Obsessive Blogger Still Obsessed

First thing after reading a less than 'Meh' review of Sarah Palin's book*, Andrew Sullivan's thoughts naturally turn to what really matters. Is Trig really Sarah's baby?

He was threatened with his job if he kept asking specifically about Trig. But that doesn't keep him from asking about Trig from a round about angle. Like 'asking questions' about hospital records.

I've emailed [Adam Bellow at Harper Collins] asking him about the fact-checking process for "Going Rogue." Getting an on-the-record confirmation that, for example, Harper Collins reviewed the medical records proving Palin's multiple medical stories (including corrected hospital records by her own account) would be a useful piece of information. [emphasis mine]

Shorter Sully: Is Trig really the birth son of Sarah Palin?

Even shorter answer: Yes.

Follow up: Are you sure?

Retort: Even without looking at the records. Yes.

*The one line summery of the review: I still have hopes for Sarah Palin, provided she starts listening to what I have to say. Credit for the line goes to Joshua Livestro.

From The "Stick A Fork In Him, He's Done" Department

Earlier today, someone shot four police officers at a coffee shop. It was obvious that they were the intended targets for the shooter. Sad as that is, knowing that it could have been avoided only compounds upon that. The shooter in question was pardoned by Mike Huckabee when he was Governor of Arkansas.

I think it's safe to say that Huckabee's chances in 2012 went from 'Less Than Likely' to 'Snowball's Chance In Hell'.

Seeing how Huck was a former minister, I can kind of see his point in the pardon. Almost.

As minister, he should reach out to those in prison and offer then the hope of redemption found in the Bible.

As governor, he needed to recognize that they were dangerous men that needed to behind bars.

As minister, he should be willing to offer second chances to people who previously thought they didn't need God's Word.

As governor, second chances often leads to recidivism.

Huck blurred his job responsibilities and now four police officers are dead.

MORE: Stacy McCain has more here and in The Greenroom.

If Only W. Would Have Taken That Pledge

Liberals like to hiss and scream at George W. Bush as if he was Emmanuel Goldstein. But W. has done more to reach across the isle in the name of 'Working Together' than anything John 'Maverick' McCain has done in the past.

• Medicare Part D.
• No Child Left Behind.
• Kept intact many of the appointees made by Clinton.
• TARP.

And thats for starters.

Pledge via Cassy and be sure to enjoy her rightfully calling a stupid moderate dumb.

The Ultimate in Mash Ups

I know it's not the usual Star Trek mash up -- in fact, I don't think I saw a single Trek clip in there -- but this is a better tune than anything Lady Gaga has done.

Two Notes About Health Care

First, from the Cato Institute:

Congressional Democrats are using several budget gimmicks to disguise the cost of their health care overhaul, claiming the House and Senate bills would cost only (!) about $1 trillion over 10 years. Now that critics have begun to correct for those budget gimmicks, supporters of ObamaCare are firing back.

One gimmick makes the new entitlement spending appear smaller by not opening the spigot until late in the official 10-year budget window (2010–2019). Correcting for that gimmick in the Senate version, Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH) estimates, “When all this new spending occurs” — i.e., from 2014 through 2023 — “this bill will cost $2.5 trillion over that ten-year period.”
[. . .]
When we correct for both gimmicks, counting both on- and off-budget costs over the first 10 years of implementation, the total cost of ObamaCare reaches — I’m so sorry about this — $6.25 trillion. That’s not a precise estimate. It’s just far closer to the truth than President Obama and congressional Democrats want the debate to be. [Emphasis mine]

Be sure to read the entire posting.

And when Congress and The President seem hell bent on dragging America into a United Kingdom style of health insurance take over, the United Kingdom is flirting with the idea of privatizing their system:

[. . .]Who needs a Dignitas clinic when you can check into a hospital in Basildon and be relatively certain to be taken out in a box?

It is a further achievement of our monitoring, regulating culture that even the monitors and the regulators don't seem to have a clue how bad things are – or they certainly didn't in Basildon. This exposes one of the great pretences of the NHS: that it is there first and foremost for the benefit of patients. It isn't. It exists these days mostly for the benefit of various trade unionists who are fully paid-up members of the Brown clientele, and who earn good money as petty bureaucrats trying to "manage" things that, if they need to be managed at all, could be far better done by fewer people in much more efficient systems.
[. . .]
There is a solution, but it would really put out of joint the noses of the clientele. When a hospital fails in the way that the Basildon and Thurrock Trust has, it should be turned over immediately to a private-sector hit squad to sort it out.

Both links via Instapundit.

I Like What Cassy Has To Say And Am Interested In Her Newsletter

"Let’s say that I were to suddenly decide to follow the feminist line of thinking. I believe in the Second Amendment. And unlike so-called “women’s rights”, the right to bear arms actually is in the Constitution. Therefore, I think that all guns should be taxpayer funded, because it’s my right".

Completely unrelated except that it's from Cassy's blog. The man who has earned so much for doing so little receives a Black Belt for. . . maybe having seen a Bruce Lee movie in the past or something? For the vomit inducing goodness.

Oh Dear

With the election of the first Post-Racial President we now have the highest record level of debt.

It's another record-high for the U.S. National Debt which today topped the $12-trillion mark. Divided evenly among the U.S. population, it amounts to $38,974.34 for every man, woman and child.

Technically, the debt hit the new high yesterday, but it was posted on the Treasury Department website just after 3:00 p.m. ET today. The exact calculation of the debt is a 16-digit tongue-twister and red-ink tsunami: $12,031,299,186,290.07

This latest milestone in the ever-rising journey of the National Debt comes less than eight months after it hit $11 trillion for the first time. The latest high-point is not unexpected, considering the federal deficit for the just-ended 2009 fiscal year hit an all-time high at $1.42-trillion – more than triple the previous year's record high.

Not to worry, Turbo Tax Tim Geithner has a plan.

The new debt number adds urgency to Treasury Department calls on Congress to quickly raise the statutory limit on the National Debt which now stands at $12.104 trillion. The debt ceiling was last raised in February as part of the $787 billion Recovery Act stimulus bill.

I can't figure out this last line. It's as if Obama is lying his ass off and expects to have a complacent media go along with it like a bunch of schmucks or if he is flat plain dumb.

Mr. Obama has said he hopes the health care plan pending in Congress will serve to curb the growth in the debt by reducing the amount government spends on health care

There is one way that will happen. Rationing of health care. Both the House and Senate versions of the bill are expanding entitlements, which will lead to greater costs, not less. It's almost as if Barack Obama is trying to make sex with the American people.

[All emphasis mine in the quotes]

Cross posted at The Richmond Liberty Alliance Blog.

Sunday Morning LOLz

It's a sad day when Saturday Night Live can criticize the policies of Barack Obama better than the alphabet networks. Cash for Clunkers gets called out? Check. Expansion of Health Care? Check. The fact that the US owes China a butt load of debt? Check. Obscure reference to Pulp Fiction? Checkmate.



And to be fair, President George W. Bush helped with the debt. In fact, I think it's safe to say that without W., the Tea Parties would not have happened. Thank you, W. For being that catalyst.

Linked by The Daily Gator.

It's Started Tonight

The Government plan to takeover health insurance was voted on in the Senate today. Technically, it was a vote to start arguments on the bill. But seeing how it was voted on 60 - 39 to bring it to the floor to debate, chances are it will pass.



Now is the time to call your Senators and Representatives and let them know they need to kill the bill. Not just kill the bill, nuke it from orbit. If for the only reason the way that Harry Reid is flat out buying votes to get it to pass.

Then it's time to get involved at your local level, form a coalition and vote the bastards out of office.

Friday Night With The Man In Black

Caption Contest

Image credit here. Thanks to Jim Treacher for the link.

Friday, Let Your Voice Be Heard.

At the offices of Mark Warner and James Webb. Harry Reid is planning on bringing up a vote on the Health Care Bill this Saturday. This Friday, make Webb and Warner think twice before voting for it.

As for the where and when:

Healthcare Protest Tomorrow - Noon-2pm. We hope to have a continuous chain of people between Webb's office at 507 E. Franklin and Warner's new office at 919 E. Main St.

If this helps, SEIU has a list of words that they use in trying to control the dialog. Words to use and words to avoid. Seeing how SEIU wants health-care that runs with all the efficiency as the DMV, look at the list and use the words avoid.

Reposted in full from the email:

Top-Line Facts:

• Budget Gimmicks: Whereas the taxes associated with the Reid (Senate) health care reform bill would start in 2010, the provision of health care benefits would not begin until 2014. In a ruse to make it appear that the tax revenues and costs associated with the bill balance, the government plans to collect taxes for each of the first ten years, but only provide services for the last six of those years.


• Spending: The cost of the bill is $2.5 trillion over 10 years of full implementation (2014-2023).


• Taxes Increases: Taxes will go up $493.6 billion—nearly half a trillion dollars.


• Medicare Cuts: Medicare will be cut $464.6 billion—another half a trillion dollars.


• Total Number of Pages: 2074


• Abortion: The bill permits the use of accounting gimmicks that will, for the first time, allow federal dollars to go to plans covering abortion. The bill does not include the Stupak language, and as a result, National Right to Life describes the Reid bill language as “completely unacceptable” and said it would “result in coverage of abortion on demand in two big new federal government programs.”


• Government Plan: The bill includes a government run plan and provides states with the possibility of opting out of participating in that plan. According to CBO, the government run plan “would typically have premiums that were somewhat higher than the average premiums for the private plans in the exchanges.”


• Employer Mandate: The bill will impose $28 billion in new taxes on employers that do not provide government approved health plans. These new taxes will ultimately be paid by American workers in the form of reduced wages and lost jobs.

Additional CBO Background:

• The bill would bend the federal cost-curve up. CBO says, “Under the legislation, federal outlays for health care would increase during the 2010–2019 period, as would the federal budgetary commitment to health care.” The coverage expansion would drive a net increase in government spending on health by $160 billion over 10 years.


• CBO scored the bill as reducing the deficit by $130 billion over FYs 2010-2019.

o However, CBO notes that the bill includes two budget gimmicks that hide the true cost of the bill. Doctors are assumed to get a 23 percent cut in 2011 which would carry into subsequent years. Fixing the SGR would cost $247 billion. Additionally, the CLASS Act generates $72 billion over the budget window, but later turns to deficits. Eliminating these two gimmicks means the bill would be $189 billion in the red. It would also put the real cost of the bill over a trillion dollars.

• The start dates for the individual mandate, exchanges, and employer penalties were all moved from July 1, 2013, to January 1, 2014.

o This is another budget gimmick to hide the true cost of the bill.

• 24 million people would be left without insurance.


• Unfunded mandates on the states: The bill mandates that states spend an additional $25 billion in Medicaid expenditures.


• Taxes on uninsured individuals would total $8 billion.


• Taxes on employers from the “free-rider” penalty would total $28 billion.


• 5 million Americans would lose their employer coverage.


• Cuts to Medicare include: Permanent reductions in the annual updates to Medicare’s payment rates for most services in the fee-for-service sector of $192 billion; $118 billion in cuts to Medicare Advantage; $43 billion in DSH cuts; $23 billion in unspecified cuts by the Medicare Advisory Board.


• Only 19 million people will get a subsidy to help them buy health insurance.

o None of the 162 million people with employer-based care will even be eligible for a subsidy.

• The government plan would have higher premiums than private plans. CBO said the government plan would “typically have premiums that were somewhat higher than the average premiums for the private plans in the exchanges.”

o With the opt-out provision, two-thirds of Americans are expected to have a government plan available in their state.

o Co-ops are included but would have “very little effect.”

• The CLASS Act would reduce deficits by $72 billion in the 10 year budget window, but “would begin to increase budget deficits” in the decade following 2029.


• The IRS would need $5-$10 billion to expand and implement the provisions in the bill.


• The costs of the subsidies in the exchange would grow at 8 percent a year.


• The tax on high value plans will quickly be applied to almost all plans. CBO expects the revenues from the Cadillac plan tax to grow at 10-15 percent per year outside the budget window.


• Includes a $15 billion “Prevention and Public Health Fund” slush fund.


• CBO says it would be “difficult” to maintain the predicted savings over a long period of time—meaning that the plan will likely run deficits when savings do not materialize.

Summary of Tax Provisions

	Baucus Bill	Reid Bill
Cadillac plan tax	$201.4	$149.1
Employer W-2 reporting of health benefits	Negligible	Negligible
Conform definition of medical expenses	$5.4	$5
Increase penalty for nonqualified HSA deductions	$1.3	$1.3
Limit FSAs to $2,500	$14.6	$14.6
Corporate information reporting	$17.1	$17.1
Requirements for non-profit hospitals	Negligible	Negligible
Pharma fee, effective 2010	$22.2	$22.2
Device manufacturer fee, effective 2010	$38.6	$19.3
Health insurer fee, effective 2010	$60.4	$60.4
Eliminate subsidy related to Part D	$5.4	$5.4
Raise 7.5 percent AGI floor to 10 percent	$15.2	$15.2
$500k deduction cap on pay for health insurers	$600 million	$600 million
0.5% HI payroll tax over $200single/$250married	Not included	$53.8
Section 833 treatment of certain insurers (the Blues)	Not included	$400 million
Cosmetic surgery tax	Not included	$5.8 billion
Individual and employer mandate penalties	$27 billion	$36 billion
Effects of coverage provisions on revenues *This number is not directly comparable in both scores	$83 billion	$70 billion
Other changes in revenue	$16.3 billion	$14.8 billion
TOTAL	$508 billion	$493.6 billion

Remember That 'Cash For Clunkers' Program?

How did that work out for you?



It’s not like there’s a market out there for Corvettes or anything like that. Or even a family who could have bought a used Volvo.

Anyway, the program is done for now and the numbers are in. And they are not good. C4C is functionally worse than the Broken Window parable. At least the kid broke the window on accident. The Clunker’s program encouraged people to purposely throw bricks through their windows, in a figurative way.

Cash for Clunkers was one of the more economically poor decisions in a long time

• By facilitating the purposeful destruction of the car’s engine, easily the most expensive part of the car.
• It eliminated the supply of secondary sales of said car.
• People would trade in good cars for the financial burden of a new car in the middle of the worst recession since Jimmy Carter.

Even by a green liberal standard, it was a bad policy. Used cars have already made their carbon footprint. By destroying the used car, the program had people buying new cars that came with a new carbon footprint. And when sodium silicate was poured into the engine, it would lubricate the pistons until it heated up and turned to glass, seizing the engine. If the program was really for the environment, recycling the engine and other parts would have been a better idea.

Not quite reduce, reuse and recycle.

Cross posted at The Richmond Liberty Alliance.

Sure, Now He's Worried About The Deficit. Updated and Bumped.

UPDATED: Found the current graph. Now with longer bars to indicate more debt.



Previously. . .
Keep in mind that:

• In 2007 and 2008, the Democrat party controlled both the Senate and the House.
• Barack helped with the budget for those two years.
• The Democrat controlled Congress helped craft TARP, all the bail outs and the Stimulus Package.
• Whatever Bills Obama signed into law at the start of the year, he helped create while he was a Senator that previous year.
• And he's said something like this before in the past and nothing has come of it. Far from it, in fact (from back in May of 09).

So now he's going to crack down on that pesky deficit. The same way the alcoholic will stop drinking after the liquor cabinet is empty.

Barack Obama plans to announce in next year's State of the Union address that he wants to focus extensively on cutting the federal deficit in 2010 – and will downplay other new domestic spending beyond jobs programs, according to top aides involved in the planning.

The president's plan, which the officials said was under discussion before this month’s Democratic election setbacks, represents both a practical and a political calculation by this White House.

On the practical side, Obama has spent more money on new programs in nine months than Bill Clinton did in eight years, pushing the annual deficit to $1.4 trillion. This leaves little room for big spending initiatives.
[. . .]
The big question for Obama – and the country – is whether the sudden concern about deficits will be more rhetoric than reality once his first State of the Union address concludes.

Nothing is stopping him now from trying to cut deficits. But seeing how he's never cut a budget in his life, only increase them, which can mean only one thing. He'll need to bring in more revenue, i.e., taxes. After all, this deficit is a crisis he 'inherited' and he needs to do something to fix the problem he created.

Quote For The Week: Indictment Of The Media Edition

But after reading the Washington Post's review of "Going Rogue" the other day and the reviewer's candid confession that she hadn't really had time to finish the book that she was writing so authoritatively about, we realized this is the latest thing in U.S. society and journalism.

Why bother reading any of it? Just talk about it.

Millions of Americans won't read "Going Rogue" and will think it's pretty good because they like SP. And millions more, like the Washington writer, are just as certain that it's conservative pop garbage, same as her. And they know this without cracking the thing open or turning page after page to the very end.

You don't even have to buy the book to know any of this.

So, a reviewer can just write what he/she thinks the book is or heard it is or wants it to be. And if no one else reads what they're writing about or reads anything they disagree with, who can challenge anybody on anything?

It's perfect for a hurried society, like Washington every day or the modern quadrennial presidential campaigns. People reciting at each other things they've heard from others.

This way nobody has to learn anything new or adjust what they're already certain of. Dumb is the new American smart.

Remember, We're 'The Extremists'

When you see videos like this, who are you going to believe? What the Left Wing Media says or what's in front of your very own eyes?

Fair. I Don't Think That Word Means What Nancy Pelosi Thinks It Means

Via Infidels Are Cool.



The proverbial 'Creeping Socialism' isn't creeping anymore as much as taking leaps and bounds.

Ace has more about the encroachment of our rights by Congress.

The left continues pounding the table, insisting that right-wingers are "paranoid" and "extremist" to call Obama a socialist, or to use totalitarian imagery in posters to protest his agenda. Why, it's just so not true! they bleat. You'd have to be a maniac like Sarah Palin to make these delusional claims! Why, it's like bad science-fiction!

Really?

Socialism never attends a party without an escort of coercive state behavior. It is a historic fact -- indeed, an economic fact -- that as the state seeks to regulate and control more and more economic activity, they must, of course, control more and more human activity.

Civics In Ten Minutes

It's a bit oversimplified but how much nuance can you get into studying governments throughout history in ten minutes? Stick with it for the entire length.



Donald Douglas has a bit more about the political spectrum here.

Barney Frank: Exposed!

Maybe 'Exposed' was a bad choice of words.

Thanks to Jim.

"Why Do You Have To Criminalize People To Coax Them Into A Plan That's Fabulous!"

From the floor of the House last Saturday before the vote to take over health insurance:


It passed thanks to the Blue Dogs (coalition of more centrist Democrats in the House).

The bone thrown to the Blue Dogs had a string on it so it could be yanked back.

Thanks to Ace for that last link.

Quote Of The Week: Concerned Edition

After news broke out of the shooting at the Fort Hood Army post in Texas, the nation watched in horror as the toll of dead and injured climbed. The White House was notified immediately and by late afternoon, word went out that the president would speak about the incident prior to a previously scheduled appearance. At about 5 p.m., cable stations went to the president. The situation called for not only his trademark eloquence, but also grace and perspective.

But instead of a somber chief executive offering reassuring words and expressions of sympathy and compassion, viewers saw a wildly disconnected and inappropriately light president making introductory remarks. At the event, a Tribal Nations Conference hosted by the Department of Interior's Bureau of Indian affairs, the president thanked various staffers and offered a "shout-out" to "Dr. Joe Medicine Crow -- that Congressional Medal of Honor winner." Three minutes in, the president spoke about the shooting, in measured and appropriate terms. Who is advising him?

Anyone at home aware of the major news story of the previous hours had to have been stunned. An incident like this requires a scrapping of the early light banter.

There's A Pattern Here

It's starting to form into the shape of a nut from an oak tree.

If This Isn't A Form Of Obama Worship, Then What Is?

These were only the tip of the iceberg.

Big Hollywood has eleven, count them, eleven, more videos of school kids singing songs and doing raps for President PrissyPants.

At this point, do I really need to ask if this would happen if John McCain would have won?

McDonnell, Bolling and Cuccinelli Sweep Virginia

Bob McDonnell, Bill Bolling and Ken Cuccinelli win Governor, Lt. Governor and Attorney General, respectively.

Important Day Today For Virginia Residents

Important for residents of New Jersey and in Congressional District 23 of New York too. And everywhere else across the US. Weezer's new CD is released.

Oh yeah, don't forget to vote in your local elections.

DNC, Stop Making Things Up

Who do you believe? Them or your own lying ears?

Thanks to Sheya over at C4P.

RELATED: Robert Reich tells it as only a liberal can.

This Is The Group Of People Who Decide The Future Of Health Insurance

Scary to think that, as a nation, we deserve the government we elect.