Last weeks jobs report tanked the stock market; the president took weeks to assert control of the oil spill that threatens doom on the Gulf Coast — but at the White House the Gatsby-like parties roll on as if happy days were here again. — John Gibson – NYPOST.com Read more →
EppsNet Archive: Politics
Quote of the Day
It’s a little oily, I’ll grant you that. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to present an award to Sir Paul McCartney. Let’s rock! — Barack Obama Read more →
Payback Time
PARIS — Across Western Europe, the “lifestyle superpower,” the assumptions and gains of a lifetime are suddenly in doubt. The deficit crisis that threatens the euro has also undermined the sustainability of the European standard of social welfare, built by left-leaning governments since the end of World War II. — Payback Time – Deficit Crisis Threatens Ample Benefits of European Life – NYTimes.com Read more →
So Long, Specter
Arlen Specter is the latest beneficiary victim of President Obama’s support, following on the heels of Gov. Jon Corzine, Gov. Creigh Deeds and Sen. Martha Coakley — none of whom actually exist. Read more →
Unintended Consequences of Healthcare Reform
Many large companies are examining a course that was heretofore unthinkable, dumping the health care coverage they provide to their workers in exchange for paying penalty fees to the government. That would dismantle the employer-based system that has reigned since World War II. It would also seem to contradict President Obama’s statements that Americans who like their current plans could keep them. And as we’ll see, it would hugely magnify the projected costs for the bill, which controls deficits only by assuming that America’s employers would remain the backbone of the nation’s health care system. Hence, health-care reform risks becoming a victim of unintended consequences. — Fortune, May 5, 2010 We have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it. — Nancy Pelosi, March 9, 2010 Read more →
Twitter: 2010-04-19
"Sorry to hear about President Kowalski … now watch this drive." http://bit.ly/azPYiM #obama #golf # RT @OnSluts: Monday Affirmation: "I didn't get sick today so that means I don't have to dish out a co-pay." # Read more →
Thomas Jefferson on the Health Care Bill
Experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms of government those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny. — TJ My fellow Americans — This is a glorious day in our great nation! No, I’m not referring to that tragedy of a health care bill, which I’ll get to in a moment. I’m talking about Free Pastry Day at Starbucks! Who doesn’t enjoy a tasty scone with his morning coffee? Now, on a more somber note . . . Goodbye, representative democracy! Farewell, consent of the governed! President Obama today signed into law a far-reaching measure that will affect everyone living in these United States, now and in the future. It is opposed by most of the country and it is now law. I would never have believed that the government I helped to establish would one day engage in this kind… Read more →
It’s a Big Day in America
Harry Reid: “Today is a big day in America. Only 36,000 people lost their jobs today, which is really good.” Read more →
The Eternal Footman Held My Coat and Snickered
Rep. John Murtha of Pennsylvania, a longtime fixture on the House subcommittee that oversees Pentagon spending, died after complications from gallbladder surgery, according to his office. He was 77. The Democratic congressman recently underwent scheduled laparoscopic surgery at National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, to remove his gallbladder. The procedure was “routine minimally invasive surgery,” but doctors “hit his intestines,” a source close to the late congressman told CNN. — CNN.com OMG I HAD THAT SAME OPERATION I COULD HAVE DIED!!! On a lighter note, how ironic is it that the president loses a pro-ObamaCare vote due to medical error in a government-run hospital? Read more →
The Consequences of Obama
Under Obama, the hunters have become the hunted as America inverted her priorities. Those who have been working to keep us safe have, themselves, come under scrutiny for profiling, harsh interrogation techniques, and a failure to give terrorists constitutional rights they don’t have. . . . Now Nigerian terrorist Umar Farouk Abdulmutall sits, lawyered up, in a federal prison. His interrogation will proceed, if at all, under the watchful eye of his counsel. He will not finger other operatives nor warn us of other impending attacks. He will receive the full panoply of constitutional rights, none of which he is entitled to. . . . Abdulmutall should be interrogated by the military, without benefit of counsel. The evidence we obtain should not be admissible in a court of law nor used as the basis for his sentencing. But it must be used to ward off future threats and attacks. —… Read more →
Has Anyone Seen Harry’s Book?
Reporting from Searchlight, Nev. – A commotion unfolds in the tiny public library here as the staff searches for a copy of the memoir written by Harry Reid, Senate Democratic leader and Searchlight native. “Has anyone seen Harry’s book?” a librarian calls out. A local patron grabs a trash can and peers inside: “It’s not where it’s supposed to be,” he says. In his hometown at least, there seems to be little affection for Reid, whom some residents describe as a distant figure out of touch with local concerns. — Swing states may be on the move – latimes.com Read more →
Let Us Pray We Choose Wisely
President Obama told ABC News’ Charles Gibson in an interview that if Congress does not pass health care legislation that will bring down costs, the federal government “will go bankrupt.” — The World Newser He failed to mention that if Congress does pass ObamaCare, the country will also go bankrupt, only faster . . . Read more →
Playing Politics
Steven Landsburg on a public healthcare option: The [General Motors] takeover started with this promise from the President: GM will be run by a private board of directors and management team…They — and not the government — will call the shots and make the decisions about how to turn this company around. Within one month, powerful lawmakers had successfully “encouraged” General Motors to retool factories in their home states, and Senator Jay Rockefeller had prevented the closing of a dealership owned by one of his wealthy constituents. Or recall what happened with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, who succumbed to so many political pressure [sic] that–well, you already know the rest of that story. When you politicize an industry, be it cars, mortgage lending or health insurance, you invite interventions on behalf of the rich and powerful. The less rich and the less powerful foot the bill. Read more →
Remember When?
Remember when Barack Obama was a brilliant and inspiring young leader who was going to revive an America that had gotten dangerously off track? To be honest, neither do we, but we were reliably informed of it at the time. — Best of the Web Today Read more →
We’re Going to Let You Die
I will actually give you a speech made up entirely–almost at the spur of the moment, of what a candidate for president would say if that candidate did not care about becoming president. . . . “Thank you so much for coming this afternoon. I’m so glad to see you, and I would like to be president. Let me tell you a few things on health care. Look, we have the only health-care system in the world that is designed to avoid sick people. [laughter] That’s true, and what I’m going to do is I am going to try to reorganize it to be more amenable to treating sick people. But that means you–particularly you young people, particularly you young, healthy people–you’re going to have to pay more. [applause] Thank you. “And by the way, we are going to have to–if you’re very old, we’re not going to give you… Read more →
Yes We Can!
KABUL – Roadside bombs — the biggest killer of U.S. soldiers — claimed eight more American lives Tuesday, driving the U.S. death toll to a record level for the third time in four months as President Barack Obama nears a decision on a new strategy for the troubled war. — October deadliest month for US in Afghan war – Yahoo! News We know what you’re thinking, but this is not Obama’s fault. Afghanistan is someone else’s mess, so why don’t you grab a mop? . . . After all, [Obama] has a busy schedule, what with golf games and pitching the International Olympic Committee and date nights and Democratic fund-raisers and health care and the U.N. Security Council and Sunday morning talk shows and saving the planet from global warming and celebrating the dog’s birthday and defending himself against Fox News and all. — Best of the Web Today Read more →
Twitter: 2009-10-26
RT @markknoller Today – Obama ties Pres. Bush in the number of rounds of golf played in office: 24. Took Bush 2 yrs & 10 months. # Read more →
Dying Media
It is bizarre that liberals who celebrate the unruly demonstrations of our youth would malign or impugn the motivation of today’s protestors with opposing views. The mainstream media’s failure to honestly cover last month’s mass demonstration in Washington, D.C. was a disgrace. The focus on anti-Obama placards (which were no worse than the rabid anti-LBJ, anti-Reagan or anti-Bush placards of leftist protests), combined with the grotesque attempt to equate criticism of Obama with racism, simply illustrated why the old guard TV networks and major urban daily newspapers are slowly dying. Only a simpleton would believe what they say. — Camille Paglia Read more →
Twitter: 2009-10-01
IT Workers Being Converted into Teachers: http://bit.ly/BEMVv # RT @Aimee_B_Loved: I try to hide my disappointment when I drop the soap in the shower and nothing happens. But Rubber Ducky sees my shame. # RT @Lileks: Modern-day Sartre: hell is other people's ringtones. # @bjsrestaurants My favorite Deep Dish Pizza is the Great White! in reply to bjsrestaurants # WSJ.com – Group Tied to Obama Urges Tax Increase http://bit.ly/V1s6X #stopthepresses # Read more →
Thomas Jefferson on Freedom
We’re not interested in government fixes, we’re interested in freedom. — Sarah Palin My fellow Americans — This Palin woman stimulates me on multiple levels. She’s absolutely right in what she says. Let’s go back to first principles. We founded this country as “the land of the free and the home of the brave,” not as a goddamn hippie commune for pussies. I believe in America and I believe in Americans. I believe that the majority of Americans — not as one-sided a majority as there was in my day but a majority nonetheless — do not want to be condescended to, do not want to be talked down to, but rather just want to be left alone to succeed or fail on their own merits. Yours eternally in freedom, Tom Read more →