All posts by Chief

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Obamacare Update & Non-apology

First something new! This will help you to understand how Obamacare has great potential to simplify, improve the system, and reduce costs. Right?

healthcarechart.jpg
(Click here for larger view)

It didn’t help? Oh, darn!

To a different aspect of this topic: The Chief received flaming replies and was the subject of  heartfelt  postings (comparing him to Rush Limbaugh!) to his previous posting concerning Obamacare, DEMANDING abject apology on the part of yours truly for having the nerve to question the plans of The One and His Disciples in the Halls of Congress.

Apparently the posting has tripped the trigger over in Madison and has the Madville Times living up to it’s name on this one. Sorry about that Mr. Heidelberger, but can’t we just disagree? No? Oh well…I’m grief stricken.   If you don’t agree with my conclusions, that’s YOUR business: time will ultimately tell who’s really right on hese, and other issues.

I WILL concede that the below cited provision is not an outright ban on private insurance, but…the devil’s in the details, as is usually the case when dealing with Byzantine proposals for massive new tax-and-entitlement centralized programs, and further apology will be eschewed based on the EFFECT of said program which IMHO results in the eventual end of private insurance. To go back to the piece that originally caught my attention…at risk of possible repetition:

When we first saw the paragraph Tuesday, just after the 1,018-page document was released, we thought we surely must be misreading it. So we sought help from the House Ways and Means Committee. It turns out we were right: The provision would indeed outlaw individual private coverage. Under the Orwellian header of “Protecting The Choice To Keep Current Coverage,” the “Limitation On New Enrollment” section of the bill clearly states: “Except as provided in this paragraph, the individual health insurance issuer offering such coverage does not enroll any individual in such coverage if the first effective date of coverage is on or after the first day” of the year the legislation becomes law.

Based on my understanding of English language, tat seems to be fairly clear.

So we can all keep our coverage, just as promised — with, of course, exceptions: Those who currently have private individual coverage won’t be able to change it. Nor will those who leave a company to work for themselves be free to buy individual plans from private carriers.

If the government gets into the business of offering subsidized health insurance coverage, the private insurance market will wither. Drawn by a public option that will be 30% to 40% cheaper than their current premiums because taxpayers will be funding it, employers will gladly scrap their private plans and go with Washington’s coverage.

Tell me this WON’t happen…if you REALLY believe it won’t, please contact me for some tropical beachfront in NW Moody County, SD – do I have a DEAL for you! So, where does the end of private health programs come in? Attrition, for sure, and small (and large) businesses bailing out of private coverage like mad…let Uncle Sam do it, and figure out the financing too…result, IMHO the attritional death of private coverage. (By the way, this already happened in the UK contributing to the rationing and maltreatment that is far too common over there.)

The nonpartisan Lewin Group estimated in April that 120 million or more Americans could lose their group coverage at work and end up in such a program. That would leave private carriers with 50 million or fewer customers. This could cause the market to, as Lewin Vice President John Sheils put it, “fizzle out altogether.”What wasn’t known until now is that the bill itself will kill the market for private individual coverage by not letting any new policies be written after the public option becomes law.

The legislation is also likely to finish off health savings accounts, a goal that Democrats have had for years. They want to crush that alternative because nothing gives individuals more control over their medical care, and the government less, than HSAs.

The final result will ultimately be the end of private health care and insurance as we know it, not by direct execution, but by an inevitable exercise of a sort of Gresham’s Law applied to health care…bad care drives out good care (unless you are REALLY rich in a way I can’t even begin to imagine, as a semi-retired teacher).

If you, as Mr. Heidelberger is, (and to some extent I also am) are disturbed by the like of the Stanford-MeritCare merger, this too is an inevitable result of the movement towards Obamacare…as these organizations attempt to render themselves “too big to fail” by the standards of even bigger government. (They just want their place at the health care table…no big deal, right, and if Goldman-Sach’s money talks in the halls of Washington, then why not Sanford’s?)

Now, one can decide that this is a positive change in things or not. No problemo, but I continue to call the shots as I see them, whether or not Mr. Heidelberger likes what I say, or agrees with it or whatever…that’s HIS call.

My choice is to reply to specific issues…NOT to get into the gratuitous exchange of invective and personalities in keeping with the counsel of a man much wiser than me: “Never mud-wrestle with a pig. You both get dirty, and the pig enjoys it.”

By the way C.H. – I am honored to be attacked in the same sentence as Rush Limbaugh! It makes me thing I must be doing something RIGHT!

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SD Bank Busted

The bum economy is evidently making an appearance in South Dakota.

BankFirst of Sioux Falls, South Dakota closes

U.S. bank regulators closed BankFirst of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, on Friday, the 55th U.S. bank to fail this year as the struggling economy and falling home prices take their toll on financial institutions.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp said BankFirst had $275 million in assets and $254 million in deposits. The failure is expected to cost the FDIC deposit insurance fund an estimated $91 million.

Alerus Financial, National Association of Grand Forks, North Dakota, agreed to assume all of the deposits of BankFirst, whose two branches will reopen on Monday, the regulator said.

The FDIC said BankFirst’s Sioux Falls location will operate as a branch of First Dakota National Bank of Yankton, South Dakota.

Sign of the times – it ain’t that pretty at all.

Culture Wars

B.O. “Czar” Anti-family Dogma

Obama’s Science Czar: Traditional family is obsolete, punish large families

President Obama’s Science Czar, John Holdren, took a controversial and amoral approach to the science of population by recommending mass compulsory sterilization and even forced abortion (and/or forced marriages) under certain circumstances.[emphasis added] His 1977 tome, Ecoscience, which he co-authored with Paul and Anne Ehrlich, also displays a revealing disregard for the institution of the traditional human family….

Holdren, with a blithe “of course,” encourages government to wage an effective war on the family in America. It begins with the abolition of “pronatalist” policies and continues with their complete reversal:

As United States taxpayers know, income tax laws have long implicitly encouraged marriage and childbearing…Such a pronatalist bias of course is no longer appropriate. In countries that are affluent enough for the majority of citizens to pay taxes, tax laws could be adjusted to favor (instead of penalize) single people, working wives, and small families. Other tax measures might also include high marriage fees, taxes on luxury baby goods and toys, and removal of family allowances where they exist. Other possibilities include the limitation of maternal or educational benefits to two children per family.

Intrusive enough?

Some Americans might cite the Founding Fathers and argue that a government whose policy is to make war on the family in the name of science has clearly overstepped its mandate. That was not the opinion expressed by John Holdren, the man President Obama has put in charge in the nation’s science policy.

Can you read T-O-T-A-L-I-T-A-R-I-A-N? Any other questions?

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Still talking…unfortunately.

Hillary Clinton rejects notion of diminished role

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday rejected suggestions she had been sidelined by President Barack Obama her rival for last year’s Democratic presidential nomination.

With media reports swirling that Clinton’s influence has been usurped by the National Security Council, the top U.S. diplomat insisted she played an important role in crafting the foreign policy agenda.

“I really stay focused on the work that I do. I broke my elbow, not my larynx.

Oh well. Maybe next time!

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A breath of political fresh air!

FINALLY! A politician/government wonk who admitted what was clearly evident to rational observers of public affairs!

Jacqui Smith: I wasn’t up to being Home Secretary

Jacqui Smith has admitted she was not up to being Home Secretary – and should have been given some proper training before she was handed the job.

Somehow the Chief thought the idea was to appoint people who already were qualified for the job.
(Silly me, to have such obviously unrealistic expectations)

Ms Smith, who is likely to be remembered for claiming expenses for a porn film watched by her husband, said any success she had was down to luck rather than skill.

She added: “When I became Home Secretary I’d never run a major organisation. I hope I did a good job but if I did it was more by luck than by any kind of development of skills.

Now, to get this “truth or consequences” virus across the big pond from Britain to Washington!!!

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Obamacare Choice? NO WAY BABY!

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It’s Not An Option

What was that bit that B.O. was saying about choice still being a part of healthcare reform?

It didn’t take long to run into an “uh-oh” moment when reading the House’s “health care for all Americans” bill. Right there on Page 16 is a provision making individual private medical insurance illegal.

When we first saw the paragraph Tuesday, just after the 1,018-page document was released, we thought we surely must be misreading it. So we sought help from the House Ways and Means Committee.

It turns out we were right: The provision would indeed outlaw individual private coverage. Under the Orwellian header of “Protecting The Choice To Keep Current Coverage,” the “Limitation On New Enrollment” section of the bill clearly states:

“Except as provided in this paragraph, the individual health insurance issuer offering such coverage does not enroll any individual in such coverage if the first effective date of coverage is on or after the first day” of the year the legislation becomes law.

So we can all keep our coverage, just as promised — with, of course, exceptions: Those who currently have private individual coverage won’t be able to change it. Nor will those who leave a company to work for themselves be free to buy individual plans from private carriers.

Will we the sheeple swallow this poison pill?

The public option won’t be an option for many, but rather a mandate for buying government care. A free people should be outraged at this advance of soft tyranny. Washington does not have the constitutional or moral authority to outlaw private markets in which parties voluntarily participate. It shouldn’t be killing business opportunities, or limiting choices, or legislating major changes in Americans’ lives.

Oh, joy. What ELSE is buried in this 1000+ page monstrosity? The Chief shudders to imagine the possibilites…

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Huh?

Joe Biden: ‘We Have to Go Spend Money to Keep From Going Bankrupt’

Vice President Joe Biden told people attending an AARP town hall meeting that unless the Democrat-supported health care plan becomes law the nation will go bankrupt and that the only way to avoid that fate is for the government to spend more money….

“We’re going to go bankrupt as a nation,” Biden said.

“Now, people when I say that look at me and say, ‘What are you talking about, Joe? You’re telling me we have to go spend money to keep from going bankrupt?’” Biden said. “The answer is yes, that’s what I’m telling you.”

The VEEP’s mind is certainly not troubled by the presence of logic and reason.

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This somehow seems to fit…

This is just TOO perfect a target to ignore…like a slow hanging pitch in front of Albert Pujols…

Michael Jackson to be buried without his brain

Michael Jackson will be buried this week– without his brain. As his family tries to finalise details for the King of Pop’s funeral on Tuesday they have been told it will be held back for tests.

They faced the grim choice of waiting up to three weeks for Jackson’s brain to be returned to them or go ahead and bury him without it – which they have decided to do.

Since he lived without its presence being detectable much of the time, it’s only appropriate that he is buried without it.

Glowbull Warming, SD Politics

Glowbull Warming Updates & Cap and Tax

(New York blogging!)

With B.O. and Congressional Donks pushing for the passage of the energy mega-tax bill, these items are either directly or indirectly related.

First Some of their political strategery…

Al Gore not coming to D.C.

Awwwwwwwww!

Former Vice President Al Gore canceled plans to fly to Washington for a news conference with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday, and instead was working the phones from Tennessee to help push a landmark climate bill to passage.

Hopefully this next bit is wrong…but we’ll see what happens.

Friday’s vote on the measure is expected to be close, but multiple sources on both sides of the aisle say they’re confident that the bill will pass — with some Republican votes — following a deal between House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman and Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson.

Why is this a BAD idea: a number of issues are in play here:

The Cap and Tax Fiction

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has put cap-and-trade legislation on a forced march through the House, and the bill may get a full vote as early as Friday. It looks as if the Democrats will have to destroy the discipline of economics to get it done.

Despite House Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman’s many payoffs to Members, rural and Blue Dog Democrats remain wary of voting for a bill that will impose crushing costs on their home-district businesses and consumers. The leadership’s solution to this problem is to simply claim the bill defies the laws of economics.

This will NOT be doing anything to help the economy, quite the contrary. (Are you paying any attention Congresscritter Herseth-Sandlin?)

The biggest doozy in the CBO analysis was its extraordinary decision to look only at the day-to-day costs of operating a trading program, rather than the wider consequences energy restriction would have on the economy. The CBO acknowledges this in a footnote: “The resource cost does not indicate the potential decrease in gross domestic product (GDP) that could result from the cap.” [emphasis added]

The hit to GDP is the real threat in this bill. The whole point of cap and trade is to hike the price of electricity and gas so that Americans will use less. These higher prices will show up not just in electricity bills or at the gas station but in every manufactured good, from food to cars. Consumers will cut back on spending, which in turn will cut back on production, which results in fewer jobs created or higher unemployment. Some companies will instead move their operations overseas, with the same result.

So what else is new in the Glowbull Warming debate?

EPA Suppresses Internal Global Warming Study

Scientific findings at odds with the Obama Administration’s views on carbon dioxide and climate change are being suppressed as a result of political pressure, officials at the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) charge.

“This suppression of valid science for political reasons is beyond belief,” said CEI General Counsel Sam Kazman. “EPA’s conduct is even more outlandish because it flies in the face of the president’s widely-touted claim that ‘the days of science taking a back seat to ideology are over.’”

The agency has never made the study public or included it in official reference materials, according to CEI. As part of a recently concluded EPA public comment period on a proposed rule, CEI submitted a set four EPA emails, dated March 12-17, 2009, as evidence that the suppressed study included a critique of the agency’s global warming position.
CEI has asked EPA to make the study public and to allow public comments on it. CEI has also asked that EPA to prevent any reprisals against the study’s author who has been employed with the agency for 35 years.

And then there’s this this bit of common sense:
Electric Cars Will Not Decrease Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Says Federal Study

The stimulus law enacted in February promoted the purchase of plug-in electric cars by the federal government and the broader market, but a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report released this month says that the use of plug-in electric vehicles will not by itself decrease greenhouse gas emissions.

To do that, the report argues, the United States would have to switch from coal-burning plants to lower-emission sources to generate electricity such as nuclear power.

“If you are using coal fired power plants and half the country’s electricity comes from coal powered plants, are you just trading one greenhouse gas emitter for another?”
Mark Gaffigan, co-author of the GAO report and a specialist in energy issues told CNSNews.com.

Well, DUH!

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It’s not your father’s census anymore.

Minn. lawmaker vows not to complete Census

Outspoken Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann says she’s so worried that information from next year’s national census will be abused that she will refuse to fill out anything more than the number of people in her household.

In an interview Wednesday morning with The Washington Times “America’s Morning News,” Mrs. Bachmann, Minnesota Republican, said the questions have become “very intricate, very personal”

The Chief concurs fully!

Predictably enough, the Census wonks don’t agree:

Shelly Lowe, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Census Bureau, said Mrs. Bachmann is “misreading” the law.

She sent a portion of the U.S. legal code that says anyone over 18 years of age who refuses to answer “any of the questions” on the census can be fined up to $5,000.

Nooooo Shelly, it’s not the LAW, it’s the implementation of an invasive census far exceeding the explicit census power in the Consititution that’s the issue here.  Less government intrusion instead of more is the ticket here.

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Transparency? What’s that?

Obama Closes Doors on Openness

This report is interesting as much from it’s origin as for its content. Newsweak, and Issikof are FAR from being part of the VRWC!

As a senator, Barack Obama denounced the Bush administration for holding “secret energy meetings” with oil executives at the White House. But last week public-interest groups were dismayed when his own administration rejected a Freedom of Information Act request for Secret Service logs showing the identities of coal executives who had visited the White House to discuss Obama’s “clean coal” policies. One reason: the disclosure of such records might impinge on privileged “presidential communications.” The refusal, approved by White House counsel Greg Craig’s office, is the latest in a series of cases in which Obama officials have opted against public disclosure. Since Obama pledged on his first day in office to usher in a “new era” of openness, “nothing has changed,” says David -Sobel, a lawyer who litigates FOIA cases. “For a president who said he was going to bring unprecedented transparency to government, you would certainly expect more than the recycling of old Bush secrecy policies.”

The hard line appears to be no accident. After Obama’s much-publicized Jan. 21 “transparency” memo, administration lawyers crafted a key directive implementing the new policy that contained a major loophole, according to FOIA experts. The directive, signed by Attorney General Eric Holder, instructed federal agencies to adopt a “presumption” of disclosure for FOIA requests. This reversal of Bush policy was intended to restore a standard set by President Clinton’s attorney general, Janet Reno. But in a little-noticed passage, the Holder memo also said the new standard applies “if practicable” for cases involving “pending litigation.” Dan Metcalfe, the former longtime chief of FOIA policy at Justice, says the passage and other “lawyerly hedges” means the Holder memo is now “astonishingly weaker” than the Reno policy. (The visitor-log request falls in this category because of a pending Bush-era lawsuit for such records.)

ANOTHER case of the B.O. bite veing very different indeed from the bark.  Not a problem to the Chief, since he thinks that this is actually a more rational policy that the originally stated one.

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Political “Gravy” Flows Downhill

A political pattern to stimulus tour

Looks like the B.O. administration has taken the art of wardheeler politics of distributing political loot to the faithful to a new high (low?!).

Since Congress passed President Barack Obama’s $787 billion economic stimulus bill in February, administration officials have traveled to at least 66 events across the country to tout the massive spending program or hand out stimulus cash to grateful local officials.

But a POLITICO examination of the travel reveals a distinctly political trend line: Top officials have hosted events predominantly in states that Obama won in 2008.

What’s more, the examination revealed that Obama officials all but avoided Southern states that Obama lost.

It is not unusual for a presidential administration to find ways to reward its supporters through federal largesse, particularly in this case, when the goal of the stimulus program is push money out the door to states and localities that can spend it quickly to jump-start the economy. The Bush administration was criticized in 2004 for sending Cabinet officials on trips that critics said doubled as campaigning for the president’s reelection bid.

But the numbers tell the tale: 52 of the 66 events were in states that backed Obama. And taken together, the itineraries amount to a veritable map of Obama’s election-night victories — big-money states like California and New York, swing states like Ohio and Colorado that Obama turned blue and other solidly Democratic states Obama kept in his column.

Shocking! Simply shocking!

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Boston Blogging

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BLOGNOTE: Posting has been kind of spotty lately due to a road trip…am currently in Boston, and soon after returning home next week, will be out again on an 18 day “historiography” road trip as part of a Master’s degree program that the Chief is in through a U.S.D. grant.

I hope to keep up with posting somewhat…but it will likely be “catch as catch can” for most of the month of June.

Defense Matters!, National Insecurity

NorK Updates: “It ain’t that pretty at all!”

First, for whatever (little) reassurance this can offer…

Clinton Warns North Korea for ‘Belligerent’ Behavior in Region

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said North Korea must face consequences for its “belligerent and provocative behavior” after Kim Jong Il’s regime threatened military action against South Korea.

Clinton spoke in Washington after North Korea’s official news agency said Kim’s government would no longer abide by the 1953 armistice that ended the Korean War and may respond militarily to South Korea’s participation in a U.S.-led program that would block ships suspected of carrying nuclear weapons or material for export.

The U.S. takes “very seriously” its commitments to defend South Korea and Japan, its principal allies in the region, Clinton said. She called on North Korea to return to the so- called six party talks aimed at dismantling its nuclear arms program.

…and of course the implied threat: “If you don’t watch out, we’ll hold our breath until I turn red in the face! THEN I’ll go to the U.N. and you’ll REALLY be sorry!.”

NKorea threatens to attack US, SKorean warships

North Korea threatened military action Wednesday against U.S. and South Korean warships plying the waters near the Koreas’ disputed maritime border, raising the specter of a naval clash just days after the regime’s underground nuclear test.

Pyongyang, reacting angrily to Seoul’s decision to join an international program to intercept ships suspected of aiding nuclear proliferation, called the move tantamount to a declaration of war.

“Now that the South Korean puppets were so ridiculous as to join in the said racket and dare declare a war against compatriots,” North Korea is “compelled to take a decisive measure,” the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea said in a statement carried by state media.

Seoul’s decision comes at a time when “the state of military confrontation is growing acute and there is constant danger of military conflict,” the statement warned.

How serious to take all this? B.O.’s not too worried…Russia apparently has a different take on things:

Russia fears Korea conflict could go nuclear

“We assume that a dangerous brinkmanship, a war of nerves, is under way, but it will not grow into a hot war,” the official told Tass. “Restraint is needed.”

The Foreign Ministry often uses statements sourced to unnamed officials, released through official news agencies, to lay down its position on sensitive issues.

Not exactly a “war fuzzy” – but there it is nonetheless.

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CA Constitution Amendment by Vote: What a Concept!

Prop. 8 upheld by California Supreme Court

The California Supreme Court today upheld Proposition 8’s ban on same-sex marriage but also ruled that gay couples who wed before the election will continue to be married under state law.

The decision virtually ensures another fight at the ballot box over marriage rights for gays. Gay rights activists say they may ask voters to repeal the marriage ban as early as next year, and opponents have pledged to fight any such effort. Proposition 8 passed with 52% of the vote.

Although the court split 6-1 on the constitutionality of Proposition 8, the justices were unanimous in deciding to keep intact the marriages of as many as 18,000 gay couples who exchanged vows before the election. The marriages began last June, after a 4-3 state high court ruling striking down the marriage ban last May.

The concept of a court overthrow of a CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT is sort of wierd for the Chief to wrap his mind around to begin with…don’t Supreme Courts INTERPRET Constitutional Law…not decide what parts of a Constitution can/should be valid? Apparently even in California this is still the case, at least for now.

Constitution Watch, National Insecurity

News of the Day

NKorea widens threat, limits US options

North Korea’s nuclear test makes it no likelier that the regime will actually launch a nuclear attack, but it adds a scary dimension to another threat: the defiant North as a facilitator of the atomic ambitions of others, potentially even terrorists.

It presents another major security crisis for President Barack Obama, already saddled with wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and a nuclear problem with Iran. He said Monday the U.S. and its allies must “stand up” to the North Koreans, but it’s far from clear what diplomatic or other action the world community will take.

So far, nothing they’ve done has worked.

THAT’s the understatement of the year!

North Korea fires sixth missile in defiance of US demands for end of aggression

North Korea has fired another short-range missile in defiance of warnings from the United States, bringing the total numbers of launches in the past three days to six.

The defiance of the North has prompted the US to warn that it will “pay the price” for continuing to ignore the international community. Susan Rice, the US ambassador to the United Nations, said the UN Security Council was united in its determination to punish North Korea and that Pyongyang would learn that its actions “have consequences”.

REALLY – Why would the NorKs expect anything more than another application of hot air from Washington?

(Hmmm…maybe THAT’s why B.O. et al are worried so much about CO2 and Glowbull Warming!)

So much for B.O.’s guaranteed assurance that a new spirit of willingness to talk with then will get a positive result, meanwhile, Iran is watching with interest from the wings of the world stage.

Meanwhile, back on this side of the pond…B.O. gives us a SCOTUS designee who is, based on her own words, unqualified to serve:

A Judge’s View of Judging Is on the Record

In 2001, Sonia Sotomayor, an appeals court judge, gave a speech declaring that the ethnicity and sex of a judge “may and will make a difference in our judging.”

In her speech, Judge Sotomayor questioned the famous notion — often invoked by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and her retired Supreme Court colleague, Sandra Day O’Connor — that a wise old man and a wise old woman would reach the same conclusion when deciding cases.

“I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life,”

So much for equal justice under the law. Apparently now it’s to be acceptable to judge based on ethnicity and gender, instead of evaluating each cased based on the body of the law and the Constitution. Prima facie, this is in direct contradiction to the oath of office, but apparently fits in with B.O.’s stated drive for “empathy” on the bench in apparent favoring of judgement favoring a clear bias towards the politically correct shibboleth of the moment.

Got help the United States of America!

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Schumer: Borders now Secure!

Senator says it’s time to change immigration laws
It’s official…the Senator says so. Right? Wrong!

Contending that U.S. borders are more secure than ever, Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer said Wednesday it’s time for the White House and Congress to overhaul immigration laws to stem the number of people coming into and living illegally in the U.S.

HUH? What’s he been smoking?

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Where the Sun Doesn’t Shine: Colin’s Moves to the Donk Side

Colin Powell fires back at Rush Limbaugh, Dick Cheney

In the latest round of the increasingly heated intra-GOP feud, former Secretary of State Colin Powell Sunday defended his Republican credentials and fired back at radio host Rush Limbaugh and former Vice President Dick Cheney, saying the party had to expand beyond its conservative base.

“Rush will not get his wish and Mr. Cheney was misinformed – I am still a Republican,” Powell said in a much-anticipated interview on CBS’s “Face the Nation” two weeks after Cheney suggested on the same show that the retired general had left the party by endorsing Barack Obama last fall.

Frankly, that dog don’t hunt. Powell has endorsed Donk policies, criticized the GOP, and endorsed B.O.

Applying the rule that “If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, so it’s a duck!”, then in spite of any protestations to the contrary, Colin Powell has moved himself out of the GOP to the Donk side.

National Insecurity

Duelling Speeches

Obama, Cheney spar in speeches over Gitmo closure

President Barack Obama forcefully defended his plans to close the Guantanamo detention camp Thursday and said some of the terror suspects held there would be brought to top-security prisons in the United States despite fierce opposition in Congress.

He spoke one day after the Senate voted resoundingly to deny him money to close the prison, and he decried “fear-mongering” that he said had led to such opposition….

Obama used the speech as an effort to try to retake the initiative on the matter. He spoke a day after the Senate, led by majority Democrats, followed the lead of the House and voted decisively to deny his request for $80 million to close the prison. Lawmakers said they would block the funds until he gave a more detailed accounting of what would happen to the detainees.

He provided some details in his speech but stopped short of offering specifics on what to do with detainees who won’t be tried for war crimes but are likely to be held indefinitely.

Maybe the vote would have been different if it wasn’t yet another case of “Just give me the money…then you’ll see what I do with it.” After teh use of that method for the multitude of failed and semi-failed “bailouts”, even the Donk dominated Congress is reluctant to keep issuing blank checks to the B.O. administration.

Meanwhile, former V.P. Cheney fired some shots of his own about national security:

Cheney praised Obama for two “wise” decisions — his handling of the war in Afghanistan and his decision to try to block the court-ordered release of detainee-abuse photos. “He deserves our support” for such actions, Cheney said.

But, the former vice president said, the current administration’s actions on Guantanamo and other steps in the war against terrorism “should not be based on slogans and campaign rhetoric, but on a truthful telling of history.”

Cheney has become the most outspoken high-ranking Bush official in criticizing the Obama team, suggesting steps the new president has taken have made the country less safe.

Cheney denounced Obama’s announcement on his second day in office that he would close Guantanamo. He said the decision came with “little deliberation and no plan.”

“Now, the president says some of these terrorists should be brought to American soil for trial in our court system. Others, he says, will be shipped to third countries. But so far, the United States has had little luck getting other countries to take hardened terrorists.”

Scoring the day’s efforts?

B.O. gets the points for his approach to a sort of Castro-style longevity to his latest rhetorical effort…with a gold star to his tech crew for keeping the teleprompters humming along smoothly. As far as content, the Chief is rather baffled as to what his circumstances with his biological father had to do with national (in)security issues, but hey, why quibble about B.O. ex cathedra? Isn’t he The One? Oh. Never mind.

That leaves Cheney with the nod for appropriate gravitas…and a reminder what it is to have a grown-up taking a grown-up approach to the subject.

National Insecurity

Mugged by Reality Department

President Obama to restart Guantanamo Bay military tribunals

Barack Obama is set to reverse the first formal decision of his presidency today with the expected announcement that his Administration will restart Bush-era military tribunals for Guantánamo Bay detainees.
While still on the campaign trail, Mr Obama denounced the military commission system as “flawed”. He suspended them within hours of his inauguration in January, pending a review of the alternatives, and promised to close the detention camp on Cuba.

Ooops. Must have figured out that SOMETHING needs to be done…and that the dreaded Dubya wasn’t entirely wrong.
Predictably enough, this is NOT pleasing to the ilk of the far left:

His decision to restart the tribunals – albeit with must stronger legal safeguards for defendants – has prompted protests from human rights groups while showing how difficult it is for Mr Obama to break completely with the policies of his predecessor.

F’em if they can’t take the joke! B.O. no doubt is well aware that he’s on STRONG popular ground for doing this:

Public Backs Military Tribunals for Suspected Terrorists

President Obama’s decision to keep the military commission system in place for the trials of suspected terrorists moves him closer to public opinion on the topic.

A survey conducted earlier this year found that 59% believe the suspected terrorists held at the Guantanamo prison should be tried by military tribunals. Just 26% thought they should be tried in U.S. courts.

Two-thirds (69%) said that the suspected terrorists at Guantanamo should not be given all the rights of U.S. citizens.

Obama strongly opposed the tribunals during Election 2008 and temporarily halted their use upon taking office. However, his Administration will now continue with the tribunals for some suspects after putting new guidelines in place.

Meanwhile, in the same report is this related note:

…a Senate Committee passed proposed legislation that would ban the transfer of Guantanamo detainees to the United States. That move is also in line with public opinion. Just last month, 75% opposed the release of any Guantanamo inmates in this country.

In yet another related item, Virginia Donk Senator James Webb has also reversed field, and noted that B.O. may need to do so even more than he already has on issues relating to the Islamoterr handling:

Sen. Webb reverses on Gitmo plans

With Capitol Hill Republicans cranking up the volume on the issue of where to send alleged terrorists detained at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Democratic Sen. Jim Webb (Va.) reversed himself Sunday, and questioned President Obama’s “artificial timelines” for closing the facility.

Webb, appearing on “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” with Arizona Republican Sen. Jon Kyl, said that after reviewing Obama’s plans to close the facility within one year, he doesn’t agree with the president’s time schedule and he opposes bringing any detainees to U.S. soil.

It’s reassuring to know that there are apparently still some grown-ups in D.C. on the Donk side of the aisle that are apparently at least somewhat concerned with the U.S. National Security.

“We spend hundreds of millions of dollars building an appropriate facility with all security precautions in Guantanamo to try these cases,” Webb said. “There are cases against international law. These aren’t people who were in the United States, committing a crime in the United States. These are people who were brought to Guantanamo for international terrorism. I do not believe they should be tried in the United States.”

When pressed on the year deadline, Webb suggested the administration might have to be more flexible as it figures out where to send detainees.

“They’ve said a lot of things and taken a look and said some other things,” Webb said. “So let’s process these people in a very careful way and then take care of it.”

Of course, with Donk partisan loyalty still present, there is the (perhaps inevitable) weasel clause leaving wiggle room in case the political situation dictates yet another reversal:

He added: “I think we should defer to the judgment of the administration who is looking at this. I think we all are moving toward the right direction. But we shouldn’t be creating artificial timelines.”

Well then, it MAY be a step in the right direction. One hopes so…time will tell.

Uncategorized

UK Turning Towards a Post-IngSoc Sanity

Police signal beginning of the end for hunt ban

The Chief is something of an ancestral-based anglophile, although this has been harder and harder to maintain in the face of the many idiocies of the current and long-running Labor IngSoc regime. This relates to only one of these inanities.

The writing is very clearly on the wall for the ridiculous Hunting Act, with the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) advising police forces to end monitoring of hunts. In the words of Richard Brunstrom, Chief Constable of North Wales, “Hunting is definitely not a policing priority.”

One would hope not, considering the state of law and order in this country. Diverting police officers to monitor hunts, to appease a small group of anti-hunting fanatics, is an indefensible waste of law enforcement resources.

Another whole issue is raised there…the UK’s draconian gun laws have largely caused the decline in “the state of law and order in the country” by disarming the law-abiding, and making it open season for the perps…but I digress.

The whole farce of the Hunting Act cannot now have long to run, with Labour heading for annihilation at the next general election. The class-based hunt ban, which occupied an outrageous 700 hours of parliamentary time, is the iconic “achievement” of New Labour, a testament to its futility and its epitaph. Repeal of this tawdry legislation should be an early priority for the next parliament. To see this much-loved British sport restored to its former glory in the near future will be a potent signal that 12 years of tyranny and national degradation have finally ended.

The sooner the better for the current InsSoc’s AirStrip One to return to the status of being the United Kingdom.

Defense Matters!

Arrrrrrrgh!

USS Gettysburg captures 17 pirates with the help of a Korean destroyer

Score another one for the good guys!

An American guided missile cruiser teamed up with a Korean destroyer Wednesday to go after pirates off Yemen and captured 17 buccaneers who were attacking an Egyptian ship.

The U.S. Fifth Fleet reported finding a rusty old dhow being used as a pirate “mothership” to attack shipping lanes.

A boarding team from the USS Gettysburg searched the ship, finding eight assault rifles, a rocket-propelled grenade launcher and a rocket-propelled grenade.

The Somali pirates were being interrogated aboard the Gettysburg. A decision on where – or if – to prosecute them is pending….The Gettysburg and the Korean Destroyer ROKS Munmu the Great, both part of an international anti-pirate task force, sped off to help and launched helicopters to the Egyptian ship.

Bravo Zulu to the Gettysburg and the ROK’s for a job well done.

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B.O.’s Subversion of Legal System

It doesn’t matter WHO B.O. submits for appointment to SCOTUS…the real damage is his statement defining his attitude towards the conduct of jurisprudence…as ably spelled out by Jeff Jacoby:

Lady Justice’s blindfold

Judicial dispassion — the ability to decide cases without being influenced by personal feelings or political preferences — is indispensable to the rule of law. So indispensable, in fact, that the one-sentence judicial oath required of every federal judge and justice contains no fewer than three expressions of it: “I …do solemnly swear that I will administer justice without respect to persons, and do equal right to the poor and to the rich, and that I will faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the duties incumbent upon me …under the Constitution and laws of the United States, so help me God.”

After examining some of the Biblical roots of our judicial system (secularists read it and weep!) Jacoby brings that original background as applied in the establishment of our Constitutional republic:

Without judicial restraint there is no rule of law. We live under “a government of laws and not of men,” to quote John Adams’s resonant phrase, only so long as judges stick to neutrally resolving the disputes before them, applying the law and upholding the Constitution even when doing so leads to results they personally dislike. That is why the judicial oath is so adamant about impartiality. That is why Lady Justice is so frequently depicted — as on the sculpted lampposts outside the US Supreme Court — wearing a blindfold and carrying balanced scales.

Then…the heart of the problem with B.O.’s attitude: emotionalism should trump the law:

And that is why President Obama’s “empathy” standard is so disturbing, and has generated so much comment.

Time and again, Obama has called for judges who do not put their private political views aside when deciding cases. In choosing a replacement for Justice David Souter, the president says, he will seek not just “excellence and integrity,” but a justice whose “quality of empathy, of understanding and identifying with people’s hopes and struggles,” would be “an essential ingredient” in his jurisprudence. In an interview last year, he said he would look for judges “sympathetic” to those “on the outside, those who are vulnerable, those who are powerless.”…But such cardiac justice is precisely what judges “do solemnly swear” to renounce. Sympathy for others is an admirable virtue, but a judge’s private commiserations are not relevant to the law he is expected to apply.

If Obama means what he says, he wants judges who can be counted on to violate their oath of office.

…and so B.O. then would violate his OWN oath of office…but what else is new about THAT?

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Hot Pilots

Swedish women have an (often well-deserved) reputation for being “hot” – here’s some additional evidence for your consideration.

Swedish air force captain demands fireproof bras

The commander of the Swedish helicopter fleet in Linköping, Group Captain Micael Bydén, has demanded that his female crew members be equipped with fireproof brassieres.

Ohhhkaaaay.

The situation is even more complicated that it might seem. The Group Captain goes on to take note of additional points to examine:

Group captain Micael Bydén, has now decided to speak out about the situation and has demanded that women serving in the armed forces be taken into account and be provided with flame-proof bras.

“It is a question of basic safety. You can not have anything close to the body that can set alight when you are flying,” Bydén told local newspaper Östgöta Correspondenten.

Bydén also doubts whether fireproof panties are provided and believes that the female crew members are thus forced to fly around in male underwear.

Uh…?

How the bra issue will be addressed in the meantime is as yet unclear.

“They will decline to wear bras when they are flying,” the captain presumed.

He hopes!

’nuff said.

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How revolting!

Here comes California’s May 19 Rebellion

Whoo-hooo!

California voters head to the polls next week with predictions of doom echoing in their ears if they decline to endorse the massive tax hikes prescribed for them by big Democratic majorities in the statehouse, Arnold and a handful of now ruined-politically Republican legislators.

“Shrill” doesn’t begin to describe the campaign designed to stampede the Golden State electorate. The latest ad has a weary, soot-covered fire-fighter urging a yes vote on the tax hike. The message is clear: Vote no and your homes will burn down.

Not even this sort of fear-mongering is moving the needle towards “yes” on the massive tax surge on next week’s ballot as poll after poll shows all the key measures put forward by the tax-and-spend-and tax-again crowd failing badly.

Good for California, if this trend continues.

Arnold is doing his best to summon up the old magic but his appeal long ago hit Gray Davis-levels. Arnold was elected to slash taxes and spending, and somehow he confused that mandate with orders to throw in with the public employee unions. Too bad. He could have been a contender.

The GOP “leaders” who signed on to this roadmap to ruin have been dumped by their caucuses, and go down in California history as the biggest marks to have ever had a seat at the poker game known as the “Big Five” negotiations wherein the governor and the top Republicans and Democrats in the State Assembly and Senate hash out budget matters.

Jerry Brown, Gavin Newsom and every other would be Democratic governor are watching their chances in ’10 swirl down the drain as deep disgust with the tax-addicted grows.

Looks like the voters aren’t buying into the Governator’s transplanted version of Austrian-style National State Socialism.

What happens next is anyone’s guess because very few people think Arnold has any game left and so the state is effectively leaderless after its voters deliver an unambiguous message to carve state government back to the bone.

The first logical step would indeed be massive downsizing in the state government outside of public safety and education. Public assistance budgets will have to be slashed, and public employee pensions renegotiated to manageable levels.

California’s budget woes are much greater than those of GM and Chrysler combined, but no give-backs have even been requested of the public employee unions beyond a symbolic loss of a holiday or two lost. Entitlement payments have to be slashed and state assets sold.

The Golden State is bankrupt. It needs a quasi-bankruptcy proceeding, and it needs it now.

It’s fitting that the film Terminator Salvation is coming out too…looks like the voters are taking the title to heart, and seeking their salvation.

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The Soprano Administration

Gangster government gave Chrysler to the UAW

Give President Obama credit – he at least made the proverbial offer Chrysler’s secured creditors couldn’t refuse. The way Obama strong-armed creditors who rightfully expected to be treated justly under the law was right out of Juan Peron’s playbook. Like the Argentinian strong man, Obama muscled the owners and creditors out of a productive private company and gave it to union leaders, who will then fill his campaign coffers in gratitude for his generosity. The Examiner’s Michael Barone – who has forgotten more about American government and politics than most Washington political experts know – was correct to dub Obama’s Chrysler heist “an episode of Gangster Government.”

Another example of this that comes to mind is the “aristocracy of pull” described by Ayn Rand in Atlas Shrugged.

Forget what anybody in the White House or what is left of the Chrysler executive corps claims to the contrary because the UAW effectively owns the company now, holding 55 percent of its stock. True, the union doesn’t get an explicit controlling majority of the board of directors, but who needs that when you’ve got the White House guaranteeing your work and the U.S. Treasury Department making sure you never have to worry about the bottom line. UAW President Ron Gettelfinger’s place in Big Labor’s Hall of Fame is now secure. He found a sugar daddy with an endless supply of cash. So UAW members and retirees can keep right on drawing those pay and benefits so excessively generous they made it impossible for the old Chrysler to compete with Toyota and Honda.

What next? One shudders to consider the possible (probable?) course.

Glowbull Warming

Poor Situational Awareness, Again

On guns and climate, the elites are out of touch

Many years ago political scientists came up with a theory that elites lead public opinion. And on some issues they clearly do. But on some issues they don’t. Two examples of the latter phenomenon are conspicuous at a time when Barack Obama enjoys the approval of more than 60 percent of Americans and Democrats have won thumping majorities in two elections in a row. One is global warming.

The other is gun control. On both issues, the elites of academe, the media and big business have been solidly on one side for years. But on both, the American public has been moving in the other direction.

Citing long-term (and continuing) trends in Gallup and other polling (scarcely hot-beds of militant conservatism), the trend on these issues is clear: reality is trumping LibDonk ideology. The refusal of Glowbull Warming to occur as predicted, along with the lack of harmful consequences along with a decline in violent crime as 40 states have allowed concealed carry permits HAS been noticed, and is starting to be felt by some of the pols who actually listen to their constituents.

So what’s it mean?

The liberal elite is less interested in giving up its luxuries (Al Gore purchases carbon offsets to compensate for his huge mansion and private jet travel) than in changing the lifestyles of the masses who selfishly insist on living in suburbs and keeping guns for recreation or protection. Ordinary Americans are seen not as responsible fellow citizens building stable communities but as greedy masses who must be disciplined to live according to the elite’s religious dogmas.

It should not be completely surprising that, over time, these views have become less congenial to the masses who are the object of such condescension. Democratic officeholders who must live by the discipline of the ballot have noticed. Party leaders did not press to re-enact the assault weapons ban when it expired and are currently flummoxed by their backbenchers who are resisting a cap-and-trade bill that will impose huge costs on those who use electricity. Elites may lead, but Americans do not always follow.

Illegitami non carborundum!

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Summer Fun Idea!

Received from an e-mail correspondent. I have little interest in Cruise ships, but…THIS is a cruise package that would be worth doing!

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I found a Somali cruise package that departs from Sawakin (in the Sudan) and docks at Bagamoya (in Tanzania).

The cost is a bit high @ $800 per person per day double occupancy but I didn’t find that offensive. What I found enticing is that the cruise company is encouraging people to bring their ‘High powered weapons’ along on the cruise.

If you don’t have weapons you can rent them right there on the boat. They claim to have a master gunsmith on board and will have reloading parties every afternoon. The cruise lasts from 4-8 days and nights and costs a maximum of $3200 per person double occupancy (for 4 days). All the boat does is sail up and down the coast of Somalia waiting to get attacked by pirates.

Here are some of the costs and claims associated with the package.

$800.00 US/per day double occupancy (4 day max billing)

M-16 full auto rental at $25.00/day – ammo 100 rounds of 5.56 armor piercing ammo at $15.95.

AK-47 rifle @ No charge. Ammo at 100 rounds of 7.62 Comm block ball ammo at $14.95.

Barrett M-107 .50 cal sniper rifle rental $55.00/day ammo 25 rounds 50 cal armor piercing at $9.95.

Crew members can double as spotters for $30.00 per hour (spotting scope included).

They even offer RPG’s at 75 bucks or 200 dollars for 3 standard loads.

“Everyone gets use of free complimentary night vision equipment and coffee and snacks on the top deck from 7pm-6am.”

Meals are not included but seem reasonable.

Most cruises offer a mini-bar…these gung ho entrepreneurs offer…get this “MOUNTED MINIGUN AVAILABLE” @ $450.00 per 30 seconds of sustained fire”.

Unused ammo (mini gun charges not included). How can we guarantee you will experience a hijacking? We operate at 5 knots within 12 miles of the coast of Somalia. If an attempted Hijacking does not occur we will turn the boat around and cruise by at 4 knots. We will repeat this for up to 8 days making three passes a day along the entire length of Somalia. At night the boat is fully lit and bottle rockets are shot off at intervals and loud disco music beamed shore side to attract attention.

Cabin space is limited so respond quickly.

Reserve your package before May 15th and get 100 rounds of free tracer ammo in the caliber of your choice.

YOU are invited to join in the activities
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Whoo-hooo! That’s what I call rock and roll!