Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Ted Kennedy RIP

Ted Kennedy was probably the most influential US Senator ever, with the exception of LBJ.

However, that does not make up for his shortcomings as a human being. Ted Kennedy had a serious problem with alcohol, womanizing, and the truth. One only needs to google "Chappaquiddick Incident" and see what comes up.

But forgiveness is a hallmark of the Catholic faith, and as a fellow Catholic (probably the only thing Ted Kennedy and I had in common), I forgive him for his shortcomings. I hope that he finds some peace in the afterlife, peace which surely seemed to have eluded him in this life.

KennedyCare

Dems to America... "Ted Kennedy wanted us to pass healthcare reform, so stop raising reasonable objections to a boondoggle program, shut up, and do what we say... because if you don't it will rain... and those raindrops will be Ted Kennedy's tears as he cries in Heaven because of what you did."

Saturday, August 22, 2009

Tom Ridge: Useful Idiot

So Tom Ridge becomes the latest useless government bureacrat to discover previously unknown reservoirs of courage at, coincidentally, the exact moment where they decide to try and sell a book... following in the proud tradition of "great" men like Richard Clarke and Scott McClellan

Let's all take a minute to review the resume of this completely ordinary and unexceptional public servant as he gets ready to tell us about all the awful things he saw George Bush do, even as he found himself simply unable to do or say anything about it.

After a mere 22 months (I've taken longer to read stereo instructions) on the job as the totally ineffectual head of a disaster of an agency, Tom ran off to accept a 6-figure salary to sit on the board of HOME DEPOT. Now recall that HOME DEPOT lobbied vigorously in support of open borders through the 8 years of the Bush administration... and gee, it just so happens that those of us who supported cracking down on security at the border believed that Tom Ridge did everything he could at every single turn to keep those borders open, even to the detriment of his President's popularity.

I'm sure that's all just a coincidence though.

Meanwhile, I can't wait to hear the story of how Tom Ridge courageously stood up to Bush Administration attempts to use Terrorism warnings to help him win the 2004 election by not saying anything at all and keeping the story to himself so that he could finally tell it when it could prove most profitable to him... the day he releases a book.

What a courageous man... what a brilliant man of integrity...

What a douche.

The good news is that, as a human, Tom Ridge is so brain-numbingly dull, that even hardcore 9/11 Truther Libs won't be able to bring themselves to actually read this paperweight.

Your government is lying to you...

No this is not another "curse that Obama and his lousy healthcare plan" post... though I could certainly throw one of those together in about four-and-a-half seconds if asked to do so.

No this is a story about something that happened to me last Saturday... it's a story of a casual lie told by a local government that I think has huge implications in a world where our current government seems intent on controlling more and more aspects of our daily lives. It was a relatively small thing to be sure, but as they say, the devil is in the details, and once you tell the first little lie, it almost always gets easier to tell the next bigger one. Especially if you have a government title and access to tax dollars to back you up.

I've been living in Los Angeles for 16 years, having come (as many of us do) from some other part of the country. As a result, I tend to get a lot of visitors who come to see L.A. for the first time. In all those years I have perfected a four hour driving tour of all the major sites in L.A. It's a pretty great tour, if I do say so myself.

So last Saturday, I had some folks in from a southern state, which shall remain nameless, and we were headed up to the Hollywood Sign, which is the third stop on my tour.

There's really only one way to get up there... you take a little turn off a main road and wind your way up through a pretty ritzy neighborhood called Beachwood Canyon. So on this day as I made my turn onto the steep road that makes its way up to the sign, I noticed that someone had installed a road sign at the turn that read "no access to Hollywood sign."

Now I'm here to tell you, that sign is 100% pure weapons-grade horseshit. Not only is there access to the sign from that road... it's the ONLY access road that takes you up to the sign.

Here's what I think happened. Some rich asshole, or collection of rich assholes got together and decided, you know what, we don't like it when people drive up our pretty little private street on their way to the Hollywood sign. Let's go to our city councilman with a petition, and possibly some thinly veiled threats of lawyers in Armani suits and ask them to install a sign that tells people a blatant lie... that they can't get to the Hollywood sign by using this street.

And just as it is with all the lies that are being told about how great Obamacare will be, it doesn't really matter that we're sort of breaking a cardinal rule... that government should always try to be as truthful as possible to the people it serves... because a larger good is being served by the lie.

And the infuriating thing is some dickweed government bureaucrat actually acquiesced to this nonsense. In order to get these squeaky wheels (aka rich assholes) out of his or her office, they agreed to put up a flagrantly false official city street sign on a public road.

Think about the implications of that for a moment. Because some jerkweed doesn't like tourists driving down "his" road, a sign meant to provide drivers with up-to-date information about road conditions and other important information, but which in this case features 100% false information, was placed on a city street.

I cannot tell you how pissed off this made me. I mean for one thing, it's just flat-out dangerous. Forget for a minute that if there's ever a serious emergency and people are looking for specific ways to drive here or there to get to safety, in this case they are receiving inccorect information from at least one official city sign... think about the slippery slope implications for a minute.

At least one bureaucrat has decided to move his own moral compass to "it's OK to put up a sign that is a lie in order to protect the peacefulness of a rich douchebag's quiet little street." But now that the compass has been moved, who is to say it can't be moved again? What else might this bureacrat, or one of his coworkers upon hearing about this, be willing to do if only the right (read: rich or influential) people "ask" him or her to do it.

Maybe I'm the only sane person left in this godforsaken city, but I think the implications are absolutely terrifying.

Holy crap!!!!

"According to last month's IMF report, general government debt as a percentage of GDP will rise from 63 percent in 2007 to 88.8 percent this year and to 99.8 percent of GDP next year."

Thursday, August 20, 2009

The return of Viet Nam... in the face of a Health Care debate

There were a lot of Apocryphal moments in the saga that was the American intervention in Viet Nam.

Most people remember only a few... Walter Cronkite's declaration of stalemate in the wake of the Tet Offensive perhaps. Or maybe it's the photograph of a young girl naked and burned from head-to-toe running from an American napalm attack.

One of my personal favorites has always been the twisted logic on evidence in the famous quote given to AP reporter Peter Arnett by an Air Force Colonel who said that in order to save a village it became necessary to destroy it.

That one quote and its bizarre snake-eating-its-own-tail internal logic came to symoblize the futility of the entire effort.

And I feel like we've had a similar moment here in the debate over Obamacare. No one has yet said it in quite this way, but it seems to me that Obama is saying to us...

"In order to increase the number of choices available to you, we have to decrease the number of choices available to you"

Much as the Colonels' comment on the destruction of a village helped end our war in Viet Nam... this unspoken truth about Obamacare ought to end our self-destructive pursuit of a Government run Health Care System once and for all, as well.

Are You F--king Kidding Me?

I cannot believe the stupidity and outright deceptions of this Los Angeles Times op-ed by Neve Gordon.

Israel is an apartheid state and the only way to save Israel is to boycott it?

I am convinced that outside pressure is the only answer. Over the last three decades, Jewish settlers in the occupied territories have dramatically increased their numbers. The myth of the united Jerusalem has led to the creation of an apartheid city where Palestinians aren't citizens and lack basic services. The Israeli peace camp has gradually dwindled so that today it is almost nonexistent, and Israeli politics are moving more and more to the extreme right.

It is therefore clear to me that the only way to counter the apartheid trend in Israel is through massive international pressure. The words and condemnations from the Obama administration and the European Union have yielded no results, not even a settlement freeze, let alone a decision to withdraw from the occupied territories.

I consequently have decided to support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement that was launched by Palestinian activists in July 2005 and has since garnered widespread support around the globe. The objective is to ensure that Israel respects its obligations under international law and that Palestinians are granted the right to self-determination.


This guy is seriously off his rocker.

Perhaps if the Palestinian leaders recognized Israel's right to exist, stopped calling for the destruction of Israel as a state, and stopped firing rockets at Israeli citizens, the Israeli government might be willing to have meaningful discussions that could lead to a two state solution and peace in the region.

I hope Neve Gordon enjoys being a useful idiot of the Palestinian cause.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Choice and Competition in Health Care

Well, since the poll numbers for Obamacare show support for a public option dropping like a stone, the White House has regrouped and is now attempting to sell their plan as "choice and competition" in health care. And how does President Obama believe he can bring choice to health care? Does he want to relax the regulations that prohibit people from buying insurance across state lines? No, despite the thousands of insurance companies already doing business in the United States, he feels that the best way to bring competition and choice is through a government owned public option. Only a man who has spent his entire life and government and never worked in the private sector could believe that government will bring choice and competition to the table.

Using his logic, we need government owned gas stations to bring choice and competition to people who buy gas. We need government owned grocery stores to bring choice and competition to people who shop. We need government owned car companies to bring choice and competition to people who buy cars. Oh, wait, we already have that in GM.

This whole thing about choice and competition only being available through a public plan is deceptive and dishonest. I am actually surprised that instead of responding substantively to the views being presented to the administration through ordinary citizens at town hall meetings, the administration continues to ignore them and press forward with its plan to overhaul the entire health care system. They haven't changed their plan at all. They've simply changed their message to choice and competition.

People are freaking out about the deficit and their own financial situation, the last thing they want is another government program that adds to the national debt. Despite what most in this current administration believe, the American public isn't stupid, especially the middle class. They instinctively know that if something like this goes through, it won't only be the rich paying for it, they'll be paying for it as well.

And they're not buying it.

So by all means Democrats, go ahead and pass something purely on party lines which includes higher personal tax rates, higher corporate taxes, penalties for businesses that don't provide insurance, and a value added tax. Good luck in 2010 running with that on your resume.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Whoa whoa who, not so fast there Ace!

Accordng to Drudge, Obama is NOT dropping the Public Option. He's going to double down and do it without any bi-partisan support...

Uh... he can't possibly be THAT dumb can he? I mean don't get me wrong, this is the best possible scenario for us Republicans going in to 2010... but jeez, the ego on this guy... he just can't stand to not get his way, can he?

I mean hell we did everything but beg him to do this. I just can't believe he's actually falling for it!

Amazing.

Sunday, August 16, 2009

So you're bummed out by the latest defeat of socialized health care...

Well I know how you feel. Back during Bush's first term I was excited to hear him vow to take on the disaster that is Social Security... well it was you socialized healthcare/retirement types who killed my dream of being able to control more of my own retirement funds back then, so I'm only too happy to return the favor here in 2009.

Victory!

Obama to drop Public Option!!!

How you like my grassroots now Democrats!?

Saturday, August 15, 2009

If Palin is so stupid, how did she beat the brilliant Obama in the healthcare debate?

Taranto lays it out here.

I want to pull one of my liberal friends aside and say to them, seriously, you don't REALLY like this plan right? You're only supporting it because you know a failure here badly hurts Obama's presidency, right? Please tell me that's what's going on.

Sunday, August 2, 2009

Obama's latest teachable moment...

Comes to us from the flameout of the Cash For Clunkers program.

The damned thing went belly up in 4 days. Burned through a billion dollars in cash. Turns out when you give something valuable (i.e. cash) away for free (or virtually free) an awful lot of people sign up to receieve it.

I'm not here to debate the merits of pulling older cars off the market so they can be replaced by newer cars that pollute less. Or to argue whether or not those new car sales constitute a needed economic stimulus. Maybe they do.

What I'm here to point out is the more important reality that a program designed to give something of value away ran out of that something in 4 days.

And what I'm wondering is... might this episode have implications for what Obama wants to do with a government run health case system?

Health care is both highly in demand and quite valuable. What do you imagine will happen if Government suddenly begins giving it away for free?