Boxer rebellion

Today, Rasmussen released a poll of the California 2010 Senate race matching Senator Boxer against Carly Fiorina, the former CEO of Hewlett Packard, and a fixture on the McCain campaign team in 2008. Boxer is ahead by 4% only, and her numbers fall below the magic 50%. While it is obviously way too early to say that Boxer is in trouble, the very fact that in California, one of the bluest of the blue states, a long time incumbent Democrat is doing this poorly, indicates that election day in 2010 may not be a good time to be a Democrat.

Huh?

After last nights press conference by Obama, we should be much better informed than before about the provisions of the health care proposals swirling around in congress. Not so! Obam used fog and deception to obscure what is actually in the bills -- assuming he knows.

perhaps the biggest howler of the evening came when Obama was asked what sacrifices the American people would have to make if the plan passes. His answer -- The American people will have to give up paying too much for unnecesary health care. That sure sounds like a sacrifice to me! Was Obama high at the presser? Nothing else could excuse his refusal to tell the truth. Oh wait, how about that he is a liar.

The truth is that the plans in congress will cut off health care from those folks that the government considers to old or too sick to be treated economically. Life or death will not matter to these folks, only the cost. Obama, however, could not tell us the truth.

If the health plan passes, the new slogan will be "Obama lied and millions died!"

That's really change we can believe in!

F-Dodd 22

Senator Dodd spent today and the recent past arguing strongly in favor of the continuation of purchases by the government of the f-22 fighter bomber. this morning, Mr. Effective lost his fight in the Senate by 58-40. So, let's analyze dodd's position. Each f-22 cost 350 million dollars. these fighters were never used in Iraq or Afghanistan. Further each plane requires 30 hours of maintenance for each hour it flies. In other words, these planes would be essentially useless in any war for which they were deemed appropriate. So why buy them? Dodd says that it is to keep engineers active in defense. Huh? Engineers design planes while they are in development. This plane has not been in development for a long, long time. Dodd should just tell the truth. The plane is manufactured by a bunch of people who have all contributed big time to his campaigns. While I have yet to check, my suspicion is that Dodd's wife is probably on the board of one of these companies. Oh sure, purely on merit. Her husband's position has nothing to do with her successful career. Did I mention that Dodd is also selling the Brooklyn Bridge?

The health care fallacy

Obama sells his health care program by claiming that increased spending on preventative care will fund a big part of the costs of the plan. This is sheer nonsense.

Let’s assume that preventative care really keeps people alive and healthy on average for an extra year. That means that the population will have somewhat reduced health care costs for one year (the amount which would have been spent on acute healthcare less the amount spent on preventative healthcare.) After that, the acute healthcare costs will rise again because the older people will go back to being sick and dying at the same rate as now. In addition, the preventative costs will have to be maintained or those left will start dying younger. So, the preventative costs will add costs in the long run.

I realize that this analysis seems harsh, but it is just the logic (so-called) of the Obamacrats moved forward to the ultimate conclusion. It will be imperative for Obama to have care denied to some level of those who are ill in order to achieve cost cutting. Why doesn’t he just endorse euthanasia?

We are almost there

Today, the rasmussen tracking poll of job approval for president Obama is at 50% approve of his work and 49% disapprove. More precisely, 50% rank his work excellant or good and 49% say it is fair or poor. This is the worst job approval number that Obama has ever gotten. In addition, those who strongly approve are outnumbered by those who rate him poor by 7%.

It is very appropriate that today is the 6 month aniversary of the day obama took office. If things go as I expect, Obama will have six months of positive ratings followed by three and a half years of negative ones. The American people are not foolish enough to rate highly a president who adopts ruinous policies for the country's economy or who disses friends and embraces enemies abroad.

One current example is truly amazing. the Obamacrats demanded that Israel stop construction of an apartment building on the site of an old hotel in Jerusalem. The project is located two blocks from the National Police Headquarters and immediately adjacent to the Hebrew University, the country's largest university. According to the Obamacrats, this apartment building is a "settlement" and it has to be stopped to allow for the peace process to proceed. Amazingly, Obama actually thinks that the Israelis will make part of their capital into a Jewish free zone just because Barak has said it should be. Many in Israel remember the last time Jewish free zones were announced, although then the Nazis called it Judenrein. to say Obama is a fool does not do it justice. Actually he is a dangerous idiot who has managed to hurt US national interests across the globe and at home in just six months of activist lunacy. Hopefully, his approval numbers will sink so low that he will be unable to get anthing else harmful accomplished.

Walter Cronkite

The death of Walter Cronkite this week leads me once again to question the values shown by the media. There is no doubt that Cronkite was successful as the anchor of the CBS news. He had a great voice and demeanor. I can recall watching him every evening for the years when I was in law school. Still, does that make him a person worthy of non-stop coverage followed by a series of specials about his life? Not in my view. Would we such a massive coverage event if Steve Jobs of Apple were to die? I doubt it, but Jobs probably had more impact on the life of most Americans than Cronkite.

I certainly respect Cronkite for his successful career. I cannot, however, respect the media for their coverage choices.

How truly shocking

This morning, the New York Times breathlessly reports that the CIA ran a secret program to capture or kill the leaders of Al Qeada after 9-11 and that Congress was kept in the dark about it. Not surprisingly, this shocking story is given the highest priority by the NYT; it is on the front page above the fold on the right side. (the true place of honor for news stories). It would seem that Nancy Pelosi may be vindicated in her claim that the CIA lied to Congress.

Strange isn't it? My guess is that 99% of Americans assumed that every branch of the US government was trying after 9-11 to capture or kill the leaders of the group that killed thousands of innocent Americans in that attack. After all, we were at war, and these were the leaders of the enemy. Certainly, I recall hearing about small teams operating covertly that were ferried into Afghanistan right after 9-11 and prior to the defeat of the Taliban in that country. Still, the NY Times thinks that it is a big secret that this was happening.

the truth is that Pelosi's phony claim that the CIA lied to congress is now leading her allies in the press to come up with these ridiculous efforts to make Pelosi look sane, if not too brilliant. Unfortunately, the effort is not working. Other than Kieth Olbermann and the other shills on MSNBC, it is hard to imagine anyone getting too concerned over this "secret" program by the CIA. Indeed, many more Americans would be upset if there were no effort made to capture or kill the Al Qaeda leadership. I am now waiting for the explanation by the Obama administration as to why this program has now been stopped. Would we no longer wipe out the leadership of Al Qaeda if possible? Is Osama now entitled to Miranda rights and a trial? The man is an enemy combatant and this is, despite Obama's belief to the contrary, a war.

Is the Honeymoon over?

Today Rassmussen reports the results of its presidential approval poll as showing an 8% gap between those who strongly disapprove of Obama over those who strongly approve. This is a major shift from where that poll has been since the start of the Obama administration. Overall, those polled approved of Obama's job performance but only by a 51 to 48 margin, again, a major shift from where those numbers have been for months. It will be interesting to see how the other polls come in over the next few weeks. It will also be interesting to see how many news stories get written reporting the declining numbers for Obama, should that prove to be the case. For a number of years, nearly every story written about George Bush mentioned his low approval ratings no matter the subject. (Things like Bush lays wreath at Arlington Cemetary on Veterans Day actually had paragraphs about the approval polls.) My guess is that the stories that get written will minimize the aspect of increasing disapproval and will talk for the time being about how Obama's numbers are higher than those that Bush had at the end of his term. Of course, that is just a guess -- time will tell.

Iran and Obama (2)

This morning the New York Times reports that the senior clerics of Qum, Iran's holy city, have announced their view that the presidential election was a sham and, therefore, illegitimate. Amazingly, that means that the official policy of the Obama administration is now more supportive of the Iranian president than the mullahs of Qum. For me, that says all I will ever need to know about Obama's foreign policy. Maybe we will soon start sending technicians to help with the Iranian nuclear program.

Sarah Palin

I could not let governor Palin's impending resignation pass without discussion. I do not believe that this is a first step towards running for president. If it is, then it is an extremely foolish one since she would look extemely flaky resigning with time left on her term. Instead, I think she has just had enough. The nastiness with which Palin and her family have been treated has no equal in the annals of modern american politics. Oh, some candidates or office holders have been vilified, but not their spouses and children. If she does not intend to run for president, and I do not believe she wants to, thenit makes sense to get out of the limelight to protect her family. What a shame that the lowlifes cannot see that they are not just driving Palin away, but also many, many others who might consider running for office but for the cost to their families. And are we now to be treated to attacks on Sasha and Malia? I hope not.

Happy birthday America

Tomorrow marks the passing of 233 years since the announcement of the Declaration of Independence, a singular achievement in the annals of history. Right now things are pretty bleak for the USA. The economy keeps shedding jobs at an alarming rate. The actions by the government to counter the job losses have not performed as promised (Obama promised that the stimulus package would keep unemployment below 8% and it is now 9.5% and heading higher). On the international front, America's enemies are still developing nuclear weapons. US prestige has taken a major hit. Nevertheless, it is important for us all to remember that we still live in a great country and to celebrate that fact tomorrow. Happy Birthday America!