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February 29, 2008
Lobbying-A First Amendment Right
by Tina Grazier
The word “lobbyist” is enough to make otherwise calm and collected folks pull their hair and gnash their teeth…activities that involve influence, money, and ethics can have that effect on a person. Recent allegations of corrupt practices by lobbyists and politician have added to the burn in our bellies and may have played a sizable role in the defeat of republicans in the last election. But did you know that lobbying is protected by the First Amendment? That’s right, the First Amendment stipulates the people’s right "to petition the Government for a redress of grievances," and this is precisely what most lobbyists do for their clients. As I’ve said before, the government’s ability to tax, regulate and restrict or mandate activities that negatively effect businesses and individuals must be balanced. The founders wisely gave the people a way to fight back.
I urge anyone who is interested in this subject to read the article, “In Defense of Lobbying,” by Charles Krauthammer in the Washington Post online. It offers insight into the differences between “good” lobbying and “bad” lobbying and also takes a peek into how the press sometimes fails to differentiate between the two. He even provides a defense of “bad” lobbying that goes straight to the point about abuse of this important right:
…You wouldn't need to be seeking advantage if the federal government had not appropriated for itself in the 20th century all kinds of powers, regulations, intrusions and manipulations (often through the tax code) that had never been presumed in the 19th century and certainly were never imagined by the Founders. What appears to be rent-seeking is thus redress of a larger grievance -- insufferable government meddling in what had traditionally been considered an area of free enterprise.
The more we arm ourselves with knowledge the better prepared we are to make wise choices in our leadership. When we are informed and knowlegable we are better positioned to demand that our leaders act in an ethical manner.
Posted by Post Scripts at 10:18 PM | Comments (1)
From The Front Page
by Jack Lee
Looks like we could see as much as a 600 billion dollar loss in sub-prime mortgages or so says UBS. AIG tanked today posting its largest quarterly loss ever of 5.3 billion, again due to sub-prime mortgages. The stock market doesn't like this news and it's down over 230 points at midday.
Have you noticed that MSNBC, and in particular Keith Olbermann, is treating Hillary like her last name was Bush? Olbermann refers to the Clinton Nation as troubled, anxious, insecure and disheartened. He does softball questions for Obama, whom he affectionately calls, "The Obamenon!" and accuses the Republicans and Bush of constantly engaging in a tactic of divide and conquer and exploiting an irrational fear on the heels of 9/11 among other things. I guess its why I never watch him.
The New York Times says Republicans are gearing up to launch a smear campaign on Obama. Yeah and what are democrats preparing for McCain? This also makes me wonder what the Times calls what they have been printing about McCain lately? Today the NYT says McCain may not be eligible to become President because he was born in Panama! Nobody but the Times is interested in this, it pure mud. McCain's was born to a military family and he is a natural born citizen, but the Times doesn't care about doing its due diligence when it comes to reporting mud about McCain.
Hillary and Obama were slugging it out in Ohio when Obama stole the show with this one, "She says speeches don’t put food on the table, you know what? NAFTA didn’t put food on the table, either.” Later, he went further, claiming that Ohio’s workers have “watched job after job after job disappear because of bad trade deals like NAFTA.” He knows what works and he is a true populist, but what will his tax the rich plan do for America? I get the feeling his supporters think they are electing Robin Hood. But, will eliminating corporate write-offs and raising their taxes be good for employment? Duh-uh.
Sergeant Wayne Leyde, 26, from the Washington National Guard bought a lucky scratch-and-win lottery ticket...won a million bucks. Yep, and now he is planning to return to Iraq for his 3rd tour! He said, "I decided to walk into a local Zip Trip. I got a Coke and beef jerky and walked up to the counter and thought I'd pick up a few scratch tickets and try my luck." Let's hope his luck holds up overseas.
A barrel of oil just hit a new record, $103. Are we looking at $4 a gallon here soon? If we are, you better think twice about buying that motor home that gets 6 mpg...cheaper to buy a motel room! I'll just have to start riding my Harley more; it's a lot cheaper to operate than my Buick and more fun too. Good thing the warm weather is approaching! Bush's answer to high oil prices is to produce more oil, not be more frugal. Than right answer is be both.
What's on your mind? Say it here, write us and we'll post it! Just make sure it's topical and well written.
Posted by Post Scripts at 09:25 AM | Comments (0)
February 28, 2008
Barack Claims He’ll “Change” Foreign Policy
by Tina Grazier
Will the American people buy into Barack Obama’s notion that a president can charm a snake? It’s one of the fundamental questions that require an answer before we choose our next president.
This morning President Bush was asked in a news conference about Barack H. Obama’s argument that the president “should never fear to negotiate” with America’s enemies and specifically Raul Castro the new leader of Cuba. The President made his experienced position quite clear:
“…It'll send a discouraging message to those who wonder whether America will continue to work for the freedom of prisoners. It'll give great status to those ... who have suppressed human rights and human dignity.” ** “The idea of embracing a leader who's done this, without any attempt on his part to ... release prisoners and free their society, would be counterproductive and send the wrong signal.” ** “Sitting down at the table, having your picture taken with a tyrant such as Raul Castro, for example, lends the status of the office and the status of our country to him. He gains a lot from it by saying, 'Look at me. I'm now recognized by the president of the United States.'”
Responding to the President’s remarks, Barack Obama said:
“The American people aren’t looking for more of a do-nothing Cuba policy that has failed to secure the release of dissidents, failed to bring democracy to the island, and failed to advance freedom for fifty years, because they know we need to pursue new opportunities to achieve liberty for the Cuban people. If I am the Democratic nominee, I will offer the clearest contrast to John McCain’s call for four more years of George Bush’s policies, because I want to fundamentally change our foreign policy to secure the American people and restore our standing in the world."
There’s that magic word “change” again. If Senator Obama feels this strongly about his ideas for “change”; if he really thinks he has the answer that will “fundamentally change” our relationship with leaders like Raul Castro, shouldn’t he just go on ahead and tell us about it? Wouldn’t he shout out his miraculaous plan, telling the American people what he could say to Raul Castro, for instance, that would make him swoon? Heck…if his plan really has that kind of power (or is it just his “presence”) why doesn’t he go on TV TODAY...address the whole world…maybe we’ll all swoon! Tah dah…world peace!! Why would someone withhold such a plan, sharing it only if he becomes the nominee? It just doesn't fly.
The United States of America has been dealing with Raul’s brother for about fifty years as Obama himself has acknowledged. We’ve seen presidents of both parties come and go and the dictator of Cuba remained unbending, and smirking, throughout each president's term…including the perpetually peacemaking Jimma Cahtah, a man who continues to delight in playing the patty cake game with tyrants, unsuccessfully, to this day.
We must elect a mature, thoughtful and serious president who understands, and has respect for the fact, that leaders of tyrannical nations don’t respond to “footsie”. We need a president who can grasp the basic nature of a man who would use a photo opportunity to make the leader of the United States of America look the fool in front of the whole world while elevating his own status with fellow thugs. It’s not as if men such as Fidel Castro have hidden their positions and practices from the world…in fact they have bragged, strutted and shaken their fists every chance they get while keeping their boots firmly on the necks of their citizens.
The party that claims to stand for peace, and claims to care about the rights of people around the world, sure loves to cozy up to the leaders of countries, and movements, with long terrible records of death, torture, and oppression of their people. They seem to miss the fundamental reality that these snakes cannot, and will not, be charmed…not even by the gracious, smiling and magnetic Barack Obama.
Posted by Post Scripts at 10:35 PM | Comments (0)
Libertarians v. Conservatives
by Nick F.
Republican Party was a union of traditional conservatives, libertarians, objectivists and the usual hodge podge of moderates which can be found in any political party.
The vast majority of our intellectual platform came from the conservatives and libertarians since moderates generally just take from others what sounds good to them and develop their own luke warm positions.
On the conservative side you had men such as Russell Kirk, Barry Goldwater, and Ronald Reagan. These individuals were influenced by people such as John Adams, and Edmund Burke.
On the libertarian and objectivist side you had people such as Milton Friedman, David Nolan, and Ayn Rand. These individuals were heavily influenced by people such as John Locke and Adam Smith.
In 1971 many libertarians split form the Republican Party and formed their own, national, Libertarian Party. Since then they have sought to advance their political agenda apart from the Republican Party.
This break took place in large part over three key policy issues.
(1) Social Policy and the government’s right or role concerning intervention into individual behavior. Or in another sense the “Legislating of Morality”. (2)Foreign Policy and the limits to which government should use military force; i.e. Peace Keeping, Declaring War, and Preemption policy. (3) Economic policy, specifically dealing with free trade concepts.
Now while these issues may sound momentous, it is important to understand that conservatives and libertarians share many of the same principles. Where they differ is in the extent to which those principles are applied, or the practical exceptions to them.
In this battle of ideas I personally place the score as…
Social Policy: Winner = Conservatives
Foreign Policy: Winner = Tie
Economic Policy: Winner = Libertarians
We’ll Start with Social Policy.
Burke probably provides the best and most articulate defense of the role of tradition in society and politics. Conservatives have long argued for official policy which attempts to provide some defense for traditional “American” values. You see this demonstrated on 3 major fronts.
1. The role of Religion and tradition in society.
2. The Pro-Life movement
3. The defense of traditional marriage
While conservative social policy is not limited to these issues, it is fair to say that they have provided much of the foundation for both conservative policy, and libertarian opposition.
The reason why I give the victory to the conservatives on this issue is simple. I believe that history has demonstrated that to attempt to separate the social and traditional from the economic and political is fool hardy.
I simply do not think that you can overlook the importance of culture and tradition and its influence on the economic and political. If we truly believe that this American experiment is unique, then how can we insist that it exist apart from our social traditions and institutions?
The founders were decidedly pro- religion. This does not mean that they were all Christian, or even religious themselves, but all of them with perhaps the exception of Thomas Paine, realized the vital role that religion plays in society.
Concerning abortion. First of all, no self respecting believer in the Constitution, nor any admirer of the law can expect to maintain any semblance of intellectual honesty, while supporting the legitimacy of Roe vs. Wade. It was amongst other things, incredibly bad law, and perhaps the most poignant example of “legislating from the bench”.
Abortion according to simple scientific and legal language could be defined as the systematic and premeditated destruction of innocent human life. And as US law is currently interpreted, you could add to that statement”…for no greater purpose than personal convenience.” If there is one thing conservatives and Libertarians should be able to agree on, it is that government’s first and most important responsibility is the protection of innocent human life. It is time for Libertarians to recognize, as Ron Paul has, that since human life does in fact begin at conception, then that life should be entitled to the most basic rights laid out in the Declaration of Independence.
The protection of traditional marriage is fundamental to protecting families; and the protection of the family is essential to the preservation of the culture which provided us with the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, Bill of Rights, etc. Is it really so odd that we choose to reward that institution which has been so critical to the advancement and nurturing of society? Are we really expected to throw out thousands of years of social history in the name of false equality? I certainly hope that we have not reached a position of such historical ignorance and cultural relativism that we would presume to embark on such a reckless path of social engineering. If a constitutional amendment is necessary to protect this institution, than so be it.
Moving on to foreign policy…
Foreign policy has to be considered a tie, if we are to assume that Ron Paul speaks for a large constituency within the Libertarian movement.
America should not be fitting the bill for the rest of the world’s defense. We should not feel compelled to engage in every hot spot through out the globe, in order to maintain stability. And we are NOT responsible for bringing democracy to the world through military engagement.
What we are responsible for is the protection of US interests and security. In a world where small non state actors can have an influence on the largest economy in the world in a period of 45 min. we must be prepared to act decisively when appropriate. While we should not bear the burden of providing security to the world, we must be keen to understand when coming to the aid of an ally serves not only their interest but our own. And above all we must understand that large wars, in many cases, could have been prevented by much smaller military engagements, had the leaders of the time had the determination and foresight to fight them. This is more evident now then it has ever been in history, and the trend will continue in its current direction.
This will at times require what is commonly refferd to as "nation building". In such cases we should only embark on such a difficult and demanding path if it can be adequately determined to be in the long term security intrests of the United States.
And finally economic policy...
Conservatives such as Russel Kirk and other have advocated protectionsit trade policy for purpose's ranging from preserving culture to ensuring the strength of domestic industry.
While there is an argument for subsidizing the defense industry in order to ensure the production of critical equipment during time of war, applying the same principle to other non essential industry ranging from sugar production to various manufacturing industries is counter productive.
Arguments ranging from economic expediency to morale obligation have failed to explain why we should refuse to let free market principles work on an international scale.
Attempting to protect ones culture by preventing international trade ignores the connection between economic strength and national as well as cultural solvency. Economic power is essential to military power, cultural dominance and individual liberty.
On the other hand, attempting to ensure domestic industrial prowess through government protection or subsidization undermines the free market by preventing competition and supporting buisness at the expense of the consumer. And lest we forget, it is the consumer which drives production, any other arrangement leads to waste.
Libertarians have been screaming this at the top of their lungs for decades now. With the exception of the Reagan administration, to many "conservative" presidents have given in to the temptation of using government to "solve" economic problems.
The only way the United States can hope to maintain its economic strength is through a fundamental return to free market policies and respect for private property at all levels. This means a large downsizing of government, the gradual dismantling of our entitlement programs, lowering taxes, deregulation etc. We cannot continue down a path of wealth redistribution and an economic policy based off of "need" rather than ability.
Where do we go from here...
Niether the Conservatives nor the Libertarians have benefited from the descension between our two similar ideologies. So our question is simple; what is the most effective way for conservatives and libertarians to advance their policies.
I advocate a libertarian return to the Republican Party. After close to 40 years, the Libertarian Party has been unable to change the political direction of the country in their favor. And the absence of badly needed libertarian intellectual pull has resulted in a slow war of attrition between conservatives and moderates for the heart of the Republican party. We are now seeing an amoglamation of social coservatism with "moderate" economic policy. The new conservatives bear little resemblance to the traditional conservatism of Ronlad Reagan. Some conservatives are feeling the pull from the moderates of the party, and in order to hold their ground on issues such as abortion, gun rights, tax cuts, etc. they are giving ground on government spending and entitlement programs.
In short, I as a conservative, fighting for a party that used to belong to both of us, am calling for support. We are fighting a delaying action; an action that will most likely fail if we do not recieve the badly needed reinforcements from our intellectual and ideological allies.
Libertarians are perhaps he last group of people who require a history lesson, but I will be so bold as to remind you all of the history of representative government throughout history. It has been said that democracy has a shelf life of 200 years. At close to 230 we have beaten the odds, so to speak. But you all understand that the trends are not in our favor. Socialism is making its case in America stronger than ever. Once a large sector of the population has warmed to the idea, that they may steal from their neighbor to enrich themselves, and do so under the color of morale superiority; economic and political collapse is the only logical endstate.
Understanding the present conditions ask yourself what your responsibility is to our country, your principles, your posterity and yourself. Then ask what is the most effective way to fight for those principles. Edmund Burke said it far better than I have ever read or heard since...
"It is not enough in a situation of trust in the commonwealth, that a man means well to his country; it is not enough that in his single person he never did an evil act, but always voted according to his conscience, and even harangued against every evil design which he apprehended to be prejudicial to his country. This innoxious and ineffectual character, that seems formed upon a plan of apology and disculpation, falls miserably short of the mark of public duty. That duty demand and requires, that what is right should not only be made known, but made prevalent; that what is evil should not only be detected, but defeated. When the public man omits to put himself in a situation of doing his duty with effect, it is an omission that frustrates the purposes of his trust almost as much as if he had formally betrayed it. It is surely no very rational account of a mans life, that he always acted right, but has taken special care, to act in such a manner that his endeavors could not possibly be productive of any consequence.
Edmund Burke - "Thoughts on the Cause of our Present Discontents" (1770)
Posted by Post Scripts at 10:07 PM | Comments (4)
Angelina Jolie on Iraq
Posted by Tina Grazier
Angelina Jolie recently made a trip to Iraq as a goodwill ambassador with the UN High Commisioner for Refugees (UNHCR). While there, she spoke with the local people as well as Army Gen. David Petraeus and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. I’ve posted her concluding remarks below but urge you to read the entire article posted in the Washington Post online:
“Staying to Help in Iraq,” by Angelina Jolie – washingtonpost.com
My visit left me even more deeply convinced that we not only have a moral obligation to help displaced Iraqi families, but also a serious, long-term, national security interest in ending this crisis. ** Today's humanitarian crisis in Iraq -- and the potential consequences for our national security -- are great. Can the United States afford to gamble that 4 million or more poor and displaced people, in the heart of Middle East, won't explode in violent desperation, sending the whole region into further disorder? ** What we cannot afford, in my view, is to squander the progress that has been made. In fact, we should step up our financial and material assistance. ** UNHCR has appealed for $261 million this year to provide for refugees and internally displaced persons. That is not a small amount of money -- but it is less than the U.S. spends each day to fight the war in Iraq. I would like to call on each of the presidential candidates and congressional leaders to announce a comprehensive refugee plan with a specific timeline and budget as part of their Iraq strategy. ** As for the question of whether the surge is working, I can only state what I witnessed: U.N. staff and those of non-governmental organizations seem to feel they have the right set of circumstances to attempt to scale up their programs. And when I asked the troops if they wanted to go home as soon as possible, they said that they miss home but feel invested in Iraq. They have lost many friends and want to be a part of the humanitarian progress they now feel is possible. ** It seems to me that now is the moment to address the humanitarian side of this situation. Without the right support, we could miss an opportunity to do some of the good we always stated we intended to do.
Posted by Post Scripts at 08:36 PM | Comments (0)
One Great Speech You'll Never Hear
WOULDN'T IT BE GREAT TO TURN ON THE TV AND HEAR ANY U.S. PRESIDENT, DEMOCRAT OR REPUBLICAN, GIVE THE FOLLOWING SPEECH?
" My Fellow Americans: As you all know, the defeat of the Iraq regime has been completed. Since congress does not want to spend any more money on this war, our mission in Iraq is complete. This morning I gave the order for a complete removal of all American forces from Iraq This action will be complete within 30 days. It is now time to begin the reckoning.
Before me, I have two lists. One list contains the names of countries which have stood by our side during the Iraq conflict. This list is short . The United Kingdom , Spain , Bulgaria , Australia , and Poland are some of the countries listed there.
The other list contains every one not on the first list. Most of the world's nations are on that list. My press secretary will be distributing copies of both lists later this evening.
Let me start by saying that effective immediately, foreign aid to those nations on List 2 ceases immediately and indefinitely. The money saved during the first year alone will pretty much pay for the costs of the Iraqi war. THEN EVERY YEAR THERE AFTER IT'll GO TO OUR SOCIAL SECURITY SYSTEM SO IT WONT GO BROKE IN 20 YEARS.
The American people are no longer going to pour money into third world Hellholes and watch those government leaders grow fat on corruption.
Need help with a famine ? Wrestling with an epidemic? Call France .
In the future, together with Congress, I will work to redirect this money toward solving the vexing social problems we still have at home . On that note, a word to terrorist organizations. Screw with us and we will hunt you down and eliminate you and all your friends from the face of the earth.
Thirsting for a gutsy country to terrorize? Try France or maybe China .
I am ordering the immediate severing of diplomatic relations with France, Germany , and Russia . Thanks for all your help, comrades. We are retiring from NATO as well. Bonne chance, mez amies.
I have instructed the Mayor of New York City to begin towing the many UN diplomatic vehicles located in Manhattan with more than two unpaid parking tickets to sites where those vehicles will be stripped, shredded and crushed. I don't care about whatever treaty pertains to this. You creeps have tens of thousands of unpaid tickets. Pay those tickets tomorrow or watch your precious Benzes, Beamers and limos be turned over to some of the finest chop shops in the world. I love New York.
A special note to our neighbors. Canada is on List 2. Since we are likely to be seeing a lot more of each other, you folks might want to try not pissing us off for a change.
Mexico is also on List 2 its president and his entire corrupt government really need an attitude adjustment. I will have a couple extra thousand tanks and infantry divisions sitting around. Guess where I am going to put 'em? Yep, border security.
Oh, by the way, the United States is abrogating the NAFTA treaty - starting now.
We are tired of the one-way highway. Immediately, we'll be drilling for oil in Alaska - which will take care of this country's oil needs for decades to come. If you're an environmentalist who opposes this decision, I refer you to List 2 above: pick a country and move there.
It is time for America to focus on its own welfare and its own citizens. Some will accuse us of isolationism. I answer them by saying, 'darn tootin.'
Nearly a century of trying to help folks live a decent life around the world has only earned us the undying enmity of just about everyone on the planet. It is time to eliminate hunger in America It is time to eliminate homelessness in America . To the nations on List 1, a final thought. Thank you guys. We owe yo u and we won't forget.
To the nations on List 2, a final thought: You might want to learn to speak Arabic.
God bless America . Thank you and good night. "
If you can read this, thank a teacher. If you are reading it in English, thank a soldier.
Posted by Post Scripts at 12:59 PM | Comments (0)
February 27, 2008
We Like Being Fooled By Obama
Posted by Jack
Enthralled by nothing in particular: “If you’ve never been to an Obama rally before, a word of advice, go early. Think Springsteen concerts, but the tickets are free. First come, first serve. In Boise, Idaho, a few weeks back it couldn’t have been more than 15 degrees out. But outside Taco Bell Arena early on a Saturday morning, everyone waited patiently because inside— inside, they felt the warm glow of hope.” —ABC’s David Wright “I’m in the demographic where everyone I know among my friends is in love with Obama... It’s kind of like being 13 and seeing Shawn Cassidy and we’re all just on board... So we’re not embarrassed when we get together. We just talk about how much we love Obama. ... We know we’re being fooled, but we kind of like it. I can’t get off his ride, it’s too good.” —Los Angeles Times columnist Joel Stein
Posted by Post Scripts at 09:31 PM | Comments (8)
Covered Bridge?
Question: How much does a house weigh? Answer: Too much for a country bridge.
Posted by Post Scripts at 09:27 PM | Comments (1)
Bureaucratic Nightmare
Posted by Tina Grazier
“Wheelchair ramp will cost $100,000 a foot,” by Phil Matier - San Francisco Chronicle
Where else but San Francisco City Hall could a 10-foot-long wheelchair ramp wind up costing $1 million? Thanks to a maze of bureaucratic indecision and historic restrictions, taxpayers may shell out $100,000 per foot to make the Board of Supervisors president's perch in the historic chambers accessible to the disabled. What's more, the little remodel job that planners first thought would take three months has stretched into more than four years - and will probably mean the supervisors will have to move out of their hallowed hall for five months...
This is the bureaucratic nightmare of government…still want to put them in charge of healthcare?
Posted by Post Scripts at 04:01 PM | Comments (1)
February 26, 2008
$20Million to Fool Voters & End The War
Posted by Tina Grazier
Voters beware of a newly formed liberal activist group, “Iraq Campaign 2008” that will soon be spewing lies and distortions all over the election neighborhood.
“MoveOn, Liberals, and Edwards Unite to End Iraq War,” by Josiah Ryan – CNSNews.com
Liberal activist groups MoveOn.org, USAction, Americans United for Change, VoteVets, and the Service Employees International Union, along with former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards and his wife, joined forces Monday to announce a $20-million public awareness and lobbying campaign to promote a perceived link between the war in Iraq and a weakening U.S. economy. ** "This campaign will raise awareness of the unseen costs of Bush's singular focus on the war in Iraq and his failure to focus on strengthening the American economy, schools, health care and real security, and use the political energy and outrage that the campaign generates to drive Congress to end the war and to get out the anti-war vote," said a written statement released by the campaign.
"Our goal remains what it has always been: to end the Iraq War." This campaign will "make the rising costs of the war and the tradeoffs it has forced this country to make a central issue" in this year's elections, said Eli Pariser, executive director of Moveon.org.
"John McCain has made it very clear: he intends to go along with the same exact policy as George Bush," said Edwards. Elizabeth Edwards added her belief that the economy and the war are linked. "If the economy is the No. 1 issue when you are voting, the war is No. 1 too," she said. "There is a connection between the two."
But Brian Riedl, senior budget analyst at the conservative Heritage Foundation, told Cybercast News Service that if Mrs. Edwards is in any way suggesting the war is responsible for the receding economy, she is mistaken. ** "The idea that Iraq spending is causing our economic woes has no basis in any economic theory whatsoever," he said. "It's not economically plausible that spending 1 percent of GDP in Iraq would cause a recession."
PLEASE NOTICE: Nothing in the article or rhetoric of the spokespersons representing "Iraq Campaign 2008" offers statistical evidence to support the claims they have made.
The Heritage Foundation, on the other hand, offers expert information taken directly from government statistics provided by the Office of Management and Budget or the transcript of the Presidets budget for FY 2009:
The President's budget does not jeopardize social spending.
In what has become an annual ritual, the release of the President's budget has been followed by interest groups decrying alleged cuts to social and education spending. The facts do not match the rhetoric. ** By any reasonable standard, President Bush is the biggest antipoverty, health, and education spender in American history. Under President Bush, federal antipoverty spending has topped 3 percent of GDP for the first time ever. Federal education spending has leapt 9.7 percent annually--compared to 2 percent annually under President Clinton. Health research and regulation has grown by 9.5 percent annually.[8] (Office of Management and Budget,) ** Under the FY 2009 budget request, discretionary education funding would increase an additional 3.5 percent, health research spending would be approximately frozen, and antipoverty spending would increase 4.2 percent.[9] Given how much these programs have already expanded in recent years, the President's proposal is more than sufficient.
Or try this:
Did you realize corporate income taxes doubled in just four years? Or that, even with the war, we spend less on defense than in the 1970s and ‘80s?
In the months to come we will hear things that are true...and we will be bombarded with lies and distortions. It is up to each of us to do some checking, to discover which groups can be trusted and which can't, and to find out all we can before voting. So please, BEFORE YOU GO TO THE POLLS IN NOVEMBER:
Check out the rhetoric of organizations like "Irag Campaign 2008".
Interesting sidenote: George Soros was the money behind the McCain/Feingold law that restricts and regulates how money flows during campaigns. It's one reason that some Pubbies aren't happy with John McCain as our candidate. Now the very person that financially backed McCain's campaign finance law will spend 20 million bucks to try to defeat McCain in his bid for the presidency. This cycle is filled to the brim with ironies. The law is cr*p; maybe now John knows why.
Posted by Post Scripts at 10:15 PM | Comments (3)
Strange Story: Police Nab Drunk Driver
Recently a police officer parked near a bar in rural Oregon. After last call the officer noticed a man leaving the bar so intoxicated that he could barely walk.
The man stumbled around the parking lot for a few minutes, with the officer quietly observing. After what seemed an eternity in which he tried his keys on five different vehicles, the man managed to find his car and fall into it. He sat there for a few minutes as a number of other patrons left the bar and drove off.
Finally he started the car, switched the wipers on and off -- it was a fine, dry summer night -- flicked the blinkers on and off a couple of times, honked the horn and then switched on the lights. He moved the vehicle forward a few inches, reversed a little and then remained still for a few more minutes as some more of the other patrons' vehicles left. At last, when his was the only car left in the parking lot, he pulled out and drove slowly down the road.
The police officer, having waited patiently all this time, now started up his patrol car, put on the flashing lights, promptly pulled the man over and administered a breathalyzer test. To his amazement, the breathalyzer indicated no evidence that the man had consumed any alcohol at all !!!
Dumbfounded, the officer said, I'll have to ask you to accompany me to the police station. This breathalyzer equipment must be broken."
"I doubt it," said the man in a clear voice, "Tonight I'm the designated decoy."
Posted by Post Scripts at 08:18 PM | Comments (0)
An Iraqi Says, “Bush Saved Us From Tyranny”
Posted by Tina Grazier
I was reading the blog “Politico” this evening. The post, GOP Sen.: Iraq bill "a bullet right in the hearts of our troops," highligted remarks by Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison on the democrat proposal to withdraw our troops from Iraq within 120 days. When it comes to Iraq, and the war effort in general, the democrats always sing a one note tune so there was really nothing unexpected in the post. A comment from an Iraqi citizen did catch my eye:
Ima Iraqi Christian citizen who is temporarily in the United States for some medical treatment donated by your Country (Thank You very much) I want to tell you that the American troops, your sons and daughters) that are in Iraq are a very good representative for your Country. They are very professional and friendly to our people. I can only hope that one day our people can have a military like yours. It breaks my heart that many in your Country would abandon our people and your soldiers sacrifice. Your President Bush has saved us from tyranny. - Posted By: Ima | February 26, 2008 at 07:33 PM
A few lines down one of our “sons and daughters,” responded in a way that reflects the kind and gracious things Ima said about them:
Ima from Iraq, I pray that your medical treatment goes well while you are in the USA. Do not worry about the ignorant opinions of the posters above. They consider themselves "liberal" although they dont even know what the word means. They lie about the Iraqi successes due to their own petty political goals. I am proud to save that I served in your Country and I found the people to be very kind and hospitable. I am glad to have helped rid your Country of the terrorists that infiltrated Iraq after we liberated Iraq from the tyrant Saddam Hussein - Posted By: dlbizzz | February 26, 2008 at 07:52 PM
I too lament that some in our country want to abandon the Iraqi people, especially when we have come so far. I have to admit that I much prefer the general attitude and respect shown by these two posters who were actually involved to the nasty positions of certain representatives on the left, the Code Pinko’s and the Move-On Dot Ogre types. They put a face on America that makes me proud of my country and proud of our military. How about you?
Posted by Post Scripts at 07:57 PM | Comments (0)
Not A Good News Day In Business
by Jack Lee
I found a series of business articles on the net today that won't make you feel warm and fuzzy about the future, but it's information you should know to be proactive and prepared instead of being caught by surprise and defenseless. To sum it up we're looking at real inflation concerns that are sparked by low interest rates the feds are using to heat up the economy. We're still seeing a nationwide retreat in housing prices and some very serious retreats in SoCal which will eventually find it's way into NorCal among other red flags, like consumer confidence dropping fast.
The following series of articles are to inform you, not alarm you! Remember, no one ever faired better by sticking their head in the sand.
Posted by Post Scripts at 08:52 AM | Comments (0)
SoCal Home Prices Drop
2/14/08 L.A. Times: Low interest rates, falling prices and promises of government relief were not enough to slow the pace of Southern California's housing downturn, which hit a new bottom last month.
What's more, nearly 1 out of 4 homes sold -- 23% -- had been foreclosed, which is putting downward pressure on home values.
The median home price in January was $415,000, 18% below last year's peak and the lowest since January 2005. The median is the point at which half the homes sold for more and half for less.
January is typically one of the slowest months for home sales, and real estate agents are hopeful that the perception of bargain prices will help lure buyers into the market as spring approaches.
Pamela Taylor, a 23-year-old accountant who lives with her parents, is just the kind of buyer whom home sellers are looking to attract. She has good credit and savings, and she thinks it's a good time to buy.
Taylor said she made offers on three houses in West Hills in January and was outbid on two of them.
Her offer of $485,000 for a house listed at $515,000 was accepted, but she backed out of the deal when an inspection found a damaged foundation. Still, she plans to keep looking.
"The market's going down, and as long as you can afford a down payment, you can get a monthly payment very similar to what you might pay in rent," she said. For more on this story click here.
Posted by Post Scripts at 08:45 AM | Comments (0)
Home Loan Applications Down Sharply
Announcements that U.S. mortgage applications are down and the Consumer Price Index is up are ominous signs that the economy is cooling. Investors and consumers are tugging at their collars over news that fewer houses will become homes and those homes will probably gonna hold less stuff.
On Tuesday, the Mortgage Bankers Association said its index of mortgage applications fell to its lowest level since early January, dipping 22.6% to 822.8 for the week that ended Feb. 15. Short-term interest cuts by the Fed aren't
helping would-be home-owners because their mortgages tend to be linked to longer-term rates and the 10-year yield has been rising on fears of inflation. (See "Bernanke Watch Next Week") Bush's stimulus plan is generous, but it isn't expected to redirect what appears to be an economy with a downward trajectory. (See "A Lifeline In The Mortgage Mess")
The terms of loans aren't sweet enough to entice a borrower staring down the barrel of a depressed economy. Borrowing costs on a 30-year fixed rate mortgage are up .37% from last week. Excluding fees, costs averaged 6.09%, the highest since late December. The silver lining on this announcement is that interest rates stayed below year-ago levels of 6.19%.
The MBA Index also reported that refinancing applications are down 27.9% to 3,533.8 for the week.
The news brought home loan company Washington Mutual (nyse: WM - news - people ) down 29 cents, or 1.75%, to $16.69. Homebuilder KB Home (nyse: KBH - news - people ) is also down 43 cents, or 1.81%, to $23.72. Pulte Homes (nyse: PHM - news - people ) is down 28 cents, or 1.98%, to $13.88.
As if news of more Americans being forced to rent and not own isn't depressing enough, the U.S. Labor Department Consumer Price Index announced more bad news Tuesday. January's CPI rates were only a point up, but the psychology of getting less for a each buck is likely to put a damper on the mood of investors and consumers alike. Headline inflation for January was .4% and it was expected to be .3%. Core inflation, excluding food and energy, is .3% instead of the projected .2%. Year-on-Year headline inflation is up 4.3%, and core CPI is up 2.5%.
Tuesday, the Automobile Association of America and the Oil Price Information Service reported that a gallon of gas hit an average of $3.032 in U.S.. Last month it was $3.015 and last year it was $2.256. More increases at the pump are likely because oil futures have shot up in price despite a reported decline in demand has to do with concerns about future supply. (See "Commodities Frenzy")
Posted by Post Scripts at 08:32 AM | Comments (0)
Inflation Trap Looms!
Surprise, surprise, inflation remains a reason for concern.
On Tuesday the government announced the Producer Price Index rose 1.0% in January, while core inflation, stripping out food and energy costs, rose 0.4%. The PPI measures inflation pressures before products reach the consumer.
The results match the core inflation increase in February 2007, and the last time it was higher than that was
November 2006. Economists polled by Thomson's IFR Markets had expected overall wholesale inflation to rise just 0.3%, while core inflation was expected to increase 0.2% in the month.
"It was a lot worse than expected," said David Wyss, chief economist at Standard and Poor's, "and it shows the problems the Fed has with fighting inflation while also fighting recession."
To keep the economy from slowing too much, the Federal Reserve has been cutting interest rates, but in doing so it risks creating a monetary environment conducive to inflation. (See: "Inflation Trap Looms For Fed")
Posted by Post Scripts at 08:29 AM | Comments (0)
Consumer Confidence Falls
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Consumer confidence fell to a five-year low in February and expectations slumped to a 17-year trough in a tightening jobs market, a new survey showed, fueling fears the economy was already in recession.
The Conference Board said on Tuesday its index of consumer sentiment fell to 75.0 in February from a downwardly revised 87.3 in January, originally reported as 87.9.
The median forecast of 67 economists polled by Reuters was for a reading of 82.0.
The present situation index fell to 100.6 from a downwardly revised 114.3 in January, while the expectations index fell to 57.9 -- its lowest in 17 years -- from a downwardly revised 69.3.
The deterioration in sentiment was pronounced.
It was the biggest monthly drop in the consumer confidence and expectations indexes since September 2005, following Hurricane Katrina. The present situation index saw its biggest tumble since October 2001, the last time the United States was in recession.
Sentiment was hurt by a worsening view of the jobs market. The measure of "jobs hard to get" rose to 23.8 in February -- its highest since October 2005 -- from 20.6 in January.
Posted by Post Scripts at 08:26 AM | Comments (0)
February 25, 2008
Sarandon ‘Can’t Wait!”
Maybe it’s because of the writers strike…
Posted by Tina Grazier
WASHINGTON - One can only hope that the majority of Barack Obama’s supporters are not as inane as actress Susan Sarandon, who announced last week that she supports Obama for president and “can’t wait to see what he stands for.”
“Obama on Obama is scary truth,” by Melanie Scarborough – The Examiner, Washington D.C.
Posted by Post Scripts at 11:48 PM | Comments (0)
Press Treats Hillary Like She’s a Republican
Posted by Tina Grazier
Clinton's communications director, Howard Wolfson, delivered some really heated criticism of the press… I think it is true that every time the Obama campaign in this campaign has attacked Senator Clinton in the worst kind of personal ways, attacked her veracity, attacked her credibility, said that she would say or do anything to get elected, the press has largely applauded him. When we have attempted to make contrasts with Senator Obama, we have been criticized for it.
Hey…how does it feeeeeeel….to be on your oooown…
Posted by Post Scripts at 11:44 PM | Comments (0)
Home Sales Hit 9 Year Low
By MARTIN CRUTSINGER WITH COMMENTS BY JACK LEE
WASHINGTON (AP) - "Sales of existing homes fell to the lowest level in nearly a decade in January while the median price for a home dropped for the fifth straight month.
The National Association of Realtors said Monday that sales of single-family homes and condominiums dropped by 0.4 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.89 million units, the slowest sales pace on records going back to 1999.
The median price of a home sold in January slid to $201,100, a drop of 4.6 percent from a year ago. The drop in sales and the fifth consecutive decline in prices underscored the continued pressure facing housing, which is struggling to emerge from its worst slump in a quarter-century.
Sales were weak in all parts of the country except the Midwest, where sales posted an increase of 3.4 percent. Sales dropped by 3.6 percent in the Northeast, 2.1 percent in the West and 0.5 percent in the West."
Jack Lee: Home prices in Chico have been resistant to drop despite the slump in sales. We see square footage prices hovering well above $235 per SF in this area (correction this appears to be now between $203 and $190). I think a more realistic valuation would be somewhere around $185 and that's still pretty high considering local wages have not increase anywhere near what local home prices have. This means that when sellers finally "get it" they will likely be chasing a down market and that will cause a sudden plummet in pricing to catch up with realistic pricing. This price "correction" can't be far off, because home sales have all but halted in the Butte County area as the inventory of "homes for sale" grows and grows.
Typically home price appreciation is about 4% in good times, however the shakey sub-prime mortgages coupled to unprecedented low "teaser" rates for adjustable mortgages caused home prices to rocket up over 25% in one year. This contributed not only to sub-prime buyers rushing to cash in, but speculation in non-owner occupied houses by those looking to turn a quick buck.
People gambled on a continued price climb to build equity and take profits. The housing bubble grew to dangerous proportions. Then reality hit! Now many experts in real estate are forecasting a complete retreat of those price gains that caused so many to rush into buying while savy sellers reaped hefty profits. When the market reversed itself too many were left with houses that were not worth the balance on the mortgage.
Sacramento and Stockton are now being hit with massive foreclosure sales and that is adding to housing glut as new home builders scramble to unload their product before the full weight of the housing implosion is felt. The bottom may be a year or two off, so expect worse to come. Recession fears are exaccerbating this situation.
Posted by Post Scripts at 08:38 AM | Comments (3)
February 24, 2008
Campaign Cash – Another Take
Posted by Tina Grazier
Andrew Malcolm, writing at “The Top of the Ticket,” a blog at the LA Times, had an interesting take on the money in political campaigns. His piece, “A surprising aftermath to Mitt Romney's campaign,” could alter your perspective about candidates and the money they spend. Mr. Malcolm writes:
News from campaign financial reports that Sen. Hillary Clinton's stumbling Democratic presidential effort paid many millions of donor dollars to consultants for advice that didn't work, tens of thousands of donor dollars to hotels for uneaten vegetable trays at abandoned victory parties and 1,300 donor dollars just to Dunkin' Donuts got us thinking. ** First, that's an awful lot of donuts. (Especially Boston creams.) ** But also, maybe it's not such a bad thing sometimes to have rich, successful businessmen and -women with enduring marriages and large families and even larger fortunes run for the White House.
Large campaigns like John McCain's when he faltered last spring and summer, Rudy Giuliani's later when he stopped staff pay and now Clinton's have a way of spending other people's money at a pretty good clip. (Yes, Hillary put $5 million of her own money into that campaign, but 1) it's a loan and 2) she's charging interest.) ** Rich candidates like, say, Mitt Romney can be willing to put a large chunk of their own dough into the effort -- and not charge interest. As we recently reported here, the former Massachusetts governor and his wife of 38 years, Ann, decided together to pour $42.3 million of their own money into his ultimately unsuccessful $98-million effort.
The alternative to having rich guys run for office is having guys that spend “other peoples money”…yours and mine. I’ll bet those spending their own money, more often than not, will care a lot more about the efficient use of that money, about limiting waste, and about pulling the plug on the operation when the clock strikes twelve.
Posted by Post Scripts at 03:38 PM | Comments (5)
Hillary’s Left Legacy – Paradox
Posted by Tina Grazier
If this is truly the Decline and Fall of the Clinton Empire, it is marked by one freaky stroke of bad luck and one striking historical irony. How likely is it that a woman who finally unfetters herself from one superstar then finds herself eclipsed by another? And when historians trace how her inevitability dissolved, they will surely note this paradox: The first serious female candidate for president was rejected by voters drawn to the more feminine management style of her male rival. - Maureen Dowd
Posted by Post Scripts at 02:38 PM | Comments (2)
What’s Next? Well, Government Provided Homes of Course!
by Tina Grazier
Last week I said the following in the comments section to my post, ‘UK Single Pay Medical Deemed “Deadly”’:
There is definitely something wrong when nearly half of the population of America has come to think it’s OK to force someone else to pay for their healthcare. It is sad that they think it’s OK for a dictatorial, strong-arm government policy to make the rich, corporations, or their next door neighbor to pay instead. What’s next, their mortgage or rent? How about car payments? Maybe they should just invoice government for their grocery bills as well.
“What’s next, their mortgage or rent?” I asked with a bit of cynicism. It should have caused red flags, bells and whistles…maybe even a few fireworks to go off in my head. You're not gonna believe this...
From a story by staff posted in the Boston Globe, “For the homeless, keys to a home”:
For decades, governments treated homelessness as an intractable problem, relying on a patchwork of shelters and services to look after people considered too troubled or too far gone to keep permanently off the streets. Now, following a national trend, Governor Deval Patrick is proposing a radical change in the way Massachusetts deals with the indigent - giving the homeless homes.
Patrick is proposing spending $10 million to lay the foundation for placing thousands of homeless people in their own apartments over the next five years. Administration officials say taking homeless people off the street - and out of a cycle through jail and emergency rooms - could lead to better lives and lower costs to care for them. ** In pilot programs, officials reported declines in costs for services from hospitalization to detox and imprisonment.
That’s one heck of a big Band-Aid for taxpayers to apply, and, without much hope that the underlying problems associated with “homelessness” will be solved as part of the bargain. It’s being sold to John Q-Public with the obnoxious claim that it will save money...both private and from tax dollars: “Providing homes for those people, researchers say, will ultimately save money, because agencies spend less on housing and other services than they do now on shelter beds, emergency rooms, and other healthcare costs for the homeless.”
But the article also hints at hidden costs (in addition to the output for intinally buying the housing) :
The manpower to oversee and care for the newly housed homeless apparently isn’t being added to the savings equation…and that is not only a shame, it is deceitful. But, this is how most programs born of tender mercies are justified, by leaving something important out. Logic and reason, which might actually lead to real solutions, are tossed aside as cruel offerings of heartless conservatives…and the waste in money, time and effort is ignored while the project is heralded as a great accomplishment to be repeated again and again!
"We're talking about changing the whole context for how we deal with homelessness," said Joe Finn, executive director of the Massachusetts Housing and Shelter Alliance, which over the past two years has overseen a $1.8 million state-subsidized program to house the chronically homeless. ** He and others point to the alliance's Home & Healthy for Good program - which has placed more than 230 people in apartments around the state - as evidence the effort can succeed on a larger scale.
Yippee…we can give all of them a home....that will fix everything!
If this catches on, in twenty years there’s a good chance that most Americans will be living in government “purchased and maintained” housing. “That’s crazy,” you say...but think about your kids, or yourself, for a minute. What incentive is there to work to purchase a home when government will provide you one? Why go to school or work to improve life…when just holding your hand out, palm up, will do? The feel good big bonus? You can do whatever you want and people will come to make you food and remind you to brush your teeth!
It is pathetic that we even have people living on the streets in America. The problem is not due to the lack of a home (or opportunity) it is a product of societal dysfunction...and the fact that too many of our good citizens scoff at solutions that would actually cause real and lasting change. The tolerant and caring have perpetuated this problem with emotion driven solutions that make them feel good but do little to actually uplift people or inspire them to realize their full potential. As for the truly mentally ill...they should be in hospitals receiving treatment as they once were.
Posted by Post Scripts at 12:33 PM | Comments (4)
Special Forces in Iraq ( Spezialtruppen )
Posted by Jack (in English and German)
The Discovery "Military" Channel has an episode now running on Special Operations. They compare special ops of WWII to what happened in Iraq during Gulf 1 and it's a pretty amazing story. In particular the Discovery Channel focused on the missions of the 3rd and 10th SF groups with their ODA teams and specialized vehicles in pinning down Saddam’s armor on the Northern front.
As you will recall at the last minute Turkey bowed to pressure from Muslims mobs and denied port entry to the US 4th Division. Because of that, Gen. Tommy Franks had to completely change his battle plan and shifted the duty of the 4th Div. to our Special Forces units already in place behind enemy lines. Although heavily outnumbered and outgunned the SF units had one advantage, their ability to use what is termed as a "force multiplier" and this allowed the 12 man SF ODA teams to recruit and arm indigenous Kurdish fighters to raise their 12 man teams to a an effective force of 4 to 5 hundred combatants, lead by our SF soldiers.
Our elite SF units (about a battalion size) working with Kurds and British Special Ops teams did what the entire 4th Infantry Division was planning to do and did it perfectly. SF units even took on an Iraqi tank assault with basically light vehicles equipped with Javelin missiles and turned the tanks back after knocking out 6 of them in minutes.
Forward SF observers made sure roads to Baghdad were clear prior to invasion by concealing themselves for several weeks inside enemy territory in special HIDE encampments that went totally undetected by Iraqi forces. It's a pretty amazing story, so I hope you get a chance to watch this Special Operations episode of Battle Plan, it will give you a glimpse of what our Army Special Forces units can do!
______________________________________________________________________________
Ich werde versuchen, ins Deutsche zu übersetzen für unsere deutschen leser...Die Entdeckung "
Wie Sie in der letzten Minute zurückrufen werden, dass die Türkei gebeugt zum Druck von Moslems angreift und bestrittener Hafen-Zugang zur 4. US-Abteilung. Wegen das, Information. Tommy Franks musste seinen Kampfplan völlig ändern und wechselte die Aufgabe des 4. Div. zu unseren Spezialtruppen-Einheiten bereits im Platz hinter feindlichen Linien aus. Obwohl schwer zahlenmäßig überlegen gewesen und outgunned waren die SF Einheiten im Vorteil, ihre Fähigkeit zu verwenden, was als ein "Kraft-Vermehrer" genannt wird und das dem 12 Mann SF ODA Mannschaften erlaubte, Rekruten anzuwerben und sich i zu bewaffnen.
Unsere SF Ausleseeinheiten (über eine Bataillon-Größe), mit Kurden und britischen Speziellen Ops Mannschaften arbeitend, taten, was die komplette 4. Infanterie-Abteilung plante zu tun und es vollkommen tat. SF-Einheiten nahmen sogar einen irakischen Zisterne-Angriff mit grundsätzlich leichten Fahrzeugen ausgestattet mit Speer-Raketen an und ließen die Zisternen nach dem Herausschlagen von 6 von ihnen in Minuten umkehren.
Vorwärts waren überzeugte Straßen von SF Beobachtern nach Bagdad vor der Invasion klar, sich selbst seit mehreren Wochen verbergend, feindliches Innenterritorium in speziell VERBIRGT Lager, die völlig unentdeckt durch irakische Kräfte gingen. Es ist eine ziemlich erstaunliche Geschichte, so hoffe ich, dass Sie eine Chance bekommen, diese Spezielle Operationsepisode
Das übersetzte schlecht, mein entschuldigungen.
Posted by Post Scripts at 09:14 AM | Comments (0)
February 23, 2008
BIG Healthcare Rebuttal
Posted by Tina Grazier
A portion of the following, posted on the blog “REDSTATE,” counters one of the arguments made against the health insurance industry. “Medicare Part E” also references a bill that Rep. John Conyers (Democrat) has introduced in Congress several times. Find a link to the Conyers bill, in pdf format, at the end of this post.
…from what I can see, the health insurance industry doesn't really do insurance in the first place anymore. Rather than underwriting risk and spreading it across large pools, their primary activity is now all about managing health expenses. And a huge part of that activity is navigating around the dense thicket of federal, state and local regulations, not the least of which relate to Medicare's byzantine cost-control procedures. The private health-insurance industry creates economic value primarily by dealing with the inefficiencies created by the Government.
How many times have you heard a doctor complain that her job has become an endless shuffle of paperwork? The future is much more of that, in either a mandated-coverage world or a single-payer world. There's no practical difference between the two approaches.
As free-market advocates, what should we be proposing as an answer to Conyers, Moore, Clinton, and Obama? ** Well, we need to start by observing that our current bloated and needlessly expensive system is not a free-market system by any stretch of the imagination. It's a socialist bureaucracy worthy of the Soviet Union or any other regime that ever bore the name. ** Why? Because our current healthcare system eliminates the most elementary feature of free-markets: the matching of supply with demand through signals carried by prices. ** No one directly pays for their own healthcare anymore. You either fill out a form for your employer-provided insurance and hand over a twenty-dollar bill, or you go to the emergency room for minor ailments, or you fight with a combination of Medicare and your co-payment insurance. You have no clear idea what is being paid or by whom, in return for the service that you consume. So you have neither the ability nor even the opportunity to exert the cost-controlling magic of free-market competition. ** If you could directly pay for non-emergency healthcare when and where it's provided, you would make informed and careful economic decisions about what and how much to consume, just as you do with everything else you buy. And the healthcare industry would rapidly transform itself to meet the free-market incentives that would instantaneously appear.
Posted by Post Scripts at 09:21 PM | Comments (2)
Labels in Modern Politics
A Left/Right comparison with a bit of history thrown in.
Posted by Tina Grazier
If you ever wondered about the common labels we use in politics, and where they came from, this is the article for you. I’m not sure it will change how any of us describes one another or ourselves but it will clarify some of the notions we have about the terms we use. Perhaps you, like the author, will conclude that, “We who have been called "conservative" (because we somehow have not accepted the Marxian idea of progress) are ultimately just people who believe in truth.
“The Misnomer of Conservatism,” by Bruce Walker – American Thinker
Who gave us the terms "Left" and "Right"? The atheistic, murderous French Revolutionaries, who were themselves on the Left Bank of the Seine, and whose implacable enemies were on the Right Bank of the Seine.
These monsters, overshadowed by the evils of other Leftists later, were quite prepared, by their own admission, to kill one quarter of the population of France - many millions of people - to achieve their revolutionary aims.
Who invented the terms "liberal," "conservative," "progressive," "reactionary," "revolutionary," "radical," and "moderate" in the sense that we use those terms today? Karl Marx and those who largely accepted the Marxian view of things created this lexicon of political shades. Marx, who influenced Lenin, Mussolini and Mao, has been allowed from the grave to give us those words that we use to describe our politics today.
I believe that conservatives are "people who believe in truth," but we are also people who love and believe in freedom.
Posted by Post Scripts at 08:12 PM | Comments (0)
Capt. Nico Araujo Responds
Jack's post from October 10, 2006, “Fighter Pilot Test - Can You Pass?” is still getting responses. This ones from a man dedicated to defending his country. Thanks Capt. Araujo. We appreciate the service of those who love freedom…and the joy of flying.
You kids haven't seen nothing yet. I would like to see you last ten seconds in pur G-Force tester. If you really want to get a thrill enroll when you are 16 into the Royal Canadian Airforce or the USAF. I did and look at me im a 30 year old guy flying CF-18 Hornets. And remember something if you do join and they will ask you what Canada's main priority is, just tell them defence of Canada and you've got a hell of a chance getting in. Good- Luck
Take the “fighter pilot test”
Posted by Post Scripts at 08:06 PM | Comments (1)
Mark Steyn on Hill (Bill) and the other big “O”
Posted by Tina Grazier
Mark Steyn is the most entertaining writer in the world. My favorite lines from his latest are about the candidates (and her spouse) in the democrat primary:
Hillary is what the Clintons look like with their pants up. Their much-vaunted political savvy turns out to be a big nothing: The supposed masters of "the politics of personal destruction" can't turn up anything better on Obama than some ancient essay from his Jakarta grade school, plus a few limp charges of plagiarism. And instead of getting the surrogates to crowbar the enemy every time Hillary opens up on him she looks mean and petty, and he gets to do his high-minded Obamessiah routine.
Bill gave the party an appetite for slick lounge acts, and this time round Barack's the guy delivering it in buckets of gaseous uplift.
Find it here pilgrims: “Mark Steyn: Obama makes Hillary look like Bill Richardson”
Posted by Post Scripts at 03:17 PM | Comments (0)
A Process to “Abolish Man”?
A weekend mind-bend worth reading.
Posted by Tina Grazier
Linda Kimball has written an article that will both challenge and enlighten you. Find her piece, “The Materialist Faith of Communism, Socialism, and Liberalism,” over at the American Thinker:
For over eighty-five years, America has been incrementally conquered by the same madness-inducing demon of hatred and violence that earlier took over Russia, China, Germany, and Italy. Rabbi Aryeh Spiro concurs,
"There is a madness in today's liberal thinking. It insists on policies that tie our hands to defend ourselves while given free reign to the jihadists intent on killing us. It is dangerous because it is becoming the law, and thinking of the land in the western world. - Liberal Madness is Deadly (1/24/08)
This demon is embodied in "enlightened" Liberals and the West's transnational "elite," both of which are deeply infected by materialistic Communism (Cultural Marxism) and the delusion that the true enemy of America is always on the Right.
"Even now, wrote (C.S.) Lewis, (The Abolition of Man) the process to “abolish Man goes on apace among Communists and Democrats (and) Fascists.” The methods, said Lewis, may at first differ in brutality. But "enlightened" materialists from scientists to philosophers to academe and to political leaders mean, in the long run, “Just the same as the Nazis...” The West and America are to be destroyed and “mankind to be cut out in some fresh shape at the will” of scientific materialists who Lewis calls the Conditioners and Innovators. These people, noted Lewis, are no longer men, for they have stepped out into the void.
Modern materialist states began by rejecting God and denying objective standards of right and wrong. They threw out sanctity of life and demonically reduced man to matter in motion. The end case, in every instance, was to place absolute power over "atomized masses" (humans) into the hands of psychopaths and autocratic states to be wielded without restraint or mercy.
Of all religions, the materialist faith has been by far the bloodiest. In his book, Death by Government, R.J. Rummel comprehensively details the roughly 170 million people murdered by materialist governments during the 20th century. From 1917 to its collapse in 1991, the Soviet Union liquidated about 62 million. During Mao Tse-tung's reign, 35,236,000 were murdered. Hitler's Nazi's killed 21 million. Even at its mildest, as is thus far the case here in America, there is a steady level of confiscation, corruption, fraud, and stifling of freedoms and free speech. For the first time ever, Americans are afraid of saying certain words. Parents fear disciplining their own children. More ominously, materialists in control of America (i.e., ACLU, activist judges) have rejected God and thrown out both sanctity of life and objective standards. "We the people" have been reduced to atomized beings.
Posted by Post Scripts at 01:48 PM | Comments (0)
February 22, 2008
Taleban Worn Down
posted by Tina Grazier
This would be good news so you may not have heard....
“Taleban are worn down, say British troops,” by Michael Evans - The Times (London)
British troops in southern Afghanistan have ''worn down'' the Taleban and forced them to abandon many of their key strongholds in Helmand province, a senior commander said yesterday. Brigadier Andrew Mackay, commander of 52 Brigade, said: ''The Taleban are now suffering from a lack of manpower and that is why they are having to rely on foreign fighters. They are also now operating outside their normal areas because they lack support from the local populations.''
Posted by Post Scripts at 11:41 PM | Comments (1)
So Much for Hope...and Science
Posted by Tina Grazier
Crazy headline of the week:
“Hope dims that Earth will survive Sun's death” by Jason - New Scientist
The future looks bright for the Earth – but not in the way we’d hoped. The slim chance our planet will survive when the Sun begins its death throes has been ruled out.
Someone, anyone, please tell me who ever thought it would...Anthony?
Posted by Post Scripts at 09:49 PM | Comments (0)
Is Obama's Security Too Lax?
by Jack Lee
"DALLAS, Feb. 21 (UPI) -- The Secret Service told Dallas police to stop screening for weapons while people were still arriving at a campaign rally for Barrack Obama, a report said."
Police halted weapons searches an hour before Obama's appearance because they wanted to speed up the seating. Dallas Police Chief Lawrence said he was concerned about the large number of people being let in without being screened, but that the crowd seemed "friendly."
If the need to seat the crowd takes priority over security, then I really would be concerned about what else is being sacrificed for the sake of expediency?
In my opinion Mr. Obama fits the profile of a prime victim. He carries similar qualities of Bobby Kennedy and M. L. King among other victims. Further, no black man in history has gotten this close to becoming elected president and for that reason alone his security should be tighter than any other candidate.
A "friendly" crowd is not relevant to issues of security because crazies always try to slip into a friendly crowd and use that to their advantage, i.e. Lynette "Squeaky" Fromm, the former Manson Family member who tried to shoot Ford. On the flip side, a determined and deliberate sniper like Lee Harvey Oswald used stealth and a remote vantage point while police were distracted by a "friendly" crowd.
From this point forward I would think the security on Obama should be extremely tight. The closer Obama gets to becoming his party's nominee or to the presidency after the nomination... his target value goes up. The threat level on Obama should now be considered HIGH and that is why I was disturbed to read how the Secret Service handled the crowd in Texas. There are just too many zealots who would do anything to either keep Obama from becoming President or do it just to become famous for shooting this historic candidate.
Part of the security problem is that candates are following a published schedule anyone can track, unlike Presidential visits which have become much less advertised. Security is difficult because the crowd control for candidates is almost overwhelming at times. Then we read that things that should never be in the news like security is being compromized to maximize his exposure for votes. That means maximizing his exposure to a future threat too.
I have a real bad feeling something is going to happen before this election is over. I hope not, but there are many compelling reasons to think otherwise.
Posted by Post Scripts at 02:52 PM | Comments (1)
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When we started few thought we would have had this kind of a reach, but persistence and bringing you topical stories you can use has paid off and exceeded our expectations! Thank you readers....stay with us, we'll only get better!
Posted by Post Scripts at 10:34 AM | Comments (0)
OBAMA T-Shirts Now On Sale
posted by Jack
If you would like to purchase a Che Che Guevara / Cuban Flag / Obama tee shirt or a bumber sticker, please go to this site.
Post Scripts has no connection to the sales site other than to present this offer as a PS announcement for our special Obama supporters. I've ordered two shirts and 10 bumper stickers to give to my friends. Remember...Post Scripts was one of the first to bring you this story about the Cuban Flag in his Huston office (see story below).
Posted by Post Scripts at 10:17 AM | Comments (0)
THIS STINKS
Provided by Mike W....
The “Big 4” gaming tribes footed much of the bill for a GOP slate mailer that went out ahead of the Feb. 5 election. While the gaming tribes have been more associated with working with Democrats and California’s “post-partisan” governor, some say cooperation with the GOP could be a sign of things to come.
The four tribes with compacts before voters in that election poured in $6.6 million to the California Republican Party in January. This includes five donations directly from the main group created to support the compacts, the Coalition to Protect California’s Budget, for a total of $5.9 million. The balance came from the tribes and committees around inidividual compacts.
For more on this story click here.
Posted by Post Scripts at 10:02 AM | Comments (3)
February 21, 2008
UK Single Pay Medical Deemed “Deadly”
Listen and learn, America!
Posted by Tina Grazier
Before American voters embrace either Hillary Rodham Clinton's universal-health scheme or Barack Obama's single-payer proposal, they should consider the avoidable deaths that plague the mother of all state-run medical programs: Great Britain's big-government National Health Service. Low-quality, taxpayer-funded health care killed more than 17,000 Britons in 2004, according to the TaxPayers' Alliance in London.
The TPA examined the World Health Organization's latest-available data to contrast the NHS with the Dutch, French, German and Spanish health systems, which are less government-dominated. Specifically, the pro-market group measured "mortality amenable to health care" -- those deaths that a medical organization realistically should prevent. ** While those four countries averaged a 106.6 amenable mortality rate, Britain was almost 29 percent deadlier, with its rate of 135.3. The TPA thus calculates that the NHS took the lives of 17,157 Britons who otherwise would have survived were they treated by doctors across the English Channel. This figure is more than two-and-a-half times Britain's yearly alcohol-related deaths, and is quintuple its annual highway fatalities. Comparing 60 million Brits to 300 million Yanks, this is like a federally operated health agency eliminating 85,785 Americans in 2004. ** "Anyone looking to reform the American health-care system should learn lessons from the European experience," says Matthew Sinclair, the TPA policy analyst who authored this study. "Britain's NHS has produced dismally poor results. Thousands die every year, thanks to its poor performance and its failure to make good use of new resources. Other European health-care systems deliver greater competition, decentralization and independence from political meddling." ** No one can complain that the NHS is underfinanced. This year's budget is $210 billion -- about $1.05 trillion if adjusted to match America's population.
Diseases snuff Britons sooner than they do others in the developed world. A September 2007 Lancet Oncology article found 66.3 percent of American men alive five years after cancer diagnosis. Among male Finns, that figure was 55.9 percent, while only 44.8 percent of Englishmen survived after five years. Across the European Union, 20.1 females per 100,000 under 65 died prematurely of circulatory disease. Among British women, that number was 23.6. ** Collectively, these data strongly rebuff the notion that America's imperfect health-care industry needs a booster shot of mandates and regulations. What it sorely lacks is more choice, competition and freedom -- and loads less government. ** John McCain's ideas -- among them, expanded health-savings accounts; individually owned, portable health-insurance policies available across state lines; and medical-lawsuit reform -- are the antidote to the "health care with a British accent" that Clinton or Obama would import, unless American voters stop them.
It will become a non-issue that corporations or "the rich" get stuck with the bill once bodies begin to stack up. Makes you wonder just how well those who manage to survive are doing?
Posted by Post Scripts at 10:20 PM | Comments (5)
President Reagan, “Star Wars” Rocks!
Posted by Tina Grazier
“Satellite Hit Boosts Missile Defense,” by Robert Burns, AP Military Writer
The stunning image of a Navy missile streaking into outer space at 6,000 mph to obliterate an orbiting spy satellite boosts the credibility of missile-defense advocates. Yet questions remain whether that success could be duplicated against a surprise, real-world attack. ** The idea, whether the target is an unarmed satellite or an enemy missile, is basically the same: fire a guided missile into the path of the moving target and smash it to bits by the force of impact. In theory, the collision could render harmless even a nuclear- or chemical-armed missile, an idea that evolved from President Reagan's "star wars" program of the 1980s. ** In the case of the spy satellite, a Navy SM-3 missile launched from a cruiser in the Pacific not only hit the U.S. satellite but apparently struck precisely where its operators had aimed: a titanium-encased tank of fuel that officials said could pose a health hazard to humans on re-entry. ** Henry Cooper, who was the Pentagon's "star wars" chief from 1990-93, said the outcome bodes well for the Navy and prospects for adding to its missile defense repertoire. ** "It's definitely a boost for the Navy program because everybody is made aware of the flexibility and perhaps even the reliability of program," Cooper said in a telephone interview.
Posted by Post Scripts at 10:18 PM | Comments (3)
CA Money Woes-Folly and Disaster
We've made it all the way to "has been" now.
Posted by Tina Grazier
The following is from an article, “California exodus turns to stampede - High taxes drive jobs, people from one state to another,” on WorldNetDaily:
"When California faced a Mount Everest-sized $14 billion deficit in 2003, one of the major causes for the red ink was the stampede of millionaire households from the state," says a report called "Rich States, Poor States" by economists Arthur Laffer and Stephen Moore. "Out of the 25,000 or so seven-figure-income families, more than 5,000 left in the early 2000s, and the loss of their tax payments accounted for about half the budget hole." ** And it's not just the rich leaving. ** Based on data from moving companies, California had the second-highest domestic population out-flow of any state in 2005, according to the report, "despite the beautiful weather, beaches, and mountains."
Another article posted at heartland.com features California as one of the worst states in the nation. In the section, “Golden State Loses Luster” we find the following:
California’s ranking was 49 of 50.
The report provides economic competitiveness rankings for all 50 states based on 16 policy variables with a proven effect on the migration of people and investment capital in and out of states. States with the lowest tax, spending, and regulatory burdens win the competitiveness contest. These are primarily in the South and Southwest regions of the nation. ** According to the findings, a record 8 million Americans moved from one state to another in 2006, revealing which states have the most dynamic and desirable economies and which are "has-been" states, according to Laffer and Moore.
Would it be at all useful to point out that democrat policies have brought this once great state to ruin?
Please, vote wisely in November.
Posted by Post Scripts at 08:57 PM | Comments (1)
A Letter from Luis in Venezuela
Luis Caballero, responding to Jack’s post, “Cuban Flag in Obama’s Office”
It send shills my spine to see that picture, even though it is hard to predict an outcome to todays predicaments around the world, we need more than ever, the assertiveness of our leaders; I live in Venezuela where government flags communism to under take a dictatorship, pictures of Che hangs off many places such as the IRS building in Caracas; crime is up more than ever, life is worthless, 7 thousand companies have either gone or closed, middle and small industries disappeared, street vendors say hello, Gov. attacks food industries: Nestle, Coca-Cola, Polar (beer and food), took away tv transmitter for opposition tv station and closed it, make ties with Farc, Cuba, Iran, Belorussian, all in behave of Socialism of XXI.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us, Luis. Your words help us to better understand the realities of socialism and the suffering it brings.
Posted by Post Scripts at 07:50 PM | Comments (0)
Nuclear Warhead Factory-Iran
Posted by Tina Grazier
“Iran 'has nuclear warhead factory',” by Marc Champion – The Australian
THE Iranian opposition group that first exposed Iran's controversial nuclear fuel program has given the UN's nuclear watchdog details of what the group says is a working nuclear warhead factory, visited by North Koreans. ** The facility at Khojir, a Defence Ministry missile research site on the southeast edge of Tehran, is developing a nuclear warhead for use on Iranian medium-range missiles, according to Mohammad Mohaddessin, foreign affairs chief for the exiled National Council of Resistance of Iran. ** Mr Mohaddessin also said the NCRI had identified a guest house on a military compound near Khojir that housed North Korean specialists working at the warhead facility. He said the information had been finalised in recent weeks and was current. ** The opposition group is considered by the US and the European Union to be a terrorist organisation, but it has proved correct on several such claims before. ** Yesterday, Mr Mohaddessin passed the information, which includes satellite images, to the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN's Vienna-based nuclear watchdog, and asked the agency to investigate. ** An IAEA representative said the organisation would check the NCRI's claim against the agency's own data and pursue it "if appropriate".
Posted by Post Scripts at 04:13 PM | Comments (2)
California Tax Folly
Posted by Tina Grazier
A republican website posted this excerpt from an article in the LA Times:
“State’s Voters Agreeable To New Tax”
Despite widespread taxpayer aversion to new taxes, there is one that most Californians don't seem to mind: the one that they don't have to pay. Supporters of a measure on the November ballot are seizing on the sentiment to push for a vast expansion of services for the mentally ill. Their plan is to let millionaires pay the bill. And, so far, judging by polls, it is proving to be quite effective. The proposal targets a small group of taxpayers for one of the largest state tax hikes in recent history.
There’s only one problem, if I heard Newt Gingrich correctly today on Sean Hannity’s program when he said that:
HALF OF CALIFORNIAS DEFICIT CAN BE ATTRIBUTED TO THE FACT THAT MILLIONAIRS HAVE LEFT THE STATE DUE TO HIGH TAXES.
And that’s the problem with punishing taxation. People change behaviors. The best way to ensure money continues to flow into government coffers is by making policy that doesn’t overburden or restrict people. A punishing tax policy drives people away...and they take money and jobs with them.
Posted by Post Scripts at 03:28 PM | Comments (3)
More On The Sub-Prime Loans (see related story below)
by Dan
It's about time they exercised more scrutiny over credit. We would not be in this subprime mess if they had been more careful. But you can't put the blame entirely on the lenders, or "greedy lenders," as the Democrats call them. No lender ever wanted to make a loan to a person unlikely to repay the loan. They were forced to by pressure groups representing minorities and by Democrats threatening to pass legislation. Remember a few years ago during the housing boom when the front page of every newspaper warned that the boom was leaving some people out? Some people who had bad credit, mostly minorities, were being discriminated against. The word most often used was "redlining," as in whole neighborhoods being discriminated against. Those neighborhoods were always the neighborhoods of minorities. So, in order to stave off punitive action by Congress, mainly by Democrats in Congress, the lenders caved in and made loans to people outside of the standard credit parameters. It was not really a racial issue. The lenders never cared about skin color. All they cared about was whether the loan would be repaid, and it just so happened that people who had bad credit histories were often members of minority groups.
Posted by Post Scripts at 12:32 PM | Comments (1)
Thinking About Buying A Home Now?
TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer has some shocking news: If you are applying for a mortgage in one of these areas of the country and don't have good credit, you may be out of luck. And even if you do have good credit, you may find it harder than ever to get a mortgage in these places due to stricter underwriting guidelines that were just released.
AZ -
Area of Restriction - Entire state. Market Notes: Arizona's median sales price has dropped 37.5%. The Phoenix metro area is 70% of Arizona, and house price increases here have been among the highest in the nation, but so has subprime mortgage exposure. With 10.9% of the loans being subprime, many homeowners are hoping for relief with refinance options.
CA -
Area of Restriction: · Entire state. Market Notes: Despite declining home prices, only 33% of California residents could afford to buy a home here last quarter compared to 25% a year earlier. At 54%, the High Desert region was the most affordable in the state, followed by the Sacramento region at 53%. Monterey was the least affordable region in the state at 20%.
FLA -
Area of restriction - entire state. Market Notes: The number of existing single-family homes for sale in Florida was down 31% last quarter to 26,130 from 37,879 homes a year earlier, reports the Florida Association of Realtors. The median sales price dipped 8% to $189,600 from $205,800, with the biggest drop of 26% being in Fort Myers-Cape Coral. Florida has the third highest foreclosure rate in the country.
NEV -
Area of restriction - entire state. Market notes: Las Vegas posted the third-highest metro foreclosure rate (4.2%) among the largest metropolitan areas in 2007. A total of 59,983 foreclosure filings on 30,375 properties were reported in the metro area during 2007, up 169% from 2006.
CO -
Area of restriction - entire state. Market notes: Denver: The average property in Denver, as of Feb. 17 2008, has been on the market for about 63 days, and the median price per square foot for homes in the Mile High City is about $132 or $218,330 for a typical median home. The commercial vacancy rate is 12.9%.
Want to read more? Click here.
Posted by Post Scripts at 10:07 AM | Comments (0)
Good News From Pakistan’s Election
by Tina Grazier
Defeating the extreme groups that make up the enemy we call “terrorism” is a multi-faceted endeavor. It’s important to notice small yet significant victories in our efforts because they aren’t always obvious, they aren’t always trumpeted and when they do make news, they are often presented in a negative light. Such has been the case with the recent elections in Pakistan. It's been said that the election marked a solid defeat of the Bush Doctrine because Musharif failed in his bid for re-election. A closer look tells a different story.
“Islam at the Ballot Box,” by Amir Taheri – Wall Street Journal
The latest analysis of the results shows that the parties linked, or at least sympathetic, to the Taliban and al Qaeda saw their share of the votes slashed to about 3% from almost 11% in the last general election a few years ago. The largest coalition of the Islamist parties, the United Assembly for Action (MMA), lost control of the Northwest Frontier Province -- the only one of Pakistan's four provinces it governed. The winner in the province is the avowedly secularist National Awami Party. ** Despite vast sums of money spent by the Islamic Republic in Tehran and wealthy Arabs from the Persian Gulf states, the MMA failed to achieve the "approaching victory" (fatah al-qarib) that Islamist candidates, both Shiite and Sunni, had boasted was coming. ** The Islamist defeat in Pakistani confirms a trend that's been under way for years. Conventional wisdom had it that the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the lack of progress in the Israel-Palestine conflict, would provide radical Islamists with a springboard from which to seize power through elections. ** Analysts in the West used that prospect to argue against the Bush Doctrine of spreading democracy in the Middle East. These analysts argued that Muslims were not ready for democracy, and that elections would only translate into victory for hard-line Islamists. ** The facts tell a different story.
This is NOT the time for “CHANGE.”
A radical change in our foreign policy at this time would amount to an abandonment of the people in the region who have come to count on American assistance as they work to build democracies. Withdrawal now would amount to stomping on the “HOPE”...that other current political buzz word... that's been built over the last few years. They have just begun to trust American resolve. Shall we now kick them to the curb…”sorry…so sorry …apologies all around, but we prefer now to TALK and make deals with the axis of evil.” NO WONDER people around the world have come to dislike America…when we change policies in radical ways through the process of our own elections we show we cannot be trusted...and we look like utter fools. Whether or not we completely agree with what Bush has done, we had better use caution in our dealings in the Middle East as we move forward. As Mr. Taheri concludes:
Far from rejecting democracy because it is supposed to be "alien," or using it as a means of creating totalitarian Islamist systems, a majority of Muslims have repeatedly shown that they like elections, and would love to join the global mainstream of democratization. President Bush is right to emphasize the importance of holding free and fair elections in all Muslim majority countries. ** Tyrants fear free and fair elections, a fact illustrated by the Khomeinist regime's efforts to fix the outcome of next month's poll in Iran by pre-selecting the candidates. Support for democratic movements in the Muslim world remains the only credible strategy for winning the war against terror.
The choice we make this year will have effects that go way beyond bringing troops home. Read the article, it’s a good one. And…
Please vote wisely in November…John McCain will provide a more seamless transition than either of the two alternative choices.
Posted by Post Scripts at 10:06 AM | Comments (0)
February 20, 2008
Petraeus Lidless in Baghdad
“Big News from Baghdad,” Peter Wehner - Clarissa Ward, ABC News
If you’re looking for one measure of the impact of last year’s troop surge in Iraq, look at Gen. David Petraeus as he walks through a Baghdad neighborhood, with no body armor, and no helmet. It’s been one year since the beginning of what’s known here as Operation Fardh Al Qadnoon. According to the U.S. military, violence is down 60 percent. One key to the success is reconciliation. ** “A big part of the effort, over the last year, has been to determine who is reconcilable, who, literally, is willing to put down his rifle and talk, who is willing to shout, instead of shoot.” Petraeus said.
Posted by Post Scripts at 03:32 PM | Comments (0)
Michelle Obama Was Never Proud Of America?
This is American Pride?:
“ For the first time in my adult lifetime I am really proud of my country, and not just because Barack has done well, but I think people are hungry for change.” —Michelle Obama
Uh, for the very first time? And people hungry for change makes you proud???!!! That makes no sense to me at all.
That quote from Michelle Obama probably says more than she wanted us to know!.
So, how many times have y-o-u been really proud of our country? Plenty I'll bet. Her comments make her look bitter, if not ignorant and she could likely be our next 1st lady. Isn't that great?
McCain keeps looking better and better.
FYI: The flag in the background was the flag hanging in the Obama Huston headquarters. Barrack Obama didn't say much about it and staffers would only say it's been taken down and the flag did not represent his views. For more on the flag flap see the full story below.
Posted by Post Scripts at 01:36 PM | Comments (0)
In election 2008, don’t forget Angry White Man
by Gary Hubbell
February 9, 2008
There is a great amount of interest in this year’s presidential elections, as everybody seems to recognize that our next president has to be a lot better than George Bush. The Democrats are riding high with two groundbreaking candidates — a woman and an African-American — while the conservative Republicans are in a quandary about their party’s nod to a quasi-liberal maverick, John McCain.
Each candidate is carefully pandering to a smorgasbord of special-interest groups, ranging from gay, lesbian and transgender people to children of illegal immigrants to working mothers to evangelical Christians.
There is one group no one has recognized, and it is the group that will decide the election: the Angry White Man. The Angry White Man comes from all economic backgrounds, from dirt-poor to filthy rich. He represents all
geographic areas in America, from urban sophisticate to rural redneck, deep South to mountain West, left Coast to Eastern Seaboard.
His common traits are that he isn’t looking for anything from anyone — just the promise to be able to make his own way on a level playing field. In many cases, he is an independent businessman and employs several people. He pays more than his share of taxes and works hard.
The victimhood syndrome buzzwords — “disenfranchised,” “marginalized” and “voiceless” — don’t resonate with him. “Press ‘one’ for English” is a curse-word to him. He’s used to picking up the tab, whether it’s the company Christmas party, three sets of braces, three college educations or a beautiful wedding.
He believes the Constitution is to be interpreted literally, not as a “living document” open to the whims and vagaries of a panel of judges who have never worked an honest day in their lives.
The Angry White Man owns firearms, and he’s willing to pick up a gun to defend his home and his country. He is willing to lay down his life to defend the freedom and safety of others, and the thought of killing someone who needs killing really doesn’t bother him.
The Angry White Man is not a metrosexual, a homosexual or a victim. Nobody like him drowned in Hurricane Katrina — he got his people together and got the hell out, then went back in to rescue those too helpless and stupid to help themselves, often as a police officer, a National Guard soldier or a volunteer firefighter.
His last name and religion don’t matter. His background might be Italian, English, Polish, German, Slavic, Irish, or Russian, and he might have Cherokee, Mexican, or Puerto Rican mixed in, but he considers himself a white American.
He’s a man’s man, the kind of guy who likes to play poker, watch football, hunt white-tailed deer, call turkeys, play golf, spend a few bucks at a strip club once in a blue moon, change his own oil and build things. He coaches baseball, soccer and football teams and doesn’t ask for a penny. He’s the kind of guy who can put an addition on his house with a couple of friends, drill an oil well, weld a new bumper for his truck, design a factory and publish books. He can fill a train with 100,000 tons of coal and get it to the power plant on time so that you keep the lights on and never know what it took to flip that light switch.
Women either love him or hate him, but they know he’s a man, not a dishrag. If they’re looking for someone to walk all over, they’ve got the wrong guy. He stands up straight, opens doors for women and says “Yes, sir” and “No, ma’am.”
He might be a Republican and he might be a Democrat; he might be a Libertarian or a Green. He knows that his wife is more emotional than rational, and he guides the family in a rational manner.
He’s not a racist, but he is annoyed and disappointed when people of certain backgrounds exhibit behavior that typifies the worst stereotypes of their race. He’s willing to give everybody a fair chance if they work hard, play by the rules and learn English.
Most important, the Angry White Man is pissed off. When his job site becomes flooded with illegal workers who don’t pay taxes and his wages drop like a stone, he gets righteously angry. When his job gets shipped overseas, and he has to speak to some incomprehensible idiot in India for tech support, he simmers. When Al Sharpton comes on TV, leading some rally for reparations for slavery or some such nonsense, he bites his tongue and he remembers. When a child gets charged with carrying a concealed weapon for mistakenly bringing a penknife to school, he takes note of who the local idiots are in education and law enforcement.
He also votes, and the Angry White Man loathes Hillary Clinton. Her voice reminds him of a shovel scraping a rock. He recoils at the mere sight of her on television. Her very image disgusts him, and he cannot fathom why anyone would want her as their leader. It’s not that she is a woman. It’s that she is who she is. It’s the liberal victim groups she panders to, the “poor me” attitude that she represents, her inability to give a straight answer to an honest question, his tax dollars that she wants to give to people who refuse to do anything for themselves.
There are many millions of Angry White Men. Four million Angry White Men are members of the National Rifle Association, and all of them will vote against Hillary Clinton, just as the great majority of them voted for George Bush.
He hopes that she will be the Democratic nominee for president in 2008, and he will make sure that she gets beaten like a drum.
Gary Hubbell is a regular columnist with the Aspen Times Weekly.
Posted by Post Scripts at 01:28 PM | Comments (0)
Stocks Sink on Inflation News
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stocks plunged sharply Wednesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average losing more than 100 points, after consumer prices climbed more than analysts had expected, heightening worries that rising inflation could restrict future interest-rate cuts by the Federal Reserve.
Ahead of the opening bell, the government reported U.S. consumer prices rose a seasonally adjusted 0.4% last month. The core CPI, which excludes food and energy costs, climbed 0.3% in January, the biggest gain since June 2006. See Economic Report.
Posted by Post Scripts at 08:41 AM | Comments (0)
Obama Wins Again
Post by Jack
2/20/08 - Barrack Obama wins again in Wisconsin and Hawaii making it 10 straight wins. Overwhelmingly carrying Wisconsin and Hawaii, Sen. Barack Obama rolled to his 10th consecutive win, while Sen. John McCain picked up two more states in his march to the GOP nomination.
Obama is now cutting into Mrs. Clinton's previous strength among female and blue-collar white voters, Mr. Obama won the caucus in Hawaii where he grew up, a tenth victory that makes Texas and Ohio must-wins for Mrs. Clinton to salvage her campaign.
On the Republican side, Sen. John McCain inched closer to the nomination, winning the Wisconsin and Washington primaries with the decisive margins he needed after surprising losses to Gov. Mike Huckabee in Louisiana and Kansas and a closer-than-expected win in Virginia.
Wisconsin exit polls suggested that Mr. Obama continued his streak by pulling voters away from Mrs. Clinton, in what could be an early indicator of how the Democrats will fare in upcoming states that boast a working-class electorate.
"I think we've achieved liftoff here," Mr. Obama said in Houston, going on to thank Wisconsin voters "for their friendship and their support and their extraordinary civic pride."
He hinted at the protracted battle ahead: "The change we seek is still months and miles away, and we need the state of Texas to help us get there."
Posted by Post Scripts at