Why Obama had to go to Copenhagen

"[Chicago Mayor] Daley's son, Richard R. Daley, learned a lesson from his father. Go with the political flow regardless of its direction because it's all about Chicago, not any political ideology. Left or right, all are precious in the Machine's sight -- as long as there's a money river to tap. So what if the political flow of the Democrat Party has turned decidedly left. Chicago is neither left nor right -- it's permanently Machine centered.

Daley the Younger called in his markers and drafted President Obama to go to Copenhagen and lobby on Chicago's behalf. Wherever he was born, Obama will now always be the favored son of the Machine. Obama original allegiance is to that Machine. He owes it. And it's payback time.

When Obama came to work as a young lawyer at Allison Davis' law firm, one that represented slum landlords like "Tony Rezko," Obama learned the lesson of "go-along-to-get-along" that his new boss had once learned. Davis learned not to cross the Machine. Davis, Rezko and current senior presidential advisor Valerie Jarrett were Obama's finance campaign committee in his run for the Senate. They're all serious contributors to the Machine.

Jarrett was the president of a property management firm that managed large Chicago Housing Authority properties. In other words, a city-designated slum landlord. Before that, she was Michelle's boss in the Office of the Mayor of Chicago -- that would be Richard the Younger. After that, she became Michelle's patroness at the University of Chicago Hospitals.

So, of course, the President has to go to Copenhagen to push for Chicago as the site for the 2016 Olympics. He is the duly elected Patron in Chief assigned to bring home the bacon. The closer. He says he's can now leave Washington because the campaign for healthcare reform in under control. Right. And the Cubs are destined to take the Series this year in four straight." Read the rest Lee Cary at American Thinker

Sarah Palin's charge of death panels

In an article at American Thinker on the existence of “death panels,” the author, Joseph Ashby, says it’s not in HR 3200 because it already exists: “H.R. 1 (more commonly known as the Recovery and Reinvestment Act, even more commonly known as the Stimulus Bill and aptly dubbed the Porkulus Bill) contains a whopping $1.1 billion to fund the Federal Coordinating Council for Comparative Effectiveness Research. And on this council is Dr. Death himself, Rahm Emanuel’s brother, Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel.

One of the commenters at this post, Redhawk, analyzes the role of statism in our Congress’s health care plan.

When you get past all the doubletalk, this is what the people who are advocating a government-run healthcare system truly believe. The foundation of the statists' philosophy is that the people in a society are in essence the property of the state. Given limited resources and the state will always claim to be short of resources, the state will decide the extent to which a person will be medically treated for a serious illness, depending upon that person's perceived value to society. To the statist, this makes perfect sense. Of course in actual practice, the final decision can be heavily influenced by how many friends in Washington one can petition, which is a storyline right out of Atlas Shrugged; how one's success in life and in this case life itself will be determined by political pull. Washington apparatchiks and their hangers-on will of course automatically receive the best of care.

I have not read whether this is happening in Britain, but I would be surprised if it were not, since such a system invites corruption. There you can be denied cancer treatment even if you are willing to pay for it out of your own pocket or you may be denied stints if you are above the arbitrary age limit of 59; unless of course you lucky enough to have friends in high places who can make an exception in your case. Otherwise, you have a duty to die. They may or may not decide to pay for the pain medication to relieve your final suffering, since it is all subject to the whim of some bureaucrat. This is the type of system to which we are heading unless we can stop it. We are being asked to quietly accept a socialist plan that promises to improve the healthcare of roughly 20% of the population, many of whom are here illegally, but in doing so will intolerably degrade the healthcare for the rest of us.

HT Murray

Did you see that Sarah's book is already #3 on Amazon and it isn't published yet, and that Glenn Beck's new book is outselling the Kennedy memoirs?

Have you planned ahead?

Take the Long Term Care planning quiz.

Here was my "score."

You have obviously given this topic some important consideration. Congratulations! By planning ahead, you can have more control over your care choices and the financial impact of paying for care. Planning ahead also provides important peace of mind for you and your loved ones.

They didn't say this but I will, since I keep track of these things: one month in a nursing home costs more than one year's premiums on long term care.

The rush to defend Polanski

"A high-profile rush to defend Roman Polanski after the film director's arrest sparked a backlash on Wednesday, as a growing number of politicians called for him to face justice over a three-decade-old child sex case."

I'd sure hate to be on the side defending a guy who made bad movies, but in this case, I think the case should be dismissed. First, it looks like the judge in the first plea bargain for which he served time, really messed up, and second, the woman who was 13 at that time, wants it dropped. There are a lot worse things for 13 years olds than having sex with a movie director, and it happens all over the world--forced marriages, rape, incest, etc., baby mommas for high priced bad hip hop musicians and traumatizing movies called "art" from Hollywood. No one seems to care about these things except Christians, and then they are ridiculed if they try to get a smidgen or morality included in school curricula. The guy is scum, no doubt about it. But he has paid, and paid, and paid. Let it go.

The decline of English

As I've noted before, except for some Freshman composition, I didn't take anything in college that could be called "English," because I was a foreign language major. But I do think it's important, and I've been sad to see it's importance go down hill since the radicals took over the campuses of the USA in the 1970s. The decline of English by William M. Chace, formerly of Berkeley, Stanford, Wesleyan, and Emory, notes the following grim statistics, the numbers of those majoring in the humanities dropped from a total of 30 percent to a total of less than 16 percent in 30 years:

English: from 7.6 percent of the majors to 3.9 percent
Foreign languages and literatures: from 2.5 percent to 1.3 percent
Philosophy and religious studies: from 0.9 percent to 0.7 percent
History: from 18.5 percent to 10.7 percent
Business: from 13.7 percent to 21.9 percent

I did a few word searches on this article--Marxism, feminism, deconstructionism, etc.--and see he doesn't address any root causes driving students away who don't want to be harangued during class with political poop and Michael Moore movie mayhem. Chace thinks "at the root is the failure of departments of English across the country to champion, with passion, the books they teach and to make a strong case to undergraduates that the knowledge of those books and the tradition in which they exist is a human good in and of itself." Maybe the students figure out on their own that selecting an obscure female author from 1910, or a gay Mexican who died for a cause in 1930 doesn't mean much in the big picture? Ya think?

When I was doing my research on private libraries I tracked down a fabulous Professor of English who had taught at a prestigious school--past tense. He'd been driven out of his position (he had tenure and was a full professor, but there are ways by denying funds for assistants, research and rearranging offices), and was in another state teaching at a state school extension, basic composition and grammar. But at least he was free of the radical demagogues. And he was a liberal--but beaten down by the feminists and marxists in his department because he wanted to teach what was important, not their political theories. We talked for a long time on the phone and his assistance was invaluable, his knowledge of private collections enormous. He kept cautioning me to close the door of my office, to make sure no one was listening. And that was in the mid-90s.

The media are kind to Obama

But they lie to us. Here's an example. "Mixed data reflect fragility of economic recovery" by Sara Murray, WSJ, Sept. 30, 2009

I realize she didn't write the headline, but the graphs don't exactly show a "recovery," more an occasional blip. In most of those cities, the home prices are still above 2000 levels, despite the dramatic drop beginning when the sub-prime mess revealed the folly of the constant government interference in the housing market by using it as a carrot for politicians of both parties and non-profits like ACORN to look good to low income people.

Only one city, Detroit, owned for decades by Democrats pushing wealth transfer, dropped below 2000 levels. The upticks recorded in July were tiny, with Minneapolis the best, Las Vegas the worst.

But back to "words matter."

I know I sound like a broken record, but if this article had been written during the Bush years, there would have been considerable differences.

"Consumer confidence drops, despite a tiny rise in home prices in a few cities during July, underscoring the disastrous decisions of the Bush administration in how to lead us to a recovery."

I shouldn't provide Obama any hints, but if the media were as vigilant with him as they were with Bush, I think he would be ahead of the game with rising poll numbers instead of dropping. They could have been corrective. Just by telling the truth, which they didn't do during the Bush years.

What is a mixed metaphor?

A combination of two or more metaphors that together produce a ridiculous effect wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

In today's Wall Street Journal we had this gem:

"Housing is on life support. . .until market forces replace the prostheses of government."

Most people on life support don't need a prosthesis, let alone more than one. And usually the government pulls the plug with its plan, as it will seniors relying on Medicare.

Cash for Clunkers end result

According to this report from Edmunds, sales of new vehicles in September 2009 fell off a cliff, dropping 41% from August 2009 and down 23% from September 2008. This shows that the primary sales effect of the “Cash for Clunkers” program was to harvest sales that would otherwise have occurred later in the year and compress them into an earlier time period.
More details at Taxman Blog (another great Ohio blogger)

Lytham Road Exercise class

This works well as a hymn, and since the class is in the church fellowship hall, I'll sing it for you. The class meets Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 9:15 for an hour at UALC Lytham campus, 2300 Lytham Rd., Upper Arlington, with three different instructors and work-outs. No matter what. I'm really not into exercise, but it's good for me. And you.


It's Wednesday
It's Wednesday
It's Exercise day (2x)

Oh card i o
Oh Weight lift
It's jump and repeat.

It's Wednesday
I hate it
It's Exercise day.

When I sang it for the class, demonstrating why I'm no longer in choir, Jan recognized the tune as "Immortal, invisible, God only wise," composed by Walter Chalmers Smith, and used with a Welsh melody.

What's wrong with calling it PLPCB?

"The five partners in the London office of Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates have left to start their own practice, named PLP Architecture. The founders of the new firm are Lee Polisano, FAIA, former president of KPF, as well as David Leventhal, FAIA, Fred Pilbrow, RIBA, Karen Cook, AIA, and Ron Bakker, AIA. The move comes after the five made a failed attempt to buy out KPF's UK operations in July." Architectural Record

I guess it wasn't as pronounceable as PLP.

Response from Sherrod Brown

Yes, I know everone who wrote got the same response, but at least Sherrod Brown (D-OH) responded and he has been listening to the people. But here's what caught my eye and the only thing I'll direct this comment to:

"One thing is clear - we must keep what works and fix what is broken. We must protect health coverage for those who like what they have, and we must ensure those with no coverage have insurance options they can afford."

Keep our insurance, but fix what is broken and cover those who don't have it. Now I would have added--we haven't collapsed in the 17 years since we didn't pass Hillarycare, so we have time to look at all the angles, but then. . . I'm no longer a Democrat.

Now wouldn't that have been a simple plan--and we have all those laws and regulations in place, with some that need to be repealed. We could have tightened the oversite of Medicare and Medicare, imposed some penalties on the crooks, stopped the ridiculous testing with tort reform, there could have been a better effort to get people into the programs for which they were eligible without months or years of waiting, and we could have removed the laws that prevented competition across state lines. Nothing would have required the massive, tangled, intrusive, economy-deadening bills that have been proposed.

Except.

The sensible approach wouldn't have given the federal government more power over the people who manage just fine without it!

Adult stem cells used in hip replacement

Doctors in Southampton, England have successfully used adult stem cells to repair hip bones, allowing patients to avoid hip replacement surgery. After removing dead tissue in the hip, the cavity is filled with bits of ground up bone and the patient’s own adult stem cells. So far six patients have had the treatment with only one failure, doctors said. From FRC Blog.

If you read the original Telegraph article, you'll see the word "adult" isn't used, leaving the impression it might be embryonic, but if you're using cells from the patient, they aren't going to be from a killed embryo. The article actually mentions the controversy, although there is no controversy about using adult stem cells, only embryonic.

Adult stem cells, taken from sources such as bone marrow and cord blood, have now been successfully used to treat well over 70 medical conditions. None for embryonic.

Although I said it first

Glenn Beck quoted from the NYT tonight on their assessment (negative) of the 9/12 peaceful, trash-free gathering, at which no one was arrested, in Washington DC, and their puff ball piece covering the protests at the G-20 with 190 arrested. I'm really glad to see he had the video to back it up. The conservatives have been maligned enough on this issue. I had pointed out the silence of the left and Pelosi on this issue here. Really, you do wonder how they have any self-respect at the Times, although Glenn says they've assigned someone to watch Fox because they are missing so many stories.

Good analysis of Ahmadinejad's closing words of his speeches, by Joel Rosenberg, too--about how true Muslims have to bring about the chaos to usher in the end-times.

“Oh, God, hasten the arrival of Imam Al-Mahdi and grant him good health and victory and make us his followers and those who attest to his rightfulness.”

Did NYT or LAT or WSJ object to any of this? Not to worry. The great one will snuggle up and make it all OK. I just checked Huff and Puff on this--those folks live in an alternate universe.

First beer sales are flat, then Obama happens

Poor Poland. No global warming (for a decade), and then Obama snubs them. "The Association of Beer Industry Employers, “Browary Polskie” (ZPPP), explains that the decline in beer consumption was prompted by the 13.6% increase in excise duty in March 2009, the economic recession, increases in beer prices caused by the higher costs of ingredients and packaging, and the cold weather reported at the beginning of the summer of 2009. Furthermore, the Polish beer market has reached saturation point – Poles consume 95 litres of beer per capita every year." Business Portal for Poland

HT Tom Nelson

Running for Kennedy's seat in the Senate

"We're in the second year of a major recession. Millions of Americans have lost their jobs. Our 401Ks and retirement plans have plummeted in value. Businesses have closed and are continuing to close. We have all seen examples throughout this state and certainly throughout the country.

Here in Massachusetts, as the unemployment rate rises toward double digits, the response of the Governor and the majority party has been to raise taxes of every type and make it tougher for businesses to survive. Remember they are the economic engine that will help us recover. I have stated on many occasions that higher taxes will further weaken our economy and put even more people out of work. In Washington, the politicians mistakenly believe that spending more money and growing the size of government is the answer. They are wrong. I believe that it is the private sector - small businesses and entrepreneurs -- that will get our economy moving again. Government can and will help, but it also needs to know when to step out of the way."

Grant fraud to wasting time on porn

If you go to work for the National Science Foundation as an investigative attorney, you never know what you might be called on to do. . .

"When established by President Harry Truman in 1950, the National Science Foundation's (NSF) budget was $150,000. Congress trusts the NSF with an ever-increasing responsibility to fund the most meritorious programs and initiatives in scientific and technological research and education, keeping the U.S. at the frontier of discovery. With an emphasis on advancing national health, prosperity, and welfare, NSF brings together scientific and education experts to shape the direction of national research and education in science and technology. NSF maintains a creative and collegial atmosphere . . . "[taken from an ad for a full time investigative attorney, Arlington, VA, $61,000 - $113,000] Job Board

“Employee misconduct investigations, often involving workers accessing pornography from their government computers, grew sixfold last year inside the taxpayer-funded foundation that doles out billions of dollars of scientific research grants, according to budget documents and other records obtained by The Washington Times.” Worker porn.

I called this the ACORN defense--the "retired" worker said he was helping--he frequented the porn sites to provide a living to the poor overseas women. NSF isn't the only government agency with this problem--only the most recent in the news. Very few firings, some brief suspensions.

Hillarycare 17 years later

Here’s a good analysis of Hillary care of 1992 (as it was known by its detractors) written in 2007. I was looking through it to see what the reasons were that it went down. The author, Paul Starr, was an insider, having been brought into the process by Ira Magaziner. He sites:

• right-wing misrepresentations
  
• malicious personal attacks on Hillary
  
• reporters and the public thought that Bill Clinton had handed over the policy to Hillary
  
• false charges
  
• misunderstanding the politics behind the plan
  
• distrust of the Washington bureaucracy
  
• no positive consensus about what to do among Democrats
  
• change in priorities by President Clinton
  
• charges of heresy from the Left and Right alike
  
• accusations of secrecy (30 working groups)
  
• began with a huge program that could be bargained away by layers
  
• lurid fears from talk radio that the federal government would control every detail of medical care

It all sounds quite familiar given what we've been going through since Obama tried to ram jam the mega-health bill through in August. Apparently, some of his supporters are too young (or too old) to remember that many of us remember 1992!

But in that entire list, which could be ripped right out of a report from Katie Couric this evening, there's not a single charge of racism. Odd isn't it? I'm sure personal animus toward Mrs. Clinton was part of it, particularly since she wasn't elected and according to Starr her role was misunderstood, but apparently no one said the conservatives dislike for her plan was based on her race. Yet faced with many of the same arguments, and an even bigger, more complicated and confusing plan/bill, now we're racists.

My note to Kilroy, Voinovich and Brown

"The Democrats are drumming up the public option AGAIN. The people of the USA have made this very clear; your poll numbers and Obama's and Congress's are dropping quickly. WE DO NOT WANT THIS. I won't need 72 hours to read the latest version and the internet will go down anyway. We want more competition to bring down prices, less fraud and waste in Medicare and Medicaid, and tort reform. Why is that so hard to understand, and why are those no where in this or any other plan (except Republicans)?

Speaking of privacy

Apparently there are some who don't believe the government (layers and layers of departments of people) can keep a secret, so Patrick Kennedy (D-RI) wants to exclude records about AIDS, STDs and abortion from the electronic health records that are going to be required of all of our doctors. Doesn't that seem a little odd? Is that a racist smear against the President, Pelosi and Reid to find one more thing wrong with this plan? I just don't recall seeing that before. Do you suppose it was slipped into another funding bill, like armored vehicles or old growth forests?

A glimpse of the future?

Our internet is down--I'm at the library with the other homeless and out of work. I'm looking around at the wonderful book collection, wondering. . .

Our neighborhood is so small it's hard to get the cable company to pay attention to us. Some have switched companies but their service is no better. I don't know when our cable lines were laid, sometime since my 30th birthday, but I'm sure they are frayed and fragile. And the faucet squeaks, and the dryer is broken, and the road tar is still on the van, and the bottom panel of the garage door is looking a bit funky from water damage, and the cat has a funny cough, and the racks in the dishwasher are still rusting, and I woke up at 1:30 thinking about all the things that aren't working.

However, the good news is the President is flying to Denmark and ignoring the war, the terrorists, and healthcare, and the USAToday says RV sales are up, so someone is doing well or at least planning some short trips.