what if?

The Hate that Never Dies

Criticism of any country should always be entertained and examined.

This, however, is pure, unadulterated anti-semitism.

Introduced amidst a chorus of boos, Ayalon had scarcely delivered his eighth sentence when various students began shouting obscenities at him and delivering impromptu sermons on their view of Israel. Called a “racist,” “baby killer,” or “fascist” before he had even commenced his lecture, he was drained out by hostile, ad hominem attacks and struggled to utter consecutive sentences for the duration of the event. The event, entitled “The Situation in the Middle East: The View from the Middle East,” turned into a showcase for angry students to vent their displeasure with Israel through vulgar and repulsive remarks.

While Professor Cox attempted to limit the hostility of the crowd, he did not impart a neutral voice into the debate. He somewhat grudgingly welcomed Mr. Ayalon to the stage and admitted openly to disagreeing with him, thereby encouraging the protesters. Mr. Cox exuded a rather cold demeanor relative to his treatment of United States Director of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano a few days later. Ms. Napolitano was bestowed with a gift from Mr. Cox, who said he was “delighted” to present her.

In stark contrast, Mr. Cox asked students to “boo if you want to boo” at the conclusion of Mr. Ayalon’s speech.

When it came to the Q&A session following the “lecture” portion, Cox fueled further ugliness by granting the microphone to the student who was singularly responsible for interrupting the deputy foreign minister more than any of the other three hundred individuals in the hall.

The student had nothing more constructive to offer than incredulity that Mr. Ayalon conceived of Israel as a Jewish state. He shouted: “Where was your father born?” He argued (wrongly, as Mr. Ayalon pointed out directly afterwards) that Jews are a minority in Israel and had never inhabited the land prior to 1947.

Your Tax Dollars at Work

And I use the phrase "at work" advisedly.

• Three of every four stimulus grants, contracts and loans approved in Michigan created or retained one job or less.

• Fewer than 700 awards had received some money, and nearly half of those -- 327 -- had created one job or less, at a cost per job of $2.7 million.

• Some job estimates were wrong: General Motors Co., for instance, reported 105 jobs saved or created for a government purchase of 5,000 vehicles but later said no jobs were saved or created. The City of Detroit reported 342 jobs it now says were projections -- not jobs already created or retained.

The High Cost of Education

Might THIS be contributory??!

After working for the state department of education for more than a decade, Reich went into private practice, specializing in education law, Newsday recounts. But at the same time that his law firm collected millions of dollars for representing school districts, Reich was simultaneously reported to be a full-time employee of five of them. In 2000, he was credited for 1,271 days of work.

Very impressive that this fellow is so hard working.  But - 1,271 days of work in one year?  I don't think so!

Incentives to be Poor

It's not poor people who are bad.  They, like anybody else, are only human.

It's the system that incentivizes them to be poor.

When multiple income-based programs are piled on top on one another, the implicit marginal tax rate can reach or even exceed 100 percent.

The chart above (source, via Kling) illustrates this phenomenon. It shows income after taxes and transfers as a function of earned income. Notice that as earned income rises from about $15,000 to $30,000, income after taxes and transfers is roughly flat. Indeed, it could even fall. The bottom line: If you are poor, the government is inadvertently ensuring that you have little incentive to try to improve your condition.

And Now; for Something Different

A bit of the arts for your enjoyment.

Obama's Choice

What would you choose? 

Iran, with Ahmadinejad, Holocaust denier, radical Islam and the Koran?  Or Israel and democracy?

Your Tax Dollars at Work

If the "jobs stimulus" can do this in Massachussets, just imagine what it can do for health care.

“We see $15 million construction projects with no jobs, and a $900 shoe sale that created nine jobs. Both are obviously wrong,’’ said Michael Balsam, chief solutions officer for Onvia, a Seattle data company tracking the stimulus spending. “There were a lot of recipients that did not report. Those that did report have some data challenges - wrong data or missing data.’’

Massachusetts property owners received $75.5 million in rental subsidies from the stimulus bill, for a reported total of 437 jobs. Recipients of 27 of the 87 contracts reported zero jobs. The others, meanwhile, simply reported the number of employees working at the property. If they received two contracts, for a larger property, they reported the employee figure twice.

For example, Plumley Village East in Worcester listed 23 jobs for each of its two contracts for a total of 46 jobs, even though it has only 23 employees working throughout the complex.

One of those property owners, meanwhile, is frustrated by his experience with the legislation. Robert Ercolini manages a 201-unit affordable housing development in Plymouth. After being notified his annual rental subsidies were classified as stimulus spending, Ercolini renewed a request to the US Department of Housing and Urban Development for more than $1 million to fix up the property, reasoning he would be creating jobs by hiring contractors. He was refused.

“After HUD denied me money to make needed improvements and actually create jobs,’’ Ercolini said, “it’s really funny to find out in September that I’ve been receiving stimulus funds all along and they want to know how many jobs we’ve saved or created.’’

Tear Down This Wall

Freedom isn't full without free markets.

The history of the Wall symbolises the truth that a free society, based on private ownership of the means of production, best delivers what people want. May I add that, for Africans, faced with a plethora of trade barriers and protectionist measures which impede the free flow of their products to Europe, it may seem that, while the Wall has gone, the fortress mentality still lives on in Europe in another guise. The Berlin Wall of tariff protection impedes the free flow of mainly agricultural, but also other African products, from reaching the European markets. That wall should also be broken down." — Temba Nolutshungu, libertarian director of the Free Market Foundation of Southern Africa (South Africa), on the fall of the Berlin Wall's significance for Africans

Worst Person in the World?

I don't think Keith Olbermann is the "Worst Person in the World."  Just a really slimy one.

If you're a fan of his show, read this.

How anyone could possibly watch his show after being familiar with his sort of tactics is absolutely beyond me.

Definition of Insanity

We all know what it is.  Continuing to perpetrate the same activity, yet hoping - again and again - that this time, the outcome will be different.

Does anyone really believe what Congress is telling us about the costs of their potential health bill?

No other Big Government program has ever stayed within an order of magnitude of the promises made when it was signed into law. Medicare originally cost about $3 billion, when it began in 1965, and was projected to cost about $12 billion by 1990, adjusted for inflation. The actual cost in 1990 was nearly ten times that figure, $107 billion. It was up to $440 billion by 2007. The architects of the program would have been run out of town on a rail, if these future costs had been known to the voters of 1965.

The difference between promised benefits and expected revenues for Social Security and Medicare amounts to about $107 trillion dollars, which Doug Bandow of the Cato Institute points out is double the annual Gross Domestic Product of the entire world. The most strident opponent of the New Deal would never have dreamed of predicting this level of cost overrun. Name any government program that has been around for more than five years, and the odds are good it costs at least triple what its opponents originally said it would cost.

Anyone?

Death by PC

Is political correctness killing us?

Sadly, the answer appears to be "yes."

Joe Gandelman asks the right question: “If American intelligence agencies missed the signs pre-911 and they missed a big hint pre-Foot Hood, exactly what are they missing now, as you read this post?”  I would also add this: “And why are they missing it?”  Because in this case, it seems as though political correctness over the feelings of Muslims has played a part in hamstringing action — and that could be the case with other potential threats, too.

Government Insured Insanity

The more you read the fine print of the Democratic health insurance proposal, the more you realize how perverse the incentives and what a truly nutty outcome seems likely to occur due to its details.

Obamacare could have the unintended consequence of raising health insurance premiums and causing a decline in the number of people with insurance.

Here's why: A key feature of the House and Senate health bills would prevent insurance companies from denying coverage to anyone with preexisting conditions. The new coverage would start immediately, and the premium could not reflect the individual's health condition.

This well-intentioned feature would provide a strong incentive for someone who is healthy to drop his or her health insurance, saving the substantial premium costs. After all, if serious illness hit this person or a family member, he could immediately obtain coverage. As healthy individuals decline coverage in this way, insurance companies would come to have a sicker population. The higher cost of insuring that group would force insurers to raise their premiums. (Separate accident policies might develop to deal with the risk of high-cost care after accidents when there is insufficient time to buy insurance.)

The higher premium level would cause others who are currently insured to drop coverage, pushing premiums even higher. The result would be a spiral of rising premiums and shrinking numbers of insured.

In an attempt to prevent this, the draft legislation provides penalties for individuals who choose not to buy insurance and for employers that do not offer health insurance. But the levels of these fines are generally too low to cause a rational individual to insure.

At almost 2,000 pages, and a refusal to post to the public prior to voting into law, Pelosi & Co. are doing what they can to obfuscate and dissemble.  Fortunately, however, others are doing what they can to educate us.

In short, for those who are now privately insured through employers or by direct purchase, there would be substantial incentives to become uninsured until they become sick. The resulting rise in the cost to insurance companies as the insured population becomes sicker would raise the average premium, strengthening that incentive.

Does this sound like something that makes sense to you?  If not, urge your representatives to say "no" to this abortion!  And abortion?  Well.  Don't get me started....

The Role of the White House

Surely it comprises many, many activities.

But - should threatening Democratic strategists about where they appear and to whom they speak be among those roles?

Fox's audience is by far the largest of the cable networks, with an average of more than 2.1 million viewers in prime-time this year. CNN is second with 932,000 prime-time viewers.

Fox's viewership is not what worries the White House, though. More troubling to White House aides is that other news organizations may uncritically follow stories that Fox has showcased.

The White House's pugnacious approach to the network leaves some Democrats troubled.

Don Fowler, a former Democratic National Committee chairman, said in an interview: "This approach is out of sync with my conception of what the Obama administration stands for and what they're trying to do. I think they'll think better of it and this will be a passing phase.''

The Bias Bias

Perspective?  We all have it.  No matter how hard a reporter tries to be "objective and fair" - every single one of us cannot help but be influenced by our personal biases.  Our experiences, our beliefs, who we are; all this and more affects how we view the world.

John Stossel reports how some seem to refuse to acknowledge this inevitable bias - and how some even ignore news and perspective when it comes from the "wrong" source.

I was invited on CNN's media program, Reliable Sources, to be interviewed by The Washington Post's Howard Kurtz and an indignant Bernard Kalb. They titled the segment, "Objectivity and Journalism: Does John Stossel Practice Either?" It was in big letters over my head.

Apparently, I had broken the rules.

On the air they told me that I was no longer objective. I was too stunned to defend myself effectively. I said something like: "I've always had a point of view. How come you had no trouble with that when I criticized business?"

In hindsight, I wish I'd said: "Look at the title on the wall, you hypocrites! It shows you have a point of view, too. Many reporters do. You just don't like my arguments now that I no longer hew to your statist line. So you want to shut me up."

But I didn't.

So I'll say it now: Reporters who think coercive government control is generally good and I, who thinks voluntary market forces are generally better, both have a point of view.

So why am I the one called biased?

Change You REALLY Can Believe In

So the Republican health plan would reduce health premiums and cut the deficit.

Compare and contrast to what the Democrats want to do in their almost 2,000 page bill.  Then decide:  which kind of change do you really wish to believe in?

What If Congress Passes Health Care Reform

And no one is around to deliver care?

Dr. Herbert Pardes, CEO of NY-Presbyterian Hospital explains what might happen and why.

The fundamental reason why medical students are not entering primary care on their own is that they can't afford it. Medical-school tuition can cost a student as much as $50,000 a year. Some doctors start out owing hundreds of thousands of dollars before they are even able to open a practice. Going to medical school is a little like taking out a mortgage, only without getting a house in return.

Once doctors do start treating patients, they are squeezed between what they earn from government programs and insurance companies on one side and escalating malpractice insurance rates on the other. Meanwhile, specialists can often charge more and pay less in other costs than primary-care doctors. The reality is that many physicians cannot afford to go into primary care.

To address the shortage of doctors and the incentives that compel young doctors to eschew primary care, Congress needs to think about how to increase doctor pay, institute malpractice reform, and provide subsidies to reduce the amount of debt doctors have to take on. Residency caps should also be raised so teaching hospitals can train more doctors. Without these actions new doctors would be foolish to enter primary care, and thankfully our medical schools do not recruit foolish people.

Baaaaaaaaaaaa

Do you think of yourself and your neighbors as sheep?  Do you need the government to tell you how to run your business and where, how and what to eat?  Do you need the government to supply you with most of the necessities of life, because you cannot figure out how to do it on your own?

Or, are you someone who thinks that the government has an array of responsibilities and services that it should provide to citizens, but that for the most part, we are responsible for ourselves?

John Steele Gordon examines some of the differences between Us and Them.

The Price of War

Instapundit linked to this post by JD Johannes, someone who has seen war up close and personal.

Begeleiter said, "Taking pictures of the returning casualties to Dover is a measure of the human cost of war.  Do you want the government ultimately to have control over what we see or not see?  Or do you want independent observers, an independent press or media, relaying those images?"

Mr. Begleiter if you really want to understand the human cost of war, don't stand on a fucking tarmac, get embedded and see the human cost of war up close and personal where the price is actually paid.

But many of the free speech advocates have no desire to put themselves at risk to tell the stories of the women and men who have willingly put themselves in harms way.

They want to do it on the cheap, standing on concrete in the US at a scheduled time rather than face the capricious hazards of war standing on the sands of Iraq or rocks of Afghanistan.

Many of those free speech advocates are interested only in the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines as props.  As the story illustrates, very few of the arrivals at Dover are covered by the media.

I agree with Johannes that the goal of some is not so much to portray an overall picture, but instead to advocate for a position.  Some of these people do not want war under any circumstances; they will do what they can to highlight its horrors, period.

Personally, I'd like to go even beyond what Johannes recommends.  Let's go somewhere other than the battlefield; let's go to the story of why a war is fought.  Is it being fought to protect women and children from being raped then gassed to death?  Is it being fought to stop gays from being hung for the crime of attraction to those of their same sex?  Is it being fought because someone wants to obliterate someone else's nation, or free society?  Is it being fought because people are being starved or beaten or tortured or incinerated to death for random reasons?

When people say "I just hate war" - as a woman I very much like at work said to me today, I always wonder ... who are these people who do not "just hate war?"  I suppose there are a few of them; people who get a thrill from seeing others being blown to bits in combat or whose juices flow at the thought of dropping bombs on "the enemy." 

My guess, however, is that most of us "just hate war."  We hate seeing families being separated for months or years at a time, we hate seeing our men and women return from war missing limbs or eyes or being disfigured for life . . . and we hate seeing some of them returning as they do at Dover.

When we consider the costs of war, we should consider all of the costs.  And, at the same time, we should consider the costs of never having war.  Incredible as it may seem - sometime, horrific as it is, war really is the superior choice.

The Blame Game

When a president faces enormous economic challenges, or foreign policies challenges - or difficult issues of whatever nature - are they the fault of the President of the Moment?

No matter who is currently president, it goes without saying that what that president must face is in part inherited.  All of us - be us the head of the United States, or a lowly whatever - must deal with the trials or joys of what those who came before us created.  Many presidents find themselves in most challenging circumstances, much of which may have nothing to do with their own deeds.

Yet, at some point, each president does start to take responsibility for his own choices and actions and beliefs. 

Are we at that point for President Obama?  It seems that many think we are getting close.

Weighing Statistics

The next time that someone tells you "statistics show you" - remember that caution is advised.

If you'd like to see an example of how statistical data can be distorted, then read this.

Saving Money

If this is how we're going to do it with health care - God help us.

Fox Democrats

Why do some Democrats choose to appear on Fox?

It's where the viewers are.

“They are the most professional network of any I have dealt with,” he said. “If you are a Democrat who wants to deliver mindless talking points on Fox, it’s probably best to go to MSBNC and hope you get a chance to recite them. I think Fox encourages critical views of all sides, asks different kinds of questions and wants to have diversity of view.”

Beckel believes Fox viewers are more open to the Democratic side of the story than stereotypes might suggest. And indeed, a 2008 Pew Research survey found that while almost half of viewers who regularly watch Fox News identify as Republican or Republican leaning, 39 percent tip Democratic and 12 percent have no stated angle at all.

Worst Bill Ever?

I am not knowledgeable enough about Congress to judge whether the title of this article is accurate or not.  But - read through and see what you think.

If it's not the worst, then it certainly is up there on the Hall of Shame!

Here's what Senator Lieberman thinks.

"I'm all for health care reform," he said on CBS' "Face the Nation." "We have a system that needs fixing. But we've got some more urgent problems than that, and the first most urgent is to fix our economy, to get at creating jobs again."

Lieberman told moderator Bob Schieffer that the public option "came out of nowhere," and said it was not necessary to achieve what he described as the two goals of health reform: "Make health insurance more affordable, and to extend it to people who don't have it now.

"The public option I think was raised in the last year by people who really want to have a government-controlled health insurance system. That's their right. I think they're wrong.

The senator said that he would filibuster any legislation including a public option.

I'm with the Senator.  Reform?  Yes.  Public option and/or government-controlled health insurance system?  Nope.

Leaders of Innovation

The U.S. and Israel - going in different directions.

Red Meat

This column is partisan and political.  Yet, can supporters of this administration tell me why our current administration is justified in ignoring all these assaults on free speech around the globe?

That Was Then, Case #2,197

Remember when the Bush administration paid Armstrong Williams to promote "No Child Left Behind" and didn't disclose that this opinion writer was getting paid?

The top Democrat on the House Education Committee, Rep. George Miller of California, called the contract "a very questionable use of taxpayers' money" that is "probably illegal." He said he will ask his Republican counterpart to join him in requesting an investigation.

The contract, detailed in documents obtained by USA TODAY through a Freedom of Information Act request, also shows that the Education Department, through the Ketchum public relations firm, arranged with Williams to use contacts with America's Black Forum, a group of black broadcast journalists, "to encourage the producers to periodically address" NCLB. He persuaded radio and TV personality Steve Harvey to invite Paige onto his show twice. Harvey's manager, Rushion McDonald, confirmed the appearances.

Williams said he does not recall disclosing the contract to audiences on the air but told colleagues about it when urging them to promote NCLB.

"I respect Mr. Williams' statement that this is something he believes in," said Bob Steele, a media ethics expert at The Poynter Institute for Media Studies. "But I would suggest that his commitment to that belief is best exercised through his excellent professional work rather than through contractual obligations with outsiders who are, quite clearly, trying to influence content."

The contract may be illegal "because Congress has prohibited propaganda," or any sort of lobbying for programs funded by the government, said Melanie Sloan of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. "And it's propaganda."

At the time, I remember thinking that it surely should have been disclosed that Williams was being paid to perform this function - if it was kosher at all for him to do this.

Today, however, I cannot help but wonder.  Will the MSM and Democrats get upset that the National Endowment for the Arts was being instructed and hired to promote President Obama's agenda?

Former actor and present White House associate director of public engagement Kalpen Modi was directly involved in planning the controversial conference call hosted by a National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) flack to encourage tax-supported artists to create propaganda for President Obama, according to emails obtained by Judicial Watch via a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.

The emails reveal that Modi worked with now-former NEA national communications director Yosif Sargant in planning the August 10 conference call that was first revealed by Andrew Breitbart’s Big Hollywood.com web site. Participants in the conference call were encouraged to use their talents to generate public support for the Obama agenda in Congress.

Surely if the Democrats were upset about one opinion pundit being paid to tout a Bush administration program, they'll be up in arms about this larger scheme.

Right?

Lack of Class

Why is our current ruling party slipping in polls?  Is it particular legislation?  Governing philosophy?

Perhaps Michael Gerson says it best:  a bottom line, a failure to set a classy example and lead.

The Obama administration has gone after both Rush Limbaugh and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce -- showing an inability to distinguish between the burning of heretics and the burning of bridges. It has courted insurance companies, then publicly demonized them for showing independence. Obama has tended to define all opposition, particularly on health care, as resulting from fear, cowardice and selfishness -- instead of admitting genuine disagreement. At a recent fundraiser, he mocked Republicans as robots who "do what they're told." He has engaged in consistent, classless, self-excusing criticism of his predecessor. Other presidents have been known for a war on totalitarianism or a war on terror. Obama is known for a war on Fox News.

Part of the Solution?

Or part of the problem?

Insurance is not part of the solution; it’s part of the problem. Many people—and especially poor people— get too little health care in this country. That’s largely because many other people—and especially rich people—are overinsured. People with insurance demand more health care, which drives up prices. More insurance coverage will make this problem worse, not better.

Steve Landsburg's new blog with some refreshingly clear statements about health care and the sorts of reform that will work - and not.

Stormy Weather

Totally non-political and utterly fascinating.  Budgie storms in Queensland.  Enjoy - Sunny the Budgie sure would!  Thanks to niece Jenny for the link.

Last One Out, Turn Out the Lights

Ooops; I forgot.  We're not even going to be allowed decent lighting much longer....

Thomas Sowell reflects upon the state of the state.

Barack Obama has not only said that he is out to "change the United States of America," the people he has been associated with for years have expressed in words and deeds their hostility to the values, the principles and the people of this country.

Jeremiah Wright said it with words: "God damn America!" Bill Ayers said it with bombs that he planted. Community activist goons have said it with their contempt for the rights of other people.

Among the people appointed as czars by President Obama have been people who have praised enemy dictators like Mao, who have seen the public schools as places to promote sexual practices contrary to the values of most Americans, to a captive audience of children.

Those who say that the Obama administration should have investigated those people more thoroughly before appointing them are missing the point completely. Why should we assume that Barack Obama didn't know what such people were like, when he has been associating with precisely these kinds of people for decades before he reached the White House?