The Essence Of OInsincerity

clipped from www.youtube.com

#63

clipped from www.foundationsmag.com A Man ought not to value himself of his Achievements, or rare Qualities of wit; much less of his riches Virtue or Kindred.

COTD #N: Let's Look At The States That Have Tried It

clipped from hotair.com There are so many wrong or dumb statements about this subject that it is hard to respond to them. Anyone who thought C4C was good program will love single payer health care. It means someone else is giving you something for nothing. If gov. run health care is so damn good lets look at the states that have tried it in the US. Hawaii-lasted almost a year. Mass- still going but cost are skyrocketing past where they were projected. Vermont- non participants are paying two sets of premiums and the poor people can’t afford their premiums. Tenn-almost bankrupted the state. Oregon-rationing and limited resources. There are more out there but none have succeeded! What I don’t understand is why can’t we all take a look at some of the big issues and then try to fix them one at a time? Tort reform, no brainer! Have you seen ONE democrat mention this? Loser pays- if you sue and lose you pay the other sides cost. This will stop a lot of ambulance chasers.

COTD: Clunkers Of Redistribution

clipped from hotair.com That really highlights the idiocy of the plan. The dealers SOLD the cars on the assumption they’d get back $4,500. But they don’t find out if they can get back that money until after the customer owns the car!! So the dealer loses money on every rejected clunker after the fact. Daggett on August 21, 2009 at 11:37 AM I’m not a conspiracy theorist, but, just suppose that’s part of the plan from the get go. How does that not fit in with the Precedent’s view on redistribution of wealth? VelvetElvis on August 21, 2009 at 12:53 PM

The Lousy Doctor

clipped from hotair.com WaPo/ABC sees independents as the key, as should Congressional Democrats facing elections next year.  At the beginning of 2009, Obama had high ratings among independents, but no longer.  Only 41% now trust Obama’s judgment, down from 61% in January.  They disapprove of Obama’s handling of health care by 57%, almost all of whom strongly disapprove, and the same number oppose the policy itself.  Among the half of independents that say ObamaCare will affect their vote in the midterms, they swing 2-1 to saying that they will oppose candidates who backed it. Even the skewed samples don’t hide the fact that voters have finally realized that Obama is no genius, but an inexperienced politician, a lousy doctor, and an incompetent economist.  And it’s only the seventh month of his presidency.

Despicable

clipped from michellemalkin.com Do You Know Who You Are Boycotting? posted at 8/21/2009 7:05 AM CDT * Mackey lectures at Universities about the horrors of factory farming * He says “Right now, Americans have to pretend factory farms don’t exist. They turn their eyes away, because there’s no alternative, there’s no choice. Once there is a choice, we will allow ourselves to be outraged.” * He makes $1 a year and donates his stock portfolio to charity. * He set up a $100,00 fund to help his employees with personal problems. * Pay is linked to team performance - profit sharing * At least 5% of annual profits go to local charities * Full-timers get 100% of their health care costs paid for - under plans the employees have selected * “They just have a lot more respect for you as a person here” says an employee You people are despicable. If the country had more CEO’s like Mackey, this country would be a greater place

COTD #N: "Bioethics"

clipped from justoneminute.typepad.com W originally killed the "End of Life" counseling pamphlet/questionnaire created for the VA which apparently has just been rolled out by the Obama Administration for use against the borderline VA patient population of veterans. What remains too often unstated is not the impact of the questions, but the damage done by the process itself which requires the target to submit obediently to the process of confessing their deepest fears and darkest self-effacing doubts to a dominating third-party who sits in judgement; a third party whose purpose and implicit goal is to accelerate the death of the human target of such questionnaires. Admittedly, my familiarity with the invaluable work of Victor Frankl predisposes me to a deep bias against the european eugenics traditions which have infiltrated and corrupted our medical schools under this Orwellian ruse they call "Bioethics."

False Is The New True

clipped from justoneminute.typepad.com As if torn from the pages of the Onion, the Times is now defending fears about health care rationing that they previously derided. Here is their latest "reporting": A Basis Is Seen for Some Health Plan Fears Among the Elderly By ROBERT PEAR WASHINGTON — White House officials and Democrats in Congress say the fears of older Americans about possible rationing of health care are based on myths and falsehoods. But Medicare beneficiaries and insurance counselors say the concerns are not entirely irrational. My goodness - was it only "White House officials and Democrats in Congress" that said elder-fears were "based on myths and falsehoods"?  Have the Times editors forgotten their headline from August 13? False ‘Death Panel’ Rumor Has Some Familiar Roots

Oregon Death Panel Update

clipped from www.arguewitheveryone.com

According to the MSM, this story is down the memory hole.

QOTD: Counting

clipped from naturalborncitizen.wordpress.com “It’s not who votes that counts. It’s who counts the votes.” – Joseph Stalin

About That Behavioral Energy Czar

clipped from www.la-articles.org.uk The leadership theme was reinforced by the theoretical writings of, Mosca, Pareto, and Michels, especially Pareto's theory of the Circulation of Elites. All these arguments emphasized the vital role of active minorities and the futility of expecting that the masses would ever, left to themselves, accomplish anything. Further corroboration came from Le Bon's sensational best-seller of 1895--it would remain perpetually in print in a dozen languages--The Psychology of Crowds, which analyzed the "irrational" behavior of humans in groups and drew attention to the group's proclivity to place itself in the hands of a strong leader, who could control the group as long as he appealed to certain primitive or basic beliefs. (30) The initiators of Fascism saw anti-rationalism as high-tech. It went with their fast cars and airplanes. Fascist anti-rationalism, like psychoanalysis, conceives of itself as a practical science which can channel elemental human drives in a useful direction.

What's old is new again. I don't call him O Duce for nothing. Follow the link and read the article if you don't know who the star of this little ditty was.

Those Little Details

clipped from wattsupwiththat.com The big problem in China isnt so much the coal plants, as the unscrubbed soot and sulfates coming from underground coal fires that have been raging for years. If the nations of the world made a concentrated effort to put out these coal seam fires, CO2 emissions, soot emissions, and sulfate emissions would be seriously decreased and we could reach kyoto goals without impacting the economy negatively

Shut Up, That's Why

clipped from ace.mu.nu What would Obama's academic footnotes look like, if he provided them for a speech or statement? Probably like this: 1. As I have always said. 2. Ibid. 3. Ibid. 4. Let me be clear: I'm tellin' ya, man. 5. Op cit. 6. Some professor I knew at Columbia said this to me during a fondue-and-blow party hosted by one of Bernie's old friends from the German Red Army Brigade. At least I think he said it. I was pretty wired and also tripping a little on laced pot so most of the time I was concentrating on his second, evil head, which was trying to hypnotize me with its spider-eyes. But I'm pretty sure. 7. Dreams of My Father, pg. 72, by Bill Ayers. 8. As I have always said. 9. Ibid. 16. To even discuss the evidence for this statement would be a distraction from the important issues facing us. 17. Ibid. 18. Ibid. 19. The CBO is full of crap. As I have always said. 20. Shut up, that's why.

Shmoozing Ahead

clipped from www.powerlineblog.com Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has named several cabinet ministers to serve under him during his second term in office as Iran's president. Eli Lake reports that Ahmadinejad has named one Ahmad Vahidi to serve as Iran's defense minister. Among other things, Vahidi is one of the most wanted terrorists sought by Interpol in connection with the deadly 1994 attack on a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires that killed 85 and injured more than 100. The 1994 Buenos Aires bombing isn't the only impressive item on Vahidi's résumé. Serving as the deputy defense minister, Reza Kahili recently wrote, Vahidi oversaw the distribution of arms and missiles to terrorist groups such as Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, and Hamas When President Obama gets around to following up on his mash notes to what he prides himself on calling the Islamic Republic of Iran, he may really enjoy his opportunity to shmooz with Vahidi.

Bullsh*tter Update

clipped from www.youtube.com

Wow. The sound of scales falling off of lefties eyes.

And check out this comment:

"Why is Obama still wiretapping Americans? Why is he covering up for torture? Why is he bailing out big banks? Why did he receive more corporate backing during his campaign than even McCain? Why is he ordering the deaths of innocent citizens in Pakistan and Afghanistan? Why is he making secret deals with big pharma? Why is he expanding US aggression? Why is he continuing indefinite detentions without trials? Why is he putting corporate execs and ex-Clintonites on his team of "change"?"

Christianist Update

clipped from pajamasmedia.com BUT AT LEAST HE’S NOT A “CHRISTIANIST:” Obama would like you to see government as religion. “Bearing false witness? Breaking the 9th Commandment? So his opponents are sinners. I’m trying to imagine the separation-of-church-and-state freakout if George Bush had taken this approach to arguing for one of his policies.”

Preoccupation

clipped from pajamasmedia.com “No one has the faintest idea what effect the stimulus has had.” That’s not entirely true. In the bond and currency markets, the effect of elephantine borrowing is well-understood. A fiscally weakened America is the baked-in-the-cake default assumption of big finance players, from the hedge fund titans to the sovereign wealth funds of Asia and the Middle East. The lack of Main Street impact is on the front pages. The corrosive longer term effect preoccupies the capital markets. Uh oh.

The Clinton Effect

clipped from sigmundcarlandalfred.wordpress.com

Astroturf Mobs

clipped from sigmundcarlandalfred.wordpress.com

Trojan Donkey

clipped from sigmundcarlandalfred.wordpress.com

Not A Principled Fight

clipped from viralfootage.com

COTD #2: The Object Of The Superior Man

clipped from naturalborncitizen.wordpress.com “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” – Lord John Acton “There are some things so serious you have to laugh at them.” – Niels Bohr “The exact contrary of what is generally believed is often the truth.” - Jean de la Bruyere “The great seal of truth is simplicity.” – Herman Boerhaave “Think like a man of action and act like a man of thought” – Sallust “The object of the superior man is truth.” – Confucius “Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.” – Lao Tzu “Nothing is more unreliable than the populace, nothing more obscure than human intentions, nothing more deceptive than the whole Electoral System.” – Cicero “Nothing is so strongly fortified that it cannot be taken by money.” - Cicero

COTD: House Call

clipped from www.lucianne.com If you think Panetta is incompetent you also have to know he is dangerous. I replied to his remark about VP Cheny wishing the terrorists would attack the US. My email was one sentence long. I said maybe Cheny was wishing for them to attack him not the USA? Next day 2 Sheriff Dept Deputies showed up at my door wanting to know if I sent an email to the CIA. After explaining the situation they rolled their eyes and looked disgusted. I was mad as hell but then thought how the Jews felt in Germany went they were visited by the Nazi's.

Crazy People With Guns

clipped from www.powerlineblog.com The powers-that-be in Iran are engaged in an enormity that harks back to the Stalin era. Iranian prosecutors are conducting a mass trial of Iranians charged with political offenses. As reported this past Sunday by the AP's Nasser Karimi, the 135 defendants are charged with plotting a "soft revolution" against the Islamic theocracy during the postelection protests. Yesterday the Washington Times highlighted another such accusation. The Times reports that the chief prosecutor has asked defendants questions such as: "Were you sent by Michael Ledeen? What did Michael Ledeen tell you to do?" Another was told: "You are an agent of Michael Ledeen!" The universal response has been: "Michael who?" Asked for his comment by the Times editors, Ledeen sagely responded: "You have to understand -- these are crazy people." Drawing on highly placed military sources, Ledeen channels the voice of the Hidden Imam to comment further in "The Mahdi replies."

It Will Work Perfectly

clipped from pajamasmedia.com BUT DON’T WORRY, GOVERNMENT HEALTHCARE WILL WORK PERFECTLY: NY dealers pull out of clunkers program. “Hundreds of auto dealers in the New York area have withdrawn from the government’s Cash for Clunkers program, citing delays in getting reimbursed by the government, a dealership group said Wednesday. The Greater New York Automobile Dealers Association, which represents dealerships in the New York metro area, said about half its 425 members have left the program because they cannot afford to offer more rebates. They’re also worried about getting repaid.”

Browndeath

clipped from wattsupwiththat.com This is the same Greenpeace that spent 20 years trying to get chlorine banned from drinking water (and everywhere else)(how you can ban a chemical element is beyond insanity). From John Brignell: “As I wrote in a book called Sorry, Wrong Number! in 2000, chlorine is essential to life on earth, not only in the form of its sodium salt, but as a constituent of more than more than 1500 vital compounds in plants and animals, including our digestive juices. The chlorination of drinking water has saved more human lives than any other hygienic measure. When chlorination was stopped in Peru in 1991 as a result of pressure from the EPA and Greenpeace, an epidemic broke out that spread through Latin America. Some 800,000 people became ill with cholera and 6,000 people died. Millions of people are still dying all over the world because of dirty water.” I wonder if they apologised for that lot? Maybe ‘Browndeath’ would be a more accurate name than ‘Greenpeace.’

The Satanic Foreign Infidels

clipped from pajamasmedia.com On July 12, the Iranian news agency ISNA published a letter written by Chief of Staff Hassan Firouzabadi to the Shi’ite Messiah, the Hidden Imam.  He asked for assistance for the regime, defended the brutality of the Basij against peaceful Iranian demonstrators, and laid blame for the disturbances on the West. Thanks to highly-placed sources in the armed forces, I have received a copy of the Hidden Imam’s reply to Firouzabadi, which follows here, without comment. My Dear Hassan, To tell you the truth I had given up on you.  THIRTY YEARS since your last letter?  Is that what passes for filial piety nowadays in the Islamic Republic? Your letter puts the blame on the satanic foreign infidels, with their tricky lies and their diabolical “velvet revolution.”  But they are not the cause of the rage against you. Do you really believe that I am going to forgive you for the slaughter of my people?  Am I supposed to help you slaughter even more?  Is that what “Basij philosophy” means?

The Chicago Change

clipped from justoneminute.typepad.com An industry group that has allied itself with the White House on the health care fight has hired David Axelrod's old firm, which still owes him $2 million and is now run by his son.  Well, the appearance of impropriety doesn't seem to faze this Administration. We have also seen this before.  Back when Michelle Obama was implementing her controversial patient-dumping scheme at the University of Chicago Medical Center, Axelrod's firm (which he then owned) took a big payday. Taking care of their cronies may not be change, but the Obamas believe in it.

Gun Totin' "Whitey"

clipped from pajamasmedia.com PROTECTING THE RACIAL NARRATIVE: MSNBC Edits Clip of Man With Gun At Obama Rally To Hide That He’s Black. “Never will you see a starker example of MSNBC getting away with the sort of deception for which Fox News would be pilloried, especially in the context of race.” Plus, from Tam: “Listen, you broadcast dinosaurs: You don’t control the horizontal or the vertical anymore, got it? We can adjust our sets any time we want to. We have our own cameras these days. The whole world is watching now.”

Not One For The Record Books

clipped from wattsupwiththat.com During the first half of August, Arctic ice extent declined more slowly than during the same period in 2007 and 2008. The slower decline is primarily due to a recent atmospheric circulation pattern, which transported ice toward the Siberian coast and discouraged export of ice out of the Arctic Ocean. It is now unlikely that 2009 will see a record low extent, but the minimum summer ice extent will still be much lower than the 1979 to 2000 average.

Truth On Ice

clipped from www.powerlineblog.com At the opposite end of the scientific integrity spectrum, we have the retiring head of Greenpeace, Gerd Leipold, admitting that his organization's claim that the Arctic ice sheet will melt by 2030 is untrue, but justifying it by saying that "we, as a pressure group, have to emotionalize issues." Truth, as the liberals are finding out, has a power that is not so easily overcome.

Circus Chicago

clipped from proteinwisdom.com Obama is going to talk about “moral imperatives” and leave the bare-knuckles, Chicago-style wiseguy bullying to Henry Waxman Two senior House Democrats are seeking a raft of financial figures from health-insurance companies, upping the ante as President Obama and his allies push to make the insurance industry’s flaws a centerpiece of their campaign for health-care reform. House Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.), chairman of the panel’s subcommittee on oversight and investigations, wrote letters Monday to more than 50 of the nation’s largest insurers informing them that the committee “is examining executive compensation and other business practices in the health insurance industry.” They requested detailed information on the compensation packages of the companies’ highest-paid employees This is unconscionable. While I hold no brief for insurance companies per se, most of this information is already available

Beneath The Radar

clipped from jewishworldreview.com I was not intimidated during J. Edgar Hoover's FBI hunt for reporters like me who criticized him. I railed against the Bush-Cheney war on the Bill of Rights without blinking. But now I am finally scared of a White House administration. President Obama's desired health care reform intends that a federal board (similar to the British model) — as in the Center for Health Outcomes Research and Evaluation in a current Democratic bill — decides whether your quality of life, regardless of your political party, merits government-controlled funds to keep you alive. Watch for that life-decider in the final bill. It's already in the stimulus bill signed into law. legislation itself is only half the problem with Obamacare. Whatever bill passes, hundreds of bureaucrats in the federal agencies will have years to promulgate scores of regulations to govern the details of the law. "This is where the real mischief could be done because most regulatory actions are effectuated beneath the public radar.

The Same Exact Furor

clipped from hotair.com The racism charge is truly a desperate, Hail Mary rhetorical pass. Supposedly, all of this opposition comes from the color of our President’s skin, despite the fact that he won 53% of the vote just nine months ago. However, how do these people explain the same exact furor over the Clinton effort to nationalize health care 16 years ago? The advocates of ObamaCare don’t want to admit to the radical nature of their agenda and the legitimate philosophical differences between the sides. Meybe it’s because they can’t win that argument.

Drill

clipped from ibdeditorials.com Last week, David Patterson released a draft report of his Energy Planning Board that does something Democrats are loath to do: It proposes developing a domestic energy resource — the huge amounts of natural gas trapped in the Marcellus Shale formation. New York produces 5% of its natural gas in-state and imports more than 95% from the Gulf Coast and Canada. Geologist Gary Lash of State University New York at Fredonia and colleague Terry Engelder of Penn State estimate that Marcellus holds 1,300 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. About 20 trillion cubic feet are produced in the U.S. annually. The Potential Gas Committee of the Colorado School of Mines reported in June that the U.S. has 1,836 trillion cubic feet of technically recoverable natural gas locked up in formations like Marcellus, the Bakken formation centered in North Dakota and the Green River Formation in the Rocky Mountain West. Drill, Patterson, drill.

Silent

clipped from www.washingtonexaminer.com Remember the anti-war movement? Not too long ago, the Democratic party's most loyal voters passionately opposed the war in Iraq. Democratic presidential candidates argued over who would withdraw American troops the quickest. Netroots activists regularly denounced President George W. Bush, and sometimes the U.S. military ("General Betray Us"). Cindy Sheehan, the woman whose soldier son was killed in Iraq, became a heroine when she led protests at Bush's Texas ranch. That was then. Now, even though the United States still has roughly 130,000 troops in Iraq, and is quickly escalating the war in Afghanistan -- 68,000 troops there by the end of this year, and possibly more in 2010 -- anti-war voices on the Left have fallen silent. For many liberal activists, opposing the war was really about opposing George W. Bush. When Bush disappeared, so did their anti-war passion.

The Rationing Remains

clipped from www.frontpagemag.com President Obama’s retreat from his previous insistence on establishing a government owned insurance company to compete with private health insurers will do nothing at all to mitigate the massive rationing in medical care to the elderly his legislation will force. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, in a rare moment of profundity, said that government alternative to private health insurance is “not the essential element” of the administration’s health care overhaul. How right she is. The fundamental equation that means worse and worse medical care for our seniors remains exactly as it was before the public option was abandoned: Fifty million new patients to be treated and no extra doctors or nurses to care for them. The result will be precisely the same whether or not there is a public option — massive rationing of medical services to the elderly.

Used

clipped from www.powerlineblog.com Byron had a follow-up phone conversation with Sheehan: I asked Sheehan about the fact that the press seems to have lost interest in her and her cause. "It's strange to me that you mention it," she said. "I haven't stopped working. I've been protesting every time I can, and it's not covered. But the one time I did get a lot of coverage was when I protested in front of George Bush's house in Dallas in June. I don't know what to make of it." I'm pretty sure I know what to make of it. Cindy Sheehan is, I think, a nut, but the undeniable fact is that she and others like her were used--used by Democratic Party hacks at sites like the Daily Kos, by far-left organizations like MoveOn and International A.N.S.W.E.R., and most of all by Barack Obama. What's more interesting, as Sheehan herself acknowledges, is how she was used by the liberal media. What do you think the chances are that the liberal media will send cameras to Martha's Vineyard to document Mrs. Sheehan's current campaign?

The Chicago Way

clipped from michellemalkin.com Now, Bloomberg’s Timothy Burger brings news about Axelrod’s latest health care conflicts of interest that will come as no surprise to those who have fully informed themselves of the Chicago way. While White House press secretary Robert Gibbs assails the motives of grass-roots activists by falsely smearing the movement as corporate-funded shills, Barack Obama’s own senior adviser and chief Astroturfer raked in millions of dollars from Big Pharma. Two firms that received $343.3 million to handle advertising for Barack Obama’s White House run last year have profited from his top priority as president by taking on his push for health-care overhaul. Let’s run this again … Man owns firm, man takes government job, man sells firm and firm owes man $2 million (if firm goes bust, man out $2 mil), firm lands multi-million dollar contracts from organizations doing business with the government on a top issue for the person man works for and man is out advocating for. Doesn’t pass the smell test

The Hobgoblin Of Little Minds

clipped from pajamasmedia.com REID’S “EVIL” MOMENT: Remember when polite society treated a politician’s use of the word “evil” as a sign that the old boy was dangerously lacking upstairs? We saw it in 1983, when Ronald Reagan famously used the word in a speech to describe the Soviet empire. What a rube! New York Times columnist Anthony Lewis spoke for the smart set when he wondered what Soviet leaders must think: “What confidence can they have in the restraint of an American leader with such an outlook?” We saw it again in 2002, when George W. Bush characterized North Korea, Iran and Saddam Hussein’s Iraq as an “axis of evil.” he accused those protesting President Barack Obama’s health-care proposals of being “evil mongers.” And then . . . nothing. No thundering rebuke from the New York Times. No outburst from Mr. Carter. But the people he was calling “evil” were opponents of the Democratic agenda.

And I do mean little.

More Right Than He Knows

clipped from hotair.com “We are subject to Congressional oversight, regulation by other government agencies, and also oversight by various other organizations and the public,” USPS said in their annual report. “If we cannot successfully address their various, and sometimes competing, concerns, we may be subject to greater regulation, which could increase our costs or otherwise place additional burdens on our operations,” USPS warned regulators in the annual report. Sound familiar?  The government has created a regulatory system for the USPS that breeds inefficiency, stagnation, and waste.  The competing interests of Congress and multiple levels of regulatory oversight creates an often-contradictory burden that increases cost and damages consumer satisfaction.  Top that off with a pension/health fund that Congress mandated in 2006, and you have a recipe for disaster.  It’s a recipe that Barack Obama hails as his model for ObamaCare, and in that, he’s more right than he knows.