Frosty, Cold Triangulation

One of these things is not like the other....

Upon first hearing about this proposed meeting, and now again looking at the pictures, one can practically hear the White House aides frantically trying to come up with ideas to walk back the dog on the President speaking "stupidly" at the end of his press conference last week.

"How can we make this better?" "Lets have them all have a beer together....I mean that's what regular Joes do, right??" "Yeah, then we can show America that three elites can hang with a blue collar guy..."

Unfortunately for the President, this episode so obviously reeks of political desperation, I don't think it will make much of a difference in the opinion polls, and could in fact be a negative if people think he did it simply for political gain.

Why do I think this is a stunt? First, the President is again injecting himself into a purely local issue, simple because he couldn't stay out of it last week. There is no other reason to re-engage on this unless they think they can use this event to counter his recent slide in the polls.

Second, the fact that the WH (and their MSM buds) has been hyping beer angle. *BEER*! The most blue collar of blue collar staples. The WH is desperately pushing the regular guy angle which smacks of opportunism.

Third, was the fact that the WH made sure it was photographed. "See....just four regular guys having a brewski...now can we move on..pleeease?!?"

If the President wanted to make this go away, he should have simply left it at an apologetic phone call to Sgt Crowley. All this other fluff simply ensures the extension of the story's shelf life, which is not good for the President. Americans aren't the rubes that many elites think they are, and I believe most will see this photo-op for the nakedly political stunt that it is....

Got Chest Pains??

Take a number....

Acton Institute's 'The Problems With Socialized Government Healthcare'

Post Racial Inanity

#tcot #hhrs
“If the President were white, there would be riots.” So writes Stephen Marche in Esquire magazine. He was referencing the fact that thus far the Obama Presidency has allegedly been the pits for the black community, rather than the expected nirvana.

Generally I find this whole idea that Obama is the "first black President" pretty curious, and any argument that things would be different if he were white to be spurious.

The last I checked President Obama is just as much the 44th white President, as he is the 1st black President…

And as far as President Obama ushering in a 'post-racial' America, it is my opinion that most Americans were already post-racial before his arrival, and the only ones who seem to have not made the leap are those who have always told us we need to be post-racial in the first place...

Our Ignoramus in Chief?

#tcot #hhrs
"He was so learned that he could name a horse in nine languages; so ignorant that he bought a cow to ride on." -- Benjamin Franklin

This week President Obama has caught a lot of flack for stating "I don't know all the facts", but then proceeding to provide unwarranted and inflammatory conjecture anyhow.

Although that statement was concerned with a very specific incident, one might argue that this is a phrase that he might want to utter before speaking on major policy topics like economics and health care. For it seems that like many who emerge from liberal academic echo chambers, he is chock full of intellect, but lamentably short on actual knowledge.

The President has thus far admitted his ignorance as to what was specifically contained in the House health care but urged its rapid passage in order to do great things such as save the planet and not ruin the upcoming Congressional vacation. And Fred Barnes at the Weekly Standard calls Obama the "Know-Nothing-in-Chief" for his seeming total void of knowledge free-market economic theories:

Know-Nothing-in-Chief
There's no evidence Obama has even a sketchy grasp of economics.

Is President Obama an economic illiterate? Harsh as that sounds, there's growing evidence he understands little about economics and even less about economic growth or job creation. Yet, as we saw at last week's presidential press conference, he's undeterred from holding forth, with seeming confidence, on economic issues.

Obama professes to believe in free market economics. But no one expects his policies to reflect the unfettered capitalism of a Milton Friedman. That's too much to ask. Demonstrating a passing acquaintance with free market ideas and how they might be used to fight the recession--that's not too much to ask.

But the president talks as if free market solutions are nonexistent...

Getting back to the topic of health care, fairly intelligent and experienced men state that the President doesn't even do a good job faking that he knows what he is talking about.

Glenn Reynolds speaking on the Hugh Hewitt show said "Obama is an idiot when he talks about medical things...", as well as saying some of the President's prescriptions doled out when taking on the subject are like "...prescribing a laxative for lung cancer. This guy is making health care policy, and he's clueless."

On the same show, Charles Krauthammer (a former board certified doctor) said this:

"The real problem with Obama is he’s extremely intelligent, but he’s even more arrogant. And he trusts his own intelligence to get him through anything, even with a lack of knowledge. And it is amazingly arrogant. He’s standing up there, and he’s saying that there are doctors out there who will rip out a kid’s tonsils in order to make some money, without even knowing what are the indications for a tonsillectomy, and what’s not. He sort of made it up as he went along. You’re right. He operates on what he thinks he only needs, a minimal level of knowledge..."

Fortunately for us, but unfortunately for the President, his ignorance of a range of ideas on major policy issues may well be the undoing of his proposals. Much of this is due to the repeated public display of this ignorance in his self-induced hyper-exposure. If he were to keep from the spotlight, and only appear when escorted by a phalanx of teleprompters, he could limit the damage. But it may already have been done. But perhaps he is willing to sacrifice these things on the alters of vanity and narcissism.

Unfortunately it would not be a surprise if President Obama had spent all those years in academe becoming an intellectual, rather than a learned man.

"A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep." -- Saul Bellow

“There is nothing more frightful than ignorance in action.” -- Johann Wolfgang vonGoethe

Hall of Fame Hero

Jim Rice has many qualifications to be in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

But here is one you probably didn't know about.

Warfare by Remote

CNN's Nic Robertson does a great job giving an inside look at the US Air Force's Predator UAV operations stationed at Creech AFB, NV. The emphasis is heavy on the flying side of the mission, and leaves out a lot of the interaction and collaboration that goes on real time amongst many people across many time zones making these missions work, but the videos are worthy nonetheless.



Watch all 3 webisodes....

Obama Tax Pledge Timeline

#tcot #hhrs
From Americans for Tax Reform:

Battle for Helmand

Follow the USMC during its operations in Helmand Province, Afghanistan through the short videos from the Washington Post.


The entire blog can be found here.


Also, some great photoblogs on Helmand and other action in Afghanistan are out there.

Denver Post: Marines Pour into Afghanistan


Boston Globe: In Afghanistan, Part 1, Part 2



[Hat Tip to Steven Pressfield and his new blog for the Denver Post link]

Prof. Gates' Strawman

In the aftermath of his arrest and Presidential pardon prime-time mention, Prof. Louis Gates Esq has pulled out the time honored "this wouldn't have happened if I were white" canard.

He tells his daughter [Hat tip: Kausfiles]:

If I had been white this incident never would have happened. He would have asked at the door, “Excuse me, are you okay? Because there are two black men around here try’na rob you [laughter] and I think he also violated the rules by not giving his name and badge number, and I think he would have given that to one of my white colleagues or one of my white neighbors.

Now it strikes me that Gates' statement is non-sensical. If he had been white, then the two persons reported to be trying to break into his house (him and his driver) would have been white....not black. So if the two reported home invaders had been white, the police would have come looking for white home invaders. Thus they would have probably treated the white Prof. Gates the same as the black Prof. Gates...and then they would have arrested an arrogant, *white* Harvard professor for Disorderly Conduct.

In fact it seems that Prof. Gates thinks that whites deal with other whites like those in Eddie Murphy's "White Like Me". As Kaus alludes...who is the one with the stereotypes here?

But the simple fact of the matter is that Prof Gates would have been "accosted" by the police no matter what his color.

UPDATE: Welcome back Instapundit readers! Stay a while, and take a look around....

UPDATE II: When it comes to matters of Law Enforcement, I would always recommend heeding the word of Jack Dunphy. This case is no different...

In fact, if Crowley’s account is accurate, it was Gates who profiled him, imputing racial animus as the reason for the sergeant’s presence on the front porch.

Read the rest....

Obama's Run

'Lifeclock' to Reduce Federal Health Care Costs

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – June 1, 2010 – Today at their first meeting, President Obama’s newly appointed and handpicked Independent Medical Advisory Council (IMAC) used its wide-ranging authority to establish a new cost-savings program for Medicare and the new Federal health care program, Single Comprehensive Administration of Medicine (SCAM).

The new program will be called ‘Lifeclock’, a technological advance which will assist in digitizing and storing all medical records, and assisting SCAM medical personnel in assessing a person’s health and cost benefit to the overall health care system.

The newly developed Lifeclock crystal, developed by Insta-Nano-Tech (a subsidiary of Reynolds Technologies) as a result of IMAC Directive 10-289, will be implanted into the palm of a patient’s hand during their first appointment at a government-run health care facility. The color of the glowing crystal will alert government medical personnel to a person’s condition and viability.

“The largest cost to federal health care is the occurrence of people requesting extravagant procedures that are outside the cost-benefit analysis of their age and current health. Lifeclock will help us reign-in these frivolous personal choices.” said SCAM administrator Dr. Sanjay Gupta. “In fact Lifeclock will even let us know when someone’s circumstances outweigh the cost of *any* further medical procedures. We cannot afford to go back to our lives as usual.” For instance if a patient were no longer “eligible” for even basic medical services, their Lifeclock crystal would turn black, and that patient will receive an immediate “End-of-Life” counseling. Any patients refusing “End-of-Life” counseling would be fined the sum of their personal assets and considered a fugitive.

Critics of this plan have been castigated by the President as “opponents of reform” for their objections. They claim that Lifeclock is an invasion of privacy, and will lead to Americans being denied health care, or worse, all to save the government money.

Their arguments are based on a CBO study released last week, which stated the only way that SCAM could be budgetarily viable would be to deny health care to all patients 30 and older. The study showed that younger Americans tend to have very few health problems, which historically led to them not buying any health insurance, or require medical services. After age 30, costs tend to rise in such a way that coverage and "End-of-Life" decisions must be made for the patient more and more often.

“Given that kids under 30 have very low health costs, what would stop the govt from reprogramming Lifeclocks to turn black when somebody turned 30?” exclaimed a Republican source close to the debate. “This is a real concern. If the government controls Lifeclock, they can program it any way they want to help them cut costs.”

When asked to respond to these concerns, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs stated “That is pure science fiction. He might as well be talking about a future society living in crystal domed cities, and giant robots. Lifeclock is designed to help the American people by taking the hard decisions out of medical care and eliminating the cost of lavish medical procedures that don’t make sense for a patient’s situation. The government is not here to determine people’s Lastday. The government is here to help!”

Meanwhile the first test recipient of Lifeclock reportedly had his crystal turn black, and is being sought by Federal Medical Police (FMP). He was last seen running through Logan International Airport. The FMP has asked all citizens to be vigilant.

Apple Corners Health Care Market

From National Review's new health care blog, Critical Condition:

The president has decided — just days before the deadline he himself set for passage of health-care bills in both chambers of Congress — that he wants to create a new and very powerful executive branch agency, the Independent Medicare Advisory Council (IMAC), which would be accountable only to him and have the authority to re-write the Medicare program from top to bottom by executive memo.

Now I admit my first thought on this paragraph was that given Apple's penchant for suing for even the slightest perceived copyright infringement, Obama might be in some hot water from evil genius Steve Jobs...

But what ultimately stands out is the Orwellian turn of phrase, where a political body with unlimited power over health care policy and reports only to the President....carries the title "Independent".

Nice.

The Best Ham Sandwich...Evah!!

#tcot #hhrs #wwrd
Forget the Reagan-era $1000 hammers and toilets seats, and you can even forget Obama's $100/lb Waygu beef.

We have a new winner when it comes to Government waste, and it might even go to your waist....

The Obama-approved $595,000/lb Frozen Ham!!!

Here is a little proof from the government's own website, Recovery.gov, before it goes down the memory hole:

[Click to enlarge]

I sure hope we aren't buying these in bulk. I think I can get a better deal at COSTCO....

UPDATE: HOLY SCHNIKIES! The hits keep coming....

$1,562,568 FOR 'MOZZARELLA CHEESE'
$5,708,260 FOR 'PROCESS CHEESE'

[Hat Tip: Drudge, he is the one who dug these up...]

UPDATE II: Welcome Instapundit readers!

HEALTH RATIONS AND YOU

Yet another vid from the past (sort-of) warning about our future. (Hat Tip: Instapundit) #tcot #hhrs #wwrd



UPDATE: Upon reflection, this may be the best video of the year thus far.... More great info here: Health Administration Bureau

I also love this poster....

The Gipper on Socialized Medicine

(Hat Tip: Jonah Goldberg) #tcot #hhrs #wwrd

Healthcare Coverage Fairness Doctrine

Last night Instapundit linked to a report on Obamacare protest at Heath Schuler's local office in Asheville, NC.

In an update to the report the blogger gives a link to a local tv news story about their protest. After viewing this video you might wonder, as I did, if the Fairness Doctrine may have already passed and put into effect without us knowing it.

The coverage of the actual protest was sparse, and actual sound bites were quick and selectively edited. But the worst part was how the "reporter" went out of her way to give "balance" to the story, complete with a formal sit down interview with couple who has a sad story and wants Obamacare in order to cover their health needs. Since there was no "counter-protest" going on arguing for ObamaCare, one wonders why a supposedly impartial news organization felt it had to provide that "balance".

And this is where it starts to get interesting....

The "balance" that reporter Courtney Brennen gives, the older couple (Steve & Tricia Minnick) and their sad story, turns out not to be new to Brennen's reporting resumé. However their story seems to have changed slightly since their previous apperance.

Back in May, Brennen interviewed Tricia Minnick at a Jobs Fair. At the time, the Minnick's story was:

Tricia and her husband retired early and moved to Mexico a few years ago. Healthcare is cheaper there, and her husband is not well. But Tricia now finds herself back in the rat race. "Well, we moved back because our 401-K tanked. We had to come back and find jobs."

However, now when Brennen needed to find some balance to the FreedomWorks protest, her reporting on the Minnick's story has suddenly changed.

Steve and his wife, Tricia, had to move to Mexico because healthcare is cheaper. When their 401k's tanked, they had to move back to the mountains and get full-time jobs. Tricia has been denied insurance coverage several times because of a "pre-existing condition." The new legislation would stop that from happening.

Apparently Ms. Brennen studied Journalism under a Glass/Blair Scholarship at my alma mater of Syracuse University. In the initial story that was not related to health care, the Minnick's "retired early and moved to Mexico", which sounds like the American dream. But now that Hope & Change are being protested in the streets Brennen changed the Minnick's story to one of forced relocation in order to find health care. A sad testimony to journalism in our time.

Those folks in this country who do not like the direction that President Obama us have a right to pronounce to opinions in the street, and to their elected officials. All they would really like out of the Media is an unvarnished portrayal of their message. Is that too much too ask? Apparently it is in western North Carolina.

Update: For anyone who might wonder about reporter Courtney Brennen's motivations in presenting the story as she did, need only to read her official bio. In her off time she likes to "...read anything by Anna Quindlen, Maureen Dowd, and Anne Lamott." Yikes! No wonder she felt she had to put the progressive spin on this news story.....

Where are the Jobs?

#tcot #hhrs

States of Disrepair

We can learn lessons from state's failed 'Progressive' programs.

Most good conservative thinkers make the Federalist argument that we should strive to limit the power and reach of the federal government, and instead leave most matters to be handled by the individual states.

However, recent events might give many conservatives pause concerning this cornerstone philosophy, given that some states have been acting like teenagers who have been handed the keys to the liquor cabinet and family car on the same key chain.

Take for instance articles from today concerning three of the most prominent 'Blue' states.

New York - The Obsolete New York Model: Where a tax-eating majority votes itself a permanent income....Struggling under the accumulated burden of eight decades of “progressive” government, we New Yorkers can serve as a warning to our fellow Americans as President Obama, following the New Deal playbook, seeks to use the current financial crisis to provide a new rationale and legitimacy for the gargantuan machinery of the federal government.

California - Following Calif. Off A Green Cliff: Climate Change: A 2006 California law meant to lead the way on global warming looks like an economic disaster in the making. So far, Congress and Obama have ignored the warnings.

Massachusetts - Bay State Rationing: Health Care: Massachusetts' universal medical program is no longer universal. Coverage is being dropped for 30,000 because not enough money is around to pay for everyone. There's a lesson in this for Congress.

The running theme here is that these states have implemented unsustainable government largesse, and show us exactly what President Obama's proposed programs will bring us on a national scale. They are the cure that makes the disease worse.

Of course, one only need compare these examples to other states that have fared much better. To be parochial, I will trumpet my adopted home state....

Texas - Going Alamo: Why jobs and companies are flocking to a big small-government state. If you want to know where the future is headed, look where the people are going. And if you want to know where the people are going, check with U-Haul. Here's an interesting indicator, first noted by the legendary economist Arthur Laffer: Renting a 26-foot U-Haul truck to go from Austin to San Francisco this July would cost you about $900. Renting the same truck to go from San Francisco to Austin? About $3,000. In the great balance of supply and demand, California has a large supply of people who are demanding to move to Texas. There's a reason for this.

God help me if I ever get orders to PCS to California!

WaPo Lies about the Rich and Taxes

Today the Washington Post ran an editorial that had a lede ('The Deep-Pockets Mirage: House Democrats would have us believe that the rich can pay for it all') that would make you believe that it might opine against higher taxes, but in the end it was the same old call for a "more progressive" tax system. In other words...tax the rich.

THERE IS a serious case to be made that the U.S. income tax system should become more progressive. The average rate paid by the top 1 percent of households shrank from 33 percent in 1986 to about 23 percent in 2006. At the same time, the share of adjusted gross income claimed by that highest-earning sliver of American society doubled, from 11 percent to 22 percent. So, in principle, higher taxes for the well-heeled could make sense -- as part of a broader rationalization of the unduly complex tax code.

Now, I don't mind if newspapers hold opinions about the way our country is run (as long as they keep them confined to the Editorials like this one), but why do they have to use wholly incorrect and unattributed numbers to try to make their point??

In the citation above, WaPo say that the tax rate paid by the 'Top 1%' shrank from 33% to 23% between 1986 and 2006. And they also state that during the same time period, the share of gross income for the same people doubled from 11% to 22%.

However, these numbers do not match up with those recently published by the Congressional Budget Office (Hat Tip: Heritage Foundation). Given that the WaPo doesn't cite any source for their numbers, it is hard truly judge, but I don't think I am willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.

In their report, 'Data on the Distribution of Federal Taxes and Household Income', the CBO's numbers show the following:

- Between 1986 and 2006 the 'Effective Tax Rate' on the Top 1% rose from 25.5% to 31.2%...a 22% increase, rather than the 31% decrease that WaPo claims.

- Between 1986 and 2006 the 'Average Household Income' of the Top 1% did rise from $880k to $1.75mil (a doubling), but the 'Share of Income' rose from 14% to 18.8%...a 34% increase vice the 100% that the WaPo suggests.

Now, before digging into the numbers, I had intended to simply point out how the WaPo had conveniently ignored the total amount of the tax pie that the Top 1% and Top Quintile actually pay.

Since the WaPo seems to want to suggest that since the mid-80s that the rich have gotten richer and also paid less taxes at the same time, lets stick with that same time frame.

The CBO's numbers also show the following about who really shoulders the burden of the tax system:

- Between 1986 and 2006 the 'Share of Total Federal Tax Liabilities' paid by the Top 1% increased from 17.1% to 28.3%...an increase of 65.5%

- Between 1986 and 2006 the 'Share of Total Federal Tax Liabilities' paid by the Top Quintile increased from 57.5% to 69.3%...a 20.5% increase

So what we can see here is that, yes, the rich have gotten richer, but they have also already paid more and more taxes. In fact the share of taxes for every Quintile except the "Rich" has decreased, even though every Quintile has seen its average income rise....

Ultimately we already have a very progressive tax system, and it keps on getting more progressive. The fact that the WaPo wants to make it even more so means that it probably won't be happy until the 'Share of Total Federal Tax Liabilities' on the Top Quintile is 100%.

Methinks a lot of that Quintile will begin hanging out in a hidden valley with John Galt.....

It's the Tribes, Stupid

#hhrs #tcot
I would recommend that everyone go read/watch the great new blog/videos from Steven Pressfield

Here is the first of 5 videos that are worth your time....

Selective Meddling

While attempting to set a new standard for media butt-snorkling idolatry, the AP inadvertently exposes an inconsistency in President Obama's foreign policy stances....

America's president and Africa's son, Barack Obama dashed with pride onto the continent of his ancestors Saturday, challenging its people to shed tyranny, corruption and conflict in favor of peace. Campaigning to all of Africa, he said "Yes you can."

[...]

"Africa doesn't need strongmen," Obama said. "It needs strong institutions."
The son of a white woman from Kansas and a black man from Kenya, Obama bluntly told Africa to take more responsibility for itself but proclaimed: "America will be with you."

Hmmm...those words have the distinct odor of the previously officially shunned policy of "meddling".

OK, so it isn't really meddling, but it is certainly much stronger rhetoric than we saw out of the President when it came to the uprising in Iran, where he went out of his way not to "meddle".

It would have been nice to see the sycophantic AP print the following graph during the Iran crisis:

America's president, Barack Obama, challenged the Iranian people to shed tyranny, corruption and conflict in favor of peace. Campaigning to all of Iran, he said "Yes you can."

[...]

"Iran doesn't need mullahs and strongmen," Obama said. "It needs strong democracy and freedom." Obama bluntly told Iran: "America will be with you."

Would that have been so hard for the President??

When Soothsayers Change their Spots

Both Campaign Spot and Instapundit highlight this great little piece of tut-tutting by Clintonista Robert Reich:

When Will The Recovery Begin? Never.
July 9, 2009, 5:02PM

The so-called "green shoots" of recovery are turning brown in the scorching summer sun. In fact, the whole debate about when and how a recovery will begin is wrongly framed. On one side are the V-shapers who look back at prior recessions and conclude that the faster an economy drops, the faster it gets back on track. And because this economy fell off a cliff late last fall, they expect it to roar to life early next year. Hence the V shape.

Unfortunately, V-shapers are looking back at the wrong recessions. Focus on those that started with the bursting of a giant speculative bubble and you see slow recoveries. The reason is asset values at bottom are so low that investor confidence returns only gradually.

That's where the more sober U-shapers come in. They predict a more gradual recovery, as investors slowly tiptoe back into the market.

Personally, I don't buy into either camp. In a recession this deep, recovery doesn't depend on investors. It depends on consumers who, after all, are 70 percent of the U.S. economy. And this time consumers got really whacked. Until consumers start spending again, you can forget any recovery, V or U shaped.

No recovery, ever? Never, ever? An interestingly pessimistic view from the left side of the ailse. What makes it ever more interesting is that not even 4 months ago, Robert Reich predicted a smooth recovery:

My Recovery Prediction
There's a reason it's called the "business cycle."
Robert B. Reich | March 25, 2009

I've got something of a reputation as an economic soothsayer. Last March I predicted the economy would slide off a cliff in six months. Six months later, it did. How did I know? I'll get to that later. Now, I'm predicting the economy will start to recover in the second quarter of next year.

First, look at the economic fundamentals -- such as historic ratios of home values to rents and incomes and of stock prices to corporate earnings. At the rate houses and stocks are now dropping, they'll be terrific bargains by the middle of next year. Meanwhile, given how fast business inventories are now dropping, firms will probably start rebuilding by then. Business investments in plants and equipment are now nearing a standstill, so by the third quarter of next year companies will need to replace lots of aging equipment. On the consumer side, the sharp falloff in spending on durables means lots of cars and appliances will begin wearing out by the middle of next year.

I guess even 'economic soothsayers' can stop patting themselves on the back long enough to change their predictions.

However I think the best part is Reich's inference in both articles that the economy won't turn around until "consumers" start spending money again. That seems a far cry from the current Democratic mantra that only President Obama's Good-Time, Happy, Nanny State Government® can spend us out of the recession.

To me, it sounds like Reich is making a great case for tax cuts, especially of the payroll variety. No better way in my mind of getting people to start spending more than to immediately put more money in each and every paycheck.

I doubt we will ever hear that out of the mouth of Robert Reich though. It might get him blacklisted from the tony parties in Washington, Manhattan, and Cambridge on the Charles.....

Going Green with Cap & Trade!

Great Video for the weekend from the Tax Foundation!



Hat tip: Hugh Hewitt

They can take my Atari from my Cold, Dead Hands

Instapundit was ruminating about the fact that you can by 1 Terabyte of storage now for under $100.

That got me thinking about my first home computer, which I also got for under $100.

I present to you, the Timex-Sinclair 1000:



The thing could almost pass for a Blackberry today...except that it has no screen. And on the issue of storage, it was unlimited! Or only limited to the number of blank cassette tapes you had lying around....

But the thing I always remember, was that we had to buy a memory expansion pack (seen attached in the pic above), and that got us all the way up to 16K of system memory!! Yes...16*K*... God bless the early '80s.

This beauty is still in cold storage somewhere in my parents house...so when my boy gets around to asking for his first computer......yes, you know where I am going with this....heh heh heh.

Independence Day v. Dependence Day

Thanks to Dinocrat (via Larwyn), we can read and compare the first Fourth of July speeches given by the last two Presidents.

I took the liberty of putting the two transcripts into Wordle, to see what might pop out.

So you tell me, which of the following word clouds actually looks like it's subject is 'Independence Day'?





Maybe some speechwriters have a different feel for what words people associate with Independence Day, but I have to tell you, word cloud #1 does not jump out at me. Word cloud #2 does.

I leave it up to you to figure out which speech was given in 2001 and which in 2009....

That Troublesome Constitution

Instapundit:

ANOTHER “CRISIS” REQUIRING EXTRAORDINARY MEASURES! US-Russian Arms Negotiators “Under the Gun,” Might Temporarily Bypass Senate Ratification for Treaty.

Here’s a hint — if you bypass Senate ratification, it’s not a treaty.

Funny, in an administration filled with lawyers and led by a former CONLAW Professor, there is a surprising ignorance about the Constitution.

Or perhaps it is just the opposite...perhaps they are *soooo* smart about the Constitution, that they have all sorts of nifty ways to get around it when it is an inconvenience.

Of course neither option is very comforting....

233