Fly Naked?

Almost a year ago, most citizens of the great state of Arizona breathed a sigh of relief as Janet Napolitano left her then current job as the governor and became the Secretary of Homeland Security. She had refused to work to secure our southern border and she had run up crippling debt for this state.

It seems that Secretary Janet lives in one universe and the rest of us live in another.

And, it seems she still is because yesterday the Secretary declared that “the system worked”, The system she was talking about was airport screening in the wake of the terrorist attack on the flight from Amsterdam to Detroit.

A conservative estimate says that we spend 50 billion dollars a year on these programs.

If she’s right that, “everything worked as it should,” then we must be spending that kind of money in order to train random Dutchmen to gang-tackle a demented black Muslim who is trying to set fire to his knickers in an airport lavatory. And, Oh by the way, there were no air marshals on this flight. Thank G-d for throat-choking Dutchmen!

Let’s take a closer look at this event. And for those from Lake Havasu, I’ll put it in little easy-to-read paragraphs.

The man is a Muslim.

He was no penniless indigent. His father owns a second home in London worth between 2.5 and 4 million GBP.

His own father warned the US Embassy in Nigeria about his son.

The son boasted that he had been trained by Al-Queda.

He bought a one-way ticket and paid $2800 in cash.

He had no passport.

He had no luggage.

He had been refused entry to the UK because they deemed his application was fraudulent. And they placed him on a “Persons of Interest” watch list. This information was transmitted to this country and agencies such as the CIA, the FBI, and Homeland Security.

Now, I realize that there are more than 500,000 people on that list but add in the other data points and it shouldn’t take too long to trigger a red flag and flares as well.

I went to amazon.com earlier this morning and they told me immediately what I’d bought and what I may like to buy. And so, one is bound to ask if they, a commercial company, can know that much about me, why wouldn’t Obama's agencies, with all the computer power at their command, be able to at least point a suspecting finger at the “knicker bomber”?

Instead though, what I think we’ll get is an extension of the new regulations which dictate that bathroom visits are out when one is closer than 1 hour from arrival and that one must be in one’s seat with hands visible.

I remember being in a class in Junior School and one of the disciplinary measures was that the whole class had to sit with “hands on heads” until your arms ached and the “Go Home” bell was long silent.

When Richard Reid tried to set fire to his sneakers he started the ritual of shoe removal at airport security. There was even a concern that gel-filled bras might be suspect at one point. Now it's underwear as well and the possible outcome is way too frightening to contemplate ..........

Perhaps what is needed is that we’ll all be shipped as freight in a box. Or, has that already happened?

I suspect that Nappy will be gone by March but in the meantime,

Thank Heavens for the Flying Dutchman.

I hope there’s one on your next flight!

Reflect, Rejoice, Renew!

The title to this post is the theme for this Christmas according to the Obama White House and let’s see how you feel about it by the time you get to the end of this screed.

Congress was asked for another $155 Billion earlier this week in order to create “shovel ready” jobs. Wait a minute. Wasn’t that worthy goal the idea behind the stimulus package they approved just about a year ago? As you saw from the previous post, the House Ways and Means Committee was forced to concede that that goal had not been realized. So isn’t this latest measure yet another classic example of throwing good money after bad? In Las Vegas they call it doubling down and that is rarely a winning strategy.

Especially when you don’t have the money and the “Peoples Bank of China has made it abundantly clear that they have no obligation to carry on subsidizing Obama’s narcissism by buying up our Treasury Bonds. They are quite right to be leery as with every turn of the printing presses at the U.S. Mint, the dollar loses value.

And, it doesn’t do much for the credibility of the person with cap in hand who announces to the world that if we don’t pass his healthcare agenda this country will go bankrupt. And they accuse the GOP of trying to frighten the American public.

Now, while we’re on that thorny topic, buried in the fine print among the more than 2000 pages of the Senate Bill is a kind of parliamentary poison pill. In an attempt to head off the effects of the loss of Democratic seats in 2010 and 2012, we read that any attempt to undo any of the provisions will require a majority in the Senate of not 50% or even 60% but a full 67%, the so-called “Super Majority”.

And, Oh, I would be remiss if I failed to mention that indeed there is funding for abortion in spite of protestations to the contrary and in spite of Ben Nelson's dupicity. You won't find it the main bill but rather in "Dingy Harry's" "management addendum". And just like a perennial weed, ACORN is back again for its handout. But the measure passed the Senate anyway after much deal making and utter bribery. No wonder Thurow once described Congress as “the only whorehouse in the country that can’t turn a profit”.

And, I couldn’t miss reporting the events surrounding the appearance of several Democratic and White House spokespersons on Joe Scarborough’s morning TV show earlier this week when it was obvious that these talking heads were receiving real-time instructions via text and Blackberry messages. The source of these coaching directives was indeed the White House, most likely Robert Gibbs.

Is it any wonder that this morning’s Rasmussen tracking poll shows Obama with a minus 21% result. In other words, while only 25% “Strongly Approve”, a whopping 46% “Strongly Disapprove”.

Unless something monumental happens and I can’t avoid it, this is almost certainly my last post before Christmas Day and so I thought it only fitting to apply a seasonal touch.

You can access the search engine of your choice and you will discover that there are more than 10 schools across this country which have published records of their students singing songs in praise of Obama, the Most Merciful. But now the White House is surpassing even that with the decorations on the White House Christmas Tree. Most of these were produced by the creative director for Barney’s of New York.

Two examples of this persons creativity included one with the face of Chairman Mao on it who single-handedly brought about the death of more than 35 million of his own people.

But, surely the piece de resistance is a tree decoration showing Obama’s face, ears and all, on Mount Rushmore. The source for that terrifying snippet is no less than ABC News.

So how about a couple more "R" words to add to the title of this post?

Reflect, Rejoice, Renew, Regurgitate, Resign.

That's more like it!

Merry Christmas

Made to Measure

I don’t shrink from making the distinction that Obama wanted the title he now flaunts but he really didn’t want the job. Or, putting that another way, he wanted the power and the control that went with the position but not the responsibility inherent in it.

The reason is that now his success or lack thereof can be measured and while measurement and subsequent reward or penalty is normal operating procedure for most people, it is anathema to others. Those would include people from Academia and Community Organizing for, in that world, it doesn’t seem to matter what you did but only what you say and what you say you will do. By the time that it can be shown that the words didn’t do anything, the person has moved onto the next gig.

The closest analogy I can draw is that of the snake oil salesman who blows into town. And, with his carpet bag of tricks, he fleeces the miners and their families of everything he can and then gets the next train out.

Well Obama, the next train is a few years away and an increasing number of Americans are not buying your snake oil. It’s getting time to demand answers so let’s start with this.

It’s almost a year since the stimulus packages were past and do you remember the promises that were made at the time? Even then, Obama was hedging his bets as he phrased them very carefully as he promised “to create or save 3.5 million jobs.”

Even the House Ways and Means Committee was forced to report over the weekend that the measures had done neither.

I have been accused of being too generalized in my accusations of incompetence and mendacity and so, let me try this approach.

49 out of 50 states have reported net job losses since Obama’s speech. But let’s get even more granular. According to Obama, Arizona should have had more than 70,000 more jobs by now. In fact, it’s lost another 60,000.

Then yesterday we heard just how well and equitably the stimulus packages were being applied in a report from the Mercatus Center which is part of George Mason University. I did think about breaking my promise not to overburden you with stuff and reproduce the whole report but, as well as being a compassionate conservative, I'm also a merciful one.

But, for those who don’t want to wade through the stats, here’s the Clift notes version.

This report concluded that there was no correlation between the unemployment needs of the area, state or district and the cash it received. It did however find that Democratic districts got more than Republicans. It also found that more money went to richer districts than poorer ones.

How can that be? Anyone who asks that question has never been to Marin County, California or to Westchester County, New York.

Again, if you want granularity, 73.47% of all the “stimulus” money went to Democratic districts.

How’s all that Hoax and Chains working for ya’?

And, Oh, By The Way, if you want all the data, regressional analyses and all, send me an email at jack-morris@q.com

A Story for Christmas Week from an unlikely source ......

William F. Buckley Junior who died last year was one of the most influential conservative writers of our time and he was also one of the brightest. Although he was born in New York City and was as American as Apple Pie and Chevrolet. he sounded very much like a Brit. And he had great taste with respect to his ties ........

He was educated largely, but not exclusively at Yale, and was an active member of the notorious “Skull and Bones” society, much maligned in the liberal press which means, therefore, most of it.

For years they attempted to characterize all its members as empty-headed “Frat Boys” especially when they gleefully hammered on the fact that President George W. Bush had been one of them.

Is it possible that some of those "hammerers" couldn't get in? I could tell you a story about something similar but now is not the time and I do have a story coming up as promised.

Anyway, one of the essays that William Buckley wrote posed the question; How do you define smart?

Clearly the answer is not a simple one because you cannot just use education or possession of advanced degrees as the sole criteria. Anyone who has worked in industry on either side of the Atlantic can cite countless examples of people with doctoral qualifications who could not be trusted to go out and buy a daily paper and return with the correct change.

And anyone who has had to deal either with politicians or government bureaucrats can vouch for the fact that both fields have a healthy representation of people who couldn’t find their own rear end in the dark, even with both hands.

This must surely be why countless bobbing heads on the news shows keep assuring us that the recession is over and that the good times will surely be rolling again shortly.

I don’t know about you, but I’ll know the corner has been turned when I drive across town and see new businesses start cropping up in strip malls. Right now, I still see precisely the opposite as more and more existing businesses close their doors, often forever.

And how can it be when the unemployment rate increased again in these United States?

The fact is that, no matter how great and innovative a possible new venture may be, it will fail if their potential customers have no money to spend.

Of course, the liberal media is going to insist that the talking heads on TV are right because they are still in the tank for the Anointed One in spite of the fact that they know that whatever he has tried has not worked. But Shhh ...

Obama may have the “Book Smarts” but he’s never run a business, never had to make payroll; never even been employed in any capacity involving profit and loss. And the real scary part is that he has surrounded himself with many of the same background and in the absence of experience they fall back on ideology.

Here’s a little story I got from a fervent “Obamaite”. Perhaps, they shared the same educational curriculum? And the more I think about it , the more likely that could be .......


"Anyway, imagine a slow day in a little East Texas town. The sun is beating down, and the streets are deserted. Times are tough, everybody is in debt, and everybody lives on credit...On this particular day a rich tourist from back east is driving through town.

He stops at the motel and lays a $100 bill on the desk saying he wants to inspect the rooms upstairs in order to pick one to spend the night.As soon as the man walks upstairs, the owner grabs the bill and runs next door to pay his debt to the butcher.

The butcher takes the $100 and runs down the street to retire his debt to the pig farmer.The pig farmer takes the $100 and heads off to pay his bill at the supplier of feed and fuel.The guy at the Farmer's Co-op takes the $100 and runs to pay his debt to the local prostitute, who has also been facing hard times and has had to offer her "services" on credit.

The hooker rushes to the hotel and pays off her room bill with the hotel owner.The hotel proprietor then places the $100 back on the counter so the rich traveler will not suspect anything. At that moment the traveler comes down the stairs, picks up the $100 bill, states that the rooms are not satisfactory, pockets the money, and leaves town…

No one produced anything. No one earned anything. However, the whole town is now out of debt and now looks to the future with a lot more optimism.And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how the United States Government is conducting business today."


Well almost, but not quite, because at least here in the story everyone broke even. Actually they didn't because the hotel wound up out by $100 but it makes a better story the way it's written.

But certainly in the world in which we all live, you and I will not come close to breaking even and neither will generations as yet unborn.

The Wheels on the Bus go ............

Liberals, it seems, are ever eager, willing and able to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory and let me explain what I mean.

The other evening, when I was trying to poll a survey sample of one about the Anointed One’s progress, she was all sweetness and light. She only reserved her vituperation for Joe Lieberman who she described as contemptible because, it was feared, that he would help defeat the Health bill. But the Democrats needed his vote and so they agreed to remove the legislation to which he objected.

Now Joe isn’t my most favorite guy either but the degree of venom from my “pollee” was more than I could stand without comment. But lo and behold, Harry Reid was so desperate for any vote he could get that he was prepared to grant almost anything and he did. And, more of that later.

Did you ever play a game at the fair called “Whack-a-Mole”? It’s silly but I suppose fair games usually are. Anyway, this one consists of a board with a series of holes drilled in it. And through those holes on, what appears to be a random basis, up pops a fake mole or a dilapidated imitation of one.

And then you, the player, has to whack it with a mallet. Depending on the number of hits you get, you’ll win a prize or not. For the most part, it’s not and that is no surprise either.

What is a surprise though, is that PETA hasn’t been all over this already. Or, maybe they have and I just haven’t been to a fair lately.

Anyway, when Joe Lieberman retreated back down his burrow, up popped Howard Dean.

Conservatives have to love Howard Dean. He is indeed a friend when we are in need starting with his primordial scream way back when in a New England primary. And today he continued by calling for the abandonment of the current healthcare proposals. His objection was the deletion of the “so-called ‘Public Option’", much beloved by Dean's base, at Lieberman’s insistence.

Put all this together with all the other stuff swirling around and it takes only a cursory scan of the liberal blogs to realize that there is trouble on the Hill and for the Hill. And for Obama big time!

So, Lieberman got his way about the “Public Option” which means, according to the Left, that Obama is prepared to sell out to the insurance companies. If that’s what it takes.

And, trust me on this, he will along with anything else in order to cement his "legacy".

Abortion via taxpayer funding is also gone. And, although Obama swore on a stack of bibles or Korans or, perhaps an interleaved and diversified selection of both, that, as far as he was concerned, the abandonment of killing feti was for him the third rail. So, that flip-flop is hardly going to endear him to the lunatic Left as well. But Obama doesn’t care about that either.

And, now for one more dirty little secret. The Senate proposal reaffirms the ban on individuals or pharmacies or companies from importing cheaper, already US-approved prescription drugs. So now according to the liberal Left, Obama has sold out to the big pharmaceutical companies. And, as the Left sees it and as I see it, according to his campaign pledges he’s done just that.

But not in his mind. All he wants is a Bill he can sign with the word “Health” somewhere in it. That way he can go to present his first State of the Union report with that on his resume and he doesn’t care how bad the legislation is. And that’s why he will throw anyone and any campaign promise under the wheels of the bus. After all, he ignores his illegal alien and penniless aunt in Boston and his brother in a hut in Kenya.

It’s all about him!

And always was and always will be!

When you know that, you will start to understand why Harry Reid is so desperate to get it done which is why he lashes out with accusations of racism at anyone who dares to defy his master.

However, Senator Reid would do well to remember that Abraham Lincoln was a Republican. It was the Republicans who fought to get rid of discrimination and the Jim Crow laws. And it was the Democrats who fought to stop that effort.

Finally, as far as I know, there is still just one Senator on the Hill who was a member of the Ku Klux Klan and he is one Robert Byrd of West Virginia.

A Democrat.

It's Report Card Day .......

I held a revealing telephone conversation yesterday evening. Actually three, but one sticks in my head. With Obama supporters, it takes a certain amount of temerity, stupidity or alcohol to broach the subject but, broach it I did.

So, employing my most engaging interviewing technique, I asked how the person felt that Obama was doing and I was not surprised by the reaction which was, “I think he’s doing great”. But I’m not a quitter and I so I went on to wonder if the person could be a little more specific such as telling me what he’d actually done. Again, not surprisingly, there was a brief moment and then I heard a reiteration that overall, he was doing very well.

Is that a fact? Last weekend, Obama was asked to grade himself on his first 10 months in the job. Now, a normal person would have deferred the question and would have protested that it was too early, ask me again a couple of years from now, etc .. etc .. etc. But not Obama.

The very next day, yesterday to be precise, a major news outlet in this country polled 100,000 voters and asked them to fill out Obama’s report card and they went further by making the process more granular. Here are the results and, Oh by the way, the choices were A, B, C, D and I ( for incomplete). In deference to the office there was no F.

Handling the Economy 73% D

Domestic & Social Issues 80% D

Foreign Affairs 79% D

Afghan & Iraq Wars 63% D

Leadership 80% D

National Security 82% D

Management Style 81% D

It doesn’t take an Einstein to work out the Grade Point Average but actually it was an 85% D. And bear in mind, there was no F.

Of course, by now, you’re all on the edge of your seats as you wait to learn Obama’s answer on TV. Well, he awarded himself, and I quote, “ A solid B+”.

Has anyone ever explained to that man the difference between self-confidence and self-aggrandizement? Or how about the difference between realism and fantasy?

So, Obama believes he is the cats meow and so does one Arizonan. Somehow I doubt that will be enough to carry the day for his party in 2010 nor for he and his party in 2012.

Even including Chicago ballot practices

Dateline: Copenhagen, Denmark; December 14, 2009

Tony Blair, the ex-Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and the aspiring first President of the European Union said today at the, now notorious, Copenhagen Conference.

“We must take action on the issue of climate change even if the science is not correct.”.

Now his opponents in the UK will not be surprised with this revelation but maybe you will. And this was in the wake of the disappearance of the University of East Anglia’s web site and the resignation of the illustrious head of their “Climate Research” facility and the destruction of all their raw data. But yet, politicians can strut out and lie through their teeth?

Is it any wonder then, that the polls in this country reflect these truths and Obama is no longer immune.

Today Rasmussen reports that the margin of likely voters who favor Obama is at a minus 18%. And, for those from Lake Havasu City, that means that while only 44% “Strongly Approve, there's a helluva' lot more that don't and that gap keeps on widening. Now, also keep in mind that we're talking about likely voters here because, in the cold light of day, the rest don’t really matter.. Brutal perhaps but it’s politics and it is life,.

Either lead or follow or get the heck out of the way.

I love numbers. So, here’s a few more!

Now most of them track with the statistic detailed above and you can make up your own mind anyway about those and the ones that follow.

For a start, 40% of Americans describe themselves as conservative, 36% as independents and only 20% as liberal. The strange thing is that only one quarter of the latter describe themselves as such. It seems they would much prefer to be known as “Progressives”. Odd that liberals want to run away from their flag while conservatives are proud to display ours,

Old Glory!!

But I digress, because I have yet to mention the Gallop Generic poll which gives the edge to Republicans over Democrats by 18 points. Amazing how that tracks with this weeks Rasmussen isn’t it?

And, were I the type to drive in the knife, I would also point out that, even in the post-George Bush era, as of this weekend, only 50% like the idea of Obama in the Oval Office while 44% would prefer Bush.. Do you remember how reviled he was? And as for the missing 6%, they're waiting for Elvis to return.

Is that an indictment or what?

Finally, I do not personally endorse this, but 20% of independents support the idea of impeaching Obama. Then ,of course, they always will until Ron Paul or Dennis Kucinich is sworn in.

I’ll will leave you today with a this thought:-

Obama was on Wall Street today. Or perhaps Wall Street was summoned unto the” Great One”. Anyway, as we saw on the Sunday talk shows, he is angry with the “Fat Cats”


When was the last time you were offered a job by a poor man?

Happy Hanukah

Just as long as there is an occupant of the Oval Office who prides himself on his ecumenism, well for 2 out of the 3 major monotheistic faiths anyway, while totally ignoring the Daddy of them all because, to recognize it might irk his other allegiances especially Jeremiah Wright.

So, on this first full day of Hanukah, I decided to borrow a few ideas from elsewhere and come up with a list of songs. And here they are. Please feel free to sing along and/or add your own.


Oy to the World

Silent Night? I should be so lucky ….

All I want for Christmas is for my son to call me every once in a while. Once a week would be better.

Enough of the Jingle Bells already.

Hark, the Herald Tribune ……

I’ll be home for Christmas; if my mother can nag my father into sending me an airline ticket.

God rest ye, Merry Gentlemen. And tell your father to lay of the schnapps next year.

I saw someone kissing Santa Claus but I suspect it was your worthless, slutty wife with Tiger Woods. And don't say I didn't warn you ......

Hey, “Little Drummer Boy”? When you’re old enough, I’m going to send crayons to your firstborn.

Grandma got run over by a reindeer. Did we send the check for last year’s insurance premium?


After all, “White Christmas” was written by Irving Berlin.


And, before you ask, I’m not going to attempt anything for Kwanzaa. I’ll let the White House do that.

Hand over Fist ...........

It is the season when families and friends get together for the purpose, it seems, for eating too much, drinking too much, spending too much or to remind themselves why once a year is enough. One of the associated rituals is to play party games. The one I hated most was “Charades” and I usually feigned severe intestinal distress so I could avoid the embarrassment. I would emerge for “Trivial Pursuit”, however, and it is in that latter spirit that I pose the following question.

What do these past-Presidents have in common?

Harry Truman
Dwight Eisenhower
John Kennedy
Lyndon Johnson
Richard Nixon
Gerald Ford
James Carter
Ronald Reagan
George H.W. Bush
William Clinton
George W. Bush

And the answer is that, at this stage in each of their first or only terms, their approval rating was higher than Obama’s is now. And that, for good or for ill, must stick in a narcissist’s craw.

However, is it any surprise when one realizes that the man has done nothing. And choose your theater; Domestic or International?

And, is it any wonder when you analyze his agenda? Or is it that his agenda is so out of step with American thinking perhaps because he gets advice from people who are out of step with American thinking?

Well he’s the “smartest man in the World,” or so we were assured by most of the drive-by media during the campaign. Then they were quick to add that he would surround himself with the best minds available. One of ‘em was a man called Kevin Jennings who now holds the exalted title of Assistant Deputy Secretary for the Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools, which you can think of as the “School Czar” if you will.

Now, for the next part of this post, I need to be very careful. For a start I want to ensure that I don’t contravene one of the rules of my hosting site. Secondly, I know that this Blog is linked to other sites and I don’t want to offend them either. But, most of all, I don’t wish to disturb you, my dear reader.

Perhaps the best way would be to refer you to today’s “Drudge Report” and the subject is “Fisting” . And then to leave it at that except, for those who choose not go further into the details, Mr. Jennings, your School Czar not too many years ago was advocating the practice and handing out kits at Gay Lesbian events aimed at teenagers. I wonder if Mr. Jennings would be welcome at the school of Obama’s children in order to promote his beliefs?

Or, try this? Earlier this week, a conference was held in the White House on the subject of “government transparency”. Do you remember that campaign pledge?

Well this conference was closed to the public.

We're almost 11 months into this administration and if Obama is clinging onto precedent in order to bring up his approval numbers, that would indeed make records.

Because, that was not the way the way it worked out for the last eleven.

Or, putting it another way for those from Lake Havasu.

This is as good as it gets!

I went to bed as normal and woke as a racist ..........

It was only about 18 months ago that Obama revealed to the audience at his fund-raising event in San Francisco that I and people like me were going to “cling to G-d and Guns”.

Now it seems that I’m also a racist as well.

Not too long ago, Jimmy Carter announced, with all the wisdom that stems from a presidency of doing nothing in particular except for creating long gas lines, sky-high interest rates, and wearing ugly sweaters, that anyone who opposes Obamacare is racist. And yesterday Harry Reid jumped onto the racism bandwagon.

Now add Guns and G-d and I can expect another Waco or Ruby Ridge any day now. Is that the growl of my garbage truck or the grumble of a tank with Janet Reno peeping out? Or maybe they’ll ask Mike Dukakis to revive his tank driving prowess.

As you know, the Senate version of Obamacare is on the floor as we speak and the more I hear about it, the more I know I don’t want it . And every poll confirms that most people feel the same way. In fact, the pro number is now down to 35% and, actually, less than in 1 in 16 think they’ll be better off.

Nobody loves to play with numbers more than politicians and sometimes the Congressional Budget Office plays ball but more likely it doesn’t unlike the Office of Management and Budget which is staffed with people who always toe the party line. In this case, the Obama line.

Anyway the difference this time was stark indeed and given my ‘druthers I’d opt for the CBO because their own rules are supposed to preclude political shenanigans. As far as we know, if we attempt to meld the two versions and assume best case in both House and Senate bills, the cost will be in excess of 1.2 Trillion over 10 plus years.

The reason you’re not hearing that number is that the dominant liberal media don’t what you to know. Instead, they harp on the $800 billion figure much beloved of Obama, Pelosi and Reid.

And the sad thing is that the GOP isn’t even trying to stop this abomination but instead are trying to water it down. Fat chance!

I heard William Shatner on TV earlier this week as he huffed and puffed his protestation that the very rich in this country do not have to settle for the same level of healthcare that the less wealthy get to experience. No kidding! And, I’m sure it’ll come as a shock to the portly Mr. Shatner that not everyone gets to fly in Gulfstream Vs or winter in Antibes.

And before the proponents of so-called “single-payer” schemes unload all over me about the egalitarianism of the British or Canadian models, let me say that I’m darned sure that Prince Charles of Windsor does not receive the same care as a Charlie Prince from Windermere or wherever. It’s simply a fact of life. Live with it.

Like many others, I’ve had it with the “country-club Republicans” who still run the GOP and who are doing their best to run it into the ground. So, I’m changing my official party affiliation to Independent however I’ll continue to work for those causes and candidates closest to my conservative beliefs.

So, I’ve swapped the “R” as in Republican after my name. But now on my business card it’ll stand for “Racist” according to Harry Reid and Jimmy Carter.

Coming from them, I regard it as a badge of honor!

Tiger, Tiger Burning Bright in the Forest of The Night ..

Since the drive-by news outlets have been obsessed this past week with the revelations of one Mr. Woods, I was not going to be outdone but the only tiger I'm going to mention is the real one and you will find a factoid at the very end of this post.

In the meantime, though, I concerned myself with other matters because I have little interest in the game of golf and even less in the evasions of a spoiled little boy. We've got quite enough of that with the current occupant of the Oval Office and with this in mind I was intrigued to learn of someone who actually has a picture of Obama in their kitchen.

Now that alone scares me to death. Just the idea that any one external influence, especially a mortal one, can make a difference in a life is surely doomed to failure. Someone once advised against falling in love with any politician. They will break your heart every time. A much better idea is to look at a face before you ever get to the kitchen namely your bathroom mirror. Because inside your head is the source of happiness. Yes, even at 5 in the morning..

A few weeks ago, I told you a story of a little town in Texas and now I’m going to write one about another little town called St Francis, Wisconsin who received a grant from Obama’s Congress to the tune of $1 million. And that’s a lot of money, unless you’re inside the Beltway, and the city did not know how to spend it but, the conditions were clear, it must create jobs.

Eventually someone decided that the best idea was to widen the main street. And, ever eager to comply, they drew up plans, they scrubbed out all the existing lane markings and they laid out new ones. And all that activity provided temporary jobs for a few people for a week or so. And that has to be a start at least, Right?

Before the widening project, there was on-street parking on both sides and now there isn’t because that’s how the extra traffic lanes were created.

But in the middle of that street there was a bar and restaurant called Carlton Grange but now that’s gone as, without parking, the owner was forced to close and lay off his permanent employees. So $1 million bought a few jobs for a few days and closed a business which had been there for years and lost permanent jobs.

Well done Obama.

Perhaps he tested out of the class on unintended consequences or more likely he flunked it.

No wonder that today’s unemployment numbers ring hollow with me.

So, we’re down to 10% which the New York Times heralded as good news because, according to them, it means we are not shedding. Now, we’re not creating but what the heck? As long as they can spin the numbers, they will. Of course, what the NYT did not print was the fact that the sector with the biggest increase was in “Temporary Help” presumably for the Holiday shopping season. Was there ever a year when that number didn't increase to a greater or lesser extent?

The more important question becomes, why do employers hire temps in the first place? Because it’s cheaper than to hire permanent employees and then lay them off. And the reason that companies are not hiring is simple. They are scared.

At Obama’s much vaunted “Job Summit” at the White House yesterday he dared to ask the question about what could be done. One CEO there, and he must have snuck in under the Secret Service screen, dared to respond. His company is a medical systems manufacturing company from Utah but he dared to tug on the anointed one’s gown and tell the truth. “You Sir. And your policies are the problem”. And he went on as he explained his inability to care for his company and his stockholders when he was unable to plan 2 or 3 years out.

Somehow, I don’t think he’ll be invited back. And so Obama went on the road again today. But, as he wasn’t abroad, he only groveled a bit. And this time the theme was if you have ideas, please send ‘em in because I and my naïve team are all out.

Obama and his cohorts ran out of ideas when they realized that governments federal/, state and local can only create just so many jobs. And our tax dollars have to pick up their paychecks and their benefits.

I will sign off with a few thoughts

You do not create more wealth tomorrow by dividing up what exists today.

Go, check the records. The lowest unemployment numbers this nation has ever seen were during a World War or under a Republican Administration or when the taxation rates were at their lowest.

Which would you like to sign up for?

Or try this. Everybody knows that tigers have striped fur but did you know that beneath all that lovely fur, they also have striped skin.

The things you learn from reading this Blog.

We have met the enemy and he is us ...........

Tuesday evening was embarrassing. Even for me.

If a Commander-in Chief cannot generate enthusiasm from an audience at West Point, there is something wrong.

What’s wrong was everything.

On the stage was the teleprompter, actually two because we’ve learned how bad the presidential image can be when one fails. I swear that the man would be a twittering mass of incoherent protoplasm were they both to fail. On the other hand he would blame President Bush just as soon as he was resuscitated and Biden would blame Vice-President Cheney and on and on …

One of the basics of presentations is to understand the audience. This one was comprised of gung-ho Army cadets and it shouldn’t have been hard but Obama found it to be impossible to raise an ounce of even lackluster enthusiasm. Some of ‘em were reading books and some were asleep. And the rest were just glad to be out of class for a while.

With all that said, the most effective word a presenter can use is “You” and the ones to avoid like the plague are “I”, and “My”, but Obama managed both of the latter more than 60 times.

One of the things those cadets have been taught is obedience to a legitimate order from a superior officer. And they complied by showing up but that was as far as they were prepared to go.

Here are the facts as I know them to be. The original request from the general officers in that theater was for 80,000 more troops. Like most political appointees, McCrystal strove to do his sponsor’s bidding and opted for 40,000 instead. Then Obama, who sees himself as a modern-day Solomon, chose to split the baby in half and authorized just 30,000, - eventually.

Now some of the 30,000 were in that audience and knew only too well that some of them would not be coming home again in one piece, if at all..

So this “genius” of military strategy then chose to announce when he plans to withdraw from the battlefield which will be great news to the Taliban and he also spoke about America’s constrained resources. In other words, the Commander-in-Chief said to the enemy, except he never used that word, “Please give up before we run out of money.

Contrary to leftist propaganda, soldiers do not go into harm’s way just for the heck of it. They go because it’s their duty and it’s their job. But they are entitled to be led by commanders who believe in their mission and clearly Obama does not. And they should never be prevented from doing their job by fatuous “Rules of Engagement” such as these:-

No night or surprise searches.

Do not fire unless the enemy is preparing to fire.

Do not fire if there are civilians present.

It’s OK to apprehend a terrorist who is in the act of planting an IED but not OK if the terrorist is leaving the scene.

No wonder those cadets looked the way they did. And no wonder that little Chrissy Matthews of “Hardball” infamy described the setting as “The Enemy Camp”.

For the first time ever I agreed with little Chrissy but the Commander-in-Chief had brought it on himself as he tried to thread the needle for the benefit of his left-wing base and at the expense of his military which he clearly despises.

A Morning of Minarets and Mueslli

Today, was another morning of shock and awe for the Associated Press and CNN and MSNBC and all because the Swiss said that the predominant spires in their land should be their own, the natural ones, the Alps.

Most of the American-based news outlets were shocked by the Swiss referendum which mandated no more minarets on mosques in that country and they could not understand why.

But I can.

The Swiss are indeed a breed apart. They have survived as a tiny country for a 1000 years or more for a couple of reasons. Every dictator, every potentate, every king or emperor or Bernie Madoff needs a place to put his stash with no questions asked.

Well the Swiss did all that and more. They took Nazi gold during World War II and placed those ingots into safe keeping even when the provenance of that gold was not clean. They knew that some had been ripped out of the mouths of dead Jews with pliers.

So, clearly, the Swiss are not exactly the stuff of adverts just for cheese and yodeling and the happy life,

In fact, they are very conservative and yesterday they proved it. And it wasn't even close as shown by the fact that the measure passed by a margin of 58 to 43 percent out of more than 3 million votes. Anyone who knows anything about Western Europe is going to tell you pretty much the same thing which is that academics and politicians may mouth the platitudes but the indigenous populations tell a very different story in the pubs and their homes.

In the case of the Swiss, they fear being overrun and they see that the best way to protect their way of life is to hold the stakes for all comers while limiting the impact these immigrants from Kosovo, Albania and Turkey have on the local scene

Now I can’t claim first hand knowledge for all of this as far as Switzerland is concerned but I can tell you a little bit about England.

The national flag of England is not the Union Jack. The flag of England is the cross of St. George which is a red cross on a white background and its derivative is seen on the shirts of the national soccer team. The Muslims resident in England objected because it looked like a Crusader’s shield.

My own daughter’s employer, a bank, used to run a campaign to attract savers which employed a piggy bank. Well that clearly had to go as well because pigs are anathema to Muslims..

Eventually, even the Swiss were not going to take it anymore.

I doubt they will be the last.

It may be a brave New World but I don't like it.

A few days ago, you may have a read a post on this site which dared to poke a toe into the piranha-infested waters of “Global Warming Science” and the issue of what has started to become known as “Climate-Gate”.

Now, it’s true that most American media outlets ignored the entire maelstrom because:

They didn’t want to even contemplate that they’d been so wrong for so long.

The Obama Administration had not given them the green-light. (No pun intended but welcomed.)

And no Americans were involved.

And you can put those in any order you want.

Or add your own as well.

But, as Obama plans to head out to Denmark for the biggest international yawn in decades, we now learn that Americans are indeed involved and one of ‘em is Obama’s Climate Czar; no wonder the White House went quiet.

Here are a couple of Morris’ Maxims to live by.

For a start, when a politician says he wants to be completely honest, you know he doesn’t. And when that same politician goes quiet he’s trying to think up an excuse but he’s trying to figure out whatever it is you caught him or her doing.

The Czar in question is one, Dr. John P. Holdren and he’s up to his ears in Climategate. Holdren is an intractable global warming activist with no time for climate change skepticism.

In a New York Times article, he contended that such questioning “has delayed. and continues to delay, the development of the political consensus that will be needed if society is to embrace remedies commensurate with the challenge.”

He has also become something of a celebrity, rubbing shoulders with the Hollywood luminaries at President Obama’s state dinner Tuesday night honoring Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, and repeatedly appearing as a guest on the David Letterman show.

But the Canada Free Press this week revealed that the former Harvard professor and Al Gore global warming adviser features prominently in the thousands of e-mails and other files made public after the hacking last week of a computer server used by the University of East Anglia Climate Research Unit.

The most embarrassing item for the Obama Administration may be a 2003 exchange between Holdren and TCSDaily.com editor-in-chief Nick Schulz. Schulz challenged Holdren on whether downplaying the significance of the Medieval Warm Period required “what lawyers call the burden of proof.”

Holdren’s retort contained a remarkable assertion coming from a scientist: “In practice, burden of proof is an evolving thing – it evolves as the amount of evidence relevant to a particular proposition grows.”

Huh?

Canada Free Press columnist and Canadian climatologist Dr. Tim Ball says of the correspondence with Schulz that Holdren’s “entire defense and position devolves to a political position.”

The CRU documents also find Holdren disparaging solar physicists Sallie Baliunas and Willie Soon, contrarians regarding surface temperatures over the past millennium, who were colleagues of Holdren at Harvard, and Ball wonders if Holdren may have intimidated the two scientists before they “suddenly and politely withdrew from the fray,” as Ball describes it.

Some will accept my contention that I don’t kick a downed man unless he’s a Nazi while others would believe I would but, in this case there really is more

Dr. Holdren has a history of alarmingly extremist views. He co-authored a 1977 book, “Ecoscience: Population Resources, Environment,” advocating compulsory abortion for purposes of population control, mass sterilization, government-dictated family size like China’s one-child policy, and a “planetary regime” to be policed by the United Nations.

Not long before the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade ruling legalizing abortion-on-demand throughout America, Holdren co-authored “Human Ecology: Problems and Solutions,” which seems to argue that even years after birth a baby is not yet a human being.

“The fetus, given the opportunity to develop properly before birth,” claims the book’s “Population Limitation” section, “and given the essential early socializing experiences and sufficient nourishing food during the crucial early years after birth, will ultimately develop into a human being.”

Holdren’s “Human Ecology” warns of large-scale disaster that might require “involuntary fertility control” to stop population growth. “Compulsory control of family size is an unpalatable idea, but the alternatives may be much more horrifying,” the Holdren book suggests.

Hmm!

I’m glad I’m old and not a fetus.

Did you ever try to give a pill to a cat?

European elites often complain that Americans know nothing of the continent from whence most of them hail. They mispronounce names; they mess up the food and, worse yet, their knowledge of history is incomplete or wrong.

Imagine my surprise, then, when an email arrived in response to what I thought was a deliberately innocuous post about Thanksgiving. The thrust of the invective was to take to task the “pen of the Revolution”, one Thomas Jefferson and my initial response was to question the connection between Jefferson and the holiday just past.

As a domestic aside, I’ll make turkey pot pie tomorrow and the rest of the beast goes into the freezer.

But I digress, again, don’t I?

The fact, though, is that the deeds and times of William Bradford and Thomas Jefferson were separated by at least 7 generations. What malfeasance committed by your great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandparents do you want to own up to and flagellate about. And what difference would it make if you did either of those things.? And that brings to mind the concept of reparation to today’s black community for the obscenity of slavery.

But, again I digress because all this triggered a wider thought. Perhaps it’s all the tryptophan? And this is something I’ve thought long about and frankly, it sticks in my craw. Perhaps the following conclusions are valid or perhaps they’re not or perhaps its somewhere in between.

These United States still represent the greatest power this planet has ever seen and my tax liability is stark witness that we try to use that power for the good of all. I can hear the dismissive snarls already.

Thus, it seems to me that if we were weak, we would not be hated. If we were poor we would not be hated. We are not hated despite the trillions of dollars we give; we are hated because of the trillion dollars.

The hatred that some feel towards this country is not because it attacks their homeland; it is because it keeps their's safe.

Over 2000 years ago, the Romans learned that they should not seek popularity because it was pointless. A world power can have supremacy or be loved but not both. I contend that what is felt towards this nation is 10% disagreement and 90% envy. No man can ever truly forgive his protector. There is no loathing that any man harbors more intense than that towards his benefactor.

Clearly, we are not the first to feel this animus. As I said, the Romans responded with ruthless force of arms and so did the Spanish. In turn, the British responded with languid contempt and now America sends out Obama to apologize. Fat chance!

It used to be called the “White Man’s burden”. Now it’s more like a pill stuck in your throat.

Food, Football and Free Enterprise ...........

As I write this, most American refrigerators have a dead but thawing bird within their Arctic grasps because tomorrow is Thanksgiving and this nation prepares itself to inhale too many calories.

Because I wasn’t here at the time, I escaped the “noble savage saving the white colonialists” as taught in public schools but, nevertheless, 30 plus years of residence has exposed me to the maudlin and political correctness of the Hollywood Left, the fawning of the mainstream media and the best efforts of Hallmark Cards.

Just ask Joseph Goebbels of yesteryear or David Axelrod of today and inherent to both their crafts is a common thread; Within the best lies there is a nugget of truth. The trick for the consumer is to find it. Which takes me back to the liberal version of Thanksgiving and the oft-missed nugget which has never been more appropriate than this year.

On August 1, 1620, the Mayflower set sail from Europe. It carried a total of 102 passengers, including forty Pilgrims led by William Bradford. On the journey, Bradford set up an agreement, a contract, that established just and equal laws for all members of the new community, irrespective of their religious beliefs. Where did the revolutionary ideas expressed in the Mayflower Compact come from?

Well, the Christian Bible of course because the Pilgrims were a people completely steeped in the lessons of the Old and New Testaments. They looked to the ancient Israelites for their example. And, because of the biblical precedents set forth in Scripture, they never doubted that their experiment would work.

But this was no pleasure cruise and the journey to the New World was a long and arduous one. And when the Pilgrims landed in New England in November, they found, according to Bradford's detailed journal, a cold, barren, desolate wilderness. There were no friends to greet them, he wrote. There were no houses to shelter them. There were no inns where they could refresh themselves. And the sacrifice they had made for freedom was just beginning. During the first winter, half the Pilgrims including Bradford's own wife died of either starvation, sickness, or exposure. When spring finally came, Indians taught the settlers how to plant corn, fish for cod and skin beavers for coats. Life improved for the Pilgrims, but they did not yet prosper! This is important to understand

Thanksgiving is actually explained in some textbooks as a holiday for which the Pilgrims gave thanks to the Indians for saving their lives, rather than as a devout expression of gratitude grounded in the tradition of both the Old and New Testaments.

Here is the part that has been omitted: The original contract the Pilgrims had entered into with their merchant-sponsors in London called for everything they produced to go into a common store, and each member of the community was entitled to one common share.

All of the land they cleared and the houses they built belonged to the community as well. They were, in effect, collectivists!

Now, Bradford, who had become the new governor of the colony, recognized that this form of collectivism was as costly and destructive to the Pilgrims as that first harsh winter, which had taken so many lives. He decided to take bold action. Bradford assigned a plot of land to each family to work and manage, thus turning loose the power of the marketplace. ... Long before Karl Marx was even born, the Pilgrims had discovered and experimented with what could only be described as socialism. And what happened? It didn't work! Surprise, surprise, huh?

What Bradford and his community found was that the most creative and industrious people had no incentive to work any harder than anyone else. But while most of the rest of the world has been experimenting with socialism for well over a hundred years -- trying to refine it, perfect it, and re-invent it -- the Pilgrims decided early on to scrap it permanently. What Bradford wrote about this social experiment should be in every schoolchild's history lesson.

“The experience that we had in this common course and condition, tried sundry years...that by taking away property, and bringing community into a common wealth, would make them happy and flourishing -- as if they were wiser than God."

Then he continued; "'For this community was found to breed much confusion and discontent, and retard much employment that would have been to their benefit and comfort. For young men that were most able and fit for labor and service did repine that they should spend their time and strength to work for other men's wives and children without any recompense...that was thought injustice.”. Read those words again. The Pilgrims found that people could not be expected to do their best work without incentive.

So what did Bradford's community try next? They unharnessed the power of good old free enterprise by invoking the capitalistic principle of private property. Every family was assigned its own plot of land to work and was permitted to market its own crops and products. And what was the result? “This had very good success,' wrote Bradford, "for it made all hands industrious, so as much more corn was planted than otherwise would have been." Bradford doesn't sound like much of an Obamanista, does he? Is it possible that supply-side economics could have existed before the 1980s? ... In no time, the Pilgrims found they had more food than they could eat themselves. ... So they set up trading posts and exchanged goods with the Indians.

Those profits allowed them to pay off their debts to the merchants in London. And the success and prosperity of the Plymouth settlement attracted more Europeans and began what came to be known as the 'Great Puritan Migration. So the Pilgrims decided to thank G-d for all of their good fortune.

And, let us not overlook the fact that, the salvation of this tiny colony came not wholly from without but largely from within!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Change You Certainly Cannot Believe In .........

They used to say that bad news came in sets of three and perhaps that's true. In which case, perhaps good news comes in twos.

And today was one of those days.

To start with, there was an email from a European friend who referred me, first to a newspaper article and then to the larger book.. The latter is entitled, “The Real Global Warming Disaster: Is The Obsession with Climate Change Turning Out To Be The Most Costly Blunder in History?” and the author is one Christopher Booker. I haven’t read the book yet but I will.

What I have read though, are the revelations emerging from the University of East Anglia in England. And the emails that follow tell a very sorry tale if you care about truth and objective science.

From: Phil Jones. To: Many, November 16, 1999
"I've just completed Mike's Nature [the science journal] trick of adding in the real temps to each series for the last 20 years (ie, from 1981 onwards) and from 1961 for Keith's to hide the decline."

Critics cite this as evidence that data was manipulated to mask the fact that global temperatures are falling. Prof Jones claims the meaning of "trick" has been misinterpreted

From Phil Jones To: Michael Mann (Pennsylvania State University). July 8, 2004

"I can't see either of these papers being in the next IPCC report. Kevin and I will keep them out somehow — even if we have to redefine what the peer-review literature is!"

(The IPCC is the UN body charged with monitoring climate change. The scientists did not want it to consider studies that challenge the view that global warming is genuine and man-made.)

From: Kevin Trenberth (US National Center for Atmospheric Research). To: Michael Mann. Oct 12, 2009

The fact is that we can't account for the lack of warming at the moment and it is a travesty that we can't... Our observing system is inadequate"
Prof Trenberth appears to accept a key argument of global warming sceptics - that there is no evidence temperatures have increased over the past 10 years.

From: Kevin Trenberth (US National Center for Atmospheric Research). To: Michael Mann. Oct 12, 2009

I will be emailing the journal to tell them I’m having nothing more to do with it until they rid themselves of this troublesome editor.”

Prof Jones appears to be lobbying for the dismissal of the editor of Climate Research, a scientific journal that published papers downplaying climate change.

From Phil Jones. To: Michael Mann. Date: May 29, 2008"C

Can you delete any emails you may have had with Keith re AR4? Keith will do likewise."

Climate change sceptics tried to use Freedom of Information laws to obtain raw climate data submitted to an IPCC report known as AR4. The scientists did not want their email exchanges about the data to be made public.

From: Michael Mann. To: Phil Jones and Gabi Hegerl (University of Edinburgh). Date: Aug 10, 2004

"Phil and I are likely to have to respond to more crap criticisms from the idiots in the near future."

In short, these "scientists" make no attempt to hide their disdain for climate change sceptics who request more information about their work.

In fact, I've just offered snippets because there are pages and pages of this stuff. The Kool-Aid drinkers will dismiss all of this as yet another vast Right Wing Conspiracy. And if it turns out to be nothing more than that, I will profer a public retraction in a heart beat.

Now, when you add all that to the revelations in Der Spiegel, there is clearly “something rotten in the “State of Denmark” as Hamlet affirmed.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Closer analysis of these scientific findings reveals that 3, repeat 3, trees from a forest in Siberia were chosen for a study of the rings under their bark. Just 3. The rest of the trees perhaps did not fit the preconceptions and so they were used to toast marshmallows one presumes.

Since the lies, damned lies and statistics have peeked out from beneath the rock, there has been a scurry of activity as the wood louses of science fight each other to flee the light of day.

Leading the flight was the New York Times who harrumphed that they would not publish any content that was not meant for the public eye. One is forced to ask if they drew the same veil of propriety over the Pentagon Papers and the rest of the Watergate revelations.

More and more, it becomes clear that the whole “Global Warming” myth was dreamed up for two reasons. For a start, adoption of Kyoto or Cap and Trade and the goals of Copenhagen were designed to bring the US economy to its knees. I thank G-d once again for our Constitution because, so far at least, only the Senate can ratify treaties. Sorry Obama!

Secondly, it was designed to scare liitle kids to death. Now, who could not wish a Polar Bear well? They’re big and furry and have huge floppy paws. Aw……..

And their population is increasing. Good news for kids and bad news for Al.

There’s one thing that worries me about all this.

Can you imagine how many text books will have to be changed and how much that will cost? Or how much money have we spent on meaningless doctoral theses?

Finally, I used to live in Northern California and, twice a day, I commuted across the Golden Gate Bridge. Now, in that part of the world you get used to nuts and you get used to delays on the bridge.

This day though was special. Because there, chained to a span was Ted Danson complete with a sign that warned that the planet had only 10 more years. I wish we'd left hm there. Perhaps the odd commuter would have poked up a sponge soaked in a good Dry Creek Merlot. But, it wouldn't have been me.

Well, we’ve lasted much longer than that since that day in 1987 and you’d think that he’d be happy along with all the rest of the PCH. But, I doubt they are.

Or let me ask it another way, If the planet isn't warming, is that good news or bad?

Or, are liberals ever really happy? Or is it that only unhappy people turn to liberalism as the last resort?

There's Palin and there's Polls...........

I wouldn’t be surprised if one reader took me to task about the statement I’m about to make, but still ………..

Grand Rapids, in the great state of Michigan, is hardly the center of the universe nor even the crossroads of the nation but it didn’t seem that way last week. It’s not that nothing much ever happens there but, as I can attest, it is the site of one of the best presidential libraries I’ve seen, namely that of President Gerald Ford, which stands on the banks of the Grand River as it tumbles its way towards the lake. And I’m sure there are rapids as well but it’s just that I haven’t seen them as far as I know.

Anyway, on a cold and wet November evening, a line of people began to form which, by next morning, had swelled to a crowd estimated to be in the thousands for a book signing by one Sarah Palin. You know her; the ex-governor of Alaska; John McCain’s running mate; an attractive and smart woman hated and reviled by the drive-by media. Then of course she also earned the ultimate accolade by being lampooned on “Saturday Night Live”.

Ever since Ms. Palin came into the national spotlight those wise arbiters of the political scene have sneered, ridiculed and denigrated this woman and have never stopped reassuring us of her irrelevance in the grand scheme of things as they see it.

When Al Gore’s now infamous treatise on global warming appeared the Associated Press assigned 1 reporter to fact-check the tome. That same organization put 11 people on the case of Ms. Palin’s book. MSNBC dispatched 17 reporters to Grand Rapids and one of them, the intrepid Norah O’Donnell, was convinced that a Pulitzer Prize was in the offing when she decided to grill a 17-year old girl who was one of those waiting in line. Unfortunately for the unsuspecting and overly confident Ms. O’Donnell, she encountered a very erudite high school Junior who knew more about the Constitution than she did herself and so she was forced to slink off to go in search of weaker prey.

And it wasn’t just in Grand Rapids as the book sold 300,000 copies nationwide the first day and that didn’t include the pre-launch orders.

Thus, we must ask the question. If Sarah Palin is such a non-entity and irrelevant to the political scene how come all the media scrutiny? Why do they fear her as a force for the Right and as a possible candidate at some point?

The answer is that more people in this country see themselves as conservative rather than liberal and, as it stands today, 74% of Republicans do not feel that their representatives on Capitol Hill are in touch with that mood. Contrast that with the fact that 59% of likely Republican voters say that Sarah Palin shares their values and only 18% see her as a divisive force within the GOP.

While all this was going on, Obama returned from another apology tour of the world with no agreement on anything and no achievement either unless you count another flub of protocol.

No wonder, therefore, that Rasmussen reports a minus 14% rating overall and every other, more granular poll, from the Afghan war to Gitmo to the proposed trial in New York City to healthcare presents very bad news for Axelrod et al.

It couldn't happen to a nicer bunch ........

However, the rise of conservatism, personified for now at least, by Sarah Palin may worry Obama more than all the other polls I just mentioned.

Could it be that the site of remembrance for one conservative President could be the phoenix for another?

How Sweet It Is!

The liberals among my readership were hoping, pehaps, that the hiatus was due to some incurable malady. Well it wasn’t, but just because I had an old school friend here as a house guest did not mean I had suspended my hearing nor my disbelief.

A week in politics is a long time and it’s even longer for a blogger. The temptation is to try to catch up which is both impossible and dumb because the world has moved on.

So, I’m not going to talk about rationed mammograms. I’ll let Kathleen Sebellius swing on her self-built gallows by the side of her twisting and long-dead sisters.

And, today we can add cervical cancer screening to the growing list of healthcare rationing indictments.

Nor will I dwell on the fiasco of misspent stimulus money in places that don’t exist that didn’t create jobs that weren’t. I did that weeks ago. Remember that little town in Texas? The post was called “A Tale of Two Cities”.

Instead, I’m going to fast forward to Al Gore and the subject of global warming that isn’t. I was going to say poor Al but that is clearly not true because Al has made millions out of the myth of the demise of polar bears by premature drowning.

Al was on “The Tonight Show” with Conan O’Brien a couple of nights ago and was extolling the idea of population growth limitation in order to eliminate global warming. Now let’s take ‘em one at a time. Al’s thrust this time was to push the concept of geo-thermal energy and opined that the potential was limitless because of the “millions of degrees” locked up in the planet’s core.

Well, it’s true that nobody knows the true number but every opinion says it’s somewhere between 5 and 8 thousand. Now that’s not something that your average Joe might know but this is Al, the self-proclaimed guru, a Nobel laureate as well,. But then so is Arafat for murder and Obama for nothing.

But I can’t leave “global warming” without mentioning an article from the latest issue of “Der Spiegel” reporting a study from the Max Planck Institute in Hamburg which concluded that the planet Earth has not warmed one iota for the last ten years.

Now there's "An Inconvenient Truth" if ever I heard one and it will surely do nothing to spur international action at the highly-touted conference next month in Copenhagen.

So now, let’s turn to population growth.

The “Green Fringe” point to China’s policy of one child per couple as the way, the truth and the light . Now, I’ll make the math as easy as possible but the logical end to this program is that one poor working sap in Shanghai could wind up supporting 2 parents and 4 grandparents. This is clearly unsustainable under any economic model that can be constructed. Something has to give and perhaps the easiest way is to get people to die sooner.

What better way than to ration medical care such as mammograms and pap smears. For a start, the women die earlier and they clearly can’t have more kids. So in one fell swoop, we reduce the population which pleases Al and his followers and we please Obama by cutting medical costs.

How's all that lovely Hope and Change working for ya' Huh?

Follow the Money ............

I tore up my AARP membership when I realized that one of their much-vaunted programs relative to car insurance was ripping me off.

For those outside these United States or who hail from Lake Havasu City and, come to think about it that’s pretty much the same thing, AARP stands for “American Association of Retired Persons”.

This “worthy” bunch is supposed to lobby on behalf of the senior citizenry in this country and therefore their support for the Pelosi bill on healthcare was and is puzzling to many. To so many in fact, that literally hundreds of thousands of equally frustrated seniors lobbied the AARP offices by ‘phone and email and put teeth into their objections by canceling their subscriptions too.

Why the health reform endorsement by AARP when it is very clear that the bill, if passed in anything like its current form, will severely impact Medicare which most seniors rely on to a greater or lesser extent?

Well here’s the dirty little secret.

AARP collects royalties on "Medigap ," a privately purchased insurance coverage that helps pay some of the health-care costs that Medicare doesn't cover.

However, seniors have the option of joining Medicare Advantage plans, allowing them to use Medicare funds to purchase private insurance plans that offer extra benefits and lower copayments than the Original Medicare Plan. An estimated 10.2 million seniors have enrolled in Medicare Advantage.

When seniors enroll in Medicare Advantage plans, they often drop Medigap policies because Medigap plans won't pay deductibles, copayments or other cost-sharing under the Medicare health plan. The switch slashes Medigap revenues - and simultaneously impacts AARP royalties from Medigap insurance.

However, Section 1161 of the House bill would slash payments to Medicare Advantage health plans used by 20 percent of seniors and cause them to lose some benefits, including vision and dental coverage.

According to the Galen Institute, one of the leading health-care policy organizations in the country, AARP saw that it would lose revenue if it didn't stop the Medicare Advantage programs.

The Galen Institute says the House bill would dramatically cut money out of Medicare Advantage programs, forcing people to need the Medigap policies that are such a big cash cow for the AARP. The legislation would kill competition that the AARP has with these Medicare Advantage programs, and it boosts the number of people who need the Medigap insurance because Medicare is going to become an even more deficient program than it is now.

According to the AARP website, the group promises seniors it will be a "voice in Washington and in your state, representing you on issues like Medicare, Social Security and consumer safety."

But the majority of the money AARP collects doesn't come from its annual $16 membership dues.

According to AARP's 2008 consolidated financial statements, the group received nearly $653 million in royalties from private insurance companies that sold products referred by AARP in 2008. It also received an additional $120 million for the ads placed in its publications.

By contrast, AARP collected $249 million in membership dues last year.

And now, as Paul Harvey used to put it, you know the rest of the story.

Sometimes less is more but not when it's the Government

You have to be more than a little thick-skinned to write a Blog.

Especially this kind of Blog because the subject triggers very scary reactions from some who have been friends for decades. But, at the same time, I know that my hit rate is in the thousands. And that’s even more scary

Today was one of those days. I got a “nasty-gram” from someone who is very dear to me whether she knows it or not. But in the same flood of stuff to my “Inbox” I read mail from new subscribers who can’t get enough. I’m honored and scared all at the same time.

Anyway, today’s dissenter took me to task over my assertion that the House Bill on Healthcare, catchily known as H.R. 3962, would create all kinds of new boards, bureaucracies, commissions, and programs.

Listed below, complete with Section and Page numbers, is Speaker Pelosi's proposed governmental infrastructure. And I’ll let it speak for itself:-

1. Retiree Reserve Trust Fund (Section 111(d), p. 61)
2. Grant program for wellness programs to small employers (Section 112, p. 62)
3. Grant program for State health access programs (Section 114, p. 72)
4. Program of administrative simplification (Section 115, p. 76)
5. Health Benefits Advisory Committee (Section 223, p. 111)
6. Health Choices Administration (Section 241, p. 131)
7. Qualified Health Benefits Plan Ombudsman (Section 244, p. 138)
8. Health Insurance Exchange (Section 201, p. 155)
9. Program for technical assistance to employees of small businesses buying Exchange coverage (Section 305(h), p. 191)
10. Mechanism for insurance risk pooling to be established by Health Choices Commissioner (Section 306(b), p. 194)
11. Health Insurance Exchange Trust Fund (Section 307, p. 195)
12. State-based Health Insurance Exchanges (Section 308, p. 197)
13. Grant program for health insurance cooperatives (Section 310, p. 206)
14. "Public Health Insurance Option" (Section 321, p. 211)
15. Ombudsman for "Public Health Insurance Option" (Section 321(d), p. 213)
16. Account for receipts and disbursements for "Public Health Insurance Option" (Section 322(b), p. 215)
17. Telehealth Advisory Committee (Section 1191 (b), p. 589)
18. Demonstration program providing reimbursement for "culturally and linguistically appropriate services" (Section 1222, p. 617)
19. Demonstration program for shared decision making using patient decision aids (Section 1236, p. 648)
20. Accountable Care Organization pilot program under Medicare (Section 1301, p. 653)
21. Independent patient-centered medical home pilot program under Medicare (Section 1302, p. 672)
22. Community-based medical home pilot program under Medicare (Section 1302(d), p. 681)
23. Independence at home demonstration program (Section 1312, p. 718)
24. Center for Comparative Effectiveness Research (Section 1401(a), p. 734)
25. Comparative Effectiveness Research Commission (Section 1401(a), p. 738)
26. Patient ombudsman for comparative effectiveness research (Section 1401(a), p. 753)
27. Quality assurance and performance improvement program for skilled nursing facilities (Section 1412(b)(1), p. 784)
28. Quality assurance and performance improvement program for nursing facilities (Section 1412 (b)(2), p. 786)
29. Special focus facility program for skilled nursing facilities (Section 1413(a)(3), p. 796)
30. Special focus facility program for nursing facilities (Section 1413(b)(3), p. 804)
31. National independent monitor pilot program for skilled nursing facilities and nursing facilities (Section 1422, p. 859)
32. Demonstration program for approved teaching health centers with respect to Medicare GME (Section 1502(d), p. 933)
33. Pilot program to develop anti-fraud compliance systems for Medicare providers (Section 1635, p. 978)
34. Special Inspector General for the Health Insurance Exchange (Section 1647, p. 1000)
35. Medical home pilot program under Medicaid (Section 1722, p. 1058)
36. Accountable Care Organization pilot program under Medicaid (Section 1730A, p. 1073)
37. Nursing facility supplemental payment program (Section 1745, p. 1106)
38. Demonstration program for Medicaid coverage to stabilize emergency medical conditions in institutions for mental diseases (Section 1787, p. 1149)
39. Comparative Effectiveness Research Trust Fund (Section 1802, p. 1162)
40. "Identifiable office or program" within CMS to "provide for improved coordination between Medicare and Medicaid in the case of dual eligibles" (Section 1905, p. 1191)
41. Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (Section 1907, p. 1198)
42. Public Health Investment Fund (Section 2002, p. 1214)
43. Scholarships for service in health professional needs areas (Section 2211, p. 1224)
44. Program for training medical residents in community-based settings (Section 2214, p. 1236)
45. Grant program for training in dentistry programs (Section 2215, p. 1240)
46. Public Health Workforce Corps (Section 2231, p. 1253)
47. Public health workforce scholarship program (Section 2231, p. 1254)
48. Public health workforce loan forgiveness program (Section 2231, p. 1258)
49. Grant program for innovations in interdisciplinary care (Section 2252, p. 1272)
50. Advisory Committee on Health Workforce Evaluation and Assessment (Section 2261, p. 1275)
51. Prevention and Wellness Trust (Section 2301, p. 1286)
52. Clinical Prevention Stakeholders Board (Section 2301, p. 1295)
53. Community Prevention Stakeholders Board (Section 2301, p. 1301)
54. Grant program for community prevention and wellness research (Section 2301, p. 1305)
55. Grant program for research and demonstration projects related to wellness incentives (Section 2301, p. 1305)
56. Grant program for community prevention and wellness services (Section 2301, p. 1308)
57. Grant program for public health infrastructure (Section 2301, p. 1313)
58. Center for Quality Improvement (Section 2401, p. 1322)
59. Assistant Secretary for Health Information (Section 2402, p. 1330)
60. Grant program to support the operation of school-based health clinics (Section 2511, p. 1352)
61. Grant program for nurse-managed health centers (Section 2512, p. 1361)
62. Grants for labor-management programs for nursing training (Section 2521, p. 1372)
63. Grant program for interdisciplinary mental and behavioral health training (Section 2522, p. 1382)
64. "No Child Left Unimmunized Against Influenza" demonstration grant program (Section 2524, p. 1391)
65. Healthy Teen Initiative grant program regarding teen pregnancy (Section 2526, p. 1398)
66. Grant program for interdisciplinary training, education, and services for individuals with autism (Section 2527(a), p. 1402)
67. University centers for excellence in developmental disabilities education (Section 2527(b), p. 1410)
68. Grant program to implement medication therapy management services (Section 2528, p. 1412)
69. Grant program to promote positive health behaviors in underserved communities (Section 2530, p. 1422)
70. Grant program for State alternative medical liability laws (Section 2531, p. 1431)
71. Grant program to develop infant mortality programs (Section 2532, p. 1433)
72. Grant program to prepare secondary school students for careers in health professions (Section 2533, p. 1437)
73. Grant program for community-based collaborative care (Section 2534, p. 1440)
74. Grant program for community-based overweight and obesity prevention (Section 2535, p. 1457)
75. Grant program for reducing the student-to-school nurse ratio in primary and secondary schools (Section 2536, p. 1462)
76. Demonstration project of grants to medical-legal partnerships (Section 2537, p. 1464)
77. Center for Emergency Care under the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (Section 2552, p. 1478)
78. Council for Emergency Care (Section 2552, p 1479)
79. Grant program to support demonstration programs that design and implement regionalized emergency care systems (Section 2553, p. 1480)
80. Grant program to assist veterans who wish to become emergency medical technicians upon discharge (Section 2554, p. 1487)
81. Interagency Pain Research Coordinating Committee (Section 2562, p. 1494)
82. National Medical Device Registry (Section 2571, p. 1501)
83. CLASS Independence Fund (Section 2581, p. 1597)
84. CLASS Independence Fund Board of Trustees (Section 2581, p. 1598)
85. CLASS Independence Advisory Council (Section 2581, p. 1602)
86. Health and Human Services Coordinating Committee on Women's Health (Section 2588, p. 1610)
87. National Women's Health Information Center (Section 2588, p. 1611)
88. Centers for Disease Control Office of Women's Health (Section 2588, p. 1614)
89. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Office of Women's Health and Gender-Based Research (Section 2588, p. 1617)
90. Health Resources and Services Administration Office of Women's Health (Section 2588, p. 1618)
91. Food and Drug Administration Office of Women's Health (Section 2588, p. 1621)
92. Personal Care Attendant Workforce Advisory Panel (Section 2589(a)(2), p. 1624)
93. Grant program for national health workforce online training (Section 2591, p. 1629)
94. Grant program to disseminate best practices on implementing health workforce investment programs (Section 2591, p. 1632)
95. Demonstration program for chronic shortages of health professionals (Section 3101, p. 1717)
96. Demonstration program for substance abuse counselor educational curricula (Section 3101, p. 1719)
97. Program of Indian community education on mental illness (Section 3101, p. 1722)
98. Intergovernmental Task Force on Indian environmental and nuclear hazards (Section 3101, p. 1754)
99. Office of Indian Men's Health (Section 3101, p. 1765)
100.Indian Health facilities appropriation advisory board (Section 3101, p. 1774)
101.Indian Health facilities needs assessment workgroup (Section 3101, p. 1775)
102.Indian Health Service tribal facilities joint venture demonstration projects (Section 3101, p. 1809)
103.Urban youth treatment center demonstration project (Section 3101, p. 1873)
104.Grants to Urban Indian Organizations for diabetes prevention (Section 3101, p. 1874)
105.Grants to Urban Indian Organizations for health IT adoption (Section 3101, p. 1877)
106.Mental health technician training program (Section 3101, p. 1898)
107.Indian youth elemental health demonstration project (Section 3101, p. 1909)
108.Program for treatment of child sexual abuse victims and perpetrators (Section 3101, p. 1925)
109.Program for treatment of domestic violence and sexual abuse (Section 3101, p. 1927)
110.Native American Health and Wellness Foundation (Section 3103, p. 1966)
111.Committee for the Establishment of the Native American Health and Wellness Foundation (Section 3103, p. 1968)

I trust you are taking notes as I plan a snap test later in the week.

"I wish his name were Smith."

I’ve known a couple of people who have undergone psychological evaluation and counseling. Who they are and why they did is of no consequence now but both of them reported the same thing, which was that the counselors seemed to be the crazy ones in need of help.

And so it seems to have been at Fort Hood, Texas a couple of days ago. Either that or the shooter is simply a Muslim extremist who, while working at Walter Reed Army Hospital, held seminars trying to explain why all infidels should convert to Islam. And let’s face it, there is little practical difference between the two alternatives.

In addition, the good major is on record trying to draw moral equivalence between a GI who deliberately falls on a live grenade and a Muslim suicide bomber while completely overlooking that the GI dies in order to save lives and the bomber dies in order to take them

Anyway, this perverted individual seems to be the first reported case of PPTSD or Pre-Post Traumatic Stress Disorder as he’s never been deployed to any conflict anywhere or so his eventual legal advocate will claim when and if the tragedy comes to trial.

Already, the drive-by news outlets are beginning to portray this Major Hasan as the victim while diluting the trauma done to the murdered and their grieving relatives. Not surprisingly, CNN got it wrong from the get-go as they automatically assumed that the perpetrator had to be an angry Caucasian with probable right-wing militia ties. Wrong!!

I must confess to being torn about Hasan’s eventual fate. Do I want him to die from his wounds or do I want him to be tried for his monstrous act? If it turns out to be the latter, it will at least be under the Uniform Code of Military Justice which, last time I checked, still had hanging on the books.

All of this will be revealed in due course and I suspect that regular readers are scratching heads and wondering when I am going to get to our “fearless” leader and the answer is now.

One of his principal duties is as Commander in Chief and that entails being a leader of troops. Obama emerged on to a lawn at the White House from a meeting involving Native American issues, fully aware of that which had happened in Texas but took minutes to even mention the tragedy.

Now don’t take my word for it because here is a transcript of his words as reported in “The Washington Post” ……….

“Please, everybody, have a seat. Let me first of all just thank Ken and the entire Department of the Interior staff for organizing just an extraordinary conference.

I want to thank my Cabinet members and senior administration officials who participated today. I hear that Dr. Joe Medicine Crow was around, and so I want to give a shout out to that Congressional Medal of Honor winner. It's good to see you.

(APPLAUSE)

My understanding is that you had an extremely productive conference. I want to thank all of you for coming and for your efforts, and I want to give you my solemn guarantee that this is not the end of a process, but the beginning of a process and that we are going to follow up.

(APPLAUSE)

We are going to follow up. Every single member of my team understands that this is a top priority for us. I want you to know that, as I said this morning, this -- this is not something that we just give lip service to. And we are going to keep on working with you to make sure that the first Americans get the best possible chances in life in a way that's consistent with your extraordinary traditions and culture and values.

Now, I have to say, though, that beyond that, I had planned to make some broader remarks about the challenges that lay ahead for Native Americans as well as collaboration with our administration.

But as some of you might have heard, there has been a tragic shooting at the Fort Hood Army base in Texas ................"

This is the leader of troops, many of whom are now dead?

Remember the lampooning of President Bush as he sat in that elementary classroom back in 2001?

But, before I move on, I must point out that Obama awarded the recipient the Medal of Freedom and not the Congressional Medal of Honor and there are good reasons for that. First of all, the latter is awarded for bravery and secondly, as the name implies, it is not awarded by the President.

Then the next day, his Press Secretary Mr.Gibbs promised more as he announced a further statement.

What we got was a “firm promise to lower all flags to half staff until Veterans’ Day”.

And then he couldn’t wait to move onto other things.

For a start, he was breathless to announce that fewer jobs had been lost in October than the month before. This must come as a great comfort to the more than 190,000 Americans who did and who had boosted the total to 10.2%.

Then he went on to assure us that the shortage of H1 N1 vaccine was not his fault.

Is anything?

Finally, I must return to the terrorist murders at Fort Hood and highlight the politically correctness attitudes that allow a Major Hasan to be in a position to do what he did.

One unidentified Army spokesperson said it all. “I wish that his name were Smith”.

And so does CNN. And probably Obama as well.