What Professor Gates Hid…..
Monday, July 27th, 2009…turns out that the Gates Affair is really a legal problem regarding (give you two guesses and the first two don’t count) taxes. The intrepid Dan Riehl reports the mischief.
Who says Bloggers aren’t reporters? More likely, bloggers report what reporters refuse to report.
UPDATED:
President Obama made a very big mistake. Wow. From Backyard Conservative:
President Obama’s Broken Tax Promises
Saturday, July 25th, 2009I still don’t know how Barack Obama could say, with a straight face, that 95% of people would not see any form of tax increases. And I still don’t understand how people could believe him. But they did. And so, with his credibility on this issue gone, how can they believe him when he talks about a “deficit neutral” health care plan when the Congressional Budget Office says that the plan would add 1 trillion in debt? It requires an astonishing suspension of disbelief….
Suddenly, “Bipartisan” Is The Health Care Word Of The Day
Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009What, did the “reform” word stop working on the mindless rubes? The socialization of medicine in America is not a “reform”, it’s a structural change from the bottom up that doesn’t address the problems in the current system, pays off key constituencies, costs too much, and will harm patients. But other than that, all the plans being put forward by Democrats are just benign reforms meant to help average Americans. /Sarcasm off. You must be a bad person to not like reform and to not want to help average Americans. What is wrong with you?
At the top of Memeorandum today the word is “BIPARTISAN”. Even though the bills being discussed have not had one iota of Republican involvement, the key word is “bipartisan”. Even though the Executive branch, and House and Senate are owned by Democrats, the key word is “bipartisan”. Any bill that gets passed this summer would be partisan. These stinky, fetid pieces of legislation are bought, paid for, crated by and made for Democrat special interests and have nothing to do with helping patients or helping those who need health care but can’t get it.
Any Republican in Congress that jumps into the fray and tries to save the Democrats from themselves should be drawn and quartered. Just sit by and watch, Republicans, and continue to give your notions of true reform. Continue explaining the truth to the American people. Do more of this and this:
[Note: Remember how I told you that the press would be giving a full court press on behalf of Obama. Well, you have to give Lauer serious Obama brownie points. This kind of oral servicing usually means money has exchanged hands. Oh wait....]
Oh, and this [Even Allah likes it!]:
Yes, the health care bill is horrible. Yes, President Obama is on the ropes. Yes, this is all about Him. Yes, the press is still making it all about him (and them). Yes, the bill is about paying off key constituencies like lawyers, unions and big business and, interestingly, illegal aliens.
It is not a reform bill and the bill is most certainly not bipartisan. The bill needs to be killed.
Would the Democrats be willing to scrap it and start over? I doubt it. President Obama’s ego rests on this thing. The only way health care is going to happen with Democrats in charge is for it to get, in the inimitable words of Chris Matthews, “rammed through”. Been a lot of ramming lately. Seems the American people are sick of taking it.
Talking Health Care: Governtment Run or Universal Coverage…Likely It’s The Same
Monday, June 1st, 2009Are you guys sick of the topic yet?
Well, here’s where I agree with Barack Obama, it’s happening this year or never. I’m voting for never. The reason why there is so much emphasis on getting this done is because should the economy pick up and people start being employed again, the fear and discomfort will ease and people will get more rational again and remember that America is already in debt up to it’s eyeballs and can’t afford to pay for everyone’s health care.
My biggest concern with Government Run health care is that the government will run it and run you. That is, your life will be controlled from cradle to grave. You will eat a certain way…or else. You will do certain things…or else. And the government will have every motivation to force you down a path.
Ultimately, this is a civil liberties issue. Some people say that not having health care for all is shameful in such a wealthy country. Shameful is the notion of a bureaucrat deciding whether you live or die based on the metrics of a chart. That’s shameful. And that would be our future. It is a future I don’t want to see.
Just look at the big government, totalitarian groups that are for this mess. It should give you an idea of what you’d have to look forward to in the future.
Some are saying that Universal Health Care is likely to pass. Doesn’t this sound good?
But I want to remind everyone of something: Congress regulated Freddie Mac and Fanny Mae. Congress gave GM $62 BILLION and now, GM is going bankrupt which is what they should have done months ago. That’s your tax dollars. The United States government has shown itself to be a poor steward of our resources.
Why should we trust them with health care?
I will be talking about Health Care issues this week on RFCradio.com tonight at 10 Eastern, 9 Central and will chat with you, too, and welcome your questions.
President Obama: Caesar
Friday, May 29th, 2009Well, in the scheme of scheming back-door dealing, this is small taters, yet the story is indicative of how the President rolls. And he rolls with style, my friends. Yesterday, he spent hob-knobbing with the hoi-paloi in Beverly Hills, California.
And here we have his digs in Las Vegas. A few questions via the LA Times blog:
“The particular suite President Obama stayed in is priceless.”
What does that mean?
Well, it probably means that Caesars only comps out the room to high rollers and occasionally major celebrities. Therefore the suite is literally “priceless,” as the response indicates. (Though really that means the price would be roughly some guy who plays two hands of blackjack simultaneously at $45,000 a hand for three hours straight.) Obama falls into the major celebrity category (meaning Madonna and Oprah would rate the comp as well). Besides, if the suite was priceless before, imagine its singular worth — being able to say to the biggest gamblers at the casino (and, high rollers are notoriously status- obsessed folk) with the offer of the comp: “The president slept here.” How much is that worth to Caesars?
So, I do not think the taxpayers paid for the room. And, if the Reid campaign paid, then Caesars would have to create a dollar amount on a suite that is technically “priceless,” which I again interpret to mean not for rent to the public like a regular hotel room.
So, did the president get special treatment? Yes, I think that is safe to say; President Obama was not like another citizen guest registering in the lobby and somehow lucking out on this room assignment. This was a major celebrity. And, of course, the real reason to draw attention to these sorts of rooms is always the whale players. And, the president has drawn a lot of attention to the room, even praising it while here.
Was the president likely comped, because the casino hoped to influence the nation’s most powerful politician about, say, online gambling or some other issue? No way. I am guessing the president was likely comped for the most Vegas of reasons: because he is among the biggest celebrities in the world. Now, his name can be invoked and dropped to impress high rollers, leaving a tiny presidential gift to the Las Vegas economy.
Gotta love how President Obama and his super-mega cool entourage don’t even try to pass the smell test. You’re just lucky to smell him, oh little tax payer. Oh, and pay for his caviar dreams. Or not. Can’t figure out who’s paying for what, but I’m a guessin’ it all comes back to you.
Shocker: Tax Revenue Down By 1/3
Wednesday, May 27th, 2009Some things are so predictable. Like, when the economy is in the crapper and people don’t work, there’s less tax revenue:
Federal tax revenue plunged $138 billion, or 34%, in April vs. a year ago — the biggest April drop since 1981, a study released Tuesday by the American Institute for Economic Research says.
When the economy slumps, so does tax revenue, and this recession has been no different, says Kerry Lynch, senior fellow at the AIER and author of the study. “It illustrates how severe the recession has been.”
For example, 6 million people lost jobs in the 12 months ended in April — and that means far fewer dollars from income taxes. Income tax revenue dropped 44% from a year ago.
“These are staggering numbers,” Lynch says.
Big revenue losses mean that the U.S. budget deficit may be larger than predicted this year and in future years.
Here’s what is not shocking: The Federal government predicted that it wouldn’t lose that much.
Let me go way out on a limb here and make a prediction: Taxes will have to go up in order to make up that “lost revenue”.
Another prediction: No government won’t cut services during this time of “difficulty”.
What Is The Tea Party Protesting?
Wednesday, April 15th, 2009Dan Riehl says it’s the spending. So does Betsy.
Glenn Reynolds calls them, in the Wall Street Journal, a “they’re really a post-partisan expression of outrage.”
Michelle Malkin talks repeatedly of “generational theft“, as in people are protesting robbing our children to pay for the current generation’s mistakes.
MaxedOutMama brilliantly discusses the economics of things. The Tea Party folks, myself included, might not understand the details, but the principles of things are clear. She says here:
But with employment declining, and CRE busting so badly, and with corporate profits in a profound swoon, the fundamental economic choices facing a government are:
The government lets the natural economic cycle run its course (and that natural economic cycle is for a depression-like event), or
The government intervenes to bring needed infrastructure investments a few years forward, which puts a floor on the drop in economic activity, supports employment, and knocks the bottom off the cycle.
Our current leaders in Congress seem to have chosen yet a third way to produce a lengthening and deepening of the natural economic cycle, which is to pull money out of the private sector and to invest it in projects such as research grants for non-viable energy production, mandates for utilities to spend on higher-cost energy production, investments in frilly socially attractive programs (community outreach?), and throwing money into non-viable financial institutions. These steps pull money out of gross private domestic investment instead of supporting it.
I don’t think it makes Americans extremists because they see the implications for this government mess. The protesters are protesting a tone-deaf government, bailouts, spending, and just the implications for the future.
Some aren’t protesting at all…and taking a vacation.
