Archive for March, 2010
Arianna Huffington & The Plight Of The Poor
Thursday, March 11th, 2010Why is Arianna Huffington lecturing us on the plight of the poor? Here is what she says:
Ever since Roseanne went off the air, network TV has not been the most welcoming place when it comes to telling the stories of working class Americans. But now, week in and week out, millions can see what downsizing and Wall Street’s demands for ever-greater productivity and earning margins did to the lives of so many Americans, even before the economic crisis.
The chasm between America’s haves and have-nots has reached Grand Canyon-esque proportions. Thirty years ago top executives at S&P 500 companies made an average of 30 times what their workers did — now they make 300 times what their workers make.
First, I don’t want to hear Arianna Huffington blabbing about the plight of the poor. Period. What does she know about any of it? Her blog post smacks of condescension. From high above, in her lofty perch, Ms. Huffington will deign to speak for America’s poor folk.
Second, what libs always forget is how the cost of living, and living well, has declined over the same time. Can you say Wal-Mart? Because of the economies of scale, people actually live better, on less, than they did a generation ago. So this kvetching about losing the middle class rings hollow. Literally. When I don’t see “poor” people with iPhones, I’ll be far more concerned.
What used to be considered a need and what’s a “need” these days are as vastly different as the income disparities she cites. Culturally, we are indulged with all sorts of needless, ultimately worthless, gadgets and gizmos. I challenge Arianna to find a poor person who doesn’t have a Wii or extensive video game collection.
Finally, if Arianna wants to make life better for poor people, she should encourage her progressive buddies to stop all the welfare–corporate, banking, and individual–that sucks money out of the private sector who could be hiring these poor people.
The biggest problem facing Americans today is finding a J-O-B. The second biggest is keeping a job. A job keeps people from getting poor. I know, that’s just crazy talk.
So, if Ms. Huffington really cares about the poor, how about this? Kill the health care reform bill, kill card check, kill cap-n-trade because every single one of these bills kills jobs and what this economy needs right now is jobs.
Do many working Americans have dirty jobs? Yup. The focus need not be on work conditions, although that’s a nice thing too, but on having a job period. It should also be about breaking the teacher’s unions so that kids actually learn something so they can be in an educated work force, period. But don’t want to tick off teachers or unions or any of the other groups leftists pander to.
Arianna Huffington is really kinda unbelievable. She tries to foment class warfare from her gilded ivory tower and backs legislation that guarantees the poor stay poor. It’s so great being a liberal and saying nice things and feeling good about oneself while achieving horrible ends.
Louise Slaughter: Slaughtering The Will Of The People
Thursday, March 11th, 2010Glenn Reynolds wrote of the consent of the governed the other day; that was before Louise Slaughter’s evil genius plan to get health care passed.
It’s government gone wild! Steve Schippert of Threats Watch fumes:
House Rules Chairwoman Louise Slaughter says she is “prepping to help usher the healthcare overhaul through the House and potentially avoid a direct vote on the Senate overhaul bill.” She continued, explaining how House passage of a separate bill containing “changes” to the Senate version would lead House leadership to “deem” the actual Senate HealthCare Bill passed – without a direct vote.
This is not simply tyrannical in nature, it is absolute political cowardice.
Whether any American likes or dislikes any bill – any bill – none of us are governed under a Constitution nor any Congress within a Constitution that affords for an individual in an elected body to “deem” anything. We elected you, for better or worse, to vote on legislation, whether we like the specific outcome or not. There is a process within both the letter and spirit of the Constitution.
The notion of anyone “deeming” anything “passed” without going through the actual voting process of real passage is the kind of governance seen in Saddam Hussein’s Iraq or Bashar Assad’s Syria or Castro’s Cuba.
Few things in this lifetime have inspired such furious rage as this brazen attempt to undermine the legislative process as set forth within the Constitution of the United States.
William Jacobson is grateful for Scott Brown because we can still fight. And that’s true. I’ve felt that this bill will pass.
And I still believe this bill will pass.
What the Democrats are having to do, though, to get this beast passed? The Dems who will lose their jobs are currently being bought off, one at a time. There are lobbying jobs and plum posts being given as we speak.
The only way it won’t pass is if some Democrats stick to principles. See why I’m pessimistic?
A Concise Explanation For Why Americans Ain’t Buyin’ What President Obama Is Sellin’ On Health Care
Wednesday, March 10th, 2010To little avail, I tried explaining why Health Care Reform scares Americans on Bloggingheads the other day. While, Democrats haggle over the details of health care reform, they’re ignoring how the entirety of the bill feels like to the American people. Rasmussen sums it up, with data:
Why can’t the president move the numbers? One reason may be that he keeps talking about details of the proposal while voters are looking at the issue in a broader context. Polling conducted earlier this week shows that 57% of voters believe that passage of the legislation would hurt the economy, while only 25% believe it would help. That makes sense in a nation where most voters believe that increases in government spending are bad for the economy.
When the president responds that the plan is deficit neutral, he runs into a pair of basic problems. The first is that voters think reducing spending is more important than reducing the deficit. So a plan that is deficit neutral with a big spending hike is not going to be well received.
But the bigger problem is that people simply don’t trust the official projections. People in Washington may live and die by the pronouncements of the Congressional Budget Office, but 81% of voters say it’s likely the plan will end up costing more than projected. Only 10% say the official numbers are likely to be on target.
As a result, 66% of voters believe passage of the president’s plan will lead to higher deficits and 78% say it’s at least somewhat likely to mean higher middle-class taxes. Even within the president’s own political party there are concerns on these fronts.
Americans just don’t believe a big government program saves money. Americans are smart. There is no evidence in the history of the universe that government programs are cost-saving ventures. And, if they do save money, they do it by cutting, denying or restricting services.
Here’s another problem, probably 10-20% of the voters all in favor of this plan already use government services. Of course another “free” government program sounds good to them. They won’t be paying for it. Meanwhile, those opposed are seeing their own taxes going up for a product that is bound to be crappy. Or, that’s how they picture it anyway.
Go to your local VA Hospital. Americans ain’t stupid.
Tickle Me Massa: You Know You Want One
Wednesday, March 10th, 2010
Because seeing Representative Massa on Sesame Street, I mean Fox, CNN and everywhere else, just isn’t enough Massa.
Via @JustinHart who has far too much time on his hands. Link.
Meg Whitman Weirdness
Wednesday, March 10th, 2010What in the heck?
I wasn’t impressed with Meg Whitman at Western CPAC. Her delivery was flat. She seemed disinterested and bored and it was at the beginning of the campaign to a friendly audience. I don’t think she likes politics very much, but likes ruling things a lot.
P.S. I’m only interested in California because it’s so big and has so much impact on the rest of the country.
Why Does This Story Bother Me?
Wednesday, March 10th, 2010A 7 year old boy calls 911 and begs police to come save his family from a home invasion:
There is no mistaking the terror in the boy’s voice. On the 911 recording, you can feel it like a physical object.
“They come. They come. They open and ring the door. They have guns. Can you come, really fast? And bring soldiers, too,” the unidentified 7-year-old says in 911 tapes played on TODAY Wednesday. He gasps for breath after each burst of words, his voice filled with urgency.
“They” were three men who had forced their way Tuesday morning into a home in Norwalk, Calif., a town in suburban Los Angeles. While the men held the boy’s mother and father at gunpoint, the boy and his 6-year-old sister hid in a bathroom and called 911.
As Los Angeles sheriff’s deputies rushed to the home, the dispatcher attempted to get more information.
“Stay on the line with me. Don’t hang up,” she told the boy. “Listen to me. We’re coming to help you. But just listen to me, OK?”
“OK,” the boy replies.
“When you were in the house, tell me exactly what happened, OK? Just stay where you are and don’t hang up whatever you do,” the dispatcher continues.
The boy started to respond, saying, “OK. The guys, they have …”
At that point, blood-curdling screams fill the tape. The home invaders had heard his voice and had broken into the bathroom. Deputies said one of the suspects grabbed the boy and asked who he called.
“911,” the boy said.
When the suspects heard that, they fled the house, driving away in a car without taking anything or harming anyone, deputies said.
Read more: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/35794401/ns/today-today_people#ixzz0hmvXutwh
When do the police ever get to the scene of a crime on time, ever? They never do.
And if they had, there would have been a hostage situation.
If these homeowners had been armed, however, this story would end differently. Or could.
The helplessness of common citizens before an armed and aggressive criminal should make every American want to buy a gun, load it, and keep it handy.
Procedure Could Undo Dem Dreams
Wednesday, March 10th, 2010A parliamentary procedure could stand between Democrats and American cultural domination? Awesome. Via Bill Dupray this from the New York Times:
The White House and Democratic Congressional leaders said Tuesday that they were bracing for a key procedural ruling that could complicate their effort to approve major health care legislation, by requiring President Obama to sign the bill into law before Congress could revise it through an expedited budget process.
An official determination on the matter could come within days from the House and Senate parliamentarians, and could present yet another hurdle for Mr. Obama and Democratic leaders as they try to lock in support from skittish lawmakers in the House.
Meanwhile, Congressional leaders and top administration officials met in the offices of the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, on Tuesday evening trying to resolve outstanding policy differences between the chambers.
House leaders were still navigating potential pitfalls, including a dispute over provisions related to insurance coverage of abortion, while opponents of the legislation, including a leading business group, planned a new onslaught of television advertisements attacking the proposal.
Many rank-and-file House Democrats are reluctant to approve the Senate-passed health care measure without a guarantee that the Senate would follow up with changes in a budget reconciliation bill. The Senate measure included a number of provisions House members dislike, including special deals intended to secure the support of individual senators, like extra Medicaid money for Nebraska.
You know why I still say this passes? Have you ever seen Democrats so determined in your life? This is everything to them. Everything.
It’s no longer about policy. It’s about pride.
They’re going to get this thing passed or die tryin’.
No, Republicans Wouldn’t Repeal Health Care Reform
Wednesday, March 10th, 2010
One of the most maddening arguments from overly-optimistic friends of mine goes like this: Even if the Democrats pass health care reform, Republicans can run against it and say they’d repeal it and then look like heroes when they do it.
The only problem with this flawed logic? The veto pen of Barack Obama for two more years. The only other problem with this flawed logic? David Harsanyi captures it:
To begin with, there exists almost no historical evidence to suggest Republicans will possess either the fortitude or the power to undo a massive government entitlement program.
Can we trust them? Most of you will remember it was the Republican Party’s leadership that pressured conservatives to vote for the fiscally irresponsible Medicare Part D program in 2003. (Democrats like to argue that this illustrates GOP hypocrisy. Perhaps. With Obamacare, the GOP has a chance at redemption.)
Then there are conspicuous problems to consider. Republicans do not possess 60 votes in the Senate — and likely won’t for awhile. Best case scenario, they will have to deal with a president who will veto their efforts to undo the sole “accomplishment” of his presidency.
Obama spent last week campaigning for health care reform, at one point getting some college-age fans worked up about all the free stuff — “free” preventive care and “free” checkups, and so forth — they would receive if his version of health care reform passed.
Which brings us to another stumbling block. If health care is now a “right” and “free” to an ever-growing group of Americans — people who believe stuff can be had for “free” — are Republicans really going to snatch it away from them?
You can already picture the hideous debate, as Republicans fold in the face of accusations that they are working for the murderous profit- mongers against the underprivileged victims of a wretched capitalistic system. (Even today, Jim Bunning stood nearly alone.)
What, in all the years of watching Republicans in action gives any conservative, libertarian or even small-government moderate any faith in these people? It suggest a sweet idealism that I find refreshing, but also stupid.
Every shred of energy needs to be expended to prevent this disaster from starting. Those who suggest it can be repealed need to think of a drug user. Heroin is extraordinarily addictive. Stopping a person after the first hit, is nigh to impossible. After the third? Forget it.
Those who suggest repealing this bill, will be asking heroin addicts across the country to take themselves off the drug. That’s what government entitlements are: Societal Drugs. They hook a person, and he doesn’t even know he’s dying until it’s too late and his freedom is gone.
Better to hide the drugs and destroy them forever, than to allow a person one hit. This health care bill MUST be stopped now or there will be no stopping it later.
Rent A Friend: You Know You Want To
Tuesday, March 9th, 2010Fausta has a funny little piece up about a business whose sole purpose is to rent friends, ostensibly, to the friendless. Fausta says, “The tough part about having friends is being a friend. Maybe that’s why so many people don’t have friends.”
Well, yes.
It can be a lot of work to be a friend. Many people don’t want to put in the effort. Many people don’t want to put up with the hassles. People, and their lives, can be messy, boring, frustrating and just plain lame.
This Rent-A-Friend concept is intriguing. So rather than fussing with some person with a boring, involved life-story, call up Joe and go to the movie. You hang out, talk about the movie, have some temporary company and then, boom, done. No sordid break-up stories. No diatribes against back waxing and Representative Massa. No queries into your grandma’s health. No enduring pictures of the kids, or worse, vacation.
Renting a friend seems like the perfect solution to so many problems. Seems kinda empty, still, though, right?
I mean, what kind of life does a person have, if they don’t have friends they can talk to and interact with and care about? Sure it takes time, but what is life about, if not the interactions and stories shared?
Still, I’m so curious about the people who volunteer to be a friend and for those who pay to have a friend. This is a fascinating social development.
If Broadband Is A Right, Then A Car Is A Right
Tuesday, March 9th, 2010Why do leftists insist on making everything a right? Why can’t they let the market do its thing?
Here’s the deal: When people say that broadband is a right, what they mean is that the United States should pay for the world’s internet access.
