Country Store

If Obamacare is so swell, why do Members of Congress get their own separate plan?

2009-07-17T14:07:00.001-04:00

I don't know about you, but I'm plenty excited by the prospect of an Obama designed Health Administration Bureau:

The only puzzling thing is why the Democrat party is trying to ram Obamacare through Congress with a separate healthcare plan for Members of Congress attached. Republican Rep. John Fleming is puzzled too and has introduced a resolution in the House of Representatives to change it:

Under the current draft of the Democrat healthcare legislation, members of Congress are curiously exempt from the government-run health care option, keeping their existing health plans and services on Capitol Hill. If Members of Congress believe so strongly that government-run health care is the best solution for hard working American families, I think it only fitting that Americans see them lead the way. Public servants should always be accountable and responsible for what they are advocating, and I challenge the American people to demand this from their representatives.
Together we will work to ensure that any plan that is good enough is for American families is good enough for every member of Congress.
View Resolution

Meanwhile over in the Senate, Tom Coburn had a little fun too:

Republican Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma called bluff on the Democrats' support for their own health care bill by challenging his colleagues on the Senate health committee to vote in favor of joining the program once enacted.
Mr. Coburn said, "what's good for the goose is good for the gander," and that "if Congress thinks a government-run plan is safe and effective for Americans, they should prove it with enrolling."
All the Republicans on the committee, except for New Hampshire Sen. Judd Gregg, voted for the amendment, but only three of the panel's 13 Democratic caucus member joined them. The 10 others voted "nay," though the amendment thus passed by a 12-11 vote.
The Democratic senators who voted against it were Sens. Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico, Sherrod Brown of Ohio, Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, Kay Hagan of North Carolina, Tom Harkin of Iowa, Jeff Merkley of Oregon, Patty Murray of Washington, Jack Reed of Rhode Island and Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island. Sen. Bernard Sanders of Vermont, an independent but a member of the Democratic caucus, also opposed the bill.
Democrats who voted in favor of the amendment were: Sens. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, Christopher J. Dodd of Connecticut and Barbara A. Mikulski of Maryland.

Gosh, why would those 10 Democrat Senators turn down a chance to participate in Obamacare? Maybe it's because they are older than dirt and don't want their medical care rationed along with the rest of the senior citizens? As for the 3 Donks who voted for it, I'd like to think it was the courage of their convictions, but since we are talking Kennedy, Dodd, and Mikulski I suspect it was their conviction that the amendment will get dropped in the House-Senate conference committee plus enough liquid assets to buy whatever medical care they need.

Hold on Granny! Your medical care has to first be approved by Obamacare

2009-07-15T20:26:00.001-04:00

But don't worry, Obamacare is a streamlined government program:

(click for full details on the processing of your Obamacare claim)

So don't worry, Granny. With any luck you will be scheduled to see a doctor within a year. And if not, well you are old and really aren't going to live that long anyhow.

Obamacare means shortchanging the elderly but they'll be dead soon anyway

2009-07-15T15:31:00.001-04:00

Mickey Kaus spots my favorite shortcoming of the Obamacare plan to spend a trillion dollars to screw up US medical care:

Dick Morris is right twice a day, and this could be one of those times: If I were a Hill Democrat, I'd be very worried about this possible line of attack. ... It's a proven killer, and Obaman Dems, with all their talk of bending cost curves and denying treatments and reducing Medicare spending by 30%, have rendered themselves wide open to it.

I tend to agree with Kaus about Dick Morris, but this time he is right on the money:

Obama’s health care proposal is, in effect, the repeal of the Medicare program as we know it. The elderly will go from being the group with the most access to free medical care to the one with the least access. Indeed, the principal impact of the Obama health care program will be to reduce sharply the medical services the elderly can use. No longer will their every medical need be met, their every medication prescribed, their every need to improve their quality of life answered.

It is so ironic that the elderly - who were so vigilant when Bush proposed to change Social Security - are so relaxed about the Obama health care proposals. Bush’s Social Security plan, which did not cut their benefits at all, aroused the strongest opposition among the elderly. But Obama’s plan, which will totally gut Medicare and replace it with government-managed care and rationing, has elicited little more than a yawn from most senior citizens.

I expect most of the senior citizens can't really believe it is happening and their favorite news sources on the TV networks sure aren't telling them nor are the erstwhile watchdogs at the AARP who are busy giving Obama a tongue bath. Besides senior citizens tend to vote Republican so killing them off is a double win for Obama because ACORN and the local Democrat machine will have them voting Democrat as soon as they die.

(Shovel ready graphics from The People's Cube)

John Holdren - another whacko pal of Barack Obama

2009-07-11T10:57:00.001-04:00

Does Barack Obama know anyone who's not a moonbat? Based on all available evidence the answer is no. Check out Barack's new Science Czar, John Holdren:

Forced abortions. Mass sterilization. A "Planetary Regime" with the power of life and death over American citizens.

The tyrannical fantasies of a madman? Or merely the opinions of the person now in control of science policy in the United States? Or both?

These ideas (among many other equally horrifying recommendations) were put forth by John Holdren, whom Barack Obama has recently appointed Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, Assistant to the President for Science and Technology, and Co-Chair of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology -- informally known as the United States' Science Czar. In a book Holdren co-authored in 1977, the man now firmly in control of science policy in this country wrote that:

Women could be forced to abort their pregnancies, whether they wanted to or not;

The population at large could be sterilized by infertility drugs intentionally put into the nation's drinking water or in food;

Single mothers and teen mothers should have their babies seized from them against their will and given away to other couples to raise;

People who "contribute to social deterioration" (i.e. undesirables) "can be required by law to exercise reproductive responsibility" -- in other words, be compelled to have abortions or be sterilized.

A transnational "Planetary Regime" should assume control of the global economy and also dictate the most intimate details of Americans' lives -- using an armed international police force.

Ole John sounds like a really fun guy. Too bad he was born too late - Stalin, Hitler, and Chairman Mao would really have appreciated his fine tuned sensibilities. Still, Barack Obama isn't that much different.

Obama booty patrol

2009-07-09T23:51:00.001-04:00

Watch our dignified and classy president, Barack Obama, check out the underage (16 years) booty at some goofy United Nations conference for kiddies. Sheesh, ole Pedobear Obama looks like he is about to start drooling. Just wait until he gets back - Michelle will be firing all the female interns.

Update: here's the front view that Barack missed:

Mayara Tavares is 16 and lives in the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She inherited from her grandmother and father a passion to take part in community action and social movements and has been an activist in her community fighting for children and adolescent rights. She has recently acted as a community researcher interviewing other adolescents in the community about their lives and how it feels for them to be growing up in the shantytowns of Rio de Janeiro. Through this work she became part of a National Platform for the improvement of poor communities situated in large urban centers, an initiative carried out by UNICEF in Brazil. She also became a member of the Youth Forum in her municipality and hopes that she can continue to engage her peers in this work.

Fourth of July, 2009

2009-07-04T12:01:00.000-04:00

The 4th of July is a day to celebrate and reflect on many things. One of them is how our forefathers stood up to and defied tyranny. Can we be as brave?

Nancy Pelosi says "Jump!" and Steve Driehaus asks "How High?"

2009-06-30T01:28:00.002-04:00

You have to admire the duplicity of those House Democrats who tell the folks back home that they are fiscal conservatives and then head off to Washington and turn into Nancy Pelosi lapdogs. Don't they think anyone will notice?

Anyhow, today's case in point is Rep. Steve Driehaus of the first district of Ohio who apparently lost his self-proclaimed "fiscal conservatism" at the banks of the Potomac and voted for every crack brained tax scheme that Nancy told him to vote for. Lacking any backbone sure must make ole Steve a heck of a guy for yoga!

Communist coup averted in Honduras, democracy restored: Hillary Clinton upset

2009-06-29T12:46:00.001-04:00

Hugo Chavez's Honduran butt boy President Zelaya overreached himself with an illegal referendum that would enshrine himself as Presidente For Life (just like Chavez in Venezuela) and he was removed from office. Now Hugo is blustering, the Cubans are whining and all decent people are happy, right? Well, the decent folks may be happy but not our sleazy Secretary of State - Honduras Defends Its Democracy: Fidel Castro and Hillary Clinton object:

It seems that President Mel Zelaya miscalculated when he tried to emulate the success of his good friend Hugo in reshaping the Honduran Constitution to his liking.
But Honduras is not out of the Venezuelan woods yet. Yesterday the Central American country was being pressured to restore the authoritarian Mr. Zelaya by the likes of Fidel Castro, Daniel Ortega, Hillary Clinton and, of course, Hugo himself. The Organization of American States, having ignored Mr. Zelaya's abuses, also wants him back in power. It will be a miracle if Honduran patriots can hold their ground.
...
It remains to be seen what Mr. Zelaya's next move will be. It's not surprising that chavistas throughout the region are claiming that he was victim of a military coup. They want to hide the fact that the military was acting on a court order to defend the rule of law and the constitution, and that the Congress asserted itself for that purpose, too.
Mrs. Clinton has piled on as well. Yesterday she accused Honduras of violating "the precepts of the Interamerican Democratic Charter" and said it "should be condemned by all." Fidel Castro did just that. Mr. Chávez pledged to overthrow the new government.
Honduras is fighting back by strictly following the constitution. The Honduran Congress met in emergency session yesterday and designated its president as the interim executive as stipulated in Honduran law. It also said that presidential elections set for November will go forward. The Supreme Court later said that the military acted on its orders. It also said that when Mr. Zelaya realized that he was going to be prosecuted for his illegal behavior, he agreed to an offer to resign in exchange for safe passage out of the country. Mr. Zelaya denies it.
Many Hondurans are going to be celebrating Mr. Zelaya's foreign excursion. Street protests against his heavy-handed tactics had already begun last week. On Friday a large number of military reservists took their turn. "We won't go backwards," one sign said. "We want to live in peace, freedom and development."

As do we all. Why is this administration on the side of the totalitarians?

Why don't Obama and the Democrats just offer US taxpayer funded health care to everyone in the world?

2009-06-28T17:13:00.000-04:00

Guess what! it turns out that Obamacare is really about the taxpayers providing better funding for illegal aliens health care. (We're already paying for them, of course, but Obamacare would provide full health care insurance for illegals.) But it's even better than that - they want to limit treatment of elderly citizens so that there is enough money to give illegal aliens high quality care. Let's listen as the folks from La Raza and the "Children's Defense Fund" plot Obamacare propaganda strategy with a rep of US Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ):

... they started the conference out by saying "America does not need health care reform, but Latino immigrants need health care reform."
And someone from Menendez' office [Ed.: Sen. Robert Menendez, D-NJ] promised that he would make sure that "the useless barriers of citizenship would not be in this bill" and that he would make sure that they would use keywords like "streamline"...
... Yes [they said they would get free health care for illegal aliens], these are my notes, Mark. They actually got up and said "Latino children need health care more than whites". And then they would say things like "you must go out into your communities, use words like 'streamline', use phrases like 'all workers' and 'all families'," because they said -- and I quote -- "If the American people find out that this bill is about giving health care to non-citizens, they will rise up against it."

... One of the quotes they said was, "We want to make sure we take care of barriers like verification, but we can streamline programs to the more affluent" and, quote, "Useless treatments for the elderly can be gone because we don't need to spend money for people who are going to die anyway."

...And they also said that 75% of the children who will be picked up in this will be non-citizens and that 44% of the uninsured are non-citizens and they can't possibly allow the American people to know this."

Such a deal - we install a massive bureaucracy, pay 1.5 trillion additional dollars in taxes, and ration healthcare to the elderly so that everyone who sneaks across the border gets great medical care. Why not cut down on wear and tear on the Border patrol and just pay for all medical care for everyone in the world. I'm sure the US taxpayers would mind too much.

Obamacare: Higher taxes (except for unions), Medicare cuts, euthanasia for Baby Boomers

2009-06-18T13:19:00.001-04:00

Barack Obama certainly has quite a plan to solve the nonexistent healthcare problem. Major features:

Massive tax increases and benefit cuts:

Health-care overhaul legislation being drafted by House Democrats will include $600 billion in tax increases and $400 billion in cuts to Medicare and Medicaid, Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel said.
Democrats will work on the bill’s details next week as they struggle through “what kind of heartburn” it will cause to agree on how to pay for revamping the health-care system, Rangel, a New York Democrat, said today.

Even getting "Chuckles" Rangel to cough up all the taxes he has been evading isn't going to fill this black hole.

Asked whether the cost of a health-care overhaul would be more than $1 trillion over a decade, Rangel said, “the answer is yes.” Some Senate Republicans, including Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah, say the costs will likely exceed $1.5 trillion.
...
Rangel said Democrats are still considering options for tax increases that might be in the bill, including a possible end to the income tax exclusion for employer-paid health benefits.

That's certainly a a bummer, but don't worry if you are a union member, Since your leadership has Barack Obama in their collective hip pocket, you won't be affected:

Mr. Baucus, the Finance Committee chairman who is helping lead the Obama health effort, is still deciding what to include in the bill. But his far bigger headache remains how to pay for this blowout. He and other Democrats have been inching toward the taboo benefits-tax, putting them on a collision course with liberal special interests like unions. Mr. Baucus's newest solution? A union payoff.
...
Mr. Baucus officially floated his plans for a tax this week, only with a surprising twist: His levy will not apply to union plans, at least for the duration of existing contracts. In other words, Mr. Baucus intends to tax the health-care benefits only of those who didn't spend a fortune electing Democrats to office.

And the second class citizens can pound sand, I guess. Still, we'll all be in the same manure pile when it comes to rationing of healthcare which Obama's flying monkey bloggers are already trying to turn into a benefit:

Democratic blogger Ezra Klein appears to be positioning Dem health care reforms as a way to cut costs, on the grounds that a reformed system will be able to make "hard choices" and "rational" coverage decisions, by which Klein seems to mean "not providing" treatments that are unproven or too expensive--when "a person's life, or health, is not worth the price." Matthew Yglesias' recent post seems to be saying the same thing, though clarity isn't its strong suit. (He must have left it on Journolist.)
Isn't it an epic mistake to try to sell Democratic health care reform on this basis? Possible sales pitch: "Our plan will deny you unnecessary treatments!" Or maybe just "Republicans say 'yes.' Democrats say 'no'!" Is that really why the middle class will sign on to a revolutionary multi-trillion dollar shift in spending--so the government can decide their life or health "is not worth the price"? I mean, how could it lose?

Even better, of course, is the observation that it's mostly old folks that need medical care and so what Obama and his pals are proposing is really, "Let the Boomers Die!" Why not just give each one of the Baby Boomers an expiration date? That would sure solve the money problem.

Obama's health care swindle

2009-06-12T01:10:00.001-04:00

Obama and his flying monkeys love to prattle on about the supposed hordes of Americans who lack health insurance, but the numbers just plain don't support that claim as any number of dispassionate observers have remarked although you won't see it in the MSM. I had been meaning to write about it, but Doug Ross provides a post by "Mister R" that does it better than I could - The '47 million' lie:

During her campaign for President, Hillary Clinton admitted in questioning that, of the 47 million, at least 25 percent could afford health insurance but choose not to purchase it (those with a household income of more than $75,000 a year). I believe the number to be slightly higher, closer to 30 percent, but let's use Clinton's number. That's 12 million.

Let's count illegal aliens. Believe it or not, illegals are counted in this number, however, statistical models vary and have ranged from 5 to 12 million. Let's take the middle. 8 million.

Then there are those who are already eligible for government programs but not participating. That number is estimated at 12 to 16 million. Let's take 12 million.

[snip - hit the link for the rest]

Add the numbers up and you get 38 million. That leaves 9 million without coverage (although they really do have coverage since the federal government, along with the states, administer Medicaid and charity care).

So the real number of [nominally] uninsured is 8-10 million. There are 300 million Americans.

So we want to break the system because 1 out of 30 people cannot afford coverage. That's absurd.

That it is patently absurd is proved by Team Obama belatedly trotting out claims that Obamacare is really about saving money for consumers. Since Barack has no plans to rein in his trial lawyer supporters who grotesquely inflate all aspects of US healthcare costs, adding a layer of government bureaucracy is only going to save money by rationing medical care just like they do in other countries with socialized medicine.

(posters from Michelle Malkin's Obamacare poster contest)

Obama to send terrorists on tropical island vacations

2009-06-11T15:02:00.001-04:00

I wish I was a Guantanamo inmate:

But whoa! Who wants to spend the rest of their lives in Asskicker, Missouri, or Boredom, Illinois, when you can open a dive school in Palau?

Yesterday it emerged that 17 Chinese muslims were being sent to the Pacific islands, somewhat near the Philippines. Palau was until the 1990s tied to the United States, and the latest move had absolutely nothing to do with the renegotiation of a $200 million US assistance package.
Now it turns out that another load of inmates are being sent for "resettlement" to Bermuda. There they can also open a dive shop, play golf, eat rum cake and get stuck into the sherry pepper sauce, possibly the greatest cooking ingredient known to man or woman. Goodness knows what the Bermudans are currently negotiating with the administration.

You have to hand it to Obama, not too many folks would have figured out such a clever plan for what to do with terrorists.

Barack's Excellent Cairo Adventure

2009-06-04T13:35:00.001-04:00

Ole gasbag Barry is sporting a new 'stache, some new bling-bling, and spouting moral equivalence, but the real laughs are on the sidelines:

Late Night with Jimmy Fallon

President Obama used the word "shukran,' which is Arabic for "thank you," in response to a compliment from King Abdullah today. The compliment? "I appreciate that you didn't bring Joe Biden."
A new poll shows Americans have a more negative view of Muslims than they did back in 2002. That's because they never hear about any of the good bombings.

Obama speech leaked - formally becomes Muslim again!

2009-06-03T16:09:00.001-04:00

Looks like Barack Hussein Obama's speech to "the Muslim World" is going to be a real shocker - here's a leaked copy:

(put on fez)

Salaam Alaikum, brothers!

(wait for gasps, applause)

It gives me great pleasure to be here today in Cairo to offer my personal greetings to the faithful followers of Mohammed around the world and to let you know of a great change in my life.

(wait for murmurs)

When I started my presidential campaign I was a follower of a splinter Christian sect, but was not really happy there and left it. As I gave the matter more thought, I realized that my only true spiritual satisfaction was in my youth as a young Muslim worshipping at the mosque and attending lessons at the madrassa. After consulting with my good friend King Abdullah, Guardian of Mecca and Medina, I soon realized that I needed to formally return to the faith of my fathers as it was the only true path. Therefore today I am announcing that I have returned to the one true faith revealed by Mohammed and illuminated by Muhammad ibn Abd-al-Wahhab.

(wait for gasps, applause, standing ovation)

I know that this will necessarily require tremendous changes for me, the country which I rule, and for the world and I wanted to share them with you.

First, my first wife Michelle will adopt the burqa ....

(wait for standing ovation)

and return with her mother and our children to Chicago where she will supervise the construction of harem quarters at my palace in Hyde Park.

(wait for gasps and giggles)

Second, Sherif Joe Biden will gain the additional titles of Grand Eunuch and Guardian of the Harem and arrange for the construction of a harem wing to the White House Palace in Washington, DC which he will oversee when it is complete.

Third, soon to occupy the White House Harem will be my second and third wives whom I will marry shortly:

(show picture, wait for gasps, applause, whistles)

My second wife will be Sizzlean X, a Chicago Muslim of devout family recommended to me by my good friend Supreme Minister and National Representative of the Nation of Islam, Louis Farrakhan.

(show picture, wait for gasps, applause, whistles)

My third wife will be Fatima Ahmenijhad, a niece of another good friend, President: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran.

(As appropriate interject "She sure got all the looks in that family!")

My good friend King Abdullah is negotiating for a fourth wife from a prominent Palestinian family, but the bride price seems to be a Muslim country currently occupied by some noisy Jews so it may take a while to do a deal.

(wait for boos, catcalls, curses to subside)

However, I am working on it and when it is done the harem will be full up except for the concubines requisite for a man of my exalted position.

(wait for cheers, laughter)

And speaking of my position, I have asked my supporters in Congress to recognize my new faith by changing the title of my office to Sultan as is only appropriate. There will be a host of further actions including aggressive stimulus funding for a building program that will put an endowed mosque in every city above 10,000 in population in the USA as well as a national mosque and shrine to me in Washington DC.

(wait for applause)

This will shortly be followed by sharia law, national dress codes for women and a prohibition on the consumption of alcohol and pork, not to mention the stoning of homosexuals. Also, we will solve the banking and budget deficit crises by banning interest on loans. Even the most recalcitrant of US citizens will soon realize that everything goes better with the Religion of Peace ... one way or another.

(wait for laughter)

The USA is already one of the largest Muslim countries in the world and with these actions, and under my rule will soon become the largest and greatest Defender of the Faith. At which point, I trust, hope, and pray that you will acclaim me as the first Caliph of the Obamayyad Dynasty.

(wait for gasps, then wild applause, standing ovation)

Obama pours taxpayer money into a black hole by founding Government Motors

2009-06-01T14:25:00.001-04:00

You have to hand it to ole Barry - his only experience with business has been building disastrous public housing projects with taxpayer money, but he has parlayed that experience into getting to play with all the cars and trucks at a real live (if nearly dead) automobile manufacturing company that has been brought low by its greedy unions.

So what do the folks actually footing the bill for Obama's indulgence of his megalomania and the obscene payback to his union supporters think about pouring more money down the black hole ? The latest polls don't print a pretty picture:

Only 21% of voters nationwide support a plan for the government to bail out General Motors as part of a structured bankruptcy plan to keep the troubled auto giant in business.
The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 67% are opposed to a plan that would provide GM with $50 billion in funding and give the government a 70% ownership interest in the company.
Even when presented with the stark choice between providing government funding or letting GM go out of business, only 32% of voters support the bailout. Most voters (56%) say it would be better to let GM go out of business.

Even more eye-opening are some ancillary questions:

Looking back at the bailout funding already provided, 60% say the auto bailouts were a bad idea. Two-out-of-three believe that most of the bailout money is going to those who caused the economic crisis.
Only 18% say the federal government will do a good job running GM. But they suspect the government will do all it can to help its investment. After taking ownership of GM and Chrysler, 57% expect the government will pass laws and regulations giving those companies unfair advantages over others.

Looks like the little people have their eyes wide open on this one.

Update: One final laugh - read What I Learned as a Car Czar by Romanian Lt. Gen. Ion Pacepa. One of the better passages:

The Trabant originally derived from a well regarded West German car (the DKW) made by Audi, which today produces some of the most prestigious cars in the world. In the hands of the East German government, the unfortunate DKW became a farce of a car. The bureaucrats and the union that ran the Trabant factory made the car smaller and boxier, to give it a more proletarian look. To reduce production costs, they cut down on the size of the original, already small DKW engine, and they replaced the metal body with one made of plastic-covered cardboard. What rolled off the assembly line was a kind of horseless carriage that roared like a lawn mower and polluted the air worse than a whole city block full of big Western cars.
After German reunification, the plucky little "Trabi" that East Germans used to wait 10 years to buy became an embarrassment, and its production was stopped. Germany's junkyards are now piled high with Trabants, which cannot be recycled because burning their plastic-covered cardboard bodies would release poisonous dioxins. German scientists are now trying to develop a bacterium to devour the cardboard-and-plastic body.

Plastic-covered cardboard sounds about right for Barry and his pals.

Here comes the tab for the Obama spending orgy

2009-05-31T19:17:00.001-04:00

Bond Vigilantes Confront Obama as Housing Falters

For the first time since another Democrat occupied the White House, investors from Beijing to Zurich are challenging a president’s attempts to revive the economy with record deficit spending. Fifteen years after forcing Bill Clinton to abandon his own stimulus plans, the so-called bond vigilantes are punishing Barack Obama for quadrupling the budget shortfall to $1.85 trillion. By driving up yields on U.S. debt, they are also threatening to derail Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke’s efforts to cut borrowing costs for businesses and consumers.

Er, it's not the lightweight in the White House who is getting "punished" for his spendthrift ways - it's us as usual.

The 1.4-percentage-point rise in 10-year Treasury yields this year pushed interest rates on 30-year fixed mortgages to above 5 percent for the first time since before Bernanke announced on March 18 that the central bank would start printing money to buy financial assets. Treasuries have lost 5.1 percent in their worst annual start since Merrill Lynch & Co. began its Treasury Master Index in 1977.
“The bond-market vigilantes are up in arms over the outlook for the federal deficit,” said Edward Yardeni, who coined the term in 1984 to describe investors who protest monetary or fiscal policies they consider inflationary by selling bonds. He now heads Yardeni Research Inc. in Great Neck, New York. “Ten trillion dollars over the next 10 years is just an indication that Washington is really out of control and that there is no fiscal discipline whatsoever.”

No kidding, Mr. Yardeni, but I think the characterization of these folks as "vigilantes" while catchy, gives what is going on the wrong flavor. They are merely investors, primarily foreign and often governments, who can't be strongarmed like the GM and Chrysler bondholders and are worried about the way the printing presses are running overtime in Washington.

The bond vigilantes are being led by international investors, who own about 51 percent of the $6.36 trillion in marketable Treasuries outstanding, up from 35 percent in 2000, according to data compiled by the Treasury.
“The vigilante group is different this time around,” said Mark MacQueen, a partner and money manager at Austin, Texas- based Sage Advisory Services Ltd., which oversees $7.5 billion. “It’s major foreign creditors. This whole idea that we need to spend our way out of our problems is being questioned.”
MacQueen, who started in the bond business in 1981 at Merrill Lynch, has been selling Treasuries and moving into corporate and inflation-protected debt for the last few months.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said in March that China was “worried” about its $767.9 billion investment and was looking for government assurances that the value of its holdings would be protected.
The nation bought $5.6 billion in bills and sold $964 million in U.S. notes and bonds in February, according to Treasury data released April 15. It was the first time since November that China purchased more securities due in a year or less than longer-maturity debt.

You'd be nuts to buy long term US debt today without an inflation premium (if not a protection mechanism). Looks like inflating away his grotesque deficit isn't going to be an option for ole Mr. Hopey Changey. Still he may try it on the backs of all the average US citizens who aren't savvy or in any position to avoid it. Gee, what would be worse, watching your pension disappear down an inflation black hole or your adjustable rate mortgage spiral into the stratosphere? How about both?

Memorial Day 2009

2009-05-25T19:18:00.003-04:00

The stars and stripes, red, white, and blue
Wave above our heroes true
It makes us cry, it makes us weep
But in our hearts we will keep
The sacrifice our soldiers gave, they shall not die in vain
For they have given us the freedom they have fought to gain

Photo from a Worthington Ohio Scout troop. Verse from Mark Steyn's (at the time) fifth grade daughter.

Obama shocked by first USA credit card bill

2009-05-14T21:29:00.001-04:00

Here's a laugh - Obama Says U.S. Long-Term Debt Load ‘Unsustainable’:

President Barack Obama, calling current deficit spending “unsustainable,” warned of skyrocketing interest rates for consumers if the U.S. continues to finance government by borrowing from other countries.
“We can’t keep on just borrowing from China,” Obama said at a town-hall meeting in Rio Rancho, New Mexico, outside Albuquerque. “We have to pay interest on that debt, and that means we are mortgaging our children’s future with more and more debt.”
Holders of U.S. debt will eventually “get tired” of buying it, causing interest rates on everything from auto loans to home mortgages to increase, Obama said. “It will have a dampening effect on our economy.”

Gosh, who could have been maxing out the credit card?

Earlier this week, the Obama administration revised its own budget estimates and raised the projected deficit for this year to a record $1.84 trillion, up 5 percent from the February estimate. The revision for the 2010 fiscal year estimated the deficit at $1.26 trillion, up 7.4 percent from the February figure. The White House Office of Management and Budget also projected next year’s budget will end up at $3.59 trillion, compared with the $3.55 trillion it estimated previously.

But not to worry - Barry's says he's a changed man now:

Two weeks ago, the president proposed $17 billion in budget cuts, with plans to eliminate or reduce 121 federal programs. Republicans ridiculed the amount, saying that it represented one-half of 1 percent of the entire budget. They noted that Obama is seeking an $81 billion increase in other spending.

Stay tuned for the Obama tax increases, which seems to be the only possible reason for his whine.

Hey Barry, how's your porkulous plan working out?

2009-05-13T01:06:00.003-04:00

Over at Innocent Bystanders, geoff is doing what the mainstream media won't do - compare Obama's promised results for his trillion dollar pork barrel "stimulus" plan with the actual results:

Gee, not only is the actual unemployment rate worse than Barry and the Democrat "brain trust" promised if they got their trillion dollars that we don't have to spend on stuff that we don't need, but it's worse than what they promised if we didn't have the porkulous plan at all. Is it too late to to stop the checks?

Janet Napolitano really is dumber than a sack of hammers

2009-04-22T20:24:00.007-04:00

Janet Napolitano, Barack Obama's choice to head the Department of Homeland Security is in short order demonstrating that she is the ignorant boob that we all knew she was. First it was the canard that conservatives and veterans were rightwing extremists, then Napolitano claimed that illegal aliens weren't actually illegal, and now Naplitano demonstrates her grasp of security issues with the bogus claim that the 9/11 terrorists came from Canada.

Can someone please tell us how U. S. Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano got her job? She appears to be about as knowledgeable about border issues as a late-night radio call-in yahoo.

In an interview broadcast Monday on the CBC, Ms. Napolitano attempted to justify her call for stricter border security on the premise that "suspected or known terrorists" have entered the U. S. across the Canadian border, including the perpetrators of the 9/11 attack.

All the 9/11 terrorists, of course, entered the United States directly from overseas.

The head of the Department of Homeland Security doesn't even know where the 9/11 terrorists came from. Hmm - exactly what does she know?

Informed of her error, Ms. Napolitano blustered: "I can't talk to that. I can talk about the future. And here's the future. The future is we have borders."

She's a blooming genius. And one more Napolitano bon mot that has the Canadians rankled:

Just a few weeks ago, Ms. Napolitano equated Canada's border to Mexico's, suggesting they deserved the same treatment. Mexico is engulfed in a drug war that left more than 5,000 dead last year, and which is spawning a spillover kidnapping epidemic in Arizona. So many Mexicans enter the United States illegally that a multi-billion-dollar barrier has been built from Texas to California to keep them out.

In Canada, on the other hand, the main problem is congestion resulting from cross-border trade. Not quite the same thing, is it?

Who knows when you're dealing with an idiot like Napolitano. She can probably figure a way to equate the two. Time to retire, Janet.

The real story of the Maersk Alabama rescue

2009-04-17T08:51:00.004-04:00

Did you find the events surrounding the Navy SEAL rescue of Maersk Alabama Capt. Phillips a trifle puzzling? Here's the latest word on what really happened which is now beginning to leak out:

Having spoken to some SEAL pals here in Virginia Beach yesterday and asking why this thing dragged out for 4 days, I got the following:

BHO wouldn't authorize the DEVGRU/NSWC SEAL teams to the scene for 36 hours going against OSC (on scene commander) recommendation.
Once they arrived, BHO imposed restrictions on their ROE that they couldn't do anything unless the hostage's life was in "imminent" danger
The first time the hostage jumped, the SEALS had the raggies all sighted in, but could not fire due to ROE restriction
When the navy RIB came under fire as it approached with supplies, no fire was returned due to ROE restrictions. As the raggies were shooting at the RIB, they were exposed and the SEALS had them all dialed in.
BHO specifically denied two rescue plans developed by the Bainbridge CPN and SEAL teams
Bainbridge CPN and SEAL team CDR finally decide they have the OpArea and OSC authority to solely determine risk to hostage. 4 hours later, 3 dead raggies
BHO immediately claims credit for his "daring and decisive" behaviour. As usual with him, it's BS.

More details:

Philips’s first leap into the warm, dark water of the Indian Ocean hadn’t worked out as well. With the Bainbridge in range and a rescue by his country’s Navy possible, Philips threw himself off of his lifeboat prison, enabling Navy shooters onboard the destroyer a clear shot at his captors — and none was taken. The guidance from National Command Authority — the President of the United States, Barack Obama — had been clear: a peaceful solution was the only acceptable outcome to this standoff unless the hostage’s life was in clear, extreme danger.

The next day, a small Navy boat approaching the floating raft was fired on by the Somali pirates — and again no fire was returned and no pirates killed, thanks again to the cautious stance assumed by Navy personnel due to the combination of a lack of clear guidance from Washington, and a mandate from the Commander in Chief’s staff not to act until Obama, a man with no background of dealing with such issues and no track record of decisiveness, decided that any outcome other than a “peaceful solution” would be acceptable.

After taking fire from the Somali kidnappers again Saturday night, the on-scene commander decided he’d had enough. Keeping his authority to act in the case of a clear and present danger to the hostage’s life, and having heard nothing from Washington since yet another request to mount a rescue operation had been denied the day before, the Navy officer — unnamed in all media reports to date — decided the AK-47 one captor had leveled at Philips’ back was a threat to the hostage’s life, and ordered the NSWC team to take their shots.

Three rounds downrange later, all three brigands became enemy KIA, and Philips was safe.

I wonder when Obama will reprimand (secretly or otherwise) the Navy personnnel who toasted his Somali cousins before he could apologize and pay them reparations?

Glenn Beck at the Alamo Tea Party

2009-04-15T21:06:00.001-04:00

Glenn Beck explains it all and rocks the house at the Alamo Tea Party in San Antonio:

Cut up the Congressional Credit Card at your local Tea Party!

2009-04-14T20:58:00.007-04:00

I'd sure like to have a Congressional Credit Card - a huge honking credit line and someone else on the hook to pay for it. No wonder the Congressional Democrats and Barack Obama are acting like pigs in slop.

Well, now is the time for an intervention for the D.C. shopaholics and tomorrow is the first step. Now, regular folks aren't as good as the leftist weenies at protests because they tend to work for a living and don't get government grants to go to demonstrations, but there are a heck of a lot more of them and that is currently making the Washington politicians really, really nervous. Help get the word out to the them - if you keep spending, don't bother coming home from DC. More info at Tax Day Tea Party.

Zeituni gets another year at the trough

2009-04-01T11:48:00.005-04:00

The Aunt Zeituni Hustle be one most powerful mojo dance, mon! Yep, Barack's wetback aunt Zeituni gets another year of taxpayer largesse:

Zeituni Onyango (zay-TUH'-nee awn-YAHN'-goh) had an initial appearance in U.S. Immigration Court in Boston on Wednesday. At the brief hearing, a judge set her case to be heard Feb. 4, 2010.

Onyango was ordered deported in 2004 but has continued to live in public housing in Boston. She wore a curly red wig and said nothing as she was led away from court Wednesday with federal protection.

Nice to hear that Zeituni was all duded up and has "federal protection," but why didn't the taxpayers' money just pay to put her on a plane instead? Must be the new Obama plan for illegal aliens - ICE releases workers arrested in Washington raid:

SEATTLE – Many of the 28 workers arrested by immigration agents last month in a northwest Washington raid have been released and given permission to work, in another sign of how the Obama administration is handling illegal immigration differently than its predecessor.

The raid at a Yamato Engine Specialists plant in Bellingham was the first mass arrest of immigrants since President Barack Obama took office and appeared to contradict his policy that federal agents focus more on employers who hire undocumented workers than on the workers themselves. Shortly after the arrests, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano ordered a review of the raid.

The Bellingham Herald reported that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement gave the immigrants work permits or the option of returning to their native country.

Cool - get caught and get a work permit or a free trip home. How long before the wetbacks start to line up in front of ICE headquarters? Actually probably not, because Naploitano isn't really interested in catching any more Democrat voters, er illegal aliens anyhow.

Today's Hoot: Obama flubs gift to Queen

2009-04-01T10:31:00.006-04:00

Obama's Gift to the Queen

Diplomatic jaws dropped across the continent yesterday when it was revealed that U.S. President Barack Obama had, once again, fumbled a routine protocol of international statecraft: finding the right gift for a foreign leader or head of state. In a private ceremony with Queen Elizabeth, Her Royal Highness bequeathed to the Obamas one of the earliest known copies of William Shakespeare's Henry V. [list of other gifts elided]

The Obamas, unfortunately, did not seem prepared for the occasion despite the row set off by the exchange of gifts between Prime Minister Brown and the U.S. President barely a month ago. Mr. Obama rather unceremoniously handed the Queen a shopping bag from the Duty Free shop at Heathrow airport. It contained a signed paperback copy of Dreams of My Father, purchased at the WH Smith shop at the airport, a bottle of Johnny Walker Scotch (black label), a CD of the Swedish band ABBA's greatest hits (still in shrink wrap with a 2-for-1 sticker on it) and ten bags of M&Ms with the presidential seal on them.

The Queen responded in a rather flat: "How delightful."

Barack should have just stuck with the case of Colt 45 that he had planned to give her:

Meanwhile, The Enquirer got a sneak preview of Michelle's dress for her presentation to the Queen. Classy!