Month: August 2009

One of the things I hate about the Internet is what I love about the Internet. I find fascinating stuff, and then I often can’t determine whether the fascinating stuff I find is true. For example, there’s a deck of cards for sale in England, and each card features a picture of prominent politician accompanied…

The singer is my cousin and childhood friend Janice Meyerson. I spent a lot of time with her and her husband this past weekend at the Simon Family Reunion. Janice and her husband drove my mate, my mother, and I to my mothers apartment Saturday night after the reunion dinner at the Offutt Air Force…

Mark Milian at the LA Times blog misses a few fundamental points about political speech and street art: it’s not political speech until someone injects the politics, and it’s not street art until it hits the streets. When cryptic posters portraying President Obama as the Joker from “Batman” began popping up around Los Angeles and…

A story I missed from last month ties in with what I said earlier about using the “Bush did it too!” argument to justify Orwellian tactics. According to this article, the Department of Homeland Security has placed a political enemy of Janet Napolitano on the DHS “No-Fly” list: On July 16th, Arizona State Treasurer Dean…

Can you believe that the Massachusetts health care “miracle” was cooked up by a Republican? Praise Mitt Romney. Three years ago, the former Massachusetts Governor had the inadvertent good sense to create the “universal” health-care program that the White House and Congress now want to inflict on the entire country. It is proving to be…

Commenter Veeshir alerted me to the possibility that I was overreacting (in this post) to an ABC report which in turn quoted a retired FBI agent who claimed that Rush Limbaugh’s comparison of the Obamcare logo to a Nazi logo “legitimizes people who are on the edge to go do something or say something.” While…

The “public option” is dead. We did it. We killed the worst part of this bill, the part that probably meant government would eventually end up taking over 15% of the economy. Ed urges we not be complacent, and he’s right, but nonetheless this is a moment to savor. Congratulations to everyone who spoke out…

While it doesn’t have much to do with Obamacare, I’m nonetheless fascinated by the public reaction to a YouTube video that’s gone viral, showing a woman dragging her leashed toddler through a Verizon store. Many people are outraged, and they’re calling for harsh punishment. The woman is charged with felony child cruelty and she faces…

I’m probably behind the times but until today I never heard the word “girlcott” before. However, I support the idea, Whole heartedly. John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods (and a former socialist) has taken a huge amount of flak for daring not only to oppose Obamacare, but to say so in a WSJ Op-Ed. This…

A little advice to the right-wing crazies enthusiasts who are using Hitler and other Nazi iconography to protest health care reform government takeover: 1) Bush protesters already beat this meme to death. Don’t bother. 2) Anyways, there’s a much more effective icon you can employ: Che! The murdering socialist has long been a favorite of…

More on death panels. The provisions in the healthcare bill which gave rise to the term are being scrapped. At the same time (as the LA Times condescendingly reports), the provisions are being said to have not ever existed: A Senate panel has decided to scrap the part of its healthcare bill that in recent…

One of my most frequent complaints involves the tendency ((of activists, usually) to blame people who did not do something for the actions — often criminal in nature — of people who did. The blame game usually takes the form of a communitarian political argument. A favorite target of left wing political activists is Rush…

Are the Republicans due for a resurgence? Byron York makes a very credible argument that they are: “I think what’s going to happen is Obama’s going to be fine, and the Democrats in Congress are going to get their asses kicked in 2010,” says one Democratic strategist who prefers not to be named. “This is…

While we are all going to die, each death is an enormously personal thing. I’ve been through the process with a lot of people, and it is never, ever easy. My reaction to the talk about government-mandated death panels (which Joe Klein thinks are a great idea) is that I can’t believe things have reached…

Did that all fit? (I hope so, but I didn’t clear it with the national lobby.) My observation yesterday (that swastikas just don’t go with Brooks Brothers suits) was not terribly original, for it doesn’t take much imagination to see major inconsistencies in the way health care protesters are being stereotyped and characterized by those…

Here is a link to The County Sheriff America’s Last Hope. Here is a description: Sheriff Mack’s newest book covers decades of research to prove once and for all that the sheriffs in this country are indeed the ultimate law authority in their respective jurisdictions. The sheriff absolutely has the power and responsibility to defend…

Here’s something I’m not finding persuasive of anything: CAPTION: A vandalized sign outside the office of Rep. David Scott, D-Ga., is shown Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2009 in Smyrna, Ga. Scott had a contentious community meeting on health care last week. Scott, who is black, said the swastika is the latest example of what he believes…

Think we don’t have debtors prison in these enlightened times? Well, think again. Not only are deadbeat dads routinely imprisoned, but via Dr. Helen, I just learned about an incident in which the “dad” went to prison for a child that wasn’t his: Frank Hatley, 50, spent 13 months in jail for being a deadbeat…

It appears that a Democrat was holding up the Obama is Hitler poster at a John Dingell townhall. I think a look at the evidence is in order. First a picture then a video. I think an explanation is in order about Dingell’s Town Hall. Note the black man holding up the poster. This screenshot…

Quick question (which may touch on why I hate politics). Should I be hoping the economy is improving? According to most of the leading economists quoted in the Wall Street Journal, it is. But from a political standpoint, would economic improvement be a good thing? Just asking, because the left used to hope for disaster…