Greece, preview of things to come?

Last night I attended a tea party panel at Arcadia University which merits a full post of its own.  I mention it now, though, because the panel was the first thing I thought of when I saw a report of the violent protests in Greece this morning.  There was a comment from the audience near the end focusing on the entitlement mentality that needs to be checked if we are to pull our country back from the brink of a disaster such as we see in Greece. Clearly the Greek citizens have not checked that mentality as we see in the following video.  Their outrage stems from the entitlement cuts necessitated by the country's dire fiscal circumstances. Are they aware the country is out of money and could lead the world into another economic collapse?  Union workers are striking too.  Who exactly do they think is going to continue to fund their union jobs and large entitlement programs?  Maybe they can get in line for that free Obama money.

Obama 2006: "We live in a country of laws"

Via Breitbart and Naked Emperor News

"We live in a country of laws. We don't do things sort of based on one person's situation no matter how painful."

The empathy President seemed to be in short supply of sympathy for the plight of an illegal alien facing deportation back in 2006.    Michelle Malkin covered the story of Elvira Arellano including a plea to then-Senator Obama for a humanitarian visa for Arellano to avoid deportation.  Obama refused to help Arellano citing our country of laws in the video below as basis for his refusal.

Fast forward four years when Obama has all the power at his disposal to enforce the laws that would have made the Arizona immigration legislation unnecessary, Obama declares it "misguided."  He has urged his Attorney General to examine whether the law violates civil rights.

Truth be told, Obama is angry the law calls attention to his failure to deal with immigration.  As Peggy Noonan notes, it all comes down to politics:

The American president has the power to control America's borders if he wants to, but George W. Bush and Barack Obama did not and do not want to, and for the same reason, and we all know what it is. The fastest-growing demographic in America is the Hispanic vote, and if either party cracks down on illegal immigration, it risks losing that vote for generations.

But while the Democrats worry about the prospects of the Democrats and the Republicans about the well-being of the Republicans, who worries about America?

No one. Which the American people have noticed, and which adds to the dangerous alienation—actually it's at the heart of the alienation—of the age.

Alicia Colon accuses Democrats of injecting race instead of dealing with the issue with common sense.  Peggy Noonan agrees, common sense should prevail over politics.  Enforce the borders Mr. President, we live in a country of laws.  We shouldn't be doing things based on one party's situation, no matter how painful.

A Patriot for Pennsylvania's 12th Congressional District: Tim Burns

Stacy McCain who attended the PA-12 candidates debate believes Republican Tim Burns has momentum. Maybe the donning of the famous fedora of a certain blogger had something to do with that. Well, that or the fact Burns received huge endorsements from Sarah Palin and Newt Gingrich.  He made an appearance on Hannity just before the debate.  Meanwhile, his opponent, Democrat Mark Critz, took the blame for a DCCC ad falsely representing Burns' position on the fair tax.   From the American Spectator:

Burns’ staffers were in a celebratory mood after a candidate forum last night at Westmont Hilltop High School, where Democrat Mark Critz — a former Murtha staffer — apologized for a misleading TV ad run by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. FactCheck.org labeled that ad false last week, saying, “For Democrats, misrepresenting an opponent’s anti-tax position as an anti-jobs position is getting to be a bad habit.” . . .  

Tim Burns' election could be the turning point for Pennsylvania and build the momentum for taking back the House in the fall.

Reminder: Tea Party Panel at Arcadia This Evening!

I posted news of this event on Monday. There is a great panel of speakers lined up for the event tonight.  Diana Reimer, National Coordinator for Tea Party Patriots, has an article linked on a similar effort from students at Penn hoping to bring the Tea Party message to students.  Kudos to the students at Arcadia who are helping lead the way.

Here is a copy of the flyer with all the details:

Tea party panel arcadia4.22 (1)

View more documents from Rubyslipperblog.

“I do think at a certain point you’ve made enough money”

Via Breitbart
Here is a clip from Obama's speech in Quincy yesterday making the case for the need for financial reform. Too bad he didn't consider the decision as to when a person has made too much money above the pay grade of the President of the United States. Obama needs an enemy as Dan Henninger points out in today's Wall Street Journal. Unfortunately, the Community Organizer in Chief may find the Alinsky tactics he clings to may also be his Achilles heel:

Even Achilles had a heel, and Mr. Obama's may be his decision to be his own Saul Alinsky. Defining, demonizing and making a mockery of one's opponents was one of Alinsky's main rules for community organizers. But community organizers, though often charismatic, can also be annoying jerks.

 Obama has a convenient target in the unpopular folks from Wall Street.   It's certainly easier to demonize another target than to make a silk purse out of the sow's ear that is the Obama record of accomplishment in office.  In demonizing Wall Street, yesterday, Obama revealed something of his core beliefs just as he did in making his off-the-cuff response to Joe the Plumber during the campaign:

  "Now, what we’re doing -- I want to be clear, we’re not trying to push financial reform because we begrudge success that's fairly earned. I mean, I do think at a certain point you’ve made enough money."

Maybe Obama should consider something novel like staying out of when people have made enough money and start focusing on policies that might help the nearly 10% of citizens who are unemployed make some money.


More on this at Memeorandum

Laura Bush Offers Sharp Criticism of Pelosi and Reid

Pundette has a round up of commentary pointing to a cooling in the red hot romance between Barack Obama and his adoring media. Sign of the times perhaps, is this clip featuring excerpts from Laura Bush's forthcoming memoir, "Spoken from the Heart."  Newsbusters is a bit taken back by the coverage of the book featuring sharp criticism of Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid.   Color me stunned, there doesn't appear to be a note of bias in the report:

Guess What Arlen Specter Regrets?

H/T: Hot Air Headlines

This is Political Wire's quote of the day taken from a lengthy article on the aftermath of Specter's party switch in the Allentown Morning Call:

”Well, I probably shouldn’t say this,” he said over lunch last month. ”But I have thought from time to time that I might have helped the country more if I’d stayed a Republican.”

Specter mused that perhaps if he’d remained in the caucus he could have persuaded one or two of his GOP colleagues to support health care reform. Not one Senate Republican voted in favor of it, but he swears he would have regardless of party affiliation.

”Coalition building has gone out of style in this wing of the building,” he said. Breaking from party ranks to vote with the other side is a ”very unpleasant experience.”

If breaking with party ranks to vote with the opposition is an unpleasant experience, Specter must have been a glutton for punishment as a Republican. That gluttony garnered him a good deal of attention and it is the attention Specter seems to miss:

Specter began showing his intense dissatisfaction with his place in the Republican Party long before leaving. At the 2008 national convention in Minnesota, he scolded a roomful of moderate Republicans for allowing the right wing of the party to take control. He said the number of remaining moderates left could fit together in a phone booth -- ''And we're pretty lonely.''

U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, a moderate Republican from Maine, thinks Specter made a hasty decision.

''I think we're seeing a real resurgence of moderates,'' she said. ''I think it was an unfortunate move and I miss him and I wish he hadn't left.''

It seems difficult for Specter to accept that he's not standing alone in that phone booth any longer. When he was a Republican, his votes used to ''stick out like a sore thumb,'' he said. ''Now nobody pays any attention to me.''

Aww, poor Senator Specter, he isn't getting enough attention from voting with his party all the time. Not to worry, we're paying close attention Arlen. Some of us are even rooting for you in the Democratic primary. We need you to win so we can beat you in November. Those who voted for you in 2004 were taught a valuable lesson. Senator Specter isn't the only one with regrets.

Schiff: The economy is is worse shape than 2008

Via Doug Ross and Gateway Pundit

Somehow I doubt those who laughed at Peter Schiff when he predicted a collapse of the economy will be brazen enough to laugh at him again.  Schiff commented on the latest 213 point plunge in the Dow while the S&P dropped 28 points:

A lot of people were confused – they thought the market going up was somehow ratifying what the government had done – that the stimulus and bailouts were good and the economy was improving – it's not," Schiff says. "The economy is in worse shape than in 2008."

Rather than resolved the crisis, all we've done is papered over problems in the banking system with "phony accounting" and "dug ourselves deeper into debt," says Schiff, a longtime deficit hawk.

The crisis of 2008 was merely the "overture" to the "real crisis" Schiff (still) sees coming: "The real crisis is going to be a currency crisis, a funding crisis, a sovereign debt crisis – and that's when we have to pay the piper," he says. "We're in very bad shape. Sovereign credit risk in the U.S. is just as great -- if not greater than [in] Greece."

Schiff is dead on once again. The stimulus merely delayed the inevitable, papering over city and state deficits that won't be ignored for long. Case in point, I noticed this article linked on a friend's facebook page earlier. Harrisburg, the capital of Pennsylvania has been advised to seek bankruptcy protection:

Harrisburg, the capital of Pennsylvania, the sixth-most populous U.S. state, has guaranteed payments on $282 million in bonds on the incinerator, run by the Harrisburg Authority. The payments on the bonds and on a working-capital loan this year add up to four times the amount the city collects in property taxes each year, budget documents show.

“It’s not good,” Miller said at the start of the hearing before a silent audience of about 20 that included city officials and union members. “Nobody wants to do it, but it’s there for a reason,” he said. “Maybe for the purpose of helping cities that are in the situation we are in now.”

The city this month skipped a $637,500 payment due on a loan to Fairfield, New Jersey-based Covanta Holding Corp., operator of the incinerator.

How many cities are in the same shape as Harrisburg?   While the Federal Government has the ability to print money, cities and states have no such power to deal with deficits. Ultimately, as you will see in the video below, the currency crisis would be worse for the government than it wold be for cities and states. As Schiff explains, those in a position like Greece, who can't print the Euro, may default but will return a larger portion of their debt than will those who print currency. He makes a fair point that the longer the fall is dragged out, the sharper and deeper the drop. Schiff's commentary is sobering but informative as always:

Senator Carl Levin Outrageously Outraged Over Emails

This is Kabuki theater at its' finest. If someone mentions Coke cans we're right back to the days of theatre d'absurde we remember from the Clarence Thomas hearings. Alas, no one on the Investigations Committee could dredge up a story quite as provocative as the Coke can folklore to facilitate their public annihilation of Goldman Sachs. Instead we have an email containing a damning description of a Goldman mortgage-backed security named "Timberwolf." Timberwolf, Senator Levin wants us to know, was described as a "sh*tty deal" in the email." How does he make this point, he repeats the phrase 11 times in every variation of a question he can think of.

None of this proves anything criminal took place but it sure does make for fine political theater.  The left-wing economic guru, Paul Krugman concedes there is nothing to see in the emails.  We should instead be focused on the emails of the rating agencies that gave AAA ratings to these "sh*tty deals."    Don't hold your breath waiting for the rating agencies to be hauled before the Investigations Committee.  The bill doesn't bother to address the agencies and their role in the economic collapse.   It might just be a bit awkward to bring them in for a beating.  Of course, the rating agencies don't have quite the same effect when it comes to ginning up that populist pitchfork outrage either.   That leaves Goldman Sachs to take the fall for the failures of many different agencies *and* the government that created the policies that set the train wreck in motion.

How's that investment in the Obama administration working out for you Goldman Sachs?

PA12 Tim Burns Interviewed on Hannity

Only three weeks to go before the crucial election to fill John Murtha's seat in Pennsylvania's 12th Congressional district.  Those who wish to help this great candidate can volunteer via his website.   I have been informed the campaign is in need of volunteers to make phone calls from home.  With so little time to go before this election, it's time for all hands on deck to ensure a win on May 18th.

Burns made an appearance on Hannity last night and delivered a fine performance.  Those who recall the polling information I posted Sunday will be able to detect a few key points made by Burns in the interview.  It's the businessman vs the bureaucrat and the Democrat Mark Critz is on the wrong end of that equation.  Tucker Carlson, who was filling in for Hannity, ended the interview by calling Burns the "canary in the coal mine."  Carlson concluded, "this race will tell us a lot about how the midterms will go."  Carlson is correct, this is a must-win election.  Sarah Palin agrees, in her endorsement of Burns she writes:

It’s been said many times this year that America is at a crossroads, and the decision we make in November will decide the course of our children’s future. The choice in Pennsylvania’s 12th district couldn’t be more obvious. Let’s send the job-creator to Washington to get this economy moving again.

Personally, I have seen enough of the crossroads and I am just about at the end of my yellow brick road.  It's time to get the heck out of Oz.

Peter Orszag Touts the Wonders of Powerful Rationing Board

Via Breitbart and Naked Emperor News

It's stunning how the truth has found its' way to the light of day once the massive health care legislation finally passed. When Sarah Palin talked about "death panels" she was then, and is now, scoffed at by the media and members of the Democratic elite. Now we see the President's Budget Director touting the wonders of the Independent Payment Advisory Board that will be ultimately responsible for denying treatments they deem excessive and setting Medicare reimbursement rates. This is the group with the power to decide the pain killer vs. the operation question.  Members of the panel will not be accountable to the electorate as they will be appointed by the President.  As Orszag makes clear in the video below this board will be very powerful.

The IPAB drew significant opposition from the health care industry though this was not made widely known to the public during the debate. The powerful IPAB advisory board represents a significant shift in decision making away from your doctor and towards Washington:

Medicare providers and suppliers could be subject to significant payment cuts if the proposed IPAB is enacted and overall Medicare spending continues to increase at its current rate. A group of providers and advocacy groups, including the American Hospital Association, joined in a January 11, 2010, letter opposing the IPAB, noting that it would not be accountable to anyone but the president (who appoints its members). Shifting payment authority from Congress to an independent commission would be a significant change, and is viewed as one of the most meaningful measures in health reform legislation with respect to bending the cost curve in health spending.

In spite of the power invested in the IPAB, a recent report by the President's own Medicare Advisory cautioned costs will continue to rise under the new health care law. The report further predicted cuts to hospitals and other care providers could force some into the red while others will be driven from the Medicare market entirely.

There can be little doubt, a shortage of providers faced with increased demand for services will lead to rationing and/or higher costs. While advocates of health care legislation argue there is rationing in our current health care system, this rationing is done primarily by the insurers driven by free market forces.  There is a distinction between rationing by political bureaucracies and rationing by competitive free market systems. Given my druthers, I would take my chances in the free market every time.  Anyone recall the price of their first VCR?  If you've priced one lately you'll know that is one market government has managed to stay away from.   All things considered the health care legislation seems quite short on hope and jam-packed with change of the unintended and undesired sort.  Sadly, some in the administration still consider these revelations a good thing:

Tea Party Panel at Arcadia University

Readers may remember Kelly who was kind enough to help me with tickets for the Obama health care speech at Arcadia back in March.  Kelly has been busy since then.  In addition to all her academic responsibilities, as Secretary of the Arcadia Republican Club Kelly has been involved in organizing the forthcoming Tea Party panel to be held at Arcadia on April 29, 2010.  She forwarded me a power point flyer with details on the event which I have embedded below.

The event is scheduled between 7 and 9 PM and features a fantastic lineup of speakers:

• Diana Reimer            National Coordinator for Tea Party Patriots
• Jenny Beth Martin      National Coordinator for Tea Party Patriots
• Nate Whigham     Grassroots Activist
• Jamal Green         Journalist and Graduate student, Philadelphia
• Mike Gaske         National Coordinator for Tea Party Patriots/Fundraising Director
• David Webb        Editor Tea Party 365 and Talk Show Host

There is a map included in the flyer below.  Hopefully we can get some pictures and details posted for those who are not in the area and unable to attend this great event.  For those in the area, please take the time to attend.  Tea party events have had a huge impact as we all know.  This event will provide a great opportunity to continue to make our voices heard.

Tea party panel arcadia4.22 (1)

View more documents from Rubyslipperblog.

“They have a bazooka and you have a water pistol.”

It isn't a fair fight  when government battles the private sector.  Ask anyone in the insurance industry.   Where the insurers fell flat, however, was in their failure to fight back.  Goldman Sachs doesn't appear to want to repeat the same mistake.  Responding to a Friday dump by the Senate Investigative Committee that flooded the news with stories Goldman Sachs profited while the financial markets melted down, Goldman Sachs released internal documents intended to refute what they will argue is a politically motivated attack on the firm:

The material, consisting largely of internal e-mail traffic, is meant to refute allegations by a Senate investigation committee, which claimed on Saturday that Goldman had made big profits betting against the mortgage market, which subsequently crashed.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has also alleged that Goldman fraudulently failed to disclose that a hedge fund influenced the composition of a subprime mortgage security underwritten by the bank. Mr Blankfein is expected to launch a strong defence of the bank on Tuesday, fighting to preserve the firm’s reputation in the eyes of both clients and the US public, many of whom were the victims of the housing crash.

Mr Blankfein will have to tread carefully if he suggests that Goldman is the object of a politically motivated campaign, without further infuriating regulators, according to people familiar with Goldman’s likely defence. “It is always an unequal battle with the government,” said one lawyer. “They have a bazooka and you have a water pistol.”

 Fire up the bazookas, Goldman Sachs execs and their attorneys will be hauled before the Investigations Committee Tuesday to see if enough outrage can be generated against the Wall Street giant for hedging their bets school bus drivers might default on their $800,000 mortgages.  The Senate Committee will pour through all the Goldman emails to see if they can dig up some dirty laundry.   Maybe there will be Coke cans with suspicious looking hairs on them.  Al Franken can impersonate a Senator - oh wait - nevermind.

At the end of the day all we are likely to find here is that Goldman bet against a bubble we all knew had to pop.  All this will serve politicians who created the policies to fuel the bubble nicely.  In a year when Democrats must face an angry underemployed electorate, Democrats need to appear to be doing something.  They surely can't spend that time looking at their own failures, that would be too much to hope for.  Their solution is to have a bazooka aimed at a bogeyman.  At least this bogeyman appears poised to fire back, even  if it's only with their water pistols.

Polling in PA 12 Special Election "Dead Heat" - UPDATED

UPDATE: Tim Burns'  campaign could use volunteers to help get out the message to the undecided voters that will help win this election. Money, of course, helps too. This is an important election and one that will hurt to lose especially in light of the following poll results.  Get involved and help win this one for the good guys.  Please consider volunteering to make calls from home.  You don't have to be in the district to help.  

American Action Network  conducted a poll in the special election to fill the seat vacant since the death of John Murtha in Pennsylvania's 12th Congressional district.  The election will be held when Pennsylvanians' go to the polls on May 18th to vote for their primary candidates.  The poll shows the two candidates, Republican Tim Burns and Democrat Mark Critz in a statistical dead heat.  Burns captures 39% of the 300 likely voters responding to the poll while Critz leads by a single point.  The poll has a 5.6% margin of error.  Democratic voters outnumber Republicans by a margin of 2 to 1 but the area voted against Democrats in the last presidential election.  The percentage of undecided voters at the time of the poll was a sizable 21%.

The special election is being closely watched in Washington.  If the news from this poll is an indicator, a win by the Democrat would be very far from a nod of support for the Obama administration or this Democratic Congress.  Obama's disapproval in this poll was a staggering 68% with 53% of Democrats disapproving.  Nancy Pelosi is even more unpopular with 76% disapproval.  Support for the health care legislation is dismal news for Democrats, 11% strongly approve with just 21% expressing they somewhat approve of the law.    There is nothing but bad news for Democrats as far as the eye can see in the poll:

The majority of voters (52%) would prefer a Republican congressman who will be a check and balance to Barack Obama and the Democrats in Congress over a Democratic congressman who will help Obama and the Democrats pass their agenda (40%). Nine in ten Republicans (90%), six in ten Independents (60%) and even a third of Democrats (32%) prefer a Republican congressman. Three in four voters (75%) agree that if Washington isn’t going to listen to people like them, they will send a message on Election Day by voting against the people in power in Washington. Agreement with this sentiment transcends party lines as the majority of Republicans (96%), Democrats (64%) and Independents (80%) agrees that they will send a message to Washington with their vote. Similarly, 71% of voters agree that if the policies and changes being forced on them from Washington are not stopped, their children and grandchildren will not enjoy the same freedoms and opportunities that previous generations of Americans have enjoyed.

Hotline on Call notes the GOP plans on running ads highlighting the Democratic candidates' connections with Pelosi and Obama. It's probably a safe bet Obama won't be making a campaign stop in Pennsylvania for this election. What a shame.

Remember November - UPDATED

A new video produced by the Republican Governors Association is gaining a good bit of attention.  Facebook users may have seen ads linked to the RememberNovember.com website cropping up recently on their profile pages.   Hot Air has a post on the video linking an article in Time Magazine suggesting the underlying message o the video embraces the Guy Fawkes mythology.  I find this completely and utterly laughable.

Those unfamiliar with the Fawkes story should note it was a fateful tale of a few aggrieved Catholic Restorationists  who plotted to blow up in its' entirety the King James Court with kegs of gundpowder planted in the Houses of Parliament.  The plotters were captured and tortured heinously before they were all executed.  It was gruesome.  Having recently read William Harrison Ainsworth's novel Guy Fawkes, or The gunpowder treason: an historical romance in a book club I know a lot about the Fawkes mythology.  Never once did I pick up a suggestion in the video the Fawkes story was being referenced.  


Nevertheless Michael Scherer goes beyond merely suggesting this is the inspiration, he states it as a matter of fact:

Now, the Fawkes mythology has come full circle. The Republican Governors Association has embraced the symbolism of Fawkes, launching a rather striking website,  RememberNovember.com, with a video that showcases far more Hollywood savvy than one can usually expect from Republicans. Again, the Fawkes tale has been twisted a bit. This time, President Obama plays the roll of King James, the Democratic leadership is Parliament, and the Republican Party represents the aggrieved Catholic mass.

Scherer bases his entire premise on the fact that some Ron Paul supporters used the "Remember, Remember The Fifth of November" rallying cry from the Fawkes saga after the story was retold with Fawkes as the hero in the 2005 movie "V for Vendetta."    I have not seen this movie nor do I think it is even relevant.  Of course we may feel aggrieved but "Remember November" seems much more about voting in an election that just so happens to take place in November.  The Fawkes story has been mythologized over the years to such a degree it is now celebrated in the UK every November 5th with bonfires.  Surely this doesn't suggest that the citizens of Britain gather every year in hopes of finishing off the work Guy Fawkes left undone several hundred years ago, does it?  


Scherer betrays some bias in this bit found at the end:

One other note, RGA message wizards have intentionally not circulated this video on YouTube or made an embed version of it publicly available. (Swampland asked for, and was granted, special dispensation.) They want people to view it on their site, RememberNovember.com, in the hopes of building a grassroots army.

Building an army sounds so ominous.  When Barack Obama gathered his flock to his Organizing for America website to submit their names and emails that was all touted as a brilliant masterstroke.  This, after all, was the proof we were offered he had executive ability if I remember correctly.  Now we find out that this stood in place for his qualifications as Commander in Chief too.  What rubbish.

Times problem with the video is buried deep their references to ancient conspiracy theories and threats of violence.  They think it is effective, and  "showcases far more Hollywood savvy than one can usually expect from Republicans."  What to do when Republicans start showing polished savvy productions at a time when the Democrats are poised to have their hats handed to them?  Demonize it, of course:

Who would have guessed that Barbour would embrace the symbolic value of the same would-be mass murderer as the Wachowski brothers?

Embracing mass murderers, really?  They really do think we are all stupid.  Scherer is correct on one point though, the video can't be embeded or surely I would have included it here.  We should thank Time for getting the grassroots fired up and ready to go enlist in that army.  Perhaps we should invite them to the bonfire.

Oops spoke too soon, here is the video which is now embeddable:

We Will Remember from Republican Governors Association on Vimeo.

I see via Memeorandum the left has really lost it with the Guy Fawkes meme. Protein Wisdom thinks this is a sign of desperation which would be laughable but for the fact it is another attempt to tell us all to SHUT UP:

Is the Left really this desperate? Is Scherer just trying to see how far he can dupe the Left into spreading such a ridiculous meme? I would venture the majority of TEA Party participants might vaguely recognize the name “Guy Fawkes” but not immediately recall the history. And Scherer makes his case for the Republican Governors “call to violence” from focusing more on how Fawkes’ story was adapted for the graphic novel turned into movie V for Vendetta — for most TEA Party participants, that itself would be even further from their attention.

Steve Benen has proof this is all a not-so-subtle call to violence from our Republican leadership. The proof, (giggle) Michelle Bachmann held a rally last year on November 5th. Michelle Bachmann has probably been at a rally once a week but that one in November was really about Guy Fawkes. Okay then, but it is us who made a right turn at crazy?

Josh Marshall added, "I find this completely bewildering. The Republican Governors Association is embracing the mantle of a 17th century radical who tried but failed to pull off a mass casualty terrorist attack to kill the King of England and all of Parliament.... Nothing shocks me anymore. But this shocks me."

It's a reminder that the Republican mainstream made a right turn at scary, and have arrived right at stark raving mad.

Dude, get a grip. Do you see bugs on the walls? Hear any voices? There's medication for this kind of paranoia. Be sure to take some when you get your health care in 2014

Surprise Health Care Poses Challenges for Budget and Deficit Reduction

Shocking news only to those who refused to entertain the possibility health care legislation would do nothing but add to our fiscal problems:

Trying to survive the political storm around them, Democrats would postpone the toughest decisions until after November’s elections, when a presidential fiscal commission is scheduled to make its report to Congress. But there is no escaping the political bind that grips the party, exhausted from the debate over health care reform and under political pressure to extend Bush-era tax cuts.

Health care ate up most of the available Medicare savings and popular tax offsets that might otherwise be tapped to narrow the deficit. And as a result, it’s harder to dig out of the deficit hole, and little progress will be made in the short term absent a further surge in the economy.

Politico adds this feel-good bit to soften the damage:

The administration may be hoping for this. Economic adviser Larry Summers was almost heady Wednesday, posting his own White House blog celebrating the turnaround in the auto industry and early repayment by GM of some of its loans. But the stubbornly growing debt is a problem, even as Democrats appear frozen in place.

Too bad it is all hocus pocus:

New Chevy Kabuki: I like Larry Summers, but does he really think GM repaying $6.7 of the over $50 billion the taxpayers have sunk into it means there is a significant chance for "a return of most of the taxpayers’ investment in these companies"? The $6.7 billion "payback" seems like an obvious PR move designed to disguise GM's ongoing trouble, even as the Obama administration moves to sell its stake for a gigantic loss. ... Truth About Cars' Edward Niedermeyer explained all this back in November. ... If Obama had really made the "politically difficult" decision and forced the UAW to take even a mild cut in hourly wages, the story might be different, of course. ...

The loans were reported to have been paid back with TARP funds, enjoy those ads that are all over television.

EDIT:  More on the TARP shell game posted at Potluck.

Pelosi: Why no, all that campaign money from Wall Street doesn't influence the Democrats

First things first, it sure looks to me like the Baroness of Botox treated herself to a recent treatment or two. Reward for all her heavy lifting passing that health care legislation? I haven't seen eyebrows that highly arched since Faye Dunaway took to the silver screen in her portrayal of Joan "no wire hangers" Crawford.

Now to the relevant news. Speaker Dearest was asked about the Democrats' considerable reliance on Wall Street to fill their campaign coffers and whether those campaign dollars have the potential to buy influence as Democrats seek to regulate the financial markets. The swamp-drainer herself issued a stutteringly unconvincing response:

At her weekly press conference, Pelosi said Democrats don't reward bankers for the money they pour into campaign coffers.

"They don't get anything, because the fact is, the Democrats are leading the way...in regulatory reform," she said.

Financial firms have been giving more money to Democrats than Republicans in recent year--not unexpected, since Demcorats are in the majority--but Pelosi said her party isn't beholden to its contributors.

"It doesn't matter" that Wall Street has given more to Democrats, she said. "What matters is what the policy is that we put forth here. And our policy, regardless of contribution, is to rein in Wall Street."

I am guessing Pelosi thought better of admitting Wall Street has been plying Dems with money in recent years. Pelosi's decides to walk that part back a bit though it doesn't play as "smoothly" on video as it does in print. The crux of her message is all that money buys Wall Street "nothing." Perhaps Wall Street should reconsider filling the Democratic coffers if their money gives them no influence. Surely the Wall Street types don't believe that, however, why else would they continue to line Democratic pockets?

Action Alert from the PA Chapter of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy - Save Arlen Specter

The Other McCain has called upon loyal members of the Pennsylvania Chapter of the VRWC to unite in order to insure the victory of "geriatric crapweasel" Arlen Specter in the forthcoming Democratic primary for the US Senate. As McCain notes, there is good reason to be concerned the Specter spectre may be fading prematurely. A recent Rasmussen poll shows Sestak within two points of Specter with a full 10% still undecided. Though Rasmussen's poll might appear to be an outlier Margin of Error blogger Harry Joe Enten took a look at PA polling from previous elections and suggests other pollsters may be playing catch up to Rasmussen:

I would not dismiss Rasmussen out of hand. A little dip into the polling archive reveals that a Quinnipiac poll taken around this time for the 2004 Republican Senate Primary had then Republican Specter leading Pat Toomey by 15%. A Quinnipiac poll taken only two weeks later had Specter up by only 5%. He would go on to win by only 2%. So maybe it will be the other pollsters playing catchup to Rasmussen... Only time will tell.

While time will surely tell, Pennsylvania is running short of that commodity with the primaries scheduled to take place May 18th.  It is critical Snarlin Arlen is snatched from the jaws of defeat for the sole purpose that he lives to fight and lose another day, November 2, 2010..  Ruby Slippers has been able to obtain the secret minutes from the most recent meeting of the Pennsylvania Chapter of the VRWC.  The minutes contain a series of talking points that offer members specific guidelines for convincing their Democratic friends and neighbors why they should embrace Specter in the Democratic primary:

• Specter didn't defect to the Democratic party, he merely returned to his natural home.  VRWC members consider their relationship with Specter a painful tale of unrequited love.  Members so loved Arlen and his many, many, many years of government experience we set him free. Alas he didn't come back to us, now he is YOURS.  We're jealous but forgiving.  Seriously we are.
• Arlen really does respect women.  That whole thing with Michelle Bachmann was, well - you know -because it was Michelle Bachmann.  (Note:  for added effect it is suggested members roll their eyes when saying the name Michelle Bachmann.  Liberals can't resist the opportunity to whine about Bachmann.  This will give a moment of solidarity with your mark liberal Democratic friend or neighbor. ) 
• Arlen has been truly devoted to his long-lost loves, the Democrats.  He went along without question for the whole shinola sandwich, health care, stimulus, porkulus and he would surely support cap and trade and card check.  Shouldn't Arlen be rewarded for his loyalty?   Come on you owe this guy, he paved the way for a filibuster proof Senate remember?
• Why should West Virginians have all the fun watching their aging crapweasel get wheeled in at the last minute to cast the necessary vote for some long-awaited legacy of the Democrats to be fulfilled?  Come on, you know you envied those West Virginians who sat back smugly knowing their crapweasel would arrive in time to save the day.  There is certain truth to that old Billy Joel song after all.  

The last point is Arlen's big selling point, he'll show up to cast that final vote come hell or high water.  Sestak - not so much. Join RS McCain and the Pennsylvania chapter of the VRWC in fighting to give the Democrats in Pennsylvania the candidate they truly deserve.  Feel free to repost this video and use the secret talking points freely.  Beating Joe Sestak wouldn't be nearly as much fun as delivering the knock out punch to Snarlin' Arlen in November.  At least we know Arlen would show up:

Kathleen Sebelius Clueless on Costs for High-Risk Pools

Naked Emperor News has a clip from Kathleen Sebelius' testimony before the Appropriations Committee yesterday. Sebelius has been given enormous power under the new health care legislation. Given her enormous involvement in the health care legislation process, there is no excuse for her to be unable to justify and explain all aspects of the legislation particularly the costs used to justify the whole sham as deficit neutral.

The provision of the legislation that guarantees coverage for high-risk citizens has been widely touted as a key feature of the bill. That Sebelius has absolutely no clue what such coverage will cost or any idea how many will need to be covered reveals how shaky are the underpinnings of the entire cost analysis of the bill. Yet here we see the most powerful HHS Secretary admit the administration has no idea how much high risk pools will cost nor can she explain why the money appropriated will not even make it to 2012 when the pools are not scheduled to be operational until 2014. Audacity:

DeMint First to Sign Contract From America

Via Twitter

Senator Jim DeMint issued a press release today announcing his support for the Contract From America:

“I am proud to stand with millions of Americans across the nation that are demanding real reform in Washington. They want an end to the deficit spending, borrowing, high taxes, and bailouts that have dragged our economy down and threaten the future for our children and grandchildren. This contract was created by the people and outlines a commonsense, constitutional approach to set our country back on the road to prosperity.

"This is a grassroots-generated positive agenda for reform that all Republicans, Democrats, and Independents should be able to support."

DeMint emphasizes the grassroots nature of the Contract which indeed was developed with the input of 450,000 voters nationwide. The Contract includes ten points considered the most positive solutions to the nation's most pressing problems:

1. Protect the Constitution
2. Reject Cap & Trade
3. Demand a Balanced Budget
4. Enact Fundamental Tax Reform
5. Restore Fiscal Responsibility & Constitutionally Limited Government in Washington
6. End Runaway Government Spending
7. Defund, Repeal, & Replace Government-run Health Care
8. Pass an ‘All-of-the-Above” Energy Policy
9. Stop the Pork
10. Stop the Tax Hikes

 More details are available in Senator DeMint's press release linked above.  I am pleased to see number seven included in the list though it is hard to argue with any of the items included.  Now we need Pete Sessions to make good on his pledge to take the gavel or bust.  Politico reports the full Contract will be available for release in time for the fall campaign season.  Senator DeMint appears to be giving us a a sneak preview.

NRCC: Pop Up Dems

Ed Morrissey has the latest NRCC ad that does inspire me to think, "we are just getting started." There are some great pop ups in this ad. So many in fact, I had to watch it a few times to get them all. I particularly liked the pop up right after Obama thanks his Democrats in Congress but there are two pop ups at the end that are hilarious. See if you can spot them:

Quinnipiac: Still no bounce for Obama

The latest Quinnipiac poll shows Obama has not gotten a bounce from his health care legislation passage. In fact, his latest numbers show him at the lowest approval since his inauguration:

"President Barack Obama's approval rating hovers at an all-time low. The White House had predicted passage of the health care overhaul would boost his fortunes, but that has not been the case, and that legislation itself remains decidedly unpopular," said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

"At this point Americans are slightly more confident than not that President Obama will make a good choice for the Supreme Court, but they split with 42 percent saying the nominee will be too liberal and 42 percent saying the nominee will be about right," Brown added.

As baffling as it might seem, some Americans still have faith Obama will make the right choice to fill the Supreme Court vacancy left by John Paul Stevens' retirement. This is less baffling, however, when you examine who still has faith in Obama's judgement. Jennifer Rubin sifts through the poll data and finds Obama has all but lost the coalition that elected him:

Obama’s broad-based ideological coalition has fractured. Among liberals, 77 percent approve of his performance (accounting, no doubt, for high approval among Jews and African Americans, who are more liberal than the population as a whole), while 54 percent of moderates and only 38 percent of independents, 10 percent of Tea Partiers, and 11 percent of Republicans approve of his job performance.

Obama has essentially lost the carefully assembled, broad-based majority that elected him. He is now kept from drifting into George W. Bush–like polling by the loyalty of devoted African Americans, Jews, and liberals. It’s not a winning model for re-election, but then he hasn’t governed in a way to maintain a majority of support from Americans.

The good news for Obama, the media  will continue to cheerlead for him.  Instead of focusing on Obama's lost coalition we will see headlines gleaned from polling data that touts confidence in his ability to choose the right nominee compared to Senate Republicans.  CNN writes, "Poll: Majority say Obama will make right choice on nomination." From The Hill, we see "Voters trust Obama over GOP to make right SCOTUS pick." Perhaps Quinnipiac, CNN and The Hill haven't been made aware of the fact but Senate Republicans are not responsible for picking Supreme Court nominees.  I remain dumbfounded why any pollster bothers to survey such questions.

Health care remains decidedly unpopular with 53% disapproving of the legislation while 39% approve.  Perhaps this explains why Obama has stopped talking about health care.  No doubt his cheerleading media will oblige him and drop the issue from their headlines.

Just what we need, a "liberated" Obama

Just what we need,  Obama reported to be feeling liberated by the realization no matter who he chooses for the Supreme Court, his pick will be met with opposition by Republicans in the Senate. This is "freeing" him to choose a candidate that might otherwise seem a counterintuitive choice in the face of midterm elections and a polarized nation. In other words, he is free to choose someone from his neck of the liberal woods, far far from center:

President Obama thinks Republicans will engage in a full battle over his Supreme Court nominee regardless of the person's ideological leanings, and in some ways "that realization is liberating for the president" to choose whomever he pleases, an administration official told TPMDC.

In comments that are at odds with the conventional wisdom about what Obama needs to do to make sure the Senate confirms his nominee to replace John Paul Stevens, a White House official involved in the confirmation process tells TPMDC that the President isn't taking a cautious approach to selecting a nominee. Despite having one less Democrat in the Senate than when Sonia Sotomayor was confirmed last year, the administration isn't limiting itself to reviewing only centrist candidates for the court vacancy, the official said.

He is counting on Senate Republicans to roll over in the end because Democrats were so agreeable to Bush nominees according to the TPM report. Hello anyone remember Miguel Estrada? Some conservative groups are cautioning Obama shouldn't be so quick to dismiss the possibility of a filibuster:

Case in point: Tom Fitton of the conservative Judicial Watch group told me in an interview that all of the names on Obama's so-called short list so far are unacceptable and seem to be reliable liberal votes.

Fitton's theory is that progressive groups bemoaning the potential shift in the court makeup are doing so in a "strategic" fashion. "Most progressives will be perfectly happy with who he nominates," Fitton said.

Fitton also thinks that Obama is walking on dangerous ground when it comes to the filibuster -- and said the president took a "very radical" approach to health care.

"If he approaches the judicial pick like he approached health care he can expect a filibuster," Fitton said.

 There seems to be no end to the pain and misery Obama is willing to inflict on the majorities he holds in Congress before November.  Considering the fact many were willing to walk their political careers off the plank with health care, I wouldn't put it past Obama to ask them to take another walk for an ultra liberal nominee as well.  The only thing stopping Obama may just be a filibuster.  Come November there needs to be way more that stands in the way of Obama and his liberal agenda, namely a GOP controlled House and a split Senate.

Paul Ryan on problems with the financial reform

GOP has written 6 Things You Need to know about the Obama/Dodd financial reform.  One of the chief problems is the creation of a permanent bailout fund.  Senator Susan Collins, one of the moderate GOP Senators Democrats hope to peel away in order to pass their legislation, has objected specifically to the bailout fund but believes with a few weeks time the Senate could easily put together a bipartisan bill that would meet with bipartisan approval in the Senate.   Once again, Harry Reid presumably with the urging of the White House has set an artificial deadline for the legislation hoping to pass something this week instead.

Though Paul Ryan doesn't address this aspect specifically in the following video he lays out GOP objections to aspects of the Democrats financial reform very clearly.   Again it is the underlying architecture of the bill that creates quasi Fannie and Freddie Macs of the financial market.  The O'Driscoll article mentioned in the interview with Ryan can be found here for those who are interested in reading it.

Joe Klein sees sedition like Haley Joel Osment sees dead people - It's everywhere

This video is making the rounds in the blogosphere. Normally I would skip a post on something so widely available but since this involves Joe Klein, I can't resist.  One of my earliest posts on this blog involved the sorely misguided Mr. Klein who can't seem to find a subject he is not willing to completely change his mind about if it suits his politics.  When I last took on one of Mr. Klein's absurd accusations he was accusing Sarah Palin of leading a party of nihilists.  Klein was outraged she dared to interfere in a difficult end-of-life discussion with his father.  Evidently Sarah Palin's death panel statement was directly targeted at Mr. Klein's aging parents who were going to be robbed of end-of-life counseling thanks to Palin's "obscene" statement. Oh the drama.

In an appearance on Chris Matthews Sunday show,  Joe Klein dragged his drama queen garb out of mothballs to take on Governor Palin once again.  This time he accused her of sedition.  He threw in Glen Beck on his seditious bandwagon just or good measure.  Holy time warp Batman, when was the last time someone was charged with sedition?  Actually it wasn't that long ago, Joe Klein sees sedition like Haley Joel Osment  sees dead people.  It's everywhere.

John Heilemann of "Game Change" fame can't wait to take a whack at the sedition pinata.

"And Joe's right and I'll name another person, I'll name Rush Limbaugh who uses this phrase constantly and talks about the Obama administration as a regime," Heilemann said. "That phrase which has connotations of tyranny. And what's so interesting about it to me, to get to Norah's point - what is the focus, what is the cause of this? You think back to 1994, there was Ruby Ridge. There was Waco. There were triggering incidents. There's been nothing like that. The only thing that's changed in the last 15 months is the election of Barack Obama. And as far as I can see, in terms of the policies that Obama has implemented, there's nothing."

Heilemann also suggested that the alleged up tick in militia activity is a result of the Obama presidency. Klein said it was not only the Obama presidency, but that he was "African-American," and had "Hussein" as a middle name, along with the "scary" economic crisis.

"Two are two things going on here and one thing is certainly that," Klein said. "One thing is he is African-American, but that his name is Barack Hussein Obama. The other we've had a very scary economic crisis. And when people get scared, they get defensive and they get a little crazy."

Speaking of getting a little crazy, woah.   Has anyone checked the water at MSNBC?  Rush let Heilemann have it with both barrels:

Okay.  So did you hear what Heilemann said?  Heilemann said, "There haven't any triggering incidents here. There's nothing to explain why the tea party people are so angry," except they're not that kind of angry, Mr. Heilemann.  They're just a little ticked off that the country has been stolen and the economy's been destroyed for two or three, four generations.  They're overtaxed.  The country is not what it was.  He even goes on to say there wasn't any triggering incident like Waco. Did Mr. Heilemann inadvertently step in it there, calling Waco a triggering incident for McVeigh?  Well, who was Waco? (doing Clinton impression) "Uh, you have to go ask Janet Reno the attorney general about that, I had no idea we were going to launch those tanks in there.  You have to ask her.  Heh-heh-heh.  Don't bother me.  Where's Monica?" 

Glenn Beck "felt like a horse stepped on his chest," when he heard Klein's craziness.  I can only imagine what Matthews Sunday show will be like after November.  They'll need to tape it in a padded cell.

Jenna Bush Hager Interviews Bill Clinton

There is nothing controversial here, just a nice interview between the daughter and granddaughter of two former Presidents with the man who held office between the two.  It seems to me that George W has set the right tone for how we expect our former Presidents to comport themselves.  He stays above the political fray and out of the political food fights.  It seems to me President Clinton might want to stick to Jenna Bush interviews and skip the Timothy McVeigh allusions when discussing opposition to government.  It was not all that long ago he was on the receiving end of the mud-slinging Obama machine.  Has he forgotten already?  He fares much better here when he puts partisanship aside.  The highlight is the end of the interview when Jenna asks about Chelsea's impending marriage.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Surprise, Nearly 80% of Americans are the "Fringe" Who Distrust Government

Via Memeorandum

From an overview of the latest study by Pew Research comes this news headline, nearly 80% do not trust government. This is a historic 50 year low:

click to enlarge

The most recent high point when Americans expressed trust in government came predictably after 9/11.  The current level of distrust toward government is comparable to the levels during the early years of the Clinton administration.  This does not bode well for those incumbents seeking re-election this year as this graph will show:

During the years when trust is at a higher level, fewer seats changed hands during elections.  The largest turnover in seats came at a low point in trust in 1994.  We also see a major shift to Democrats during the Ford presidency when trust in government had then reached a historic low.   This seems unsurprising when you consider the country had then just experienced the trauma of the Watergate years.  You can click on the interactive charts provided in this poll to view how measures of trust/distrust bear on consumer confidence, levels of unemployment etc.

In all, the survey results, totaling a massive 140 pages, reveal deep levels of distrust for both government and non-governmental institutions such as banks, large corporations, the media and unions.  The only institutions to gain in trust were the CIA and the IRS, wow.  Taken together, results of the survey reveal a "perfect storm" of factors explaining historic low levels of trust in government:

By almost every conceivable measure Americans are less positive and more critical of government these days. A new Pew Research Center survey finds a perfect storm of conditions associated with distrust of government — a dismal economy, an unhappy public, bitter partisan-based backlash, and epic discontent with Congress and elected officials.

Rather than an activist government to deal with the nation’s top problems, the public now wants government reformed and growing numbers want its power curtailed. With the exception of greater regulation of major financial institutions, there is less of an appetite for government solutions to the nation’s problems — including more government control over the economy — than there was when Barack Obama first took office. …

These are the principal findings from a series of surveys that provide a detailed picture of the public’s opinions about government. The main survey, conducted March 11-21 among 2,505 adults, was informed by surveys in 1997 and 1998 that explored many of the same questions and issues. While a majority also distrusted the federal government in those surveys, criticism of government had declined from earlier in the decade. And the public’s desire for government services and activism was holding steady.

This is not the case today. Just 22% say they can trust the government in Washington almost always or most of the time, among the lowest measures in half a century. About the same percentage (19%) says they are “basically content” with the federal government, which is largely unchanged from 2006 and 2007, but lower than a decade ago.

Opinions about elected officials are particularly poor. In a follow-up survey in early April, just 25% expressed a favorable opinion of Congress, which was virtually unchanged from March (26%), prior to passage of the health care reform bill. This is the lowest favorable rating for Congress in a quarter century of Pew Research Center surveys. Over the last year, favorable opinions of Congress have declined by half — from 50% to 25%.

Far from taking this as words of caution however, bloggers on the left see Obama trying to appeal to the 80% who oppose big government as a big waste of his time, seriously:

It’s also pretty self-evident from these results that a Democratic President trying to appeal to Republican (or Teabagger) voters is completely wasting his time. So Barack Obama can escalate in Afghanistan and cut taxes and he’s still considered a communist pacifist by the right.

Finally, look at the steady decline of trust in government among Independents. That’s the result of 30+ years of “government is the problem” Reaganism. The Democrats and Barack Obama must make an affirmative case for government or this trend will continue.

The party of “government sucks — vote for us” is still winning the messaging war.

I am speechless.   That reaction is lefty blogger for "you would think they would be thanking us."

New York Times just noticed insurance regulations failing in New York

Via Memeorandum

Now they tell us, The New York Times finally gets around to reporting on the effects of insurance industry regulations in the state of New York that had some unintended consequences we are likely to see with ObamaCare as well:

New York’s insurance system has been a working laboratory for the core provision of the new federal health care law — insurance even for those who are already sick and facing huge medical bills — and an expensive lesson in unplanned consequences. Premiums for individual and small group policies have risen so high that state officials and patients’ advocates say that New York’s extensive insurance safety net for people like Ms. Welles is falling apart.

The problem stems in part from the state’s high medical costs and in part from its stringent requirements for insurance companies in the individual and small group market. In 1993, motivated by stories of suffering AIDS patients, the state became one of the first to require insurers to extend individual or small group coverage to anyone with pre-existing illnesses.

New York also became one of the few states that require insurers within each region of the state to charge the same rates for the same benefits, regardless of whether people are old or young, male or female, smokers or nonsmokers, high risk or low risk.

Healthy people, in effect, began to subsidize people who needed more health care. The healthier customers soon discovered that the high premiums were not worth it and dropped out of the plans. The pool of insured people shrank to the point where many of them had high health care needs. Without healthier people to spread the risk, their premiums skyrocketed, a phenomenon known in the trade as the “adverse selection death spiral.”

The federal mandate, that some Democrats argue doesn't even exist, is intended to offset the "death spiral." With penalties ranging from $695 for individuals and $2085 for families, there is little incentive to purchase the insurance especially at much higher prices necessary to offset the high risk pool insurers are required to cover.  If most purchase insurance there is a theoretical potential for prices to come down but this has not been shown to be true in Massachusetts.  Let's be honest though, no one made a better case against mandates than the candidate Barack Obama:

Now, under any mandate, you are going to have problems with people who don't end up having health coverage. Massachusetts right now embarked on an experiment where they mandated coverage.

And, by the way, I want to congratulate Governor Schwarzenegger and the speaker and others who have been trying to do this in California, but I know that those who have looked at it understand, you can mandate it, but there's still going to be people who can't afford it. And if they cannot afford it, then the question is, what are you going to do about it? 

Obama looked at mandates and campaigned against them.  Knowing full well mandates create larger problems, Obama orchestrated this massive health care legislation against the will of the American people.  Why?  It doesn't take much to figure out the woman featured in the Times article, April Welles, will be the prototype for the next round of Democratic sob stories offered as proof the only answer to the problem is single payer:

She was lucky to live in New York, one of the first states to require insurance companies to offer comprehensive coverage to all people regardless of pre-existing conditions. But Ms. Welles, 58, also pays dearly: Her premium is $17,876 a year.

“That’s a lot of groceries,” she said.

Is there anyone who can't hear the stump speeches being written almost as soon as ObamaCare starts to fail?   Insurers who would charge Ms. Welles $17,876 for insurance will be held up as villains despite the fact the legislation all but guarantee Ms. Welles' rates would be exorbitant.  Let's be honest, we are not talking about insurance anymore for Ms. Welles.  She would be denied fire insurance if she were purchasing a plan when her house was on fire.  Republicans need to repeal and replace ObamaCare with something that truly deals with costs.  Our country can't afford the promises made under Social Security and Medicare.  It won't be long before the politicians can no longer hide the fact our country is on fire and there are no insurers left to blame.

Black box recording reveals "dramatic" ending for Polish President Kaczynski

It's hard to believe it's been a week since Polish President Lech Kaczynski perished in a plane crash along with his wife and 94 members of the elites of Polish government.  The BBC reports information taken from the flight's black box recorder reveals the passengers were aware of their impending fate.  The final moments were said to be "dramatic" though no further information was given on details supporting the impression:

"The panel's analysis, namely data from the black boxes, shows that it was the pilot's mistake that caused the crash," the source added.

Poland's chief military prosecutor, Krzysztof Parulski, rejected the Russian report as "speculation" and warned that it was too early to draw any conclusions since the investigation was still ongoing.

Mr Seremet, for his part, told Polish radio: "The crew was aware of the inevitability of the coming catastrophe, if only due to the plane shaking after the wings hit the trees - which we are certain happened."

Col Zbigniew Rzepa, a Polish military prosecutor, said the pilots had been aware of the imminent crash as the last seconds of the voice recordings "were dramatic". He did not elaborate.

 The remains of 67 of the 96 passengers who died in the crash have been repatriated to Poland for burial.  The remains of Mr. Kaczynski and his wife Maria were retrieved first as preparations were underway for a large state funeral to be held on Sunday.  President Obama is reported to be attending.

Mr. Kaczynski's 83 year-old mother has not been informed of her son's death on the medical advice of her physician.  She has been hospitalized since March  suffering from COPD and is unable to breathe on her own.  She is pictured with her twin sons here, though the translation from the page is not clear I am fairly certain that the former president Lech is to the right.  The brothers were expected to attend the service in Katyn together but concern for their mother's health necessitated that Jaroslaw stay behind.

Church bells tolled and emergency sirens blared to mark the one week anniversary of the deaths of so many of Poland's leaders.   While heads of state of many countries are attempting to make their way to the weekend long funeral events, the cloud of volcanic ash lingering from an underground explosion in Iceland has made travel extraordinarily difficult.   Warsaw Airport had been closed but flights, including Air Force 1, have been given a 6 hour time frame to land at the city's airport.   Some leaders are expected to drive to Poland in order to attend the event.  Poland is expecting up to one million will attend some or all of the services planned for this weekend.

Rush thanks Obama

Via Memeorandum
In response to yesterday's Tea Party protests, President Obama commented at a huge fund raiser at the home of Gloria Estefan:

President Barack Obama said Thursday he’s amused by the anti-tax tea party protests that have been taking place around Tax Day.

Obama told a fundraiser in Miami that he’s cut taxes, contrary to the claims of protesters.

“You would think they’d be saying thank you,” he said.

At that, many in the crowd at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts stood and yelled, “Thank you!”

Obama's tax cuts were Keynesian or stimulative and decidedly short-term. He made no change to our overall tax burden, so he is blatantly misleading when he tax about tax cuts, but what else is new.

The Hill adds that Obama also took the opportunity to declare the results of the Florida 19th Congressional Dist. special election a referendum on health care and the stimulus and the rest of his left-wing agenda. This borders on delusional as the district is D+15 and includes Palm Beach which is probably the heart of Democratic support in Florida. Turnout for the election was an abysmal 10%, that is quite a referendum.

The real gall of his statement is that he mocks those who are concerned about future tax burdens caused by his outrageous spending. This man purports to be the President of the United States, rather than address concerns of citizens he mocks them. Rush Limbaugh responded with words of thanks Obama likely doesn't want to hear:

Video Via The Right Scoop

Heh, Fausta takes aim at the menu at this fund raiser in the heart of Cuban paradise. Sushi, yes sushi. Were they out of arugula? Fausta has the MSM video "Conga" noting, "we shall wait and see what the Tea Party conga line looks like in November."   Yes, indeed we will.

Carol at  No Sheeples will never thank Obama.  She put together a great video to make the point.  Great job, Carol.