn's Linx: Could the Massa scandal bring Pelosi down?

Have a great link you'd like me to review? Drop me an email. You can also install a Larwyn's Linx blog widget.

Nation

Could the Massa scandal bring Pelosi down?: HillBuzz
Next strategy!: Pundette
The Endless Campaign: JRubin

1984: Obama wants DNA samples of everyone arrested: Ace
Reid hides behind 11-year old kiddie shield: Malkin
How to Pollute a Mind: AT

Economy

Cali Unions spent $1B fighting taxpayers: RWN
House GOP approves earmark ban: RWN
Big Labor Savages Noncompliant Democrats: JRubin

OK: Coming Pension Meltdown: Exam
Spending too much on education: Surber
President Obama Makes Poverty Permanent: PJM

Climate & Energy

Is it Tyranny yet?: Cold Fury
Junk Science Bombshell: NASA, MSM Knew 3 Years Ago: GWP
'Defeating Boxer Is a Contribution to Humankind': GWP

Climategate: Three of the Four Temperature Datasets Now Irrevocably Tainted: PJM
Cap-and-Trade 2.0: Don’t Call it a Climate Bill: StateBrief

Media

Is there a procedure to verify a Senator is still alive and has the ability to make sentient decisions?: HillBuzz
Top 10 GOP comments at Town Hall meeting: BMW
The Mushroom Treatment for Health Care: Ruby Slippers

Progressives Awaken To The Idea That Americans Hate Progressivism: RSM
Louise Slaughters the Will of the People: RWN
New York's Steve Levy for Governor: Langbert

Eric Withholder: AG failed to disclose SCOTUS brief on detainees: Exam
The Nuts' Attack on Roberts: LegalIns

World

The South Jersey Jihadist: Malkin
Biden Trip Reveals Ominous Side of Obama's Treatment of Israel :AT
Beck, Krauthammer and the Geert Wilders perplex: Simon

Canada: cancer patient refused drugs because he escaped to US for treatment instead of dying: BlogProf
The Good Guys Are Not Supposed to Hire the Bad Guys' Lawyers: NRO
How to Make Defeatism Look Good: Let's Give Up and Cheer the Islamists: BRubin

Seizing the Opportunity to Destroy Western Civilization: Chicago Boyz
Promises of Reform in Palestinian Schools Unmet: PJM

SciTech

Phones you can't get on a U.S. wireless carrier: CNet
Neato: Red Waterfall in Antarctica: Ace

Cornucopia

Obama at Bat: American Digest
Billboard: Now it's personal: NiceDeb

Image credit (and other fun crap): Curmudgeonly & Skeptical


Thursday, March 11, 2010

The only 'Green Jobs' this President will save or create are in the rice fields

Item 1: "The federal government racked up its largest monthly deficit in history in February – a record $220.9 billion in red ink, according to... the U.S. Treasury Department."

Item 2: "...in his budget address, [Illinois] Governor Pat Quinn will unveil how he plans to make up a huge shortfall [of] $13 billion... The state of Illinois meets the classic definition of insolvency. That is, it is unable to pay its bills as they come due... Budget observers also expect him to push for some kind of tax increase... And they're watching to see what, if any reforms, he comes up with to fix the state's broken public pension system. It's now more than $60 billion in the red."

Item 3: "California is facing a political and financial crisis of epic proportions... Rumors of default are gaining momentum and the continued ineffectiveness of the elected class in Sacramento has done nothing to allay the concerns of investors... There are bonds in California that will exhibit the challenge of debt service and wherein bankruptcy will be a real option."

Item 4: "New York state governor David Paterson has said the state is on the verge of a depression... The state is currently considering a raft of drastic measures to narrow its ballooning $9.2bn budget deficit... The governor admitted [that the state is considering] enforced, unpaid holidays for state workers and issuing IOU's for payments."

The modern Democrat Party is little more than a slightly evolved pack of locusts, moving from one state to another, destroying everything they touch. By 2020, the U.S. debt -- even without socialized medicine -- will exceed $20 trillion. This means the annual interest payments will hit nearly $1 trillion, or about one-third of the entire U.S. budget.

The President and his Democrat sycophants in Congress are literally eradicating the economic fabric of the United States. All we've worked for. What our parents and grandparents fought to defend. It doesn't matter what industry you work in -- coal, gas, electric, insurance, finance, pharma, telecommunications, health care -- it doesn't matter whether you're in a union or not -- the Democrats are targeting your jobs. They've said so: they relentlessly condemn the very profits that pay your salaries. Because they despise free enterprise and individual liberty. They want control; and your business stands in the way of their bureaucrats taking the reins. Orchestrating the economy, doling out favors, punishing enemies, rewarding friends and stealing more and more of your private property in the form of extra-constitutional taxes. They want Chicago-style Democracy, only across the entire United States.

It's happening right before our eyes.

80 years of Democrat Ponzi schemes are unraveling. Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, the "Great Society" Welfare State, Chain Migration of Illegal Aliens -- schemes so outrageous, so catastrophic in scope, that they would make Bernard Madoff blush.


Closed Circuit Security Cam Captures Rahm Emanuel Relaying a Policy Position to Rep. Eric Massa (D-NY, Ret.)


Photo credit: Cub Reporter Biff Spackle. Linked by: iOwnTheWorld. Thanks!

Pass the popcorn, Nahanni: Schumer and Durbin Fight to Replace Senate Majority Leader Reid, Since Voters Plan on Forcibly Retiring Him in November

When you've lost Time Magazine, Harry, you've just flat out lost.

No one remembers exactly when they started, but there is no doubt that the campaigns for Senate majority leader are raging on Capitol Hill. They have not been formally declared, of course, and for good reason — the position is still filled. But as Harry Reid's November re-election has looked increasingly imperiled, his two top deputies in the Senate have become more overt in their quests for his job. And in a Senate that is already near paralyzed by partisan rancor, the two Democrats' maneuverings are threatening to further gum up the works.

Well, if by "gum up", you mean prevent this rogue Congress from further screwing up the country with its unconstitutional power-grabs, well then, I'm all for it.

Either one -- Schmucky Schumer or Little Dick Durbin -- would make a fine leader of the minority Democrats next year; Schumer with his cornrow-style hair-plugs and the other with his infamous halitosis.

And don't you love the smell of virtual napalm on the Democrat side of the aisle?


Jihad (er, I mean "ethnic violence") in Nigeria

Dan from New York:

Jihad in Nigeria


By Melanie Phillips (Spectator-UK)

In appalling violence by Muslims against Christians in Nigeria, the latest tally after weekend attacks on three mostly Christian villages is some 500 dead.

What is happening to Nigeria's Christians makes a mockery of the frenzied Western obsession with Israel.

To understand the real cause of global tumult we should look carefully at Africa, and the appalling suffering of those upholding the religion that underpins the Western world.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Narrative? What narrative? I don't see any freakin' narrative.


Gov: New York 'Teetering on Verge of Insolvency', Yet Thousands of State Officials Earn Over $180,000 Per Year

Those wascally Democrats -- you never know what they'll come up with next. While Democrats complain endlessly about private sector salaries, consider the wages your tax dollars are subsidizing. But don't worry, maybe they'll give you a free bowl of soup someday when you're standing in the bread line.

...the Paterson administration [is] pressuring the Legislature to close the state's $9 billion budget deficit by the April 1 deadline... To the rescue is Lt. Gov. Richard Ravitch with a plan that mimics the way New York City staved of bankruptcy in the 1970s...

* Borrowing $2 billion a year for three years
* Establishing a financial review board
* Giving the governor the power to make spending cuts to balance the budget without the Legislature's approval


"Objective number one is to achieve structural balance of our budget within a five-year period. It is not in my judgment possibly to cut $9.5 billion out of this budget this coming year," Ravitch said.

But in the offing is a new budget gap -- $300 million -- if state officials decide to cancel a deal with the company AEG to run the Aqueduct racino... "If the lottery division found AEG unlicensable, then we wouldn't be able to move forward," Paterson said.

Sources said the Paterson administration and company officials negotiated most of the day about whether to go forward with the Aqueduct project, which is under investigation by both federal prosecutors and the state inspector general... The probes forced the politically powerful Rev. Floyd Flake and rapper Jay-Z to quit the company Tuesday.

And if the proposed soda tax falls flat that would open another $500 million hole, which is why lawmakers are giving the Ravitch plan serious attention.

Ah, the vaunted soda tax. And the saturated fat tax. Because they want to control what you eat. They want taxes on CO2, the very air that you breathe. They want to control water in every form it exists. And they definitely want control of your body through socialized medicine.

Does any of this sound constitutional? Does any of this reflect the respect for the rights of the individual that the Framers found sacred?

No. Of course not. Today's Democrats are Statists, through and through, the last remnants of a failed strain of virulent Marxism for which we can begin inoculating the world in November.


Double Whammy for House Democrats: Ethics Investigation of Pelosi Approved as Kwame's Mom Subpoenaed

The Corner relays news of a double whammy to hit House Democrats today. First, the House of Representatives has approved an ethics investigation of Nancy Pelosi.

This afternoon, by a vote of 402 to one, the U.S. House approved a resolution calling for the House Ethics Committee to investigate House Democratic leaders and their handling of ethical allegations concerning former Rep. Eric Massa (D., N.Y.). House Minority Leader John Boehner (R., Ohio) offered the privileged resolution.

In the resolution, Republicans urge the ethics committee, based on recent media reports, to probe into allegations of sexual harassment made by Massa’s former congressional staffers...

Inaction by House Democratic leaders “may have exposed employees and interns of Rep. Massa to continued harassment,” the resolution reads. The resolution also asks the committee to investigate House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.), House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D., Md.), and their staffs...

Second, Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's mom -- Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick (D-MI) -- has been subpoenaed.

...On Tuesday, Kilpatrick’s office manager in Detroit, Andrea Bragg, let the Speaker’s office know she had been subpoenaed as well before a grand jury... The topic of the subpoenas is not known. Kwame Kilpatrick has been fighting in state court over restitution to be paid on a perjury plea. The Free Press also has reported that a contractor who pleaded guilty in a federal corruption probe has told investigators he handed over bribes to the former mayor in 2002.

Cheeks Kilpatrick – Michigan’s only member of the powerful Appropriations Committee – has not been publicly implicated in any of those probes but has been a loyal defender of her son.

Don Rickles could not be reached for comment.


Update: Question: Could the Eric Massa scandal bring Nancy Pelosi down?

Hat tip: Larwyn.

Larwyn's Linx: Pence: The Next 2 Weeks Decides It

Have a great link you'd like me to review? Drop me an email. You can also install a Larwyn's Linx blog widget.

Nation

Pence: The Next 2 Weeks Decides It: Riehl
SRO: Anti-Obamacare Rally in STL: GWP
Gibbs picks a fight with Chief Justice: GWP

Democrats to burn Constitution: Ace
The Bullies in the White House: AT
'Rules Committee Can Do Just About Anything': Corner

ObamaCare Roadshow II: Human Kiddie Shields: Malkin
Senate GOP letter to Harry Reid: Fausta
Dems a no-show for Obama rally: Times

Economy

Obama vs. the Insurance Industry: a Double Standard: RWN
The Corker-Dodd-Alinsky Bill: It's for the Unions: BigGovt
Can the Deficit Commission succeed?: PJM

Climate & Energy

Committing National Suicide: Denny
Climategate Stunner: NASA heads knew data was bogus: PJM
The Museum of Thermageddon: CBullitt

Media

The Top 40 Conservative Blogs For 2010 : RWN
Exploiting physicians, not listening to them: LATL
Driehaus Protest in Cincinnati: Virtuous Republic

We’ve Moved From Passing Bills Without Reading Them to Passing Bills Without Voting On Them :RWN
Dems openly lie to lefties about repeal of filibuster: Hot Air
Thomas Friedman’s Multifaceted Views On Democracy: Driscoll

How the Left lies to you about ACORN: Patterico
150 Convicted Officials in ObamaLand: RWN

World

Holder's Undisclosed Padilla Connection: NRO
Obama's Great Gift -- to Bush: Hanson
Israel in the Hot Seat Again — for Building Homes: PJM

Remembering Reagan's 'Evil Empire' Speech 27 Years Later: Ace
Qaddafi’s Jihad: GoV
On this date in history: Adam Smith publishes 'On The Wealth Of Nations': Protein Wisdom

SciTech

LifeLock to pay $12 million to settle deceptive-practices claim: CNet
Internet at 'tipping point' in Arab world: Maktoob
Ehrlich admits warmists in a panic: Nature

Cornucopia

More pics from John Hawkins' hard drive: RWN
Talking babies reject Obamacare: Denny
The Generic Movie Trailer: iOTW

“80s Teen Idol Corey Haim Dead at 38″: Protein Wisdom

"The only 'Green Jobs' this President wil save or create are in the rice fields." -- Me, at 3am, awakened by the sheer brilliance of this sentence.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

A simple point: why health care is not, and can never be, a "right"

Health care is a set of goods and services that are procured through payments.

Is the right to life, or liberty, or the pursuit of happiness facilitated by the transfer of funds? Of course not. Our country's founders would never have countenanced the mandated delivery of services compelled by an authoritarian, centralized government. That was precisely the type of system they were trying to escape in the British Crown.

Thought Experiment: If Health Care Is a Right

If you live in the village of Curmudgeon, Montana, where there are no doctors, will the government compel a doctor to move to the area?

If you've received multiple heart bypass operations, chemotherapy and dialysis, yet you still won't stop smoking three packs and eating a dozen Twinkies a day, will the government guarantee care for your "preexisting" conditions?

If you're a health insurance company's CEO and the government mandates premiums, who you must cover, what kind of coverage you must offer, and the margins you are permitted to make, do you really think you can stay in business? Hint: in all of recorded history, find a place or time where price controls worked. Don't worry, I'll wait here while you check.

If you're a doctor in a specialty area and you decide that the government's reimbursements no longer pay enough for you to stay in business (e.g., Medicare, Medicaid, SCHIP, etc.), what happens when there are no longer enough specialists in your field to handle the demand? Will the government forcibly require you to practice?

If you're a drug company's CEO and the government sets limits on the prices you can charge and dictate where your research money goes through its reimbursement schedules, how will new, unproven and cutting-edge drugs -- which require massive risk-taking -- get developed? (This may explain why roughly 75% of all pharmaceuticals are invented in the United States, not the faux Utopias of England or Canada).

What is health care?

Health care is an infinitely complex series of transactions facilitated by doctors, nurses, pharmaceutical companies, insurers, hospital systems, brokers, third-party networks, caregivers, volunteers and others.

The Democrats want to nationalize this entire system, and set up small committees of central planners who will formulate all of the rules, set prices, dictate treatments, and proscribe the activities of every kind of market participant, including patients.

Can a tiny group of Harvard-educated elites, serving as central planners similar to the Politburo, replace millions of decisions based upon free will?

Health care consists of goods and services, which must be paid for like any other. And goods and services simply cannot be a "right", unless you are willing to relive the horrors of the Soviet Union's gulags, Pol Pot's killing fields or Hitler's brand of medicine.

Because when you replace voluntary transactions with central planning, you are replacing liberty with tyranny.


Related: Canada's health care system is a poor model for the U.S..

Monica Conyers convicted of bribery, sentenced to 3 years, but claims her taped cry of "you'd better get my loot" was taken out of context

Marathon Pundit reports that John Conyers' wife was sentenced to three years and one month in a federal prison for her role in a bribery scandal. The former Detroit city councilwoman had admitted taking cash from a company interested in doing business with the city.

She is the wife of Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), who is the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee... There was some drama in the courtroom, as Conyers tried to withdraw her guilty plea, "If I have to I'll go to jail for what I've done, but I won't go for what I didn't do."

The longtime Detroit congressman has not been implicated in his wife's crimes, but I find it odd that the national media has not picked up on this story. After all, federal penitentiaries are under the purview of Conyers' committee.

The 45-year old Conyers is the biggest name to have been caught in the FBI's wide-ranging investigation into Detroit corruption.

Nine people have pleaded guilty, including two former directors of the downtown convention center, and prosecutors have promised more charges are coming... Conyers' plea deal was limited to taking bribes to support a contract with Synagro worth $47 million a year. But the recent trial of her former aide, Sam Riddle, exposed a series of alleged schemes involving others making payoffs to do business at city hall.

...Earlier this year, jurors at the Riddle trial heard secretly taped phone calls in which he and Conyers discussed money, bank deposits and how to split cash.

In a November 2007 call, Conyers told Riddle, "You'd better get my loot." On another call, businessman Rayford Jackson, who passed bribes to Conyers for her sludge vote, said, "You're my girl. Don't forget that."

Conyers told the judge some taped conversations would exonerate her... "They have taken tapes and used them out of context," she said of the U.S. attorney's office...

Before the hearing, Conyers moved around the courtroom like a playful host, blowing kisses to supporters while wearing dark sunglasses. Her husband, who has an office in the federal courthouse, was not in the courtroom. Spokesman Jonathan Godfrey said he didn't know his whereabouts.

Perhaps Andi Sullivan could pull a few of his house dicks off the Trig Palin investigation to rustle up Johnnie Conyers.


Photo credit: Marathon Pundit.

Thomas Friedman's Perfect Record

Dan from New York:

More than a few conservatives (e.g. here and here) jumped for joy today after reading St. Thomas Friedman's NYT column today (sorry, I don't link to, or read, NYT weasels). I am told Tommy admits that Bush was right on Iraq and democracy is truly taking hold there - reversing an earlier ruling. What these right-of-center chumps don't understand is that they, Iraq, Bush and democracy have just been been given the kiss of death.

In the latish 80s St. Thomas wrote a piece for the Sunday Magazine opining Israelis moving to the West Bank were non-ideological yuppies looking for affordable homes and a short commute to their jobs inside the Green Line. Ergo, he went on to say, the Palestinians wouldn't consider them a threat and settlers and Arabs would live happily ever after in Levittown-by-the-Jordan. I'm not sure whether Friedman snagged a Pulitzer for that one or not, but a few months later Intifada #1 broke out, and a brilliant journalism career was launched.

If these same conservative scribblers could have shorted Friedman's foreign policy prognoses from that point on, they'd be writing posts from their yachts off the Mediterranean instead of sitting in some cramped bedroom pecking away on an old Lenovo laptop and staring out at a brick wall. Even in a job where being right is optional, Tommy eventually realized the jig was up. After years of producing flops people might begin to notice. Why do you think in the latter years he's stopped making a fool of himself on the Middle East in favor of making a fool of himself on the "Green" mania, globular warming and the environment? And like clockwork, that's now on the rocks.

Point being, by using Mr. T as proof Bush was right about Iraq, the odds are both the former president's legacy and that benighted country are headed for oblivion - and soon. Sorry, cons, but it's too late to do anything about it now.