| Obama: Dis GOP, New Prog Fail, apes Bolsheviks, calls in goons, P2P w. Soros, ripped by Voight, divider-in-chief, clings to tax-labor state. Mismanagement: ObamaCare explained, a better way revealed, ACORN pimps ObamaCare, destroying liberty, beware unionism, joblessness rules. International: Hugo hearts Russia, Trotskyite hearts Obama. |
Obamalosi Dems: The ends justify the means ... Harry Reid has delivered his ultimatum to Republicans in the Senate. And it is nothing short of a coup of representative government. Either Republicans bow to the demands of Senate leadership and pass a "bipartisan" bill, or he'll invoke a process known as "reconciliation," whereby only 51 votes would be needed to pass the bill. Reid's problem is that he doesn't have enough Senate Democrats to break a filibuster--which requires 60 votes. And so, he's rolling the dice, gambling that the Senate parliamentarian will go along with his blatant breach of procedure and that his thuggish threats will cause Senate Republicans to capitulate to his demands. The truth is, however, this may be the only way Barack Obama's takeover of the nation’s entire health care system will be passed this year or any year. The so-called public "option"—which is not at all optional—cannot clear the 60 votes needed in the Senate. And a bill in the House without the public “option” cannot pass either because of demands by the so-called “progressive” caucus. (netrightnation.com)
ObamaCare finally explained ... These proposals are yet another manifestation of the no-growth, redistributionist mindset, combined with an elitist, authoritarian philosophy of government. To buy into them and ignore the reality they've produced elsewhere is to love humanity more than human beings, and value utopian ideals of equity over the tremendous individual costs they inflict. In these proposals, human beings aren't individuals with freedom to contract as they see fit and make their own best judgments, but interchangeable widgets for whom rules should be fashioned and enforced based on age, or quality of life, or some other metric. Bureaucrats would evaluate whether one is young enough to warrant a pacemaker or a hip, or sufficiently long gone from a hospital to justify readmission. Medicine would become a one-size-fits-all bureaucracy, not an art, in which the physician would face real risks for deciding that the bureaucratically approved "effective treatment" isn't what works in a particular case. It makes no sense to try to achieve a bipartisan consensus when the fundamentals underlying the Democratic approach are so contrary to the entire foundational idea of who we are as Americans. We're the country that believes that individuals have the right not to have their decisions interfered with, and that individuals are best able to make those decisions that most affect their life and happiness. Nothing could be more central to that than the ability to control one's own health and the health options of loved ones. (online.wsj.com)
Obamalosi Dems: New Prog Fail ... Here's the least surprising news of the week: Americans are souring on the Democratic Party. The wonder is that it's taken so long for public opinion to curdle. There's nothing agreeable about watching a determined attempt to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. A poll released Wednesday by the Pew Research Center reports that just 49% of respondents have a favorable view of the Democrats, compared with 62% in January and 59% in April. (ibdeditorials.com)
Obama apes Bolshevik revolutionaries ... In 1918, the Soviet Union became the first country to promise universal "cradle-to-grave" healthcare coverage, to be accomplished through the complete socialization of medicine. The "right to health" became a "constitutional right" of Soviet citizens. The proclaimed advantages of this system were that it would "reduce costs" and eliminate the "waste" that stemmed from "unnecessary duplication and parallelism" — i.e., competition. These goals were similar to the ones declared by Mr. Obama and Ms. Pelosi — attractive and humane goals of universal coverage and low costs. What's not to like? The system had many decades to work, but widespread apathy and low quality of work paralyzed the healthcare system. In the depths of the socialist experiment, healthcare institutions in Russia were at least a hundred years behind the average US level. Moreover, the filth, odors, cats roaming the halls, drunken medical personnel, and absence of soap and cleaning supplies added to an overall impression of hopelessness and frustration that paralyzed the system. According to official Russian estimates, 78 percent of all AIDS victims in Russia contracted the virus through dirty needles or HIV-tainted blood in the state-run hospitals. (mises.org)
A better way: Regular rotation in office ... A local group of people want to change the way we elect legislators and they need your signature to help. A petition drive kicked off Friday asking for term limits on state legislators across the country. They think they should only have the same amount of time in office as others, like the president. They think the change could influence younger people to run. (tristatehomepage.com)
Obama calls in the goon squads ... Looking for a good summer read? Let me suggest George Orwell's "1984," which may strike you as being eerily similar to our new president's carefully crafted game plan and playbook. What we are experiencing is a full frontal attack on free-market capitalism and our very Constitution by an administration that believes in government's right and ability to regulate all aspects of our lives. Now for the ultimate irony: In response to the angry protests by average citizens across the nation in early town hall meetings, where Democratic incumbents have been aggressively questioned, a panicky President Barack Obama has reverted back to his "community organizer" experience and solicited professional demonstrations from ACORN, unions, and the NAACP and AARP. Their role is to "protect" Democrats, so they can sell his plan for national health care. Call in the "goons." What will be his next step should his bills fail? Will he declare martial law to put down a phantom insurrection? Again, it is all spelled out in Saul Alinsky's "Rules for Radicals." Be afraid, America. (islandpacket.com)Bonus links:
• Summary of Saul Alinsky's 'Rules for Radicals'
• More Saul Alinsky stories: here
• 'Rules for Radicals' at amazon.com
Union-backed, tax-funded fraud group hearts ObamaCare ... Texas ACORN, a grass-roots organization for low- and moderate-income people, will be at the Fox Plaza Shopping Center, 5559 Alameda, today to discuss health-care overhaul. Members of the organization will be at the center at 11 a.m., the group said in a news release. The organization will collect handwritten letters and petitions of support for health-care reform and will offer information about proposed bills pending in Washington, D.C. (elpasotimes.com)
Voight: Divider-in-Chief is no Lincoln ... Actor Jon Voight is on his way to Cincinnati, and Atlanta, in order to participate in Fox News host Sean Hannity's latest "Freedom Concerts." But first, he paused long enough to share some extra nuttiness with the Washington Times. "There's a real question at stake now. Is President Obama creating a civil war in our own country?" Voight said in an interview with the paper. He continued: "We are witnessing a slow, steady takeover of our true freedoms. We are becoming a socialist nation, and whoever can't see this is probably hoping it isn't true ... Do not let the Obama administration fool you with all their cunning Alinsky methods. And if you don't know what that method is, I implore you to get the book "Rules for Radicals," by Saul Alinsky. Mr. Obama is very well trained in these methods. The real truth is that the Obama administration is professional at bullying, as we have witnessed with ACORN at work during the presidential campaign. It seems to me they are sending down their bullies to create fist fights among average American citizens who don't want a government-run health care plan forced upon them. So I ask again: Is President Obama creating a civil war in our own country?" (salon.com)
New Prog Era: The destruction of liberty and freedom ... Because of the ignorance of the people, this country will be sold out to socialism and the Marxist ideologies of those who haven't a clue that our Nation's Legacy is a stake. We are embarking on the biggest assault on our Nation. The death stroke has been cast on our Liberty. We the People have entered into a state of "Willful Ignorance" that has fueled and prepared the enemy to get it's death grip on all ideologies that embrace the concept of living in a Free Nation. They have stolen the certain unalienable rights endowed by our Creator. Americans have become oblivious and complacent in these recent years, sitting back and watching our country swing from economic capitalism to democratic socialism without batting a eye. (nolanchart.com)
It's good to be George ... The Wall Street Journal reported this week the Obama administration will invest $2 billion (or more) in drilling off the shores of Brazil, of all places. The same Dem-wits who will do anything to keep us from drilling off our own shores are now investing $2 billion in a Brazilian oil company? The question is why? It’s a POLITICAL PAYOFF TO GEORGE SOROS is why. The liberal rabble-rouser has 5.8 million of the company’s U.S.-traded preferred shares. Once again mainstream media has turned a blind eye to newest of Obama scandals. The Lone Conservative says it all: "Even without the Soros connection this should cause outrage on both sides of the aisle. Obama’s letting down his green supporters on the left by investing in off-shore oil drilling, no matter where that drilling takes place. And the right should be outraged because he refuses to invest in drilling here at home – or allow private companies to do so." (examiner.com)
Obama clings to Taxachussets? ... With record federal budget deficits combined with projections of the lowest federal tax receipts since the Great Depression, the White House is looking for ways to reduce the federal debt. Yesterday, Treasury Secretary Geithner outlined the administration’s latest debt reduction program: a proposal to extend the President’s vacation in Martha’s Vineyard. (optoons.blogspot.com)
Buh-bye, Barack ... President Obama left the White House on Friday for a 10-day vacation, taking with him the family dog Bo and leaving behind an acrimonious and increasingly messy debate about a proposed overhaul of the nation's health care system. Mr. Obama left the White House's South Lawn by Marine helicopter early in the afternoon for the presidential retreat at Maryland's Camp David. He and his family then will head on Sunday morning to Massachusetts' Martha's Vineyard, where they will stay at a private 28-acre estate and are expected to keep mostly to themselves. (washingtontimes.com)
Beware the union label ... in the new issue of the Claremont Review of Books (subscribe here), William Voegeli addresses the liberal support for labor unions in the age of Obama. Expressing the old-fashioned view that labor unions operate as "cartels" redistributing wealth from companies' owners and customers to union members and officers, Voegeli covers a lot of ground in "Look out for the union label." The unions' operation as cartels gives rise to the kind of behavior we've recently observed from the friends of Barack Obama at a few townhalls this month: "Employee cartels will fold up if employers can obtain the services they sell on more favorable terms outside the cartel. The leverage unions use to redistribute wealth is based on their ability to make this more trouble than it's worth. Thus, unions derive their power from making life unpleasant, and sometimes dangerous, for "scabs" who cross picket lines, and firms that hire from outside the cartel or balk at its terms." (powerlineblog.com)
We don't need no stinkin' jobs ... Jobless residents in North Carolina gained no ground in July as they struggled against a statewide unemployment rate that stayed flat at 11 percent. The state's Employment Security Commission on Friday reported that July's unemployment rate did not change from June. July marks a sixth consecutive month the state's jobless rate has hovered above the previous historic high. The national picture isn't much better. The U.S. unemployment rate was 9.4 percent in July, down 0.1 percentage point from a 26-year high. The U.S. Labor Department reported Thursday that the number of newly laid-off workers filing claims for unemployment benefits rose unexpectedly for the second straight week as companies continue to shed jobs. (sfexaminer.com)International Collectivism
Hugo hearts Russia ... The conventional story about Russia has been one of power reclaimed after the fall to chaos during the 1990s. Oil, gas and autocracy have restored it to the ranks of world powers. Some of the more hyperbolic commentary has gone so far to say that, along with China, Moscow has created an entirely new model to challenge Western liberalism. Yet what most strikes me about Russia is its isolation. For all its resurgent hydrocarbon revenues and its considerable, albeit residual, military power, Moscow is essentially friendless. As for a superior system of capitalism, when was the last time you heard an international politician of any consequence hold up Russia as their chosen paradigm? Moscow can claim the odd loyal acolyte, sure. Many of the former Soviet republics among its neighbours judge it wise to stay on side with the present regime. Last year's Russian invasion of Georgia served, in Voltaire's famous phrase, pour encourager les autres. Beyond the post-Soviet space, mavericks such as Venezuela's Hugo Chávez see some advantage in travelling in Moscow's slipstream. (gulfnews.com)
Trotskyite LatAm Lula makes Marxist appeal to Obama ... Brazil's leader has called on US President Barack Obama to meet South American leaders to calm fears about the US military presence in Colombia. Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva expressed his concerns in a phone call to President Obama, Brazil's foreign minister said. He wants guarantees that US troops will be restricted to fighting drugs and terrorists within Colombia only. The US and Colombia are finalising an agreement to give the US military greater access to seven bases. Brazil's Foreign Minister Celso Amorim said President Lula told Mr Obama it was "very important" that he attend a South American summit in Argentina starting next Friday. (news.bbc.co.uk)
