Wednesday, September 30, 2009
BUSH VILIFICATION COMPARED TO THAT OBAMA IS RECEIVING
Powerline has a critique of Friedman's recent column concerned with the rhetoric used by opponents of Obama with what was being said about Bush.
DEMOCRAT'S PROBLEM
I think this comment correctly assesses the problem liberal Democrats face. They are trying to push more government programs at a time when people are very suspicious of government. The left has completely misread the Tea Parties.
VIDAL AND OBAMA
Another liberal supporter of Obama seems to be having a change of heart. Gore Vidal had great hopes for Obama, but now he is questioning his leadership.
How’s Obama doing? “Dreadfully. I was hopeful. He was the most intelligent person we’ve had in that position for a long time. But he’s inexperienced. He has a total inability to understand military matters. He’s acting as if Afghanistan is the magic talisman: solve that and you solve terrorism.” America should leave Afghanistan, he says. “We’ve failed in every other aspect of our effort of conquering the Middle East or whatever you want to call it.” The “War on Terror” was “made up”, Vidal says. “The whole thing was PR, just like ‘weapons of mass destruction’. It has wrecked the airline business, which my father founded in the 1930s. He’d be cutting his wrists. Now when you fly you’re both scared to death and bored to death, a most disagreeable combination.”
Another notable Obama mis-step has been on healthcare reform. “He f***ed it up. I don’t know how because the country wanted it. We’ll never see it happen.” As for his wider vision: “Maybe he doesn’t have one, not to imply he is a fraud. He loves quoting Lincoln and there’s a great Lincoln quote from a letter he wrote to one of his generals in the South after the Civil War. ‘I am President of the United States. I have full overall power and never forget it, because I will exercise it’. That’s what Obama needs — a bit of Lincoln’s chill.” Has he met Obama? “No,” he says quietly, “I’ve had my time with presidents.” Vidal raises his fingers to signify a gun and mutters: “Bang bang.” He is referring to the possibility of Obama being assassinated. “Just a mysterious lone gunman lurking in the shadows of the capital,” he says in a wry, dreamy way.
A moderate conservative also is criticizing Obama. Rollins considers Obama's criticism of the Bush administation in his UN speech as tasteless
How’s Obama doing? “Dreadfully. I was hopeful. He was the most intelligent person we’ve had in that position for a long time. But he’s inexperienced. He has a total inability to understand military matters. He’s acting as if Afghanistan is the magic talisman: solve that and you solve terrorism.” America should leave Afghanistan, he says. “We’ve failed in every other aspect of our effort of conquering the Middle East or whatever you want to call it.” The “War on Terror” was “made up”, Vidal says. “The whole thing was PR, just like ‘weapons of mass destruction’. It has wrecked the airline business, which my father founded in the 1930s. He’d be cutting his wrists. Now when you fly you’re both scared to death and bored to death, a most disagreeable combination.”
Another notable Obama mis-step has been on healthcare reform. “He f***ed it up. I don’t know how because the country wanted it. We’ll never see it happen.” As for his wider vision: “Maybe he doesn’t have one, not to imply he is a fraud. He loves quoting Lincoln and there’s a great Lincoln quote from a letter he wrote to one of his generals in the South after the Civil War. ‘I am President of the United States. I have full overall power and never forget it, because I will exercise it’. That’s what Obama needs — a bit of Lincoln’s chill.” Has he met Obama? “No,” he says quietly, “I’ve had my time with presidents.” Vidal raises his fingers to signify a gun and mutters: “Bang bang.” He is referring to the possibility of Obama being assassinated. “Just a mysterious lone gunman lurking in the shadows of the capital,” he says in a wry, dreamy way.
A moderate conservative also is criticizing Obama. Rollins considers Obama's criticism of the Bush administation in his UN speech as tasteless
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
HOSPITAL PRICES
You can negotiate them.
West's company – Group & Pension Administrators Inc. of Dallas – is defying this trend. When a hospital submits a claim, GPA staffers ignore the charges. They check the data hospitals report to Medicare, where hospitals show their actual costs for each procedure. Then GPA pays those costs, plus 12 percent for the hospital's profit.
For a patient who stayed three days in an Austin hospital after knee surgery, that payment method reduced the bill from $69,000 to $15,000. For another patient, the bill fell from $11,000 to $1,000, West said.
A LIBERAL QUESTIONS THE PRESIDENT'S LEADERSHIP
Richard Cohen writes:
Sooner or later it is going to occur to Barack Obama that he is the president of the United States. As of yet, though, he does not act that way, appearing promiscuously on television and granting interviews like the presidential candidate he no longer is. The election has been held, but the campaign goes on and on. The candidate has yet to become commander in chief.
No one should believe Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Iran seems intent on developing a nuclear weapons program and the missiles capable of delivering them. This -- not the public revelations of a known installation -- is the real crisis, possibly one that can only end in war. It is entirely possible that Israel, faced with that chilling cliche -- an existential threat -- will bomb Iran's nuclear facilities. What would happen next is anyone's guess -- retaliation by Hamas and Hezbollah, an unprecedented spike in oil prices and then, after a few years or less, a resumption of Iran's nuclear program. Only the United States has the capability to obliterate Tehran's underground facilities. Washington may have to act.
Sooner or later it is going to occur to Barack Obama that he is the president of the United States. As of yet, though, he does not act that way, appearing promiscuously on television and granting interviews like the presidential candidate he no longer is. The election has been held, but the campaign goes on and on. The candidate has yet to become commander in chief.
No one should believe Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Iran seems intent on developing a nuclear weapons program and the missiles capable of delivering them. This -- not the public revelations of a known installation -- is the real crisis, possibly one that can only end in war. It is entirely possible that Israel, faced with that chilling cliche -- an existential threat -- will bomb Iran's nuclear facilities. What would happen next is anyone's guess -- retaliation by Hamas and Hezbollah, an unprecedented spike in oil prices and then, after a few years or less, a resumption of Iran's nuclear program. Only the United States has the capability to obliterate Tehran's underground facilities. Washington may have to act.
SOCIALISM IN EUROPE
The Left is losing power in Europe while it is gaining in influence in the US according to The New York Times.
A specter is haunting Europe — the specter of Socialism’s slow collapse.
A specter is haunting Europe — the specter of Socialism’s slow collapse.
German voters clobbered the Social Democratic Party on Sunday, giving it only 23 percent of the vote, its worst performance since World War II.
Voters also punished left-leaning candidates in the summer’s European Parliament elections and trounced French Socialists in 2007. Where the left holds power, as in Spain and Britain, it is under attack. Where it is out, as in France, Italy and now Germany, it is divided and listless.2007 NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE REPORT
Nothing to worry about in 2007 regarding Iran--what went wrong?
Will all the pundits who relied on the discredited 2007 NIE on Iran now admit that they were wrong? That they bought into and kept citing, without any serious questioning, the now clearly politically skewed analysis in the so-called National Intelligence Estimate of that year? You remember: the considered consensus wisdom of the entire U.S. intelligence community, which misled the world into believing there was nothing to worry about Iran’s nuclear program, that it had virtually ceased. When, in fact, out of the three components of a nuclear weapons program, at most one might have been suspended, if that.
Will all the pundits who relied on the discredited 2007 NIE on Iran now admit that they were wrong? That they bought into and kept citing, without any serious questioning, the now clearly politically skewed analysis in the so-called National Intelligence Estimate of that year? You remember: the considered consensus wisdom of the entire U.S. intelligence community, which misled the world into believing there was nothing to worry about Iran’s nuclear program, that it had virtually ceased. When, in fact, out of the three components of a nuclear weapons program, at most one might have been suspended, if that.
Monday, September 28, 2009
Thursday, September 24, 2009
MASS THINKING
I admit that having experienced communist societies and having friends who had to live through them in Eastern Europe, this kind of school kid Obama glorification concerns me. I wouldn't have appreciated it if Bush or anyone else were president. Maybe Vermont is the first socialist state of the fifty.
OBAMA'S INTERNATIONAL CLOUT DECLINING
I have been noticing increasingly critical treatment of Obama in the foreign press. The foreign press is far more critical of him than the mainstream media. It is hard to find critical assessments of his policies, actions, or goals in the US unless you listen to FoxNews or right wing talk show commentators. But I have wondered if some of them are more in tune with world opinion than the mainstream media and David Letterman.
Now I see some others noticing this attitude abroad. Reihan Salam, "Can He Wow the World Again." The weak US economy does play a role in this, but I don't think this is the complete picture.
Now I see some others noticing this attitude abroad. Reihan Salam, "Can He Wow the World Again." The weak US economy does play a role in this, but I don't think this is the complete picture.
Monday, September 21, 2009
DEMOCRAT RACISM
I was wondering when this accusation might arise. Democrats and Obama are trying to get the black governor of New York not to run for reelection, because he may lose. But are they doing that with white Democrat governors that may lose?
BRZEZINSKI ON SHOOTING DOWN ISRAELI WARPLANES
OBAMA'S PRESIDENCY
I haven't seen anything like this in a US newspaper. From the London Telegraph: "President Obama Is Beginning to Look Out of His Depth."
The President's domestic critics who accuse him of being the sinister wielder of a socialist master-plan are wide of the mark. The man who has run nothing more demanding than the Harvard Law Review is beginning to look out of his depth in the world's top job. His credibility is seeping away, and it will require concrete achievements rather than more soaring oratory to recover it.
The President's domestic critics who accuse him of being the sinister wielder of a socialist master-plan are wide of the mark. The man who has run nothing more demanding than the Harvard Law Review is beginning to look out of his depth in the world's top job. His credibility is seeping away, and it will require concrete achievements rather than more soaring oratory to recover it.
Friday, September 18, 2009
OBAMA'S ECONOMIC POLICY
Daniel Drezner in the National Interest.
Obama’s tire tariff isn’t your everyday sort of protectionism. It could end up causing a serious ripple effect. Due to a loophole in the 2001 agreement that allowed China to join the WTO, if any one member decides to impose safeguards on Chinese imports, all others can follow suit. It doesn’t take a genius to see how bad it could get.
Obama has largely decided to become a domestic-policy president. His supporters, his base and the politicking of his underlings indicate things will only get worse. With the global economy in deep crisis, protectionism is a terrible way to build a recovery.
Obama’s tire tariff isn’t your everyday sort of protectionism. It could end up causing a serious ripple effect. Due to a loophole in the 2001 agreement that allowed China to join the WTO, if any one member decides to impose safeguards on Chinese imports, all others can follow suit. It doesn’t take a genius to see how bad it could get.
Obama has largely decided to become a domestic-policy president. His supporters, his base and the politicking of his underlings indicate things will only get worse. With the global economy in deep crisis, protectionism is a terrible way to build a recovery.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
PAYING FOR HEALTHCARE
An Althouse post. Young people who voted for Obama will be paying for Obamacare.
NATO MISSILES
HEADLINE: TREASON. THE US HAS SOLD US OUT TO THE RUSSIANSIf Obama didn't get a quid pro quo for this decision from Putin, it shows remarkably weak leadership in foreign affairs for the future. He is not sending a strong signal to East European countries. And he announced it on the 70th anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Poland!
The US is to abandon its controversial plan to build a missile defence system in Poland and the Czech Republic, the Czech prime minister has announced.
One British foreign affairs analyst sees it as a surrender.
This is bad news for all who care about the US commitment to the transatlantic alliance and the defence of Europe as well as the United States. It represents the appalling appeasement of Russian aggression and a willingness to sacrifice American allies on the altar of political expediency. A deal with the Russians to cancel missile defence installations sends a clear message that even Washington can be intimidated by the Russian bear.
Senator Schumer may agree with me!!!! Where's the quid pro quo?
Other Democrat questions.
If this is how Obama is conducting foreign policy, the US is in for a difficult road ahead.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
NORMAN BORLAUG
A forgotten hero.
Norman Borlaug arguably the greatest American of the 20th century died late Saturday after 95 richly accomplished years. The very personification of human goodness, Borlaug saved more lives than anyone who has ever lived. He was America's Albert Schweitzer: a brilliant man who forsook privilege and riches in order to help the dispossessed of distant lands. That this great man and benefactor to humanity died little-known in his own country speaks volumes about the superficiality of modern American culture.
Norman Borlaug arguably the greatest American of the 20th century died late Saturday after 95 richly accomplished years. The very personification of human goodness, Borlaug saved more lives than anyone who has ever lived. He was America's Albert Schweitzer: a brilliant man who forsook privilege and riches in order to help the dispossessed of distant lands. That this great man and benefactor to humanity died little-known in his own country speaks volumes about the superficiality of modern American culture.
AMERICAN JEWS
An interesting discussion of why American Jews are liberal on Volokh. Is it the religious right they fear? But Russian Jews in America fear the consequences of atheistic communism even more.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
HEALTHCARE
Obamacare is being pushed in Congress while at the same time medicare cuts are planned for January 2010 which will hurt cardiac and cancer patients. Medicare will not be paying doctors enough to cover the treatments if the new policy passes. Okay, so we promise universal health care while at the same time depriving some people of health care. . .Washington.
If enacted as scheduled on Jan. 1, 2010, policy changes recommended by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) -- the government's insurer for the elderly and disabled -- will severely cut current Medicare reimbursements to cardiologists and oncologists for critical care services that are provided to patients in physicians' offices or other out-of-hospital setting, such as chemotherapy to treat cancer, and various cardiac procedures to monitor and treat heart disease, such as nuclear imaging and heart catheterization.
And this is interesting from Newsweek, "The Case for Killing Granny." Werent' we told Palin was all wrong about death panels?
Even Obama supporters question the feasibility of his plan.
If enacted as scheduled on Jan. 1, 2010, policy changes recommended by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) -- the government's insurer for the elderly and disabled -- will severely cut current Medicare reimbursements to cardiologists and oncologists for critical care services that are provided to patients in physicians' offices or other out-of-hospital setting, such as chemotherapy to treat cancer, and various cardiac procedures to monitor and treat heart disease, such as nuclear imaging and heart catheterization.
And this is interesting from Newsweek, "The Case for Killing Granny." Werent' we told Palin was all wrong about death panels?
Even Obama supporters question the feasibility of his plan.
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