what if?

Happy Thanksgiving

On this Thanksgiving day, 2013 (also the start of Hannukah, for those who are intrigued by this not-to-happen-again for 79,000 years event!) - I extend blessings of thankfulness.

That we are a free people in a free land is for me one of these great blessings.

Myron Magnet, editor of City Journal, expounds.

Thanksgiving

A time to enjoy a holiday feast.  A time to reconnect with family and friends.  A time to give thanks.

Well, yes - but - what ought we really do on Thanksgiving?  Promote Obamacare!

No, I am not kidding.  Just read the whole thing.

The Sympathy of the International Community

The opinion of one woman on this topic vis a vis Israel.

You have stated that if Israel tries to defend its population through a ground offensive in Gaza 'it risks losing the sympathy of the international community.'

Let me tell you something about the sympathy of the international community Mr. Hague. My father was liberated fromBuchenwald concentration camp in 1945, having lost his entire family but gaining the sympathy of the international community at the time. After 6 million Jews had been annihilated at the hands of the Nazi regime, the international community had plenty of sympathy for the Jewish people. There is always plenty of sympathy for victims.

Israel doesn't need the sympathy of the international community.

What it needs is to defend its citizens.

When as a tiny country it gained its independence in 1948 it had to absorb 800,000 Jews who were thrown out of Arab lands in the Middle East, and it did so without fuss and with dignity giving them shelter and a place of security in which their children could grow up to become productive citizens. When Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon and Syria tried to destroy Israel in 1948 and again in 1967 they took in hundreds of thousands of Palestinian Arabs, but did they give them dignity or shelter? No they left them to rot in refugee camps in order to maintain a symbol of grievance againstIsrael and use them as a political tool against the Jewish state. What has arisen in those camps is a complicated situation, but it is what has led to Gaza today.

So don't lecture Israel on international sympathy Mr. Hague. Not when Israel has just sent in 120 truck loads of food into Gaza to feed the Palestinian people there, because their own leadership is more interested in using its population as human shields, launching rockets against Israel from within major civilian centers.

Don't lecture Israel on international sympathy Mr. Hague. Not when Israel targets with as much military precision as it can, only terrorists and their bases, trying its utmost to prevent civilian casualties.

Don't lecture Israel on international sympathy Mr. Hague. Not when the Palestinian media deliberately uses images of victims of the Syrian civil war and presents them as casualties in Gaza to gain international sympathy.

Go read your history books Mr. Hague, go see that since the beginning of the twentieth century all the Arabs wanted to do was destroy Israel. Go look at the country of Israel now since the Jews have established a state there. Go read what advances in science, medicine, biotechnology, agriculture and high tech Israel has developed, and dedicated that knowledge to making the world a better place for humanity. Can you imagine any other country that after 60 years of continuously being under attack could have achieved so much.

Viva La Difference!

What a difference a few years (and an party in power) makes!

That was then.

The filibuster, which allows 41 senators to delay action indefinitely, is a rough instrument that should be used with caution. But its existence goes to the center of the peculiar but effective form of government America cherishes.

The Senate, of all places, should be sensitive to the fact that this large and diverse country has never believed in government by an unrestrained majority rule.  While the filibuster has not traditionally been used to stop judicial confirmations, it seems to us this is a matter in which it's most important that a large minority of senators has a limited right of veto. Once confirmed, judges can serve for life and will remain on the bench long after Mr. Bush leaves the White House. And there are few responsibilities given to the executive and the legislature that are more important than choosing the members of the third co-equal branch of government. The Senate has an obligation to do everything in its power to ensure the integrity of the process.

This is now.

In a 52-to-48 vote that substantially altered the balance of power in Washington, the Senate changed its most infuriating rule and effectively ended the filibuster on executive and judicial appointments. From now on, if any senator tries to filibuster a presidential nominee, that filibuster can be stopped with a simple majority, not the 60-vote requirement of the past. That means a return to the democratic process of giving nominees an up-or-down vote, allowing them to be either confirmed or rejected by a simple majority.

This vote was long overdue. “I have waited 18 years for this moment,” said Senator Tom Harkin, Democrat of Iowa.

Democrats made the filibuster change with a simple-majority vote, which Republicans insisted was a violation of the rules. There is ample precedent for this kind of change, though it should be used judiciously. Today’s vote was an appropriate use of that power, and it was necessary to turn the Senate back into a functioning legislative body.

Is eight years long enough to be "long overdue"?  I guess so, when your editorial page epitomizes the heights of hypocrisy.

 

Just One More Day

In the life of the most transparent presidency every.

The nation’s largest news organizations lodged a complaint Thursday against the White House for imposing unprecedented limitations on photojournalists covering President Barack Obama, which they say have harmed the public’s ability to monitor its own government.

The organizations accuse the White House of banning photojournalists from covering Obama at some events, and then later releasing its own photos and videos of the same events.

“Journalists are routinely being denied the right to photograph or videotape the president while he is performing his official duties,” according to a letter the organizations sent to the White House. “As surely as if they were placing a hand over a journalist’s camera lens, officials in this administration are blocking the public from having an independent view of important functions of the executive branch of government.”

“You are only seeing what they want you to see,” said Lucy Dalglish, the dean of the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland.

 

On Thursday, the presidents of the American Society of News Editors and the Associated Press Media Editors sent a letter to their members urging them to stop using handout photos and video from the White House.

“We must accept that we, the press, have been enablers,” the letter says. “We urge those of you in news organizations to immediately refrain from publishing any of the photographs or videos released by the White House, just as you would refuse to run verbatim a press release from them.”

 

 

"It's Not Funny"

My whole life, I have felt exceptionally grateful to live in the United States.  Although there is no doubt that our nation has its flaws - at times, great ones - we will have a vast array of positive features.  At the top of the list are our freedoms.  People from around the world have risked everything to come to the US - and the primary reason is that, for the most part, you are free to live your life as you wish here.

Well.  This used to be the case.

Today?  One more example of how our great nation slouches more and more toward fascist nations where much is controlled and manipulated to control how we live.  The "most transparent administration ever"? Yeah; give me a break!

"You guys," Mills said, "are just like Tass."

Comparing the White House to the Russian news agency is a hyperbole, of course, but less so with each new administration. Obama's image-makers are taking advantage of new technologies that democratized the media, subverting independent news organizations that hold the president accountable. A generation ago, a few mainstream media organizations held a monopoly on public information about the White House. Today, the White House itself is behaving monopolistic.

The fast-moving trend is hampering reporters and videographers who cover the White House, but Mills' profession has probably been hardest hit. "As surely as if they were placing a hand over a journalist's camera lens, officials in this administration are blocking the public from having an independent view of important functions of the Executive Branch of government," reads a letter delivered today to Carney by the WHCA and several member news organizations including The Associated Press and The New York Times.

The letter includes examples of important news events that were not covered by media photographers, and yet pictures were taken by the White House image team and widely distributed via social media. This happens almost daily.

Unlike media photographers, official White House photographers are paid by taxpayers and report to the president. Their job is to make Obama look good. They are propagandists – in the purest sense of the word.

That was the sentiment behind Mills' crack about Tass, according to people who attended the Oct. 29 meeting. Carney took offense.

"Oh, so now we're like Stalin?" the White House press secretary replied, laughing at the veteran New York Times photographer.

Olivier Knox, a Yahoo reporter and long-time White House correspondent who attended the meeting with Mills, shot an angry look at Carney and said, "It's not funny, Jay."

"Seething at a President I Helped to Elect"

Reality hits.

We received the letter in the mail a couple months ago. The good people at Regence Bluecross Blueshield were pleased to inform us that due to Obamacare our current low-monthly premium, comically-high deductible medical policy would no longer exist come January 1, 2014. Pleased, because a new and better plan would be offered in its place. Old monthly premium: $578 for a family of four (non-smoking, helmet-wearing, and paternally snipped). New premium: $1,123. A 94% increase.

Once the sound of boiling blood dissipated, in my head I heard my Republican friends chuckling at the sight of a liberal Democrat hoisted ten stories high on his own petard. How’s the view up there, Obamacare Ollie? 

He's not there completely - but - on his way.

For the Minimum Wage Fans

Still want the minimum wage raised - or - have it at all?

There are nine countries with a minimum wage (Belgium, Netherlands, Britain, Ireland, France, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Luxembourg).  Their unemployment rates range from 5.9% in Luxembourg to 27.6% in Greece.  The median country is France with 11.1% unemployment.

There are nine countries with no minimum wage (Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Austria, Germany, Italy, Switzerland.)  Five of the nine have a lower unemployment rate than Luxembourg, the best of the other group.  The median country is Iceland, with a 5.5% unemployment rate. The biggest country in Europe is Germany.  No minimum wage and 5.2% unemployment.

Still want to raise our minimum wage to $10?  Germany used to have really high unemployment.  Then they did labor reforms to allow more low wage jobs, combined with subsidies for low wage workers.  Now they don’t have high unemployment.

Still want to raise our minimum wage to $10?

The Titanic

Obamacare truly has become a disaster of titanic proportions for Obama and the Democrats overall.

Just scroll through.....

 

"I Am Not A Crook"

An Alternative

With the train wreck that Obamacare has become, Republicans may think that they can sit back and watch as this administration and Democrats self destruct.  For now and for a bit - they can.

But the truth about health care is that life wasn't all daisies and sunshine prior to the ACA debacle.  And for those who believe that Republicans can coast on this unnatural disaster - you're simply incorrect.

So, after some momentary schaudenfraude, those Republicans who truly care about our nation and its people need to don their collective thinking caps.  They need a fiscally responsible, free market plus assistance for those who need it health care system.  

Here is one such set of ideas.

World War III

When young people are making videos like this one, the end is near.

 

 

Can You Hear Me Now?

Many of my liberal friends think I am being a conservative shrew when I continue to sound the alarm about All Things Obamacare.  More and more, however, I think that they have put their brains on "mute" if they aren't seriously concerned about this horror of a law themselves.

After reading this article, my liberal buddies - can you hear me now?

CBS News has learned that the project manager in charge of building the federal health care website was apparently kept in the dark about serious failures in the website's security. Those failures could lead to identity theft among buying insurance.

Chao said he was unaware of a Sept. 3 government memo written by another senior official at CMS. It found two high-risk issues, which are redacted for security reasons. The memo said "the threat and risk potential (to the system) is limitless." The memo shows CMS gave deadlines of mid-2014 and early 2015 to address them.

But Chao testified he'd been told the opposite.

"What I recall is what the team told me, is that there were no high findings," he said.

Chao testified security gaps could lead to identity theft, unauthorized access and misrouted data.

According to federal guidelines, high risk means "the vulnerability could be expected to have a severe or catastrophic adverse affect on organizational operations ... assets or individuals."

 

The Greatest Generation

A more proper thank you - and goodbye - to veterans and one man who served.

"They answered the call to save the world from the two most powerful and ruthless military machines ever assembled, instruments of conquest in the hands of fascist maniacs. They faced great odds and a late start, but they did not protest. They succeeded on every front … As they now reach the twilight of their adventurous and productive lives, they remain, for the most part, exceptionally modest … In a deep sense they didn't think that what they were doing was that special, because everyone else was doing it too."

-- Tom Brokaw, The Greatest Generation

 

To Find Out What's In It

I guess this has to pass, too.  Unless you're the New York Times; they're special.

The Obama administration is secretly negotiating a treaty that could have significant effects on domestic law. Officially, it's a "free trade" treaty among Pacific rim countries, but a section of the draft agreement leaked in 2011 suggested that it will require signers, including the United States, to make significant changes to copyright law and enforcement measures.

Strangely, the administration seems to be encouraging the public to have a debate on the treaty before they know what's in it. The Office of the United States Trade Representative has solicited comments about the treaty on its Web site, but there is no particularly detailed information about the content of the agreement, or a draft of the current version of the proposal.

Now, as Maira Sutton at the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) notes, the New York Times editorial board has endorsed the TPP. While the editorial acknowledges that some are "worried about provisions on intellectual property that could restrict the availability of generic medicines and grant longer copyright protections to big media companies," it nevertheless argues that a "good deal" would "not only help individual countries but set an example for global trade talks."

But as Sutton points out, it seems strange for the Times to be opining on a treaty the public hasn't gotten to see yet. If the Times has gotten a leaked copy of the report, it should publish it so the public can make up its own mind. If it hasn't seen the treaty, perhaps it should reserve judgment until it's learned what's actually in it.

Am I nuts (no comment) or is this not utterly bizarre?  The public is requested to give comments about something about which it knows virtually nothing?

Well; maybe not so bizarre after all.  It appears way too much of the public votes in total ignorance in general....

 

Thank You, Veterans

And, as we honor the men and women who have fought to keep our nation safe, we can also put another issue into perspective.

This message came to us from Bill in Kentucky. 

"Putting things in perspective: March 21st 2010 to October 1 2013 is 3 years, 6 months, 10 days.  December 7, 1941 to May 8, 1945 is 3 years, 5 months, 1 day.  What this means is that in the time we were attacked at Pearl Harbor to the day Germany surrendered is not enough time for this progressive federal government to build a working webpage.  Mobilization of millions, building tens of thousands of tanks,  planes, jeeps, subs, cruisers, destroyers, torpedoes, millions upon millions of guns, bombs, ammo, etc. Turning the tide in North Africa,  Invading Italy, D-Day,  Battle of the Bulge, Race to Berlin - all while we were also fighting the Japanese in the Pacific!!  And in that amount of time - this administration can't build a working webpage."

 

HIGHLY Illogical!

"The Right of the People to Rule"

One hundred and one years ago, Theodore Roosevelt asserted his belief in the America people to live their own lives as they wished.  

"The great fundamental issue now before the Republican party and before our people can be stated briefly. It is: Are the American people fit to govern themselves, to rule themselves, to control themselves? I believe they are. My opponents do not."

"I believe in the right of the people to rule," he continued. "I believe the majority of the plain people of the United States will, day in and day out, make fewer mistakes in governing themselves than any smaller class or body of men, no matter what their training, will make in trying to govern them."

Now, in 2013, this stark choice faces us once again.  Daniel Greenfield argues that we do not see a physical wall, as we did when Germany was split into East and West.  Yet, we have a wall of words and regulation, that constrains us all the same.

Conservatives have lost the ability to lay out the stakes in the clear and simple language of a Churchill or a Reagan, to let the people know that they are not choosing between politicians, but choosing whether they will be able to have the car of their choice, the doctor of their choice, the meal of their choice and the book of their choice.

The conflict is simple and straightforward. It is the struggle over whether America will be an open system or a closed system.

In an open system, you choose the life you live. In a closed system, your life is mandated for you. An open system believes in the genius of the individual while the closed system believes in the genius of the visionaries of the ideology and the moral purity of the bureaucrats who implement it.

The open system is a door that you can choose to lock or leave open. The closed system is a cell door with wardens and guards who will let you out when they choose to.

In the open system you are in control. In the closed system you are being controlled for your own good, for the greater good, for the good of the state and the five-year-plan and the policy paper and the sub-paragraph of the regulation of page 50,261 as reinterpreted by a Federal judge in a court ruling that you never even heard of.

I am living in a time when the president of my country can get in front of the American people, and despite the fact that we can watch recordings of the man, over and over, stating "If you like your health plan, you can keep your health plan; period.  If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor; period," Obama now asserts that this is not what he said.

And millions of people believe him.  

As Greenfield says:

People do not try to tear down a wall that they do not even know is there. It is only when they see the wall, when they feel its chill in their bones, when they sense its shadow over their lives, when they strive to climb over it and are shot down, when they chant against it and are beaten; will they be ready to tear it down.

Until the men and women of the open system come with a clear message warning of the wall that is being built around a free people, then they will go on losing elections and the cause of freedom will be lost, drowned in iron and paper, put in chains and filed in a trillion crowded databases.

Only when Americans see the wall, when they sense its shadow over Missouri and Florida, over New York and California, from ocean to ocean and border to border, will they be ready to tear it down.

Only then will they be ready to be free. 

I hope we can, once again, soon be free.

Holiday Inn for Health Care

Brilliant!

For people who want to reform the status quo, there is an alternative to being a fantasy despot. Consider the story of Kemmons Wilson, which can be found in David Halberstam's historical retrospective, The Fifties:

Some motels, Wilson later recalled, were godawful; some were very pleasant. The only way you could tell which was which was to see for yourself ... Wilson was enraged to find that every motel charged extra for children. The fee was usually $2 per child, even though his children had brought their own bedrolls ... Even worse, there was rarely a place to eat nearby, and so he and his family would have to pile back into the car and hunt for a decent family restaurant.

Day by day on the trip, Wilson became more irritated until he finally turned to his wife, Dorothy, and announced that he was going to go into the motel business ... “How many of these motels are you going to build?” she asked nervously. He felt she was laughing at him. “Oh, about four hundred,” he answered. “That ought to cover the country.” “And,” he added, “if I never do anything else worth remembering in my life, children are going to stay free at my motels.”

Wilson did not call for a regulatory agency to ensure that all motels were pleasant for families. He did not seek legislation requiring that children sleep free in motels. Instead, he created Holiday Inn, the first national motel chain.

What our health care system needs is for people like Cutler to bring their ideas for change, such as the hypothesis that doctor performance can be improved though compensation based on quality, to entrepreneurs like Wilson, instead of turning to politicians. Entrepreneurs know that they have to implement through consent, not through brute force legislation. They know that they must prove their ideas in the marketplace.

 

Insanity

Need evidence that our War on Drugs has gone waaaaaaaaaaaay too far?

Here you go.

Timothy Young was stopped on Oct. 13, 2012, for allegedly turning without a signal, KOB-TV first reported Tuesday evening. A K-9 dog erroneously indicated he had drugs in his vehicle and he was taken to the Gila Regional Medical Center in Silver City, N.M., where doctors performed an x-ray scan and a digital anal probe.

Young went public after a similar case attracted intense national and local coverage this week.

Albuquerque civil rights attorney Shannon Kennedy told U.S. News Wednesday she is filing a lawsuit on Young's behalf.

Kennedy is also representing David Eckert, who was stopped on Jan. 2, 2013, by Deming, N.M., police for allegedly rolling through a stop sign. Eckert was also taken to the Gila Regional Medical Center – where he was x-rayed, forcibly given enemas and then given a colonoscopy.

Three Deming policemen and three Hidalgo County officers were allegedly involved in the Eckert case, which may be settled out of court. Named defendants include the six policemen, the medical center, two doctors and a deputy district attorney who secured a warrant authorizing an anal probe.

No drugs were found in the possession of either man.

Men commit tiny traffic infractions - and suddenly find themselves arrested with their body cavities being forcibly searched??

Where are we?  The Soviet Union?  Nazi Germany?

When is this insanity going to end?