Saturday, October 19, 2013

Liberalism vs. Conservatism: Political Speech

Guest post by Dinesh D'Souza


There is some overlap in the moral vocabulary that liberals and conservatives use. Both speak of “equality,” although they mean different things by the term. Conservatives emphasize equality of rights, and they are quite willing to endure inequalities that are the product of differential capacity or merit. Liberals emphasize equality of outcomes, and they tend to attribute inequality to the unequal opportunities that have been provided by society.

Since conservatives and liberals have different conceptions of the good society, their priorities are different, and this leads to contrasting policy positions. Conservatives emphasize economic growth, while liberals emphasize economic redistribution. Conservatives like to proclaim their love of country, while liberals like to proclaim their love of humanity. Conservatives insist that force is required to maintain world order, while liberals prefer the pursuit of peace through negotiation and dialog.

At root, conservatives and liberals have two different conceptions of human nature that cause them to see the world so differently. Liberals tend to believe in Rousseau’s proposition that human nature is intrinsically good. Therefore they believe that people who fail or do bad things are not acting out of laziness or wickedness; rather, society put them in this unfortunate position. Since people are innately good, liberals hold that the great conflicts in the world are not the result of good versus evil; rather they arise out of terrible misunderstandings that can be corrected through ongoing conversation and through the mediation of groups like the United Nations. Finally the liberal’s high opinion of human nature leads to the view that if you give people autonomy they will use their freedom well.

Conservatives know better. Conservatives recognize that there are two principles in human nature—good and evil—and these are in constant conflict. Given the warped timber of humanity, conservatives seek a social structure that helps to bring out the best in human nature and suppress man’s lower or base impulses. Conservatives support capitalism because it is a way of steering our natural pursuit of self-interest toward the material betterment of society at large. Conservatives insist that there are evil regimes and destructive forces in the world that cannot be talked out of their nefarious objectives; force is an indispensable element of international relations. Finally conservatives support autonomy when it is attached to personal responsibility—when people are held accountable for their actions—but they also believe in the indispensability of moral incubators (the family, civic institutions) that are aimed at instructing people to choose virtue over vice.

I am a conservative because I believe that the conservatives have an accurate understanding of human nature and the liberals do not. Since the liberals have a wrong view of man, their policies are unlikely to achieve any good results. In some cases they even subvert liberal objectives. For all its grand proclamations, today’s liberalism seems to be characterized by a pathological hostility to America, to capitalism, and to traditional moral values. In short, liberalism has become the party of anti-Americanism and economic plunder. By contrast, conservative policies are not only more likely to produce the good society, but they are also the best means to achieve liberal goals such as peace, tolerance, and social justice.


Excerpted from Dinesh D'Souza's Letters to a Young Conservative. Hat tip: Papa B.

Deep Thoughts o' the Day

Random thoughts that popped into my head while working out:

• Obama could have thrown a bone to Republicans and negotiated a one-year delay of Obamacare's individual mandate; this would have allowed him to save face given his malfunctioning HealthCare.gov website. But his hubris, narcissism, and thirst for power prevented him from negotiating in good faith or even giving an inch on his "signature achievement".

• If Obamacare continues to torture the American people with huge price hikes, forced unemployment, technical glitches, and mass instances of identity theft, the one man who fought it for 21 hours on the Senate floor will come out looking more like a hero than ever. That man, of course, is Sen. Ted Cruz.

• If the "Tea Party extremists" and Constitutional conservatives represent such a small fraction of the Republican base, perhaps the geniuses in the GOP leadership can explain why their candidates always run as conservatives (see: Ayotte, Flake, McCain, et. al.).

• It's fun to call Democrats Detroit-o-crats and then watch their faces turn into mottled shades of red and purple once their reptilian brains process all of the syllables.

• Kathleen Sebelius says Obama's Healthcare.gov website supports 150 different languages. If true, it would make the website the first ever to malfunction in 150 languages. *

• Arnold Schwarzanegger wants Americans to pass a Constitutional Amendment making it possible for a foreign-born person to become President. He should just change parties, because it's already legal for Democrats **.


* Hat tip: Mark Levin
** I'm not a birther, but Barack Obama is; and I would love to see his college transcripts.

FAST AND FURIOUS EXPLODES, LITERALLY: Eric Holder's ATF Gave Explosives to Mexican Drug Cartels

Guest post by Investors Business Daily


Scandal: A deadly battle involving grenades between a drug cartel and Mexican police has added to the toll of lives taken with weapons trafficked by suspects that U.S. officials watched but did not stop.

The same Obama administration officials responsible for letting thousands of weapons walk into Mexico and right into the hands of drug cartels in Operation Fast and Furious also passed on several opportunities to arrest and prosecute an arms smuggler who was busy supplying the cartels with hand grenades.

This according to a report by Sharyl Attkisson of CBS News, the one reporter who has taken the time to expose the deadliest of the administration's "phony" scandals.

Attkisson, whose yeoman work exposed much of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives' Fast and Furious operation, acquired a Justice Department "Significant Incident Report" filed last Tuesday. It details a deadly drug-cartel shootout with Mexican police in Guadalajara last week that killed three policemen and four cartel members and in which at least 10 hand grenades were used.

Grenades have been a weapon of choice for the Mexican cartels. A cartel attack on Aug. 25, 2011, in a Monterrey casino killed 53 people. One of those used in last week's battle with the Jalisco New Generation Cartel has been linked to Jean Baptiste Kingery, an alleged firearms trafficker U.S. officials allowed to operate for years without arresting despite significant evidence that he was supplying the cartels with massive amounts of grenade parts and ammunition.

Who Are the Gang of Five Funding Radical Leftist Terry McAuliffe?

Click the illustration to see a great ad.


If you have the means, please consider helping out Ken Cuccinelli, a true stalwart in the fight against Obamacare's destruction of jobs and health care.


Larwyn's Linx: Ted Cruz – The Paul Revere of American Medical Care

Send us tips! Bloggers: install a Larwyn's Linx widget. Get real-time news, 24/7, at BadBlue.

Nation

Ted Cruz – The Paul Revere of American Medical Care: Janine Turner
A Third Party is Not the Goal, Repopulating the GOP Is: Kristina Ribali
HHS declines to testify before House committee on Obamacare rollout: LI

WH May Be Forced to Consider "Unthinkable Options" On ObamaCare: Ace
The Scandalous Story Behind the Awful ObamaCare Website: RightSphere
GOP Failure, Strategy, and Tactics: Allen West

Outlawism revisited: Protein Wisdom
Let’s talk about the Republican split: MoneyRunner
Meanwhile, Susana Martinez is totally crushing it in New Mexico: Guy Benson

Economy

BART Holds SF Hostage; A Way to Deal With Public Unions: Mish
Insurers reportedly receiving faulty data from ObamaCare exchanges: Fox
Mary Landrieu: Obamacare is here to stay, beches: HayRide

U.S. Decline May Wind Up Doing What GOP Agitators Could Not: Ace
The Rise of Libertarianism on College Campuses: CI
US Debt Now Tops $17 Trillion, After Jumping $328 Billion in a Day: LoneCon

Scandal Central

IRS Targeting American Legion: DC
What a coincidence: ACORN founder's organization serving as Obamacare navigators: Doug Powers
AMAC: there’s a ‘foul odor’ coming from the deal to end the shutdown and raise the debt ceiling: CDN

Paul Ryan 'Leading Us Off a Cliff' with Immigration Reform Support: Matthew Boyle
Obama’s Secret Collaboration with ACORN Bosses: Matthew Vadum
Number of People Who Have Signed Up For Private Insurance in Oregon: Zero: Ace

Climate & Energy

Energy Dept. Paid Up To $100 Million For Contractors to Party: Lid
‘What Do America’s College Students Want? They Want to Be Oppressed’: Ed Driscoll
Global Frackdown action: LIVE UPDATES: RT

Media

The L.A. Times’ Fiscal Fantasies: Tom Blumer
Kirsten Powers: Obama Attacking Journalism: Breitbart
AP Suspends Reporter After Botched McAuliffe Story: TruthRevolt

Insurers Complain They’re Receiving Faulty Obamacare Data: RWN
Terry McAuliffe Comes Out In Favor Of Abortion Up Until the Second The Baby’s Born: RWN
Ouch: Far-Left Huffington Post Calls Obamacare A “Train Wreck”: WZ

And it looks as though you lived your life like a finger in the wind: Protein Wisdom
Fox News' Carl Cameron: Cruz, Mike Lee Feel Betrayed: Breitbart
Ex-Secret Service Agent Blasts Obama: FPM

Levin: Republicans are feckless, unable to handle a left-wing radical president: iOTW
Fox reporter goes a round with Jay Carney on Benghazi; Carney walks out: BPR
Obama’s post-debt limit deal speech, distilled: Protein Wisdom

World

Mexican Cartels Help Hezbollah Infiltrate U.S.: JW
Hezbollah invades America's Southwest: Matzav
Dragon Day: Red Dawn for Intellectuals: James Simpson

Validation Of Valor: Blasted Fools
Will House Republicans Shutdown Amnesty?: ImmigrationReform
Senate Shoots Down Obama’s UN Arms Treaty: RWN

Sci-Tech

What if Obamacare Software Crashes and Burns?: Michael Barone

Cornucopia

Sad Brat's Diary: MOTUS
Interative Collective Quiz: The People's Cube
Amid churchgoers, orphan Davion Only pleads for a family: Tampa Bay

Image: Validation Of Valor
Sponsored by: This ad about Terry McAuliffe absolutely has to get back up on the air.

QOTD: "Imagine going to Target the day after Thanksgiving for the "Black Friday" sale. You wait for hours or days for the doors to open. You rush in like O. J. Simpson in the old Hertz ads, leaping over pyramids of GI Joes with the Kung Fu Grip, sidestepping the giant Justin Bieber cardboard displays. It's complete chaos. Some woman who wants the same George Foreman Grill you do punches you in the uvula. You kill a guy with a trident when he tries to get the last Bluetooth beer helmet. Finally, because you kept your head on a swivel, you get your cart to the check-out line and the cashier tells you everything in your cart isn't on sale, but it's actually twice as expensive as it would be on a normal day. Why? Because in order to buy the things you want, you have to buy a bunch of stuff you don't want; a DVD of Bridges of Madison County, a cornucopia of indecipherable feminine products, a top-of-the-line salad spinner, and a twelve-pack of Ensure.

That's Obamacare for you.

And the fact that the GOP caused a huge fuss that briefly annoyed some people to protest this mess is really not such a bad thing." --Jonah Goldberg

Friday, October 18, 2013

BOOM: Senate Conservatives Fund Endorses Matt Bevin, Rejects Minority Leader Mitch McConnell

Guest post by Senate Conservatives Fund


ALEXANDRIA, VA — The Senate Conservatives Fund (SCF) endorsed Louisville businessman Matt Bevin for U.S. Senate in Kentucky on Friday. Matt Bevin is challenging U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) in the Republican primary election on May 20, 2014.

SCF Executive Director Matt Hoskins made the following statement:

"Matt Bevin is a true conservative who will fight to stop the massive spending, bailouts, and debt that are destroying our country. He is not afraid to stand up to the establishment and he will do what it takes to stop Obamacare. We know that winning this primary won't be easy. Mitch McConnell has the support of the entire Washington establishment and he will do anything to hold on to power. But if people in Kentucky and all across the country rise up and demand something better, we're confident Matt Bevin can win this race."

SCF recently asked its members for their views on the Kentucky Senate race. Nearly 70,000 members completed the survey and 90% said SCF should endorse Matt Bevin over Mitch McConnell.


MATT BEVIN — COURAGEOUS CONSERVATIVE
  • Louisville businessman Matt Bevin (R-KY) is a full-spectrum conservative with the courage to stand up to the Washington establishment.
  • Matt Bevin grew up in a rural, working class family, where he and his five brothers and sisters worked to help the family make ends meet.
  • Bevin earned a ROTC scholarship and worked year-round to pay for his college education. After college, he was commissioned as an officer in the Army, rising to the rank of captain.
  • After military service, Bevin founded and invested in many successful companies ranging from manufacturing to money management.
  • Matt Bevin is a constitutional conservative who believes that America’s greatest traditions are seriously threatened today by irresponsible Washington politicians who are bankrupting our country.
  • Bevin not only supports SCF's top policy goals, he has demonstrated the courage to stand up to one of the most powerful politicians in the country even in the face of personal attacks.
  • Bevin is 46 years old, and has been married for 17 years. He and his wife have nine children, four of whom are adopted from Ethiopia.

MITCH McCONNELL — WASHINGTON INSIDER
  • U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY), the Senate Republican Leader, has a liberal record and refuses to fight for conservative principles.
  • McConnell voted to fund Obamacare this year, voted to let the Democrats fund Obamacare next year, and says parts of Obamacare are "okay."
  • McConnell worked with Vice President Biden to write the fiscal cliff tax deal that resulted in higher taxes for 80% of American families.
  • McConnell voted for billions of dollars in wasteful earmark spending, including Alaska's "Bridge to Nowhere."
  • McConnell voted to bail out Wall Street banks and said it was one of the Senate's "finest moments."
  • McConnell voted to increase the national debt limit at least 10 times. Since he's been in Washington, the national debt has increased from about $1 trillion to more than $16 trillion dollars.
  • McConnell voted against term limits and to raise his own pay.
  • McConnell did nothing to fight the amnesty bill that passed earlier this year and he voted to grant amnesty to illegal immigrants back in 1986, which helped create the problem we have today.
  • After 28 years in office, voters in Kentucky are not enthusiastic about re-electing Mitch McConnell. He trails his Democratic opponent in recent polls and Cook Political Report rates Kentucky as a "Toss Up" despite it being a solid red state that Mitt Romney won by 23 points.
  • Democrats hope McConnell is the Republican nominee because he will be easier to defeat next November.

Senate Conservatives Fund (SCF) is an independent, grassroots organization that promotes conservative policies in Washington and helps elect true conservative leaders to the U.S. Senate. SCF has also endorsed Chris McDaniel (R-MS) for the U.S. Senate in Mississippi.


Note: Please consider contributing to the Senate Conservatives Fund. Ted Cruz and Mike Lee are among its success stories.

HELPFUL CHART: Here's How Much You'll Be Paying For Health Care in the Obamacare State Exchanges

I can summarize this chart in a single sentence: Obamacare is working just as well its website.

...Individuals in most states will end up spending more on the exchanges. It is true that in some states, the experience could be the opposite. This is because those states had already over-regulated insurance markets that led to sharply higher premiums through adverse selection, as is the case of New York. Many states, however, double or nearly triple premiums for young adults. Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Kansas, and Vermont see some of the largest increases in premiums.
Click to Explodify
...The Obama Administration is desperate for younger people to enroll to prevent an adverse selection death spiral.

...Our findings confirm that younger populations see larger percentage increases in premiums. A state that exhibits this clearly is Vermont, where the increase for 27-year-olds is 144 percent and the increase for 50-year-olds is still 60 percent, but far less. All states exhibit this relationship.

Charles C. W. Cooke helpfully summarized the litany of (quite obvious) lies the President and his sycophants told Americans in order to jam Obamacare through Congress.

• “If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor. Period. If you like your health-care plan, you will be able to keep your health-care plan. Period. No one will take it away. No matter what.”

• “For people with insurance, the only impact of the health-care law is that their insurance is stronger, better, and more secure than it was before. Full stop. That’s it. They don’t have to worry about anything else.”

• "If you already have health insurance, the only thing that will change for you under this plan is the amount of money you will spend on premiums. That will be less.”

• "I want to be very clear: I will not sign on to any health plan that adds to our deficits over the next decade."

• "Health care reform will cut the cost of a typical family's premium by up to $2,500 a year."

Every major promise regarding Obamacare was a lie.

As Scott Johnson astutely observes, "If only we had a free press, Obamacare would be a bloody, unrelenting scandal, like Abu Ghraib, or Watergate. As it is, it is only business as usual for liberals and liberalism.."


Hat tips: Maggie's Notebook and BadBlue News.

NEWS FLASH: There Is No Split In the Republican Party

You heard that right. There is no split in the Republican Party. In spite of the hyperbole and breathless cheerleading on the part of Democrats and old media, there is no split in the Republican Party.

And I can prove it.

When Republican candidates are running for office, no matter how moderate, "adult", or centrist they really are, they pretend to be conservative.

In fact, even Democrats in most places pretend to be far to the right of where they really are in order to win general elections.

But, I digress: this is about the Republican Party.

The only split Republicans have is between the grassroots and the leadership elites. The grassroots (and much of America itself) identifies as conservative.

The leadership rejects the base, focusing instead on luring a small number of well-heeled donors, corporate contributors, consultants and media cronies.

When John McCain last ran for reelection, did he run as a bipartisan, open-borders maverick? Of course not. His TV ads depicted him reciting the phrase "build the dang fence" and other homages to conservatism. Those positions were quickly abandoned once he was returned to the Beltway.

When Kelly Ayotte and Jeff Flake and a host of others emerged from nowhere to garner attention, did they market themselves as Obamacare supporters who would accede to an out-of-control Executive Branch's bizarre dictates? Of course not. They pretended to be conservatives to win not only their primaries but their general elections as well.

The majority of the Republican base -- and we must include those independents and Reagan Democrats who have exited the party in large numbers -- are conservatives.

The war inside the Republican Party is not a war at all.

It is a fundamental disconnect between the base and a feckless leadership that is besotted with power and corporate cash.

While we must fight at every level to remove and replace the leadership -- "root and brach", to paraphrase Mitch McConnell -- there is another course.

I refer of course to an Article V convention of the states as described in Mark Levin's new book, which is entitled "The Liberty Amendments - Restoring the American Republic".

I'll be posting a full-fledged review of the book in the near future. But the executive summary is easy enough to understand: Washington is an enormous black hole. It sucks in money, media, and power, which it never relinquishes. And always it seeks more. Trying to fix the black hole from inside the black hole is impossible.

A political battle is coming for the GOP. And it is not between factions of the grassroots; it is instead between the grassroots and an out-of-touch leadership structure that is just as doomed as the Detroitocrat Party.

It just hasn't come to grips with it yet.


Related: The Lying GOP Establishment.

Larwyn's Linx: Do not read this post, by order of King Barry the First

Send us tips! Bloggers: install a Larwyn's Linx widget. Get real-time news, 24/7, at BadBlue.

Nation

Do not read this post, by order of King Barry the First: Jim Treacher
Victory for Obama? Not so fast: Keith Koffler
Mark Levin to the ruling elite: We’re going to crush you: Scoop

ICE Agents Tell President Obama "No Amnesty": NUSA
These Senators voted to let the UN take OUR rights.: iOTW
The Pain of a Patriot: Dean Garrison

Obama: My partisan vitriol shows value of bipartisan harmony: DC
Cory Booker Spent $11M to Beat ‘Tea Party Candidate’ By 11 Points: JWF
The State of the Race in Virginia: RS

This ad about Terry McAuliffe simply must get back on the air: Moe Lane
About Those $2500 Annual Savings From Obamacare…: Brian Lerch
Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled: Hannity

Economy

McConnell Debt Plan: Press Release Conservatism: Daniel Horowitz
A children's treasury of all the extra stuff you paid for in the shutdown bill: NakedDC
Government Shut Down and All I Got Was this Blog Post: Ari Armstrong

The Tea Party Is Not Wrong: Karl Denninger
Oh, Now Being A Patriot Is Bad?: Karl Denninger
Republicans Sell Out, Agree to ObamaCare and Cloward-Piven Spending: MB

Scandal Central

Obama Didn't Call Experts To Fix Healthcare.gov; Feared GOP Would Find Out: Lid
The Abysmal, Pathetic Obamacare Rollout: Nick Gillespie
The Night Stalker Shows Her Poker Face: NoisyRm

Media

Obamacare’s Useful Idiots: Tom Blumer
How Obamacare Kills the 1st Amendment on January 1, 2014: Shenandoah
Beltway Snob Peggy Noonan Upset With Conservatives for Disturbing Beltway Snobs: AWD

The Press and the IRS: Journalistic partisanship fed the scandal.: James Taranto
Media Cover Shutdown Victims over Obamacare Victims 100 to 1: TruthRevolt
Tea Party’s Image Turns More Negative; Ted Cruz’s Popularity Soars among Tea Party: Pew

World

‘Gangs’ Seize and Tax Coptic Christian Property in Egypt: Raymond Ibrahim
Syria: Jihadists plant bombs in confessional box of one of the world's oldest churches: JihadWatch
Al-Shabab Justifies Woolwich Beheading, Urges Muslims in West to "Make Their Choice Today": Atlas

Sci-Tech

Programmer: Healthcare.gov program 'doomed' without management changes: NBC
Growth Hacker Marketing And The Rise Of Engineers In Marketing: TwistImage
Programmers at Juniper -- not Google or Facebook -- rake in the most dough: PC World

Cornucopia

Try This On For Size: American Digest
Rand Paul's Summer Vacation vs Barack Obama’s: Patriot's Billboard
Something wicked this way comes... in my little town...: Winter Soldier

Image: Tennessee law prohibiting EBT cards for liquor and lap dances flounders
Sponsored by: This ad about Terry McAuliffe absolutely has to get back up on the air

QOTD: "Republican "leadership" speech (adapted from Sir Winston Churchill's 'Never Give Up' speech):

'We shall give-up in the end. We shall surrender. We shall surrender in the House and the Senate, we shall surrender with growing insecurity and growing weakness in the air, we shall not defend the Constitution, as long as we get earmarks and positions of power. We shall surrender on the issues, we shall surrender our principles on liberty and freedom, we shall surrender in the fields and in the streets, we shall surrender in the hills; we shall never stand and fight!'" --Brad

Thursday, October 17, 2013

Obamacare Success Story #3,405: Health Care Premiums Skyrocket in President's Home State of Illinois

Guest post by Investors Business Daily

Regulation: From lost jobs to fewer hours to premium hikes that would make a loan shark drool, Barack Obama's home state is a case study in why the first rule in health care reform, as in medicine, should be to do no harm.

The president and his cohorts in the media have long accused Republicans of being out of touch with ordinary people. Remember the concocted story about President Bush the elder being so out of touch he was unfamiliar with supermarket bar-code scanners?

But it's President Obama who's out of touch with ordinary people and the damage his Affordable Care Act is doing to them as they lose their doctors and current health insurance while being forced under penalty of heavy fines to buy plans they can't afford on a website that doesn't work.

He need only return home to Illinois for a rude awakening. He could talk to Adam Weldzius, a nurse practitioner and 33-year-old single father living in Carpentersville.

The Chicago Tribune did and found that if Weldzius wanted to keep the same level of coverage next year as what he has now with the same insurer and the same network of doctors and hospitals as Obama promised he could do, his monthly premium of $233 would more than double.

To keep his premiums at the same level for himself and his 7-year-old daughter, his annual deductible would be $12,700 vs. $3,500 today.

"I believe everybody should be able to have health insurance," Weldzius told the Tribune. "But at the same time, I'm being penalized. And for what?"

Good question, and one unlikely to be asked at the next presidential press conference.

And Weldzius is not alone, for as the Tribune discovered, "21 of the 22 lowest-priced plans offered on the Illinois health insurance exchange for Cook County have annual deductibles of more than $4,000 for an individual and $8,000 for family coverage."

Plans with the least expensive monthly premiums, touted by state and federal officials as proof that the new law will keep costs low for consumers, have deductibles as high as $6,350 for individuals and $12,700 for families such as Weldzius and his daughter.

THE LYING GOP ESTABLISHMENT: Gee, why do they pretend to be conservative when they're running for office?

So the meme circulating today in old media is that a small bunch of Conservative/Tea Party Republicans are disgusted with the Establishment GOP and are ready to splinter away like the fringe group of extremists they are. Yet what is never mentioned is that these old bulls -- these barnacles on the ship of state -- always pretend to be the tiny, fringe group of extremist conservatives when they're running for office.

Let's first visit with Molly Ball at The Atlantic, which is the leftist journal for leftists who love leftism:

The Conservative War on the GOP

What was once an uneasy alliance between Tea Partiers and Republican loyalists is increasingly marked by hostility—and many on the right now want a divorce.

...The recent government shutdown, and the infighting it laid bare between Republican factions, convinced many conservatives that the institutional GOP would rather sell them out than stick up for them. “There are two views on the right. One says more Republicans is better; the other says better Republicans is better,” said Dean Clancy, vice president of public policy for the Tea Party group FreedomWorks. “One view focuses on the number of Republicans in the Senate, the other on the amount of fight in the senators.”

...It will not be possible, Deace predicted, for the two factions to coexist. “This is going to end in divorce,” he said. “One side is going to win control, one side is going to lose, and the losing side will go do something else. There will not be a reunification.”

Perhaps. Perhaps not. What Ball neglects to mention is that this war has been going on since the 1970s, when Ronald Reagan was pilloried for challenging a sitting Republican President in 1976 (Gerald Ford). The GOP establishment despised Reagan and fought him tooth and nail.

What about the loony corporatists at The Wall Street Journal, who never met a big government program they didn't like? Here's Laura Meckler:

Business Voices Frustration With GOP

The budget stalemate that had the U.S. flirting with default has left business and the Republican Party, longtime political allies, at a crossroads.

...Many business executives say they were dismayed that some Republicans didn't heed their warnings that closing the government and risking default would hurt the U.S. economy...

...the conversation among businesses is "characterized by tremendous frustration and angst," said Dirk Van Dongen, president of the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors, a trade group. "Because at the end of the day, the system is supposed to produce results, and the failure to produce results has consequences." ...

...The episode has prompted top business lobby groups, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, to consider taking sides in Republican primaries next year in hopes of replacing tea-party conservatives with more business-friendly pragmatists...

Businesses are frustrated with the GOP? Hell, we're frustrated with the crony capitalists!

And just what the hell is a "Dirk van Dongen"? Oh and hey, Dirk, listen up: when the economy collapses as the country enters a fatal debt spiral, guess what: I don't think it's gonna be good for business.

...Even before the partial shutdown two weeks ago, Republican executives pressing for an immigration overhaul were venting frustration that the full House has been unwilling to consider any immigration legislation, including a bipartisan Senate bill, in the face of opposition from one wing of the party.

Norman Braman, a Miami businessman and GOP donor, said he is asking candidates who solicit campaign contributions for their position on immigration and will be reluctant to support those who don't back a revamp...

"Those of us who have been active and supportive of the party have a duty to express our feelings," he said...

Oh, and I guess we get to express our feelings, too, at least for the moment. Until Dear Leader does away with blogs, talk radio, and Fox News.

And say, Norman: if you're such a big GOP donor, perhaps you can tell me which way millions of low-skilled, largely illiterate workers from third-world countries -- who will be net drains on the taxpayer -- will vote? Here's a clue: it ain't gonna be for the Republicans.

Here's my message for the corporatist, crony capitalist backers of the GOP establishment-types: BRING IT.

These fakers, these losers like John McCain, Kelly Ayotte, and Jeff Flake -- to name but a few -- had to pretend to be conservative to get elected.

See, dummies, we're the real Republicans. We're not pretending to be that which we are not.

You're the charlatans, the fakers, the sellouts, the phonies. Join the damn Democrat Party if you want unbridled centralized government. Because we're having none of it.


Hat tip: BadBlue News.

FreedomWorks Announces: "A Health Care Contract With America"

Guest post by Dean Clancy

For years, FreedomWorks has urged ObamaCare opponents in Congress to enunciate very clearly what they are “for.” 

We've also advocated a series of reform ideas, the top ten of which we are now pulling together into a single, easy-to-understand set of principles.

Here is what FreedomWorks is for:

A Health Care Contract with America

1) Allow everyone to maintain his current health insurance. No exceptions. (And treat everyone the same, including all Members of Congress and government employees.)

2) Allow people to own their own medical insurance and take it with them from job to job.

3) Allow all taxpayers to receive tax deductions for medical expenses, including personal Health Savings Accounts.

4) Allow insurance companies to compete across state lines.

5) Help people with pre-existing medical conditions through significant transitional block grants to states.

6) Provide all citizens advance knowledge of their health care costs (excluding medical emergencies).

7) Provide reasonable maximums for “pain and suffering.”

8) Avert Medicare’s bankruptcy by providing fewer benefits to the wealthy.

9) Allow the elderly and all doctors the choice between private insurance and Medicare.

10) Eliminate first-dollar coverage. Everyone should pay at least something for each medical service.

These principles balance boldness with achievability, injecting much-needed “patient power,” choice, and competition into the system.

It lets people choose whether to have insurance or pay for health care with cash, lets them choose the kind of insurance that actually meets their real needs (including bare bones coverage, if that's what they want), and helps them save for medical expenses without being penalized by the tax code.

(Note that the plan doesn't "throw Grandma over the cliff" -- i.e., fundamentally change Medicare in such a way that the Left can easiliy mischaracterize the reform as "harming" seniors -- nor does it force people to buy health insurance they don’t want or need [ObamaCare's individual mandate].)

If fully implemented, this plan would lower health care costs and improve access to care (as well as reduce the number of uninsured Americans) -- by voluntary rather than coercive means.

We know this reform plan will work, because we know freedom works. 

TAKE ACTION -- HELP SPREAD THE WORD



Hat tip: BadBlue News.

President Obama helpfully warns Americans to stop listening to talk radio and reading blogs

Guest post by Tyler Durden

Fast forward to 5'40" in Obama's speech delivered earlier today.

It is here that he makes the following statement:

"Now that the government has reopened and this threat to our economy is removed, all of us need to stop focusing on the lobbyists, and the bloggers, and the talking heads on radio and the professional activists who profit from conflict, and focus on what the majority of Americans sent us here to do, and that’s grow this economy, create good jobs, strengthen the middle class, educate our kids, lay the foundation for broad-based prosperity and get our fiscal house in order for the long haul."

We will ignore the irony of a president talking about "profiting from conflict" when less than two months ago the world was on the verge of World War III over a fabricated, false flag-driven invasion "confirmed" by YouTube clips, and designed entirely by this administration to further (and profit) its Saudi and Qatari interests, and which was halted in the last minute thanks to none other than the Russian president, and ask: instead of stopping to "focus on bloggers" who merely do the math in a world in which math is long forgotten, let's for one month, week or day, simply halt the Federal Reserve's circular monetary authority which now purchases virtually all issued US Treasurys that carry any duration risk.

We wonder what that would do to interest rates, to the US debt-issuance and deficit-funding machinery, to the already crippled reserve status of the dollar, to the real default threat of a country that has long passed its Minsky Ponzi point, and to the same once great nation that cemented its world-dominance not thanks to a central bank funding a government which has spent in the past 5 years almost as much as in all of its prior history, but due to the encouragement of the entrepreneurial spirit, to minimal government meddling in (and illegal supervision of) all affairs of man and commerce, to allowing not only the reward of success but the risk of failure, and most importantly to allowing capitalism to reign free once again, if only for a brief period of time.

We will not even engage the question of just how much "wealth effect" has been left on the table with the Fed not actively monetizing all US debt in 95 years of its 100 years of existence, and certainly not engage in trite religious sermonizing written by a recently graduated drama major-cum-teleprompter operator.

 

Larwyn's Linx: Advancing. Ever Advancing.

Send us tips! Bloggers: install a Larwyn's Linx widget. Get real-time news, 24/7, at BadBlue.

Nation

Advancing. Ever Advancing.: Erick Erickson
Boehner, McConnell Must Surrender Their Jobs: RWN
Boehner Waves The White Flag: “We Just Didn’t Win”: WZ

The brains behind the Obama shutdown strategy: John Hayward
Ted Cruz: When half of Senate GOP firescannons at House GOP...: Scoop
Tea Party Blasts Boehner "The Senate Deal Is A Complete Sellout": ZH

Pelosi Praises ‘Master at Work’ Reid, ‘Decent Fellow’ Boehner: NRO
Mark Levin explains Obama’s “coup” on the Constitution: CFP
The Tea Party is Both Sensible and Victorious: Keith Koffler

‘The Psychology Of Barack Obama’: Stephen Kruiser
Methinks The Tea-Party Just Went Back On The Warpath: RS
Cory Booker wins New Jersey Senate race: WaPo

Economy

The Problem Isn’t Just Welfare Abuse, it’s the Enablers: Daniel Greenfield
What Rhymes With Cyprus?: Theo Spark
Sarah Palin: If Obama Chooses To Default, He Should Be Impeached: RWN

Only these 18 GOP Senators stood firm and voted against funding Obamacare.: Poor Richard
Obama's Illinois A Case Study In ObamaCare Horrors: IBD
Debt Ceiling Lifted, Obama Shows up with List of Things to Spend On: Stephen Kruiser

Scandal Central

The Presidential Punisher: Mark Meckler
Park Service Director: I Discussed Closing Monuments With White House: Daniel Halper
ATF threatens French-style firing squad for agents who leak secrets: Times

Climate & Energy

Analysis: Greenhouse gases case: SCOTUSblog

Media

President Jackass: Tammy Bruce says ‘hi’ to Obama as only she can: Twitchy
NBC News Ignores President's Refusal to Negotiate: TruthRevolt
Conservative informs low-info voters with impromptu Obamacare tutorial: Twitchy

Is the Obama administration America’s refining fire?: NoisyRm
Why Obamacare is a mess: Chicago Tribune
Are Democrats more extreme than GOP?: Alex Castellanos, CNN

World

Somalia and the Hyena Cure: Daniel Greenfield
CAIR/ISNA Spokeswoman: "Media in the US is very gullible...": Atlas
Role players help troops train for riot control: Killeen Daily Herald

The Continuing Appeal of Marxism: DiploMad
Canada's Jihad Problem: TAB
Canada's Balanced Budget Legislation a Win for Taxpayers: CFP

Sci-Tech

Bloomberg tied to German move to occupy New Jersey ‘smart gun’ market: David Codrea
The first-ever hashtag, @-reply and retweet, as Twitter users invented them: Zachary M. Seward, Quartz

Cornucopia

Josh Hargis: Gravely Wounded, Believed Unconscious, Salutes While Receiving Purple Heart: MagNote
Shutdown Day 16: Veterans, Optics and Barrycades: MOTUS
My Life as a Convicted Gun Offender Who Did Nothing Wrong: Brian D. Aitken

Image: MOTUS
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Matt Bevin for U.S. Senate in Kentucky

QOTD: "The Democrat “victory” is preserving a disaster that’s only going to get worse once more people can log into it and see their sky-high premiums. A party can be bled to death with “wins” like that. Hearings into the disastrous Healthcare.gov launch – a no-bid contract to a firm with cozy Obama connections – should be percolating right along as the midterm elections get under way. Remind voters, at every opportunity, that this is what Democrats shut down the government to protect.

Never stop reminding them about Obama’s Shutdown Theater antics, too. The Republicans didn’t do a good job of keeping our memories of Sequester Theater fresh. The director of the National Park Service just admitted, in congressional testimony, that all those outrageous open-air monument closings were discussed with the White House. If Obama defenders want to trot out the Empty Chair defense, fine: ask how much of this titanic government is operating on a rogue basis, and suggest maybe the President should golf less and manage more. Obama’s perpetual cover-ups and evasions of responsibility should be an anchor around his neck, a card he should never be allowed to play without facing ridicule. A lot of people out there in flyover country – including a lot of the folks who didn’t vote in 2012 – are getting really sick and tired of hearing those buck-never-got-here excuses." --John Hayward

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Mitch McConnell Just Sold the American People Out for a $2 Billion Pork Project in Kentucky #McConnellBribe

Handsome, eloquent, charismatic. Oh, and principled. That's our Mitch McConnell.

A proposal to end the government shutdown and avoid default orchestrated by Republican Leader Mitch McConnell and Democratic Leader Harry Reid includes a $2 billion earmark for a Kentucky project.

Language in a draft of the McConnell-Reid deal (see page 13, section 123) provided to WFPL News shows a provision that increases funding for the massive Olmsted Dam Lock in Louisville from $775 million to nearly $2. 9 billion.

The dam is considered an important project for the state and region in regards to water traffic along the Ohio River.

...Asked about the additional funding in the proposal, McConnell spokesman Robert Steurer directed all questions to lawmakers who worked on the bill directly.

Oh, that clears everything up. I'm sure you have clean hands on this, Mitchie.

Let's get the #McConnellBribe hashtag trending, my friends.


Oh, but Ted Cruz is the extremist.

Folks, here's a heads up from a financial guy I know. Interest rates will soon be returning to their historical mean -- if not higher. Because of the short-dated maturity of our debt (don't ask about that particular insanity, just work with me here), our debt service levels will basically quadruple when that happens.

The system is a few years away from this -- best case.

Instead of holding together his caucus and patiently explaining the situation we're in, McConnell hides in the shadows, sends John McCain and Olympia Snowe out to do his dirty work, and essentially props up Barack Obama.

Mitch McConnell was just outsmarted by Valerie Jarrett. Which tells you everything you need to know about him.

Oh, but the can got kicked for few more months. Awesome.

We're walking right up to the cliff and GOP leaders don't seem to care a bit.

Maybe they're part of this fundamental transformation we keep hearing about.

There is a gathering storm of conservatism fueled by math, logic, reason and history.

McConnell is a complete sellout.

There is a gathering storm of conservatism fueled by Americans.

McConnell needs to go.

There is a gathering storm of conservatism and November is coming.

November is coming, Mitch, you pathetic hackysack.


If you've had enough, support Matt Bevin for U.S. Senate in Kentucky

WaPo Idiots: Gee, the Healthcare.gov site would've worked better if the private sector had more involvement

Do these people realize how idiotic they sound? They're slamming the construction of the central Obamacare website because it was built by a monolithic, authoritarian, centralized leviathan instead of lean, agile, efficient private sector entities?

Did they ever stop to consider this website is Obamacare in microcosm?

...it's clear that the site itself isn't well constructed: IT professionals told the Wall Street Journal that in addition to specific pieces not working, the whole thing was "built on a sloppy software foundation," potentially due to the haste with which code was written. Slate described just how difficult it is to coordinate multiple contractors creating different components of a complex Web portal.

Evan Burfield, who founded the relatively small company that worked with CGI to build Recovery.gov, says the problem lies more in a federal procurement apparatus that makes it nearly impossible for an agile newcomer to bid on projects that in the private sector would take much less time and money. Plus, with so many contractors, everyone could technically fulfill the requirements in their statement of work, and the thing can still not work in the end.

"If it had been a $4 million Web site, it would've had higher likelihood of being a success," Burfield says. "It's not just CGI. It's any collection of government contractors, if you put them together, will find a way to put together something complex enough to justify $400 million."

Oh, and this is the best part: your brilliant federal government hired a foreign company that outsources IT jobs to India to create a complete clusterbungle of a website that only collects your most personal and private data.

This, my friends, is the Democrat Party in action.


Hat tip: BadBlue News.

The Tea Party is Both Sensible and Victorious

Guest post by Keith Koffler

I realize that sounds quite delusional to many people, particularly here in Washington. But it makes total, absolute sense.

The muttering class Inside the Beltway is very pleased with itself: The doomed Tea Party strategy is foundering on the shoals of idiocy, just like they said it would. The Republican “brand” has been downgraded yet again. America looks foolish abroad: “The world has reacted mostly with disbelief that a superpower could fall into such dysfunction,” wrote the New York Times today. Reasonable people will soon be back in charge so they can do reasonable things in a reasonable way without all these Tea Party lunatics stirring up trouble.

Let me tell all of you something:

THIS COUNTRY IS ALREADY IN A STATE OF TOTAL DYSFUNCTION, AND HAS BEEN FOR YEARS.

A state of dysfunction, mind you, brought to you by the “reasonable” people who have been striking deals for years that have created $17 trillion in debt and a possibly irreversible degree of Socialism that is lobotomizing our tradition of independent thinking and creativity, crippling free enterprise, and carving the soul out of the moral, God-fearing ethic that has made this nation the greatest on earth.

You’ll see them all on the Sunday talk shows, concurring solemnly with each other about the need to avoid such shenanigans again so our system can resume functioning in a normal manner.

But as you and I know, “normal” has become a state of somnolence in which our leaders steadily sleepwalk us into the abyss.

We are adding new entitlements, even as the old ones are tens of trillions of dollars in debt. That’s right, tens of trillions. That’s what it will cost to make sure our children get the same Medicare and Social Security benefits their grandparents are enjoying.

We have begun a vast new economic arrangement, Obamacare, imposed by one ruling Party on the entire nation, that will ensure our children will one day die needlessly from a ruined health care delivery system and that will invite the federal government into countless aspects of our lives.

The “crisis” that would ensue if we breach the debt ceiling is not something caused by the Tea Party. It is a manifestation of the crisis that already exists. WE ARE ALREADY UNABLE TO PAY OUR BILLS WITHOUT THE HELP OF COMMUNIST CHINESE BUREAUCRATS. WAKE UP AMERICA!

That’s all the Tea Party is saying to people. That’s all that’s happening here. The economic chaos and harm that might ensue if there is breach of the debt ceiling is no more than a preview of the meltdown that is on the way once all the bills catch up with us and once the U.S. has declined to the point that the savages replace us as the world’s preeminent economic and military power.

Man’s ability to ignore uncomfortable truths and live in a preferred reality is remarkable. People spend years avoiding problems they know will cause them great harm down the road. But when it’s the government, this tendency is multiplied. No one really is responsible, and everyone will simply point the finger at someone else when things collapse and then go out and campaign for reelection as the only ones who can “fix” things.

The Tea Party, with its willingness to demand a stop to this freak show by shuttering the government and halting debt payments, is revolutionary, but not radical. Because sometimes revolutionary action is the reasonable course. The Tea Party is no more radical than were our Founding Fathers, who also staged a revolution when there was no other choice.

Summarizing some polling data, the Wall Street Journal today presents a picture of who the Tea Party regulars are:

Many frustrated liberals, and not a few pundits, think that people who share these beliefs must be downscale and poorly educated. The New York Times survey found the opposite. Only 26% of tea-party supporters regard themselves as working class, versus 34% of the general population; 50% identify as middle class (versus 40% nationally); and 15% consider themselves upper-middle class (versus 10% nationally). Twenty-three percent are college graduates, and an additional 14% have postgraduate training, versus 15% and 10%, respectively, for the overall population. Conversely, only 29% of tea-party supporters have just a high-school education or less, versus 47% for all adults.

Many tea-party supporters are small businessmen who see taxes and regulations as direct threats to their livelihood. Unlike establishment Republicans who see potential gains from government programs such as infrastructure funding, these tea partiers regard most government spending as a deadweight loss. Because many of them run low-wage businesses on narrow margins, they believe that they have no choice but to fight measures, such as ObamaCare, that reduce their flexibility and raise their costs—measures to which large corporations with deeper pockets can adjust.

In other words, the Tea Party is comprised of SENSIBLE PEOPLE hoping to restore some sense to the nonsense prevailing in Washington. They have come to the conclusion that, faced with a president who wants nothing but to expand government and a Congress unable to impose the thorough restructuring necessary to save the union, extraordinary measures are needed.

And, with tears in my eyes as I write this, I tell you, I don’t know if they will ever succeed. I don’t know if good people with the values that would save this country can withstand the monumental, grinding combined force of a government that sucks the life from the nation so it can itself live and a population that has grown habituated to the guarantee that other people’s money will be – and must be – provided to them.

But the people comprising this movement are right to give it a try. Surprising things do happen. And what other alternative is there?

The Tea Party is making a stand. The pundits will say, if legislation reopening the government and raising the debt limit passes, that the Tea Party has been defeated today. But to the extent conservatives have revived a movement, drawn attention to the problem, and even forced a president with his eye on the next deadline into negotiations, there will be victory in defeat.

 
Visit White House Dossier for more of Keith Koffler.

Larwyn's Linx: Fantastic -- Rep. Tom McClintock On The Debt Limit And The Constitution

Send us tips! Bloggers: install a Larwyn's Linx widget. Get real-time news, 24/7, at BadBlue.

Nation

Rep. Tom McClintock On The Debt Limit And The Constitution: HayRide
Halloween Mitch: Only Tricks, No Treats: Daniel Horowitz
The Grand Old Punching Bag Party: LI

Bridge Burning and Bridge Building: Erick Erickson
Obamacare website firm's execs had White House access: Richard Pollock
Irony: Obama: I refuse to enroll in Obamacare: Poor Richard

Media: Tea Party Is Racist, Evil, Should Die!: Ben Shapiro
Where is the rest of Terry McAuliffe’s dirty Joseph Caramadre money?: RS
Cory Booker never lived in Newark: He's a Liar!: RWN

Economy

Exempt from ObamaCare? Have fun proving it -- or finding out: Ed Morrissey
11,588,500 Words: Obamacare Regs 30x as Long as Law: CNS
Food Stamp Crooks Ransack Wal-Mart: RWN

Obama: I Will Crash Economy Unless I Get Everything I Want: Publius
How bad is the Obamacare signup mess?:So bad we can't even tell yet: Lott
Foodstamp Program Shutdown Imminent?: ZH

Scandal Central

Illegal Alien Heads Obamacare Navigator Program: James R. Edwards Jr.
WaPo Publishes Obama's Letter to Federal Employees, But Edits it for Tone: WS
Riot cop 4314 takes nightstick to elderly vet: FAM

Media

Gohmert: We would be caving on amnesty right now if we hadn’t changed the focus to Obamacare: Scoop
What Media Bias? News Report Says Obama OFA a ‘Non-partisan Voter Advocacy Group’: JWF
Salon Poses A Question Every One Of Its Writers Should Ask Themselves Daily: Stephen Kruiser

CBS News: Maybe Obama should just raise the debt limit on his own: Scoop
Megyn Kelly shows MSNBC’s president who’s boss: BPR
Huffington Haul Detailed In AOL Internal Memo: TSG

Daily Kos Obamabot piping mad about her insurance premiums doubling: Poor Richard
TruthRevolt's Shapiro: We're Watching 'The Bugs Bunny Media at Work': TruthRevolt
Yes, the White House loves this shutdown…and would be wise not to gloat about it in public: David Freddoso

Obama’s OFA’s Imagery Takes A Dark Turn: RightSphere
Another OFA Flop: Around 2 Dozen Protesters Show Up For OFA Anti-’TeaTard’ Rally: Nice Deb
Bullying? I'll Show You Bullying : MB

World

UK Police Thwart Copy Cat Mall Attack: Jawa
Homeland Insecurity Alert: Dry Ice and Dry Runs: Michelle Malkin
British Muslim Leader: In An “Ideal World” Gays Would Be Executed: WZ

Sci-Tech

NSA said to collect millions of e-mail address books, chat lists: Steven Musil, CNet
Why did Healthcare.gov's source code mysteriously vanish from public view?: Greg Sandoval
Snowden's Work History Prompts Debate Over Surveillance of Cleared Personnel: Aliya Sternstein, Mashable

Cornucopia

A long way home with help from Google Earth: GoogleBlog
King George III Has a Sorrowful Revelation: iOTW
Chicago man to Harvard: Pay more for rare papers or I’ll burn them: Sun-Times

Image: Valerie Jarrett 'was the architect of Obama's handling of the shutdown...[told] him not to negotiate'
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: HEY, NEW JERSEY: IT'S SHOW-TIME!

QOTD:

Find Your Representative, call them, and tell them to HOLD THEIR GROUND

"Twelve million Americans may or may not be exempt from ObamaCare. They may or may not have to prove it through the disastrous ObamaCare exchanges. Whether they are or not, the systems aren’t ready to provide them a path to claim that exemption — and it may be weeks or months before the exempt can register...

...this would seem to be a rather big problem, especially since the federal government will sic the IRS on the non-compliant. In fact, even HHS and the IRS aren’t going to be terribly clear on who qualifies, as the complexity of the law and the exemptions make it a difficult point to discern...

...Meanwhile, HHS ally Enroll America is trying to put a positive spin on the intrusive nature of the government-mandated health-insurance regime … by applying the Nancy Pelosi spin... You don’t know what’s in the program until you enter the program! Yes, that sounds familiar, but not in a positive way. Unfortunately, consumers can’t even get into the program at the moment, and it looks like it will take them a long, long time before they can find out whether they’re allowed to opt out of it, too." --Ed Morrissey