Obamacare Delay? What Delay?

Just a reminder of what the Obama Administration told us only recently...

As @JimGeraghty at NRO likes to say "All Obama statements come with an expiration date"...

Mitt Romney on the National Debt

From Jim Geraghty:

Mitt Romney on getting Americans to focus on the difficult, sometimes abstract issues of the deficit and accumulating national debt:
 
“I think it helps to translate the federal-debt and unfunded-liability numbers into personal numbers. The total amount of accumulated debt and unfunded liabilities is approximately $520,000 per American household. What that means is that each household will be paying the interest on the debt and paying the principal on the unfunded liabilities over the coming decade or two. It means that our kids will get saddled with that $520,000 — which of course will become a good deal larger over the next four or five years if the president is reelected.

“That number says that as interest rates go up, as they undoubtedly will down the road, people will get burdened with a tax figure that makes it harder for them to start their lives out, get homes, and build a future for themselves. It really kills the American Dream to be burdened with that kind of a figure from the beginning of your life. And so I think that’s the most effective way I can talk about the personal impact, long term, of this debt and unfunded-liability burden.

“There is also a recognition in this country that what Greece and Italy and Spain are facing could conceivably be brought home to us. The recognition that you reach a point where the world decides that your obligations are perhaps not going to be met, or that they will be inflated away — in which case people will ask for higher interest rates, and you’ll find yourself in a doom loop.”

For Whom the Bulb Tolls

As Instapundit is more than happy to point out, you can still get old-fashioned incandescent light bulbs over on Amazon...

But if you want to find them, don't try looking in new childrens books.  In a perfectly unoffensive book that I recently purchased, we find a main character who suddenly has an idea.  What appears above her head?  This? 

No....this:

For over a century the incandescent light bulb has been the symbol of ideas that have come instantly to mind.  Now I guess this "new & improved" politically correct image will be the symbol of ideas that take a few minutes to actually reach their full brightness....  

But this is what we should expect in our future lives in a European-style social democracy.  Things that are not quite as quick, efficient, or enjoyable as they used to be...but it will all be for the common good. 

The Department of Free

A great new poem from Zombie.... #ocra #hhrs #sgp

The Department of Free

Years ago, a wiser man
than you or I devised a plan
to dole out goods at zero cost
to those of us whose jobs were lost.

It seemed benign, so nice and kind
the plan grew to include the blind,
the old the lame then you and me,
and they called this plan
The Department of Free.

It started as a helping hand
to needy folks across the land,
so those who could not make ends meet
would not be forced out on the street.

Unemployment benefits
were just a start, because now it’s
free food, free homes, free surgery,
rebates, bailouts, loans — all free.

Now half of us just stand in line
all day long and gripe and whine
about the stuff we feel we’re owed
the list of which has growed and growed.

The line wends hither, the line wends yon,
and by and by it comes upon
a door above which we can see
those magic words:
Department of Free.

Once inside: a shopping spree
of endless handouts: it’s all free!
Drunken on entitlement
we grab a meal, a house, a stent.

The other half? We’re all employed!
Hearing this, you’re overjoyed
to know that at least some of us
have jobs and never cause a fuss.

But one last thing you ought to know,
our economic Alamo:
The place where we all work, you see,
is in the accursed Department of Free!

I push papers,
while he counts beans.
She helps seniors
and they help teens.
It takes a village to raise a child;
it takes a nation to run hog-wild.

Paul pays Peter, and Peter pays Paul,
yet neither makes anything at all.
Round and round the money goes
but where it comes from no one knows.

It all runs out eventually,
can’t simulate prosperity.
The shopping spree was just a dream,
a baseless potlatch Ponzi scheme.

With nothing left to give away,
The Department of Free itself must say,
“We’re all laid off, the end is near.
There’s no point working, even here.”

The last employed man not offshore
has just one more remaining chore:
Switch off the lights
and turn the key
in the broke
Department of Free.

From Medicare and Medicaid
came Medicould and Medishould
now Medimust and we’ve gone bust
we’re trust-fund kids without a trust.

Conservative v. Liberal Fantasies

Jim Treacher lets us a little too far inside his brain, and reveals some dark fantasies. [H/T: Instapundit]

"They both seem like good people and I hope they’ll kiss and make up. I don’t even mean that in a dirty way. Much."

But heck, I'd take that in a minute over Tom Friedman's fantasies!

Powerline: "Thomas Friedman wishes that our democracy worked as well as China's dictatorship. He thus fantasizes about the U.S. being "China for a day.""

Jonah Goldberg: "China’s got us beat, suggests Friedman, because its leaders aren’t hung up on democracy, checks and balances, or any of the other dusty old impediments found in the American system. Friedman has proclaimed his envy for China’s authoritarian system countless times. It’s why he titled one of the chapters in his book “China for a Day.” The idea — he calls it his “fantasy” — is that if we could just be China for a day, the experts could impose by diktat what they cannot win through democratic debate."

So there is your choice. The School Boy's fantasy....or the School Headmaster's Fantasy.

Apparently Health Care Rationing is 'Important' to the Obama Administration

This past week the Obama Administration provided a recess appointment to Dr. Donald Berwick to be director of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the federal agency that runs Medicare and Medicaid.

According to ABC News, the White House says "Berwick Appointment 'Too Important' to Wait for a Hearing"

This morning on ABC News’ "This Week," Senior White House Advisor David Axelrod insisted that President Obama’s recess appointment of Dr. Donald Berwick to be the administrator of The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services was simply “too important” to wait for a Congressional hearing.

“The Republican Party has made it a policy in the United States Senate to hold up... as many nominations,” as possible, Axelrod said. “This is too important. This position is too important,” he told host Jake Tapper. “In the midst of implementing health reform, it is too important to allow that kind of game-playing to go on.”

So let me get this straight... The Obama Administration considers the appointment of Berwick, a man who advocates "health-care rationing and using the health-care system to redistribute wealth", to be "too important" to held up by some silly constitutional requirement like confirmation.

If they keep this up, some people might start to think they have a hidden motive....

This Isn't Working - Pt 1

Halt, Police....Drop the Fish!

Great news from the new & improved home of the free....

Culled out
Obama administration will accept no more public input for federal fishery strategy

The Obama administration will accept no more public input for a federal strategy that could prohibit U.S. citizens from fishing the nation's oceans, coastal areas, Great Lakes, and even inland waters.

Based on this news, we may have to change an old Chinese proverb...

Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you might get him arrested.

So, American citizens will be prohibited from fishing in their own country. What the hell is going on around here?

This is SO not the Change I was hoping for....

[Hat Tip: Instapundit]

Socialism = Free Stuff!!

How could I have missed this?

According to this video, Socialism will bring you a free college education, free food, and a guaranteed job in the middle class!



How could I have been so wrong?!? Can I still vote for the utopia of Hope & Change?? Can I be on the People's Council?

Sign me up for the struggle!

[Hat Tip: Big Government]

Your Papers, Please!

I do believe that Britain's ride down the slippery slope is accelerating....

Photographer films his own 'anti-terror' arrest
Man held in police station for eight hours after taking pictures of Christmas celebrations in Accrington

Police questioned an amateur photographer under anti-terrorist legislation and later arrested him, claiming pictures he was taking in a Lancashire town were "suspicious" and constituted "antisocial behaviour".

Footage recorded on a video camera by Bob Patefield, a former paramedic, shows how police approached him and a fellow photography enthusiast in Accrington town centre. They were told they were being questioned under the Terrorism Act.

[...]

Patefield declined to give his details and, after asking if he was free to go, walked away. However the PCSO and a police officer stopped the men in another part of the town. This time, the police officer repeatedly asked him to stop filming her and said his photography was "suspicious" and "possibly antisocial".

Patefield asked if the officer had any "reasonable, articulable suspicion" to justify him giving his details.

She replied: "I believe your behaviour was quite suspicious in the manner in which you were taking photographs in the town centre … I'm suspicious in why you were taking those pictures.

"I'm an officer of the law, and I'm requiring you, because I believe your behaviour to be of a suspicious nature, and of possibly antisocial [nature] … I can take your details just to ascertain that everything is OK."

"If you want a vision of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face - forever. " - George Orwell

Global Warming Snow Job

It was reported today that Lake Erie has complete frozen over for the first time in 14 years:

Following a cold snap in the Northeast, Lake Erie's surface is virtually frozen over for the first time in about 14 years.

The ice ranges in thickness between paper thin along the northern shore and several inches along the southern shore, where many people are ice skating.

GoErie.com reports that the lake hasn't completely frozen since the winter of 1995-1996.

[…..]


Lake Erie, with an average depth of 62 feet, is the most shallow of the five Great Lakes, which is why it is the only one that completely freezes over.

Since lake-effect snow depends on warmer lake temperatures compared to the air, the frozen lake will deter large amounts of snowfall to the lee of the lake.

The current cold snap will keep the lake mostly, if not completely, frozen for at least the rest of the month.

Hmmmm…. This is concerning.

Cold air has led to a frozen-over lake, which will in-turn cause less snowfall, which we all know is an indication of Global Warming®.

Ergo…colder temperatures are a positive indicator of Global Warming®!

Of course this is somewhat in conflict with the other current meme that *more* snow is caused by Global Warming®. But who wants to quibble over such minor details when there is leftist policy to be pushed (and $$ to be made!).

As the Heritage Institute aptly put it using their best Homer Simpson impression, "Global Warming – Is There Anything It Can’t Do?"

No snow, too much snow. It does not matter to the enviroleft crowd. For them, global warming always is to blame. That is the whole reason the movement made a deliberate decision earlier this decade to stop calling it “global warming” and start calling it “climate change.” That way they could expand the universe of terrible things they could plausibly blame on global warming.

And it is that continuing overreach that will make the "Green Movement" the butt of more and more ridicule....

® - The term 'Global Warming' is owned in perpetuity by Al Gore. All Rights Reserved.

Green Police Crackdown

This is a new Audi commercial to run during the Super Bowl.



Note the message is that you will not be considered a criminal if you buy the correct things. Not just the holder of an incorrect opinion, but a criminal. Also note that there is no irony in the presentation of this fact by Audi. They are not trying to produce yet another funny Super Bowl commercial, they are trying to sell us a 'Green' product, by using the message that if you aren't green, you are worthy of arrest by a SWAT team. Nice....

This is our future if the liberals continue to rule and keep driving us down the road towards the full-time Nanny State.

[Hat Tip: Jammie Wearing Fool]

The Pillage of the Future by the Present

City Journal is carrying a good read on the current addiction of the 'modern democratic state' to Keynesian-driven indebtedness, not from the normal American punditry, but in the context of the evolution of European states .

The thesis of German Peter Sloterdijk reminds us that we Americans are not alone when worried about our current 'financial unsustainability'.

The Grasping Hand
The modern democratic state pillages its productive citizens

[...]

The modern democratic state gradually transformed into the debtor state, within the space of a century metastasizing into a colossal monster—one that breathes and spits out money.

[...]

What is new is the gargantuan scale of public debt. Mortgaging, insolvency, monetary reform, or inflation—no matter, the next great expropriations are under way. Today, the state’s grasping hand even reaches into the pockets of generations unborn. We have already written the title of the next chapter of our history: “The pillage of the future by the present.”

Read the whole thing...

How Liberal Big Government Works

Example #1:

Abstinence-only programs might work, study says

Sex education classes that focus on encouraging children to remain abstinent can persuade a significant proportion to delay sexual activity, researchers reported Monday in a landmark study that could have major implications for U.S. efforts to protect young people against unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases.

[BUT].....The Obama administration eliminated more than $170 million in annual federal funding targeted at abstinence programs.....

Example #2:

‘Head Start’: The $166 Billion Fed Ed Failure

“Head Start,” the flagship pre-kindergarten program introduced in 1965, has been a $166 billion failure. That’s the upshot of a sophisticated multi-year study just released by the Department of Health and Human Services.

Budget 2011: With Head Start Failing, White House Proposes $9.3 billion for New Preschool Program

While the federal government already spends as least $25 billion on the existing 69 preschool and child care programs, the Obama administration is calling for #70—proposing $9.3 billion for a new “Early Learning Challenge Grant”.

So....conservative social idea works....cut funding......liberal social idea fails over decades....spend billions more!

Why am I not surprised....

Right Idea...Wrong Target

After a week of reality injection, you're getting warmer Mr. President, but you have chosen the wrong target for your "help".

Obama May Call for Freeze on Discretionary Spending

Jan. 23 (Bloomberg) -- There is a “fighting chance” President Barack Obama will propose a freeze in most discretionary spending by the federal government in his State of the Union speech next week, Senator Evan Bayh, an Indiana Democrat, said.

Gee, the last time I checked, our Federal spending problem wasn't a discretionary spending problem....



And of course, whenever you hear a democrat calling for a freeze/reduction in 'discretionary spending', you know what that really means....



How about we look at all that entitlement spending....yeah, fat chance, right Mr. President?

Commies Aren't Cool Redux

It was almost two years ago, when we first saw the Obama-Ché connection, thanks to a campaign worker in Houston.



At that time my response was:



But now the whole Obama-Che thing has gone too far!



To that, provocation, I can only respond....Viva La Revolucion!



But if red isn't your color, you could always go green....



And just remember, all those authentically obnoxious lefty Ché shirts were brought to you by....capitalism.



[Hat Tip: Instapundit]

All Your Votes Are Belong to Us

Dan Riehl points us to David Freddoso's revelation of the Vast Left-Wing Conspiracy's planning documents.

"What it offers is a rare look at how left-wing organizations are working together and plotting a progressive future."

What it offers is a little unnerving.

Amongst other things slide (11) says that this VLWC has:
- "A national database of all voting age individuals..."
- "A robust and enhanced file, with models and specialty data and a comprehensive vote history"
- "A data warehouse that holds all voter contact records and results"



So the Left knows who you are, has 'specialty data' on you including how you voted, and knows when and what you have told to pollsters. Gee, with organizations like these, who needs to worry about bogeymen like the NSA or CIA?!?

And I wonder how that data might be used in the future... I am sorry you need that operation Mr. Smith, but we show here that you expressed opinions against, and voted against Health Care Reform, so I don't think we can help you.

Perhaps a little grandiose, but what exactly will the Left use these databases/data warehouses for after they have used them to win elections? You know they won't go away....

Sand in The Gears

Instapundit offered commentary on people's opinion of the big government bailout for GM (or just bailouts in general):

"Lots of people have decided to be sand in the gears."

But I would remind everyone, there is no need to be the sands in gears that won't even mesh with each other.....

Pelosi-Care Holiday Anthem

Pelosi-Care
(to the tune of "Tannenbaum")

Pelosi-care! Pelosi-care!
It makes our health plans equal.
Pelosi-care! Pelosi-care!
I see a Commie sequel.

The current plan is just a start:
She'll take our freedoms all apart.
Pelosi-care! Pelosi-care!
Her chutzpah knows no equal.

Pelosi-care! Pelosi-care!
With Harry Reid's assistance,
Pelosi-care, Pelosi-care,
Will overcome resistance:

Oh, single payer's on its way!
The ghost of Marx will shout hurray!
Pelosi-care! Pelosi-care!
You'll buy at her insistence.

Pelosi-care! Pelosi-care!
The public is affrighted.
Pelosi-care! Pelosi-care!
Obama grins, delighted:

His leftist envy's proven pure;
His legacy is now secure!
Pelosi-care! Pelosi-care!
Some wrongs cannot be righted.

--Tom Riley

Lefty Mouthbreathers Bad for the Environment!

#hhrs #tcot #rs #sgp
This morning Instapundit said the following in relation to lefty environmentalists saying they are out to save the planet, but then ignoring/blocking the very types of solutions they say they want:

If you’re going to tell me that carbon dioxide is an unparalleled catastrophe for this planet, you’ve got to be willing to demonstrate your sincerity by, you know, endorsing other forms of energy. Otherwise, I’m inclined to think you’re a lying opportunist or something.

This is a very good point, but when it comes to Carbon Dioxide, I think he is missing a better counter-argument. I word re-word that statement as such:

If you’re going to tell me that carbon dioxide is an unparalleled catastrophe for this planet, you’ve got to be willing to demonstrate your sincerity by, you know, boycotting the breathing process. Otherwise, I’m inclined to think you’re a lying opportunist or something.

Of course the ultimate point is that CO2 is not a pollutant, but is a by-product of life on this planet, even the non-human, or even non-animal, kind....

But of course having every one stop breathing to prevent Global Warming is just not practical. I mean if we did we would have to change the movement slogan from "GO GREEN" to "GO BLUE"....and we have already printed up the signs and banners for the school propaganda campaigns....