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March 27, 2009
What Kind of World are We Living In?
Hold on to your hats and shotguns. The world gets more off track by the minute.
Not only is the Obama administration considering releasing Guantanamo detainees into America, but the government would offer them aid and assistance in order to succeed in America.
That's right; not only will committed killers be allowed to walk our streets, but we'll be giving them taxpayer money - which of course includes taxes paid by families who had relatives killed on 9/11 - so these terrorists can resettle in America. Never mind resettling; its more like build bombs and kill Americans, using our own money to fund it.
Also, the Obama administration is inviting Iran - along with Russia and China - to a conference on Afghanistan. Obama just doesn't get it, does he?
Scott Johnson from Powerline commented on the VDH article I posted about a few days ago. Entitled "Why I am Depressed", he discusses how his despair comes from having a CIC who is a fool, a tyro, who thinks his silky tongue can solve the ills of the world, who is willing to give our advantage away without any concessions or effort from the other side, who thinks that the hate of the mullahs of Iran derives from President Bush's coarseness, rather than from a fervent dedication to a hostile ideology.
Johnson is right, in that Obama is the biggest threat to our safety because of the power he now wields, and that in and of itself is sufficient grounds for despair. It is one thing for a fool to yell from the sidelines, but another thing entirely when he is the coach of the team. One has power to change things, the other only has enough power to yell and distract, and he can be ejected to boot; not so when he is the leader of the team, calling the plays.
These latest announcements that lay bare the intentions of the administration only add more fuel to the pyre of despair. We must persevere, get to the other side; delay the implementation of these ruinous policies by calling members of Congress, writing to local papers, attending tea parties. Give Congress reason to pause before implementing every little whim of the Obama administration. Let's buy America some time to recover.
UPDATE: The Weekly Standard has an article about welfare for terrorists here.
Posted by hanyap at 10:21 AM | Comments (0)
March 25, 2009
Brilliant!
Excellent dressing down of Gordo Brown by one of England's MP's, while Brown was visiting the EU parliament. This kind of oratory skill is almost entirely absent in America, and members of Congress who would directly challenge Obama in such a manner number a handful.
The GOP need to push Obama, push the Dems, give no quarter! Nothing less than the future of republican government in America is at stake!
But for now, enjoy!
Posted by hanyap at 9:04 AM | Comments (0)
March 24, 2009
Cartoon
A cartoon that's too close for reality but very clever; from Sean Delonas published in the Post.
For a bit of 'do as I say, not as I do', here's a nice story about how Congress, who put $4 billion of pork into the spending bill and is lambasting AIG execs for taking $165 million in contractually agreed upon bonuses, decided that 'sacrificing' didn't apply to them; they invited high rolling donors to resorts in Florida for a bit of one-on-one time. Taxpayers supposedly didn't foot the bill for the jaunt, but what ever happened to 'appearances'? While the taxpayer skimps and scrounges and our children are doomed to be in debt, the default pay hike for Congress is still in effect and they're courting big donors without a care in the world, it seems. I wonder how they all got down to Florida... by bicycle, I presume? I'm sure AIG employees weren't invited, although many there have been huge fans of Senators in the past. I wonder if Angelo (formerly of Countrywide), was invited?
Would you like some coffee with that hypocrisy doughnut, Senator Dodd?
Posted by hanyap at 5:18 PM | Comments (0)
March 22, 2009
Good Essay
VDH has posted a terrific entry at PajamasMedia entitled, "Thoughts about Depressed Americans".
VDH notices that the American mood has gone sharply down and sheds light on the root causes; in my opinion he's spot on. With the Obama manufactured deficit far worse than he predicted - over a trillion a year more and between $9 trillion and $11 trillion by 2019 (depending on who you believe) - it's hard to be optimistic. Combine that with the clown car going over the cliff that is the Obama cabinet (read Geithner, Bernake still at the helm et al), and people are frantic.
Other causes? The decline of confidence in one's word and in agreements. VDH points out that Obama's assertion that the economy will grow at 4.6 percent simply cannot be true given our current situation and indicators. Add to this a group of tax cheats and Bernanke, who once said dropping helicopter loads of money would help deflation and is there any question why we are depressed?
But perhaps the most corrosive element in the current environment is the attitude of the President himself. From lavish weekly parties to regularly not wearing a coat and tie; from reporting to the Oval Office late in the morning to numerous appearances on chat shows (Leno, 60 Minutes, etc)... from cracks about the Special Olympics to giving our closest ally DVDs that don't work, Obama has tarnished the image of the office of the Presidency. His appearances on shows makes it appear he's still campaigning, instead of taking his new job seriously. His crass remarks are not becoming of a President, and neither is turning up the heat to sauna level and having a laissez faire attitude about being President. Numerous 'town hall' style stops reinforce the notion that he is out of touch (Air Force One costs something like $40,000 an hour to run), and that he doesn't appreciate the difficulties common folk are having, while expensive and lavish cocktail parties and dinners for political friends seems more appropriate in a frat house instead of the White House.
We have become a joke, really; the most cultured and elegant man to ever grace the office (pardon me while I gag), has made piker moves, too numerous to mention and we're only two months in. You hope he gets better, you really do, because we're Americans and his actions supposedly reflect on us, but he doesn't appear to really appreciate the gravity and responsibility of the job.
As Mr. Man and I often say to one another, we are living in upside down world, where hard work is disparaged, style trumps substance and politics has merged with celebrity.
Posted by hanyap at 11:20 AM | Comments (0)
March 21, 2009
Nero
It reads like a hyperbole filled political thriller.
A country faces dire circumstances... its about to lose its top spot in the world, economic worries plague the citizens, enemies appear to be gaining force while their leader is occupying his time with things that can be called 'unimportant' at best.
Script for a movie? I wish it was. Welcome to the almost two month mark of Obama's presidency. So what does that mean?
While the market was declining rapidly, it has recently made some gains; gains that many believe is a 'bear rally'- a rally during a recession as people take profit, make deals, buy bargains. Today its down over a hundred points, furthering the impression that the uptick will be a blip in an otherwise down market.
Meanwhile Obama's - or should I say Nero's - mantra seems to be 'Do what you want to do', including continuing the tradition of cocktail parties on Wednesdays. Funny, President Bush was lambasted several times for outward displays of celebration while 'a war is going on'. And if President Bush had thanked himself, that video would be played ad nauseum by the MSM.
Obama was on ESPN picking the NCAA Final Four. He signed a book deal for $500,000 just before he took office, and he's bumping American Idol next Tuesday so he can have a little chat with all of us on Prime Time. He's talking about illegal immigration 'reform', stirring up people to continue hating capitalists and AIG, and may use various tactics to get health care through without the previously requisite super majority. Although 'reconciliation' has been used sporadically during the forty years its been around, it has never been using to implement such sweeping changes in public policy like cap and trade. Oh yeah, and he's on a commencement speech kick; I guess he got over that 'tired' feeling that caused him to be so rude to Gordon Brown.
Private sector unemployment is up (8.1%), but the jobs Obama is creating are for the public sector, and he and the Dems support eliminating the union secret ballot. Things are being dismantled left and right, contract law is being torn up and Obama keeps piling it on, piling it on... including appointing a minister of culture. I'm serious.
Yet he has time to joke about his bowling skills being Special Olympics like during his chat with Leno.
I asked what this means... actually, I'll tell you what this means. It means no one is at the wheel. This contrived AIG BS, Dodd and Geithner changing their stories every other day about when they knew about the bonuses, the Fed printing up $1.2 trillion to buy back Treasuries... it's like a free for all, a pillow fight in a tween dorm room.
I would be able to enjoy this list of Obama-Biden gaffes if things weren't so deathly serious. Obama believes sucking up to the mullahs in Iran is okay, even though they kill bloggers. That's right; his silver tongue can woo even the most dyed-in-the-wool Islamists. Can an olive branch to bin Laden be far behind? Perhaps Obama can hand deliver it to a former Guantanamo detainee before he heads to Pakistan.
So much is coming at us all at once as you can see; its difficult to track. We're being assaulted on all sides and the American fabric is being rent, little by little, bit by bit, until nothing will remain of it but tatters. The only thing we can do, since elections are over a year away, is to speak up. Send tea bag tags to members of Congress, write your local paper, join your local conservative or libertarian group, donate if you can... we need to push back before this tsunami overcomes us.
Posted by hanyap at 9:32 AM | Comments (0)
March 16, 2009
House of Cards and Other Things...
First off, condolences to Ron Silver's family and friends, who are mourning his passing yesterday from cancer. Roger L. Simon posted a touching tribute to Silver on his page at PajamasMedia. Like Silver, Simon is a 9/11 Republican, and also like Silver, has paid for his conversion. So much for open-minded Hollywood.
I admired Silver's honesty about his conversion, and how he refused to hide it and even went so far as to speak (very effectively I might add), at the 2004 Republican Convention. Simon, Mamet and Silver are decent enough people to admit a change of heart and brave enough to face the derision and blacklisting that go along with it as a result. Silver was an excellent actor and the entertainment industry is poorer for his absence, and the cause of liberty was dealt a huge blow with his passing, as it lost an eloquent and passionate defender yesterday. He will be missed. You can read the NY Times Obit here.
Mr. Man and I just returned from visiting his relatives in Houston; while there, we went to Johnson Space Centre and I finally got to see my beloved Saturn V! I'll post pics and details once I download the shots. I'm currently studying for my final so the pics might not be posted until later this week.
On the political front, Obama's unanimous support in the MSM seems to be eroding. First the NY Daily News is wondering whether Obama is up to it (and that's being kind) and now Pew is seeing the same erosion that Rasmussen began to report on last week, where Obama's disapproval is rising while his approval is declining; his approval number is now 59% and sliding.
People are also becoming more outspoken about their anger at outrageous spending. Ohio saw a 4,000 strong tea party over the weekend; seeing such a large crowd rally in a closely mixed state like Ohio is heartening!
Not that I want to scare anyone, but I want to impress on people the dire situation we will be in if we get government run health care.
Some sobering stories from Britain (and these are by no means the only ones... if you read the UK press, you'll see new stories nearly every day)...
A 19-year old was ignored repeatedly by doctors as he complained of problems and suffered from anaemia; he died and an autopsy uncovered a 4 lb tumour in his chest and other tumours in his neck and skull.
A NHS trust hospital is facing allegations that poor treatment caused the unnecessary deaths of between 400 and 1200 people in a three year period. An additional twelve hospitals are facing investigations into similar allegations. The criticisms are broad reaching and include charges that vital equipment was missing, conditions were filthy and staff were poorly trained.
Is this the kind of 'better health care' that we want?
Posted by hanyap at 5:37 PM | Comments (0)
March 7, 2009
Common Sense Reasons to Reject Government Run Health Care (and other stories)
There are a lot of people excited at the prospect of someone else picking up their tab for health care, but the proposition is anything but 'free', if you think through it. There are strings attached, more like chains, really, that everyone should consider.
1. You are giving control of your health to bureaucrats. By having the government run health care, they are naturally in the decision making process. The stimulus bill has provisions in there for a committee to review the cost benefit of treatments, and that's just the beginning .
2. Everyone shares the cost of providing health care for everyone else. That means if John Smith down the street is a chain smoker and sky dives on the weekends, you're paying for the results of his behaviour. Broken bones, surgeries, what have you... it doesn't matter. If you're paying taxes you're subsidising their lifestyle.
3. The government hasn't responsibly run any programme it has had control over. If it's bad with non-vital things like education, why would you give them control over life and death?
4. There is no one to go to if things turn sour. Right now, if you're wronged by your insurance company you can sue and potentially receive compensation. When you give control over health care to government, there is no one 'over them'; they are the final arbiter. Sue the Federal government for not giving you a drug you want? Good luck. You might eventually win a concession, but will you be alive to enjoy it?
5. Many other government controlled health care systems world wide are in turmoil. Some support going outside the system to pay for services (in Australia you can also hold private insurance), while in others (like Canada), you can't (this is why Canadians come here and pay cash). Are we just going to hope we get the former rather than the latter? The cards seem to indicate that the government wants total control over everything from deciding on treatments (one size fits all), determining available treatments/drugs (based on cost, among other factors like age) to whether doctors are adequately following government 'guidelines'. Doesn't look like choice is going to be in the cards...
There's a lot of other things going on, and I will touch on a few of them.
American Thinker makes a convincing argument that Obama is in essence following the communist party USA road map for change (things like a moratorium on evictions and creating public works projects). Apparently the CPUSA have their panties in a bunch over the 'new era' that Obama is ushering in. It will make any freedom loving American SICK.
Also in the news this week was the embarrassing way he treated Gordon Brown during a state visit. Personally, I think Brown is a snake, but he is a representative of the British people and the Queen, and he should have been treated well. Instead the customary press conference wasn't scheduled until Brown pleaded, and while Obama was presented with a first edition of Sir Martin Gilbert's biography of Churchill, a hand crafted desk set made from timbers of a British ship that performed anti-slavery missions and commissioning papers for the HMS Resolute, which we freed from ice when it was trapped, Obama's gifts were less... creative. Brown received some DVDs, although they were picked out at Obama's request by the AFI. (Yes, but were they for the correct region?) Many members in the British press are howling at the treatment and rightly so.
By the way, if you're so inclined, here is the list of gifts President Bush received in 2006.
Isn't it just hysterical that Tim Geithner and the Feds want to crack down on offshore 'tax havens'? Perhaps they should concentrate on people here - particularly the politician class, which seems to be the most seriously afflicted - paying their taxes properly? Perhaps the tax code should be simplified, so that it is easier and doesn't require a vast retinue of IRS workers to verify returns?
Many self-described 'moderates' who were won over by Obama's vast charms are having second thoughts, among them David Brooks from the New York Times and Christopher Buckley. Too little too late, you dolts; your arrogance played a part in this whole tragedy and all of America is paying a terrible price.
Tony Blankley has a terrific op-ed in the Washington Times, called "Obama lied the economy died". What a nice turn of phrase!
It's nice to know that while most of America is watching their retirement shrink by HALF, Obama has a party Wednesday every week. Previous shindigs have included Earth, Wind and Fire playing and $100/lb wagyu beef steaks. "Let them eat bread!", sayeth Obama.
George Will has a good piece in Newsweek as well, debunking the sweater factory story that FDR spread during his tenure, as a way of justifying his actions.
Mr.Man and I went to see "The Watchmen" last night. My brother and I read the graphic novel series when we were younger and I couldn't believe they were making it into a movie. The graphic novel - and the movie - are not for kids, or even young teens, but it is a terrific movie, and very true to the novel. The characters were perfectly cast, especially Rorschach and Nite Owl... heck, the whole movie was great and time passed rather quickly, despite it being nearly 2 hours and 40 minutes. It's not your conventional super-hero story - only one of the characters truly has super hero powers - and the interactions between characters and how the stories are interwoven is truly terrific. If you don't mind blood and gore, particularly bad guys getting it, and a little sex, then go see this movie. You will be blown away because top to bottom - special effects, casting, dialogue, sets - its fantastic.
UPDATE:
Glenn Beck interviewed the President of the communist party USA last week; he pulled no punches. Transcript is here with a link to view the actual video.
Posted by hanyap at 3:06 PM | Comments (0)