March 18, 2010
How to Create Dysfunctional Policies
Posted by Van Helsing at 9:28 PM | Comments (1)
Take it from someone who knows:
Via Breitbart.TV, on a tip from Milton.
Even Democrats Can Tell the Truth
Posted by Van Helsing at 9:12 PM | Comments (1)
Stop the presses: a member of the gang of looting thugs known as Congressional Democrats has actually said something true. Rep. Tom Perriello (D-VA):
"If you don't tie our hands, we will keep stealing."
No kidding.
On tips from Conan and glenwood183.
Arrogant. Ignorant. Incompetent.
Posted by The MaryHunter at 5:39 PM | Comments (6)
At a conference of congressional GOP doctors today, Georgia Rep. Paul Braun had this to say:
A transcript, because it's just so good:
"I have three simple questions Ms Pelosi. Are you so arrogant that you think you know what's best for the American people? Are you so ignorant that you are oblivious to the wishes of the American people? And are you so incompetent that you are going to ignore the Constitution of the United States, use tricks, deceptions, bald faced lies to try to ram down the throat of the American people something that they do not want and is going to be absolutely worse for their healthcare?"
That just about sums it up. Gobs more truth from the GOP.
Hat tip: The Corner.
This Is What Moonbats Consider Art
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 4:50 PM | Comments (11)
Something other than Health Care to chew on -- At New York's Museum of Modern Art, an "avant garde" art exhibition consists of, basically, naked people standing around.
Laurence Lallier slipped carefully between two naked women facing each other in a narrow doorway at the Museum of Modern Art. "I didn't want to step on their feet," said Lallier, a student from Montreal. "We feel shy and they don't, and they're the ones that are naked."...
Elsewhere in the exhibit two clothed people touch fingertips, two others sit back to back with their hair entwined and a naked woman reclines with a skeleton (not a real one) lying on top of her. The performers, re-enactinga Betazoid wedding from Star Trekpieces originated by Abramovic alone or with Ulay, are statue-still.
I guess this is what Nancy Pelosi had in mind when she declared that Government-run health care would free up people to abandon those bourgeois day jobs and become "artists."
November Is Coming, Patriots
Posted by The MaryHunter at 3:28 PM | Comments (25)
In these short hours before a vote that will affect the American health care system for decades to come, there are more ways to become active against ObamaCare than you can imagine. Here's another: www.novemberiscoming.com , which allows you to sign a petition that reads:
Dear Member of Congress:
Your vote isn't the only one that counts. November is coming and you can't hide from the voters. Corrupt backroom deals are driving a government takeover of our health care, and I don't like it. If you vote YES on the health care bill, I will vote NO on you in the next election.
The site is a project of Americans for Prosperity.
Also consider calling the Capitol switchboard, calling local congressional offices, or emailing wavering Democrats.
222 Obamacrats Vote for Fascism
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 2:34 PM | Comments (11)
The clear message to voters, "F--- you! We got the power."
I repeat the question that Dear Reader dodged in his interview, if this bill is so Frakking Wonderful, why all the sleazy maneuvers and bribes to get it passed.
(Yeah, I know. Posts like this only give joy to left-wing trolls who delighted that patriots gets upset when progressive fascists shred the Constitution and ram their unpopular bills down the public's throat. Personally, I think that's a damned good reason to be upset. It's more disturbing that Obama's Little Cult of Fanatics is not upset by this.)
Tom Coburn Versus the Chicago Mafia
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 12:10 PM | Comments (17)
It is a virtual certainty that Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama are promising massive payoffs to Democrats in return for support on the ObamaCare Bill, and plum positions in the 111 new bureaucracies the bill creates for Democrats hounded out of office by the voters after voting for this hated bill.
Senator Tom Coburn has a warning for Democrats who accept Barry and Nancy's bribes.
"I want to send a couple of messages to my colleagues in the House.
If you voted no, and you vote yes, and you lose your election, and you think any nomination to a federal post isn't going to be held up in the Senate, I've got news for you. It's going to be held.
Number two is, if you get a parochial deal for you or your district, I've already instructed my staff that we will look at every appropriations bill, and we will associate that with the buying of your vote. I want to tell you that your deal isn't going to happen.
And be prepared to defend selling your vote."
Update: There are rumors that at least two House Democrats have been bought off by promises of Administration positions. Bart Gordon (D-TN) has apparently been offered the job of head of NASA in exchange for his 'Yes' Vote. Another Tennessee Congressman, John Tanner, has been offered the position of Ambassador to NATO
Rosie O'Donnell: Abortion Is Better Than Foster Care
Posted by V the K at 11:57 AM | Comments (24)
Endomorph Progressive Rosie O'Donnell stated to the 2 or 3 listeners of her satellite radio program that abortion should be included in ObamaCare, because it will spare the state the expense of putting kids into foster care.
We can pay for all of the unwanted kids and the half-million of them in foster care. I'm for a woman's right to choose.
This is how elite progressives actually think; if a kid's life is going to be economically disadvantaged or challenged in any way, then the kid should just be threshed and flushed before he even gets a chance to see the light of day. And that's when they aren't being openly racist about abortion ridding society of dark-skinned undesirables.
Open Thread
Posted by Van Helsing at 11:50 AM | Comments (11)
Another Sign of the Times
Posted by Van Helsing at 11:20 AM | Comments (8)
Billboards expressing America's gut sentiments regarding Obamunism keep sprouting like spring flowers. Here's one from Grand Junction, Colorado, paid for by a small business owner:
Compliments of Steve A.
All Politics Is Local
Posted by Van Helsing at 10:41 AM | Comments (7)
Unable to get through to Congressional Dems because they've unplugged their phones and hidden under the desk? Pete Hoekstra (R-MI) offers advice: let state legislators feel your wrath too.
"If the people in Washington aren't willing to listen, if the Democrats aren't willing to listen, then call your local state elected officials and tell them that you'll hold them personally accountable to what Nancy Pelosi is going to do the American people in Washington this week," Hoekstra told The Daily Caller of his "Make it Local" idea. …
It's something Hoekstra said is an effective means of putting pressure on Democrats. "There's no doubt that if my state reps' phones started ringing off the hook on a federal issue they would call me and want me to know, and say, 'Hey Pete, you know the people in Michigan are really feeling passionate about this.'"
Tea Partiers are also taking a local approach:
In an e-mail to supporters last night, Tea Party Patriots encouraged those who oppose the bill to call and visit the local district offices of the targeted members of Congress. They also pushed activists to call state elected officials to "remind them that they have political influence and you want them to exercise it."
Not that Congress should be spared from an unending torrent of polite but firm calls for even considering using un-Constitutional means to ram through the outrageous ObamaCare power grab. Dick Morris lists both DC and local numbers for swing Congresscritters.
On a tip from Rebecca.
Just a Word on Those Phony CBO Numbers
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 10:40 AM | Comments (9)
The Democrats are tossing around what they claim are CBO numbers showing that ObamaCare will *only* cost $940 Billion and will reduce the deficit by $138 Billion.
Hey! If that's true, maybe we should spend $9 Trillion on ObamaCare and Reduce the Deficit by $1 Trillion!
There are many reasons to take these claims with a grain of salt. First of all, the CBO admits the numbers are no good because they only reflect what Democrats claim is in the legislation, but they have no actual legislation to score.
Second, the Democrats are using a trick to skew the numbers by putting 98% of the spending in the last six years. This gives future Congresses years to mess around with new mandates and spending... as they always have and inevitably will.
Remember, Granny Rictus Botoxi Pelosi is declaring that the purpose of the current bill is just to kick down the door... so they can vastly expand the scope of the program later.
Another Democrat Yes Vote on ObamaCare Lost?
Posted by The MaryHunter at 10:10 AM | Comments (6)
Another Massachusetts Miracle may have just occurred in Rep. Stephen Lynch:
In a sign of how tough it's been for Pelosi to round up votes for the massive bill, Lynch - a South Boston Democrat who supported a House reform package last year - said he'll probably vote against a key Senate version of the legislation, unless unexpected major changes are made soon.
Lynch, who serves as one of Pelosi's key vote counters, said he also can't support a proposed "deem and pass" procedure that would allow Democrats to vote to strip out controversial portions of the Senate bill and then "deem" that the entire package has passed without a second, direct vote.
"It's disingenuous," said Lynch, who considers unfair a Senate provision to tack a surcharge on higher-end health plans. "It would really call into question the credibility of the House."
What's this, a Democrat with a conscience? There are other Massachusetts wafflers as well, who could use a little persuading.
In an e-mail alert to constituents Tuesday night, Rep. Michael Capuano (D-Somerville) said he's still undecided on the legislation. Like Lynch, he expressed concerns that the bill could hurt Massachusetts' new universal health-care program. Rep. John Tierney (D-Salem) was also on the fence.
To remind: here is NRCC's CODE RED LIST of many on-the-fence representatives and their email links.
Chairman Zero Wins a Billy Madison Award
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 10:02 AM | Comments (10)
Last night, Fox News's Bret Baier — the only journalist ever to ask Obama anything resembling a tough question — asked the same question many of us on the right having been asking. "If your bill's so damned great, why do you have to bribe people and shred the Constitution to get it passed?"
BAIER: Let me insert this. We asked our viewers to e-mail in suggested questions. More than 18,000 people took time to e-mail us questions. These are regular people from all over the country. Lee Johnson, from Spring Valley, California: "If the bill is so good for all of us, why all the intimidation, arm twisting, seedy deals, and parliamentary trickery necessary to pass a bill, when you have an overwhelming majority in both houses and the presidency?"
Sandy Moody in Chesterfield, Missouri: "If the health care bill is so wonderful, why do you have to bribe Congress to pass it?"
OBAMA: Bret, I get 40,000 letters or e-mails a day.
BAIER: I know.
OBAMA: I could read the exact same e-mail —
BAIER: These are people. It's not just Washington punditry.
OBAMA: I've got the exact same e-mails, that I could show you, that talk about why haven't we done something to make sure that I, a small business person, am getting as good a deal as members of Congress are getting, and don't have my insurance rates jacked up 40 percent? Why is it that I, a mother with a child with a preexisting condition, still can't get insurance?
So the issue that I'm concerned about is whether not we're fixing a broken system.
BAIER: OK, back to the original question.
OBAMA: The key is to make sure that we vote — we have a vote on whether or not we're going to maintain the status quo, or whether we're going to reform the system.
Does Chairman Zero — at any point in his rambling, defensive, evasive response — come anywhere near answering the question posed to him?
No. And that's why Chairman Zero is the recipient of the coveted 'Billy Madison Award'
Comrade Obama, Mopey Master of Malaise
Posted by Van Helsing at 9:55 AM | Comments (8)
Remember how Jimmy Carter personified the concept of national malaise? A new mopey moonbat has taken up his mantle:
People are noticing how little President Obama seems to enjoy his job.
The president's two main emotions on display are regret and indignation. He's either lecturing about the problems facing the country in a slightly patronizing tone or expressing his disgust with someone who won't take his lesson to heart.
A standard Obama rally goes something like this: A mild joke at the expense of some dignitary present (Congressman Hornswaggle can't bowl to save his life), a sad story tweaked bordering on bathos (Suzy Creamcheese and her 15 foster children and five shelter dogs are being forced out of their home), the identification of her tormentor (rapacious banks), and finally a promise to seek justice for the afflicted despite the political cost to himself ("It may not be good politics, but it's the right thing to do.").
Rather than being energized by trying to solve problems at a level of maximal achievable good, Obama and his team speak to the American people with the enthusiasm of an Army bereavement officer. It is their sad duty to inform you that they must overhaul the health care system.
As Washington Post Editorial Page Editor Fred Hiatt wrote, Obama needs to show the American people "he's happy we hired him" and to ditch the "lugubriousness."
After all, even if no one else is happy we hired him, at least BO should be.
Part of the funereal vibe may arise from Obama's self-regarding nature. He never absorbed a crucial bit of wisdom: You can take your job seriously without taking yourself seriously.
It's not all narcissistic self-pity…
[T]here is still another reason for the president to approach his job with such high-minded regret: avoiding blame.
From the first days of the Obama presidency, we hear the same thing repeated over and over: He had no choice.
Obama presents himself so often as a victim of circumstances. He didn't want to bail out Wall Street, nationalize General Motors, add $2 trillion to the national debt, send two troop surges into Afghanistan, or propose a coercive package of fines and taxes to force people into a new health system. He just had no choice.
The biggest howlers from the Obama presidency have come when we are told that he is a "fierce" defender of the free market or "pro-business" despite policies that suggest he likes heavy regulation and favors businesses that support his agenda but not the ones that don't. …
While the straw men Obama creates in each speech say he should do nothing, the president says he is compelled to act, even if the only option is unpalatable. It's a rhetorical trick that helps Obama avoid the label of hard-Left liberal.
But it also helps perpetuate Obama's image as a gloomy pessimist, a label that may be even more damaging.
So buck up, Barry. Admit that you're a socialist and take some pride in the long-term damage your deficits will do to our free market system, whether or not you're able to thoroughly cripple it with ObamaCare or Tax & Charade.
On a tip from TrickleUpPolitics.
12,000 New IRS Agents Will Enforce ObamaCare
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 9:54 AM | Comments (12)
In order to enforce the individual mandate --- the mechanism by which the National Government forces citizens to enter into contracts with private insurance companies under terms dictated by the bureaucracies of the Executive Branch of the National Government --- and other aspects of the ObamaCare Plan, the IRS will hire at least 12,000 new enforcement agents.
The legislation currently before the House of Representatives envisions that the IRS will be the primary enforcers of ObamaCare if the the bill becomes law.
The IRS will have lots to do to implement and enforce the new taxes and mandates included in the bill. In fact, the Senate Democrats' bill references or amends the Internal Revenue Code 180 times.
Based on the current cost to employ this division's workforce, an additional $1 billion per year would mean 12,500 new employees at the IRS. That's more than 12,000 IRS employees that will be examining taxpayer records to enforce the government's definition of "affordable" and "acceptable" insurance coverage, and working to comply with the bill to get people into government-run insurance.
What will all these new IRS employees do? The bill gives the IRS many new powers and tasks the IRS with the responsibility to enforce the mandates on individuals to purchase insurance the government deems acceptable as well as employer mandates to provide insurance the government deems affordable. In short, the Democrats' bill will give the IRS sweeping new powers and require the IRS to become a much more intrusive force in every American's life.
So, ObamaCare is not so much about improving the quality of health care as it is about vastly increasing the reach and power of the bureaucracy Americans hate most.
A Little Encouragement for Bart Stupak
Posted by Van Helsing at 9:21 AM | Comments (10)
Bart Stupak (D-MI), one of the last of the dying breed of Democrats with moral principles, says standing up to Chairman Zero on ObamaCare has been a "living hell." Better that than the hell that will await if he sells out his constituents and his conscience by endorsing the federal funding for abortion entailed in ObamaCare.
Here's how Stupak probably feels:
But the radicals currently running the government only seem like a line of oncoming tanks. Those who stand firm will still stand when this disgraceful chapter in our history has passed.
Idaho, Virginia Take Lead in Opposing ObamaCare
Posted by Van Helsing at 9:01 AM | Comments (6)
Our federal system wasn't designed so that the government would have an extra level of taxation, but to prevent tyranny by providing a break on Washington. The radicalized Democrat leadership is testing the system with its willingness to do whatever it takes to ram through their healthcare power grab. Fortunately it looks like the system might hold up:
Idaho took the lead in a growing, nationwide fight against health care overhaul Wednesday when its governor became the first to sign a measure requiring the state attorney general to sue the federal government if residents are forced to buy health insurance.
Similar legislation is pending in 37 other states.
Maybe the movement is only symbolic. Then again, maybe not:
[Idaho Governor Butch] Otter, a Republican, said he believes any future lawsuit from Idaho has a legitimate shot of winning, despite what the naysayers say.
"The ivory tower folks will tell you, 'No, they're not going anywhere,' " he told reporters. "But I'll tell you what, you get 36 states, that's a critical mass. That's a constitutional mass."
Meanwhile in Virginia, home of so many of the Founding Fathers who have been spinning in their graves since November 2008,
Virginia last week became the first state in the country to pass a state bill declaring it illegal for the government to require individuals to purchase health insurance, a key part of bills under consideration on Capitol Hill.
Yesterday Virginia's Attorney General sent this letter to Queen Pelousy:
March 17, 2010 The Honorable Nancy Pelosi Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Office of the Speaker H-232, U.S. Capitol Washington, D.C. Dear Speaker Pelosi: I am writing to urge you not to proceed with the Senate Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act under a so-called "deem and pass" rule because such a course of action would raise grave constitutional questions. Based upon media interviews and statements which I have seen, you are considering this approach because it might somehow shield members of Congress from taking a recorded vote on an overwhelmingly unpopular Senate bill. This is an improper purpose under the bicameralism requirements of Article I, Section 7 of the U.S. Constitution, one of the purposes of which is to make our representatives fully accountable for their votes. Furthermore, to be validly enacted, the Senate bill would have to be accepted by the House in a form that is word-for-word identical (Clinton v. City of New York, 524 U.S. 417 (1998)). Should you employ the deem and pass tactic, you expose any act which may pass to yet another constitutional challenge. A bill of this magnitude should not be passed using this maneuver. As the President noted last week, the American people are entitled to an up or down vote. Sincerely, Kenneth T. Cuccinelli, II Attorney General of Virginia
I was told before the Moonbat Messiah was elected that he would unite the country. If he keeps uniting us like this, we'll have another Civil War.
On tips from Conan and Incitatus.
Dick Armey's Border Moonbattery
Posted by Van Helsing at 8:31 AM | Comments (10)
So long as Tea Partiers remember that the movement is about ideas, not people, it won't get hijacked by those who might exploit it to advance pernicious concepts. A case in point is Dick Armey, who has played a roll in organizing Tea Parties, but who indulges in pure moonbattery on the topic of border security.
"When I was the majority leader, I saw to it that Tom Tancredo did not get on the stage because I saw how destructive he was," Armey said of the Colorado congressman and 2008 Republican presidential candidate known for his opposition to illegal immigration.
Armey said "this is a nation of immigrants" and "if you love America, love freedom" and if you will work and pay taxes, you should be welcome in the country.
Applying "nation of immigrants" rhetoric to the deluge of illegal aliens that is helping to drive up unemployment and reduce California to a Third-World failed state is an insult to the legitimate immigrants who built this country and respect its laws.
Armey says he would defend the border — but not until the INS has been reformed so that it's nicer to the human traffickers and drug dealers who are making a mockery of our national sovereignty.
"Fix that agency, make it do its job, make it do its job in a humane … fashion and then you can control the borders," he said.
According to Armey, criminals who sneak across the border to avail themselves of free services are "natural constituents" for the Republican Party.
Armey also said "the Republican Party is the most naturally talented party at losing its natural constituents in the history of the world."
"This party was born with the emancipation proclamation and can't get a black vote to save its life. How do they do that?"
By standing for individual liberty and the rule of law as opposed to racial preferences and spoils. But I suppose Armey would change that too.
On a tip from Incitatus.
Feed PETA to the Polar Bears!
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at 8:01 AM | Comments (22)
Affluent white liberals were denied an opportunity to culturally and economically impoverish native people's earlier this week. The UN denied a push from the United States to ban the international trade in (non-endangered) polar bear pelts and other parts.
A U.S.-backed proposal to ban the international trade of polar bear skins, teeth and claws was defeated Thursday at a U.N. wildlife meeting over concerns it would hurt indigenous economies and arguments the practice didn't pose a significant threat to the animals.
"We're disappointed," said Jane Lyder, the Department of Interior's deputy assistant secretary for fish and wildlife and parks. "But we understand that CITES is still trying to understand how to incorporate climate change into its decision making."
Canada, along with Norway and Greenland, led the opposition to the U.S. proposal. They said the threat from trade was minimal and the hunting done by Aboriginal communities was critical to their economies. Only 2 percent of Canadian polar bears are internationally traded and the country strictly manages the commerce, Canada said.
Now, people who understand natural resource economics know that the best way to preserve a species is to make trade in that species legal and economically valuable. Cows and pigs are not endangered precisely because people eat them. If species cannot be legally traded and managed by people with an economic state in continuing their numbers, it creates an incentive for poachers to destroy their populations, as is the case with African Elephants and Lowland Gorillas.
Meanwhile, in Russia, some dumb naked chicks engaged in a pointless protest against seal harvesting.
Continue reading "Feed PETA to the Polar Bears! "
