Two headlines from the Drudge Report illustrate the use of carrot and stick. The first link describes what happens when you do get with the program, the second describes the outcome when you don’t.
- Firms with Obama ties profit from health push
- Insurers Fear Probe By House Dems Is Reprisal for Opposing Part of Obama’s Plan
Well it’s politics, right? Politics is about making deals and that means positive and negative payoffs. But the really amazing thing is how health care has turned into a kind of vortex into which the energies of the opposing sides are being sucked. The story on reprisals really illustrates to what extent politicians will go in order to “reform” health care debate or keep it from being “reformed”. Who knew they cared so much?
In a move some fear is a reprisal for opposing President Obama’s health care plan, Democrats sent 52 letters to health insurers requesting financial records for a House committee’s investigation. Reps. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., and Bart Stupak, D-Mich., sent a letter warning health insurers that the House Energy and Commerce Committee is “examining executive compensation and other business practices of the health industry.”
Why is the “health care” issue so important? One possibility is because it has become the locus of a meeting engagement by two opposed forces whose differences have been building. On the May 31, 1916 two huge dreadnought fleets who had long been seeking each other blundered around off Jutland ineffectually trying to come to grips. In fact, their scouting screens were just out sight of each other. Had luck been otherwise, both forces would have missed each other completely. Then fate took a hand. A single neutral steamship split the distance between the two opposing cruiser screens. The British Grand Fleet sent two vessels to investigate. So did the German High Seas Fleet. They ran into each other and pulled the rest of their fleets after them. The insignificant Danish steamer NJ Fjord had started the Battle of Jutland.
On the afternoon of 31 May the British battlecruisers, under Beatty, were on a course that at 4.30 PM would take them 20 miles ahead of the German Battlefleet and 40 miles astern of their battlecruisers. Fortunately, for Beatty, the Danish steamer N.J.Fjord was steaming between the cruiser screens of both battlecruiser fleets. At 2.00 PM the Elbing sighted her and sent B109 and B110 to investigate. Galatea and Phaeton also went to investigate. At 3.20 PM Galatea signalled “Enemy in sight” and eight minutes later the British light cruisers opened fire.
The health care debate is important in itself. But like the NJ Fjord, perhaps its main significance is that it is pulling the opposing sides into a vortex around which their fates will swirl.
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Reading this, one almost gets the impression that the Democrats are acting, to some extent, like thugs.
I’m sure thats not the intent; so I’ll reread it more carefully …
Its very easy, when looking at a very large complex system, such as the government of the united states (white house + executive branch, congress + related agencies such as CBO, judicial) to conclude that people in it have a bad motive.
The reality, more often, is that (1) the overall sytem is badly designed (or more often, simple never designed) — and while the people involved have good motivations, the system often leads to bad outcomes; and (2) we are just seeing a small part of the picture, and are affected by our own biases.
For example, see Wretchards previous post to this one: The Collaborators: There it discusses how impossible it is to know how someone is behaving. We will never know if Homa was hero or villian; though it seems more towards a mixed motive with leaning towards villian …
Well the Dems have made it pretty clear they are going to ram this health care thing through no matter what the people think.
Then they will do the same with Cap and Trade.
Obama doesn’t care what his poll numbers are if he can complete the destruction of freedom. No way they come this far without finishing the job.
And Dick Morris is wrong, they don’t give a dang about all those letters, emails, and phone calls.
Perhaps we should send them something different.
Remember the series “Jerico”, we the people got a few more episodes by sending “nuts”.
What can we send our politicians?
To get the point across.
Am I the only one that thinks that Waxman has a freakish resemblance to Himmler?
This is the first skirmish in what may be the next revolution. The people and culture have been under assault by progressive socialism since 1902 and this is the latest incident. If this health care bill is rammed through I have literally heard up right citizens say they are locking and loading. These guys are serious people; not wack jobs.
The real problem is a progressively socialist government not failed capitalism. It appears the socialist are frustrated that with all of their control of the schools, control of the courts, and control of the media more than half of the country is not buying their failed ideaology. They are impatient and impatiance can and will get you killed.
Waxman has always been a Fascist.
Control of all branches of government enables them to employ the ultimate weapon:
“Healthcare”
aka, complete access to, and control of,
The Lives of Others.
—
Doctors For Patient Care
PHYSICIANS STAND TOGETHER
Against Government Takeover of Healthcare
—
What Does “Docs4PatientCare” Support?
The Democrats are thugs….they’re recruiting thugs. Yesterday I posted a letter I received from a friend in Bozeman, Montana, on the Presidents recent visit and how some of his minion thugs pushed people around. They should be on notice that in Florida we have a “stand your ground” law which allows a citizen the right to remain where they are and not be bullied. If they are bullied they can legally shoot and kill the perp….this goes under a Public Service Announcement for I do not intend to back down.
As for the healthcare debate, Barney Frank losing it, and today’s puling beg by Teddy “My Brain Ain’t Steady” Kennedy to have succession law amended it’s all about money. Taking your money and giving it to someone else who hasn’t earned it…..not a pfennig.
Barney attempted to state that the Iraq war’s cost was the greatest expenditure ever. Well, all the top Democrats at the time proclaimed Saddam a danger and in possession of WMD’s….they wanted him stopped……but that begs the question.
What we recently had was a central bank, the FED, private and secretive, collude with the Treasury Department and Wall Street, to spend tens of TRILLIONS on a bailout that is suspicious in its need when bankruptcy laws would have worked just fine. Not only that but NO ONE knows where the money went, or trillions of it.
Dysfunctional is the word for how the US is functioning circa 2009.
Screwed is the word for our population.
Fraudulent and a liar are the words for POTUS.
The economy and the democracy of the US has been breaking down for at least 20 years. Now with a alien as President and a Congress of mostly corrupt politician doing the bidding of certain large corporations and unions, we are facing a out of control Fascistic “kingdom” of self serving self appointed “elites”.
Warren Buffett runs Geico. Peter Lewis runs Progressive. Each is a staunch supporter of Barack Obama.
Has anybody noticed how we aren’t talking about car insurance? Has anybody noticed how nobody is proposing a “public option” for car insurance? Or a single payer system for car insurance?
We aren’t having a debate about car insurance. We aren’t having a debate about the effects of gargantuan hedge funds running amok. We aren’t having a debate about rebuilding America’s merchant marine fleet. We aren’t having a debate about how to win against al-Qaeda. (Remember them?) No, this entire debate is about health insurance.
These people are truly thugs. I worry about what happens when their organization gets spread out into the country thru this Organizing for America/ACORN set of tools.
Wilson set up a brownshirt operation to enforce his policies There’s a digital book on Google about it, written by one of its leaders. That one was organized thru the FBI and Justice. The American Protective League was set up ostensibly to support the WWI effort. It was a wonderful [crisis] opportunity. They also acted to stifle those who didnt agree with Wilson. All of this was based on an espionage act passed in 1798. (go to pg 56 in the book) and ramped up by a 1918 Sedition Act to include “many new types of disloyal utterance”.
I dont want to seem at all paranoid but the potential is there….
Alexis,
What we Plebes really need is
Czar Insurance
The so called debate is only about health insurance if we let it be. Obama’s minions are trying to change the framing because that’s what their focus groups told them to do. We do not have to play along. Same for Waxman who wants the insurance companies to hang themselves with corporate data on pay and benefits. If there’s an insurance CEO with an ounce of integrity he’ll tell Waxman to shove his subpoena.
This bunch is going to go Left as far and as fast they can until hit they hit a wall of opposition that they fear can roll back on their status and position. I don’t think that’s a few or a few thousand ordinary folk at town halls either.
now it let me edit.
Does this thing have rules or is it just random?
So normally I don’t subject myself to 6 minutes of Barney Frank, but for some reason I felt the need for some mortification this morning, and my hair shirt was in the laundry, so I clicked the embedded YouTube video in W’s post.
Most of it was standard Barney. But my jaw almost hit the floor when he was questioned by a gentleman who said,
Barney’s response was this:
This is a statement of either breathtaking ignorance or startling mendacity. Subchapter S corporations are “pass-through” entities for tax purposes. All of the income from the trade or business flows through to the individual shareholders, who pay taxes on that income as if it were personal income. An increase in personal tax rates is, de facto, an increase in the tax rate on S-corps. All of these firms are private, and virtually all of them are small businesses.
The thing that’s missed by the Left on this “raising taxes on the rich” argument is that raising personal tax rates on S-corps increases the tax on both labor and capital. A small business owner plays two roles: manager and investor. This is an excellent model, as it avoids one of the biggest problems in the economy: how to keep managers from spending other people’s money (OPM) unwisely (aka the agency problem). It is human nature to spend OPM more freely than we spend our own – see above under Frank, Barney (champion of Fannie and Freddie).
But contrary to Barney’s claim, S-corporations do not pay taxes only on cash that is distributed from the business. They pay on the full income, regardless how much cash is distributed. In other words, they are taxed immediately on both their labor and capital. So increasing personal tax rates on the rich increases taxes on capital, causing that capital to flow toward other uses, thereby destroying jobs and decreasing economic efficiency by creating an tax advantage for firms that also face the agency problem. This is a deadweight loss for the economy as a whole, although a potential benefit for government.
But, then again, maybe not. Increasing the personal tax rate will probably also decrease the amount of taxes paid by the rich (i.e. taxes on capital). Right now, an S-corp pays taxes immediately on retained profits. But if you raise the rate too high, the S-corps will change to C-corps, and the taxes paid by capital are only paid on distributions (e.g. dividends). This means that in the short run, the tax on retained capital will go to zero, as C-corps do not pay a tax on capital until it is distributed as a dividend.
Sooooo, all of this grandstanding about “taxing the rich” will not, at the end of the day, probably not hurt the rich near as much as the working poor, who will lose their jobs due to decreased capital efficiency, while the rich simply restructure their affairs to defer much or all of their tax liability.
Anyway, sorry for the long digression, but the bottom line is this: the questioner is right on the facts here, and Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee is wrong.
And Barney Frank is supposed to be one of the smartest guys in Congress. Then again, that’s kinda like being the tallest midget.
L3
Wretchard,
My hope is that you are using the wrong analogy with Jutland here. If we are lucky then the Left are as arrogant as the Tsar who sent his fleet halfway around the world, only to see it destroyed at the Tsushima Straits.
Interesting comparison to the Battle of Jutland. Possibly an even better (but similar) comparison in terms of overall impact would be the American Civil War battle of Gettysburg, begun when 2 opposed screening cavalry forces ran into each other at an obscure crossroads. Over the next 3 days they pulled their respective massed armies in after them.
That battle turned out to be the most conclusive battle of the entire war, capped by Picket’s Charge where Lee threw everything he had into one final desperate assault – and failed.
The furthest reach of that charge is a spot still known as the High Tide of the Confederacy. It was all downhill for them from then on.
We may be about to see the High Tide of Obama.
Government should not compete with private sectors. Increase private competitions and incentivize people to stay healthy. Unemployed people should be able to keep their money contributed in the employer-healthcare and bring it with them to their next employer.
capital preservation is going to get harder and harder. especially with the FDIC insolvent and accepting Enron style accounting in the banking system.
capital flight is the rational defense.
WWS, Good analogy on Gettysburg. Pickett’s charge was suicide, across a big open field into fixed defensive positions. It was a forerunner of the trench warfare in WWI or the assaults on Gallapoli.
Obama, the Dhimmicrats, the thieves at Goldman Sachs, etc. are leading our country’s future across an open field of delusion into the big guns of economic reality when we are crushed into penury by unsustainable debt and no one left to borrow from.
Hearing that fat old queen, Frank , arrogantly talking down at citizens is disgusting. It is the same tone he used to shout down those regulators who tried to rein in Fannie and Freddie.
WWS@15:
The analogy with Gettysburg is apt. The Left, as Lee did, is committing their whole army to achieve victory. The only difference here, is that there is no attrition of their forces, even if they lose this battle.
So what are the “forces” of the Left. It is money and foolish addiction to ideology. IMHO, the Right needs to start flanking fires, to continue in our metaphor of war for politics. How about starting recall petitions? How about filing lawsuits where ever possible? Burn up the money! Challenge fraudulent claims with lawsuits as appropriate. File suits against the MSM as appropriate. Choose wisely where your money is spent (think economy of force operations). Surely, the Right has lawyers ready and able to provide “pro bono” work to save the Republic. Make them hemmorrhage money and followers. “War to the knife, knife to the hilt”….metaphorically speaking, of course.
I think anyone who is not a fool or just plain stupid always fears their government will do the reprisal if you don’t cooperate.
It’s just a healthy attitude to have when dealing with anyone who believes the answers to any problems is government control of everything in life.
Much like I would fear a God, Goddess, Gods/Goddesses being totallty in charge of a person’s fate, health and life.
When you see your government kill and maim other folks with overwhelming force to enable a policy to take place a fellow gets the idea that “Hey, WTH these clowns may just decide for whatever reasons or no reason at all that I am their enemy.”
You know for being a veteran, a Republican or democrat, Communist, member of the NRA or a Moonie.
fear of your own government is a healthy agenda.
Golly, the Democrats seem to be doing their darndest to create entire legions of new and willing well-heeled donors for the GOP, aren’t they?
From multiple businesses who helped Obama get into office who feel betrayed, to various businesses and entities who are being vilified and intimidated, to wealthy Americans who thought that their Swiss bank accounts were inviolate.
If GOP operatives aren’t getting busy contacting and interacting with all these PO’d and frightened sources of possible massive campaign funding, than the Republicans are even bigger incompetents than many of us thought.
I wonder if, apropos of The Pacific discussion, Guadalcanal might be the better analogy, as far as battles go.
Guadalcanal was originally occupied by the Japanese as an almost irrelevant minor part of the whole Port Moresby invasion. The larger operation was postponed after the Battle of the Coral Sea ended in a draw, but the small garrison on Guadalcanal went ahead building an airstrip. Imperial Japan, suffering from Victory Disease and used to winning without much effort, didn’t send anything like a real garrison to the island. But when the Allies discovered the nearly-complete airstrip, they correctly concluded it represented an unacceptable threat to the overall war effort and the Japanese could not be allowed to fly strikes from Guadalcanal. It would’ve given them a stranglehold on Australia.
So the first American invasion of the war was put together hastily on a shoestring, and sent to an island that had never been part of the plan for fighting the war. Still they had little trouble routing the small, poorly organized Japanese force, who fled into the jungle. The Japanese Army, still unaccustomed to defeat, sent reinforcements. The Allies responded. For six months, major operations in the rest of the PTO came to a halt as both sides threw everything they had into the Guadalcanal operation, which became a meat grinder, swallowing men, ships, aircraft and supplies in numbers all out of proportion to the size of the island.
Luzon and Leyte may have been where the IJA and IJN eventually died, but Guadalcanal was where they were dealt the mortal wounds, where their fundamental weakness was exposed and exploited. Their source of power was ultimately a relatively small core of fanatics who had trained in their tactics for years before the average Allied soldier, sailor, pilot or Marine showed up at a recruiting office or draft board. During the early stages of the war, these highly trained fanatics were able to run circles around the unprepared Allies. But there weren’t many of those fanatics, and as the war of attrition on Guadalcanal ground on, their advantage evaporated. The Allied gained experience and confidence, the Japanese lost both.
Overconfidence? A core of fanatics with specific training and experience running up against a much larger, less experienced but now angry and determined foe? Hmmm…
PS: Programmer is correct, we need to make sure this battle of attrition actually has, y’know, attrition on their side. For what it’s worth, this may be happening to their politicians. Greg Nickles, incumbent Mayor of Seattle, looks to be losing his re-election bid in the primaries, and the overall election this week seems to have taken a conservative turn – in Seattle! of all places.
But the loses need to be carried into the Dems funding groups and thug brigades too. Don’t let them retreat and regroup. Falaise pocket – we need to find our Patton. Or our Sherman.
This is probably off thread but I just found a cool tool – it displays relationships visually – http://www.muckety.com/ – plug in Al Gore or anyone else in the news and it shows their interconnected spheres of influence.
“”"”"”Am I the only one that thinks that Waxman has a freakish resemblance to Himmler?”"”"”"
Well, I kind of thought of Waxman as living proof that Porky Pig did it with a warthog, but, now that you mention it, there is some resemblance to Himmler — good catch.
In that same vein, I’m convinced that Barney Frank is Elmer Fudd’s illegitimate son, and Dennis Kucinich is actually a ventriloquist dummy from the Vegan star system.
Wretchard,
Don’t take it too hard or too personal.
Since the accession of the Anointed ONE, the top law enforcer of the realm, all he and his pals did were breaking and bending the law. In fact, regular folks might ask themselves, “What law?” and “Who, ME?” and follow the shining example.
End of story.
4. DocBill:
I don’t want to hit this one too hard but for over two, perhaps three years I’ve been saying we’re headed for a shooting revolution in this country. It wasn’t the product of a “whack job” mentality but the close reading of revolutions and how they form. So to label those of us who rang the tocsin prior to the remainder of you getting clued in isn’t the mark of a whack-o ..
If you were more scholarly regarding how, since the early parts of the last century, the Democrats have aligned themselves with organizations, movements , and parties antithetical to the interests of what is defined in the Constitution and concurrent papers you would not be using the phrase whack job except to explain the actions of the Left in this country.
obama is the poster boy for whack jobs, not those at the town meetings who are finally showing some guts … now all they need to do is whack some of the goons.
RR opines:
If GOP operatives aren’t getting busy contacting and interacting with all these PO’d and frightened sources of possible massive campaign funding, than the Republicans are even bigger incompetents than many of us thought.
RR, if you notice, I have started using the word, Right, to denote the walkers of a righteous path. I fear there are very few competent Republicans left. Sarah Palin comes to mind as a competent, somewhat mythical frontier mother and wife figure; Rush is another, although he too is a somewhat mythical figure (a self created mythos). I am not sure, though, that they are really Republicans.
If you’ve got a blue dog in your district, get up someone good to run against him. We’ve got a new blue dog here, and we’re going to be running an articulate young handsome Marine against him, a fellow whose family has been here four generations, and we are going to win, too, I’m taking bets. I’m going to try to go to the protest in D.C. on Sept 12, after that I plan on helping this young fellow’s campaign, at least with money. A lot of people are getting really ticked, that’s for sure. I’ve been mostly non-political in my life, keeping my nose to myself. Time to get involved.
NEWS FLASH:
Latest pronouncement from President Obama:
‘We are God’s partners in matters of life and death’…
http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0809/We_are_Gods_partners_in_matters_of_life_and_death.html?showall
From top-to-bottom, this administration is tone-deaf and clueless, and continues to say disturbing and frightening things on issues of health care.
God’s partners? Holy cow! First he insults working class cops. Then he denigrates and vilifies doctors. Now a full frontal assault on Christianity?!
I just don’t get what he/they are up to other than the apparent likelihood of abject stupidity.
heh, that’s ripe, when zero doesn’t know when life begins, it’s beyond his pay grade.
Every kid in high school that goes to Albertson’s to buy a pack of rubbers on Saturday night knows when life begins, but not zero, he don’t know. He does seem to feel he knows when life should end, however.
I was reading in a book last night, ‘Lucy’s Legacy’ by Donald Johanson, as to how our friends the Neaderthalers may well have cared for their elders. The evidence put forth was some bone evidence of severely wounded Neaders who had survived long past their debilitating wounds…they were cared for.
Devolution of contemporary morals….
It’s the elders that have traditionally kept and passed on the life giving, life affirming wisdom of the tribes.
If we are losing this, we’re finished, and Uncle Sam becomes an enemy.
bob,
Good point. This could be a line in a film noir, “Say buddy, you know when life begins?” No, Mr. but I can tell you when it’s time to end.”
See, The Maltese Terrier starring Barack Obama as Wilmer the Gunsel, Barney Frank as Cairo, George Soros as Gutman, Hillary Clinton as Mary Astor (the fall girl) and Sarah Palin as Samantha Spade. In glorious Black and White.
Roderick Reilly,
Where could he have learned this kind of arrogant, solipsistic, religious type of fervor and willingness to destroy real lives, wealth and laws in the name of an external certainty that holds him t a low standard of personal responsibility?
Web tool oversees Afghan election
Unorganized Militia election monitors in America need to look into this for next year.
Tim Lynch is observing Election Day from Jalalabad.
With respect the model of Jutland or Gettysberg strike me as inapt. Theose were both meeting engagement in which neither side knew what the other was up to and neither was intending to fight a conclusive engagement at the time and place where it developed. While it might be true that the Republicans are flailing around in the dark the analogy just does not apply to the Democrats. They have been planning for decades to use health care as a wedge issue for overall regulatory expansion. The only thing that has surprised them is the effectiveness of the grass roots opposition that their plans have produced.
They Left walked into this cave knowing the treasure inside and knowing that a bear lives here. They just assumed that he was now old and toothless.
Habu @ 6:
Seconded. This far and no further. (I am glad you are back in the forum and speaking your mind. You do so simplify the debates.)
Alexis @ 8: Good post and spot on. We are talking about controlling 1/5th or 1/6th of the largest economy in the world. Follow the money to the ‘Power & Control’. (M. Simon’s blog, BTW)
maineman @ 30:
Nope, he is just waiting for the rest of us to acknowledge what he already knows, his beatitude. His actual holiness. I think this pathological narcissist actually believes he is the chosen one. I just wish stupidity could explain all of this hubris.
To what Habu said above, I will post this for a general reminder:
Robohobo,
We are talking about controlling 1/5th or 1/6th of the largest economy in the world.
Be fair, they are trying to shrink the economy as fast as they can. Eight years of Obama with Cap and Trade and health taxes and everything else on their plate might produce an economy so small that even the Democrats can manage it.
LOTM – So true. I know my personal one is shrunk so small I cannot see it. (I do have a small light at the end of the tunnel. Pray for me.)
I did not say it before but I will now. Barney the Frank seems to be mighty feisty these days. I attribute it to the fact that a man can only debase themselves so much before it tells. There is a price to be paid for self destruction – one of the soul and one of the body. He seems to not like himself or others much.
As an aside, the woman with the ‘hitlerian’ image of The Won was too much. Not that I disagree, he is a fascist/statist but that to display the thing is pure effrontery to the corrupt. To remind them of their corruption just makes them defensive when you would rather it sneak up on them. That small voice in the quiet times that says “You really have become so low?”
The only thing that has surprised them is the effectiveness of the grass roots opposition that their plans have produced.
As long as folks are bringing up military analogies, the Dem elites remind me sometimes of the French knights at Agincourt– they didn’t think much of Henry’s low-class archers.
PA Cat:
My analogy is a quote from a movie:
“Chronicles of Riddick”
Riddick: Do you want to play my favorite game?
Kyra: You mean who’s the better killer?
Who are our Furions?
FWIW, I think the better analogy is the battle of Saratoga in the American Revolution.
When the British marched from Canada south toward Albany, NY, they had every prospect of success. But Patriot militia, infuriated by Burgoyne’s employment of “savage” Indian allies and the murder of Jane McCrea, swarmed from every field and farm on the upper Eastern seaboard to join the Continentals in stopping, surrounding, and taking an entire British army. The French decided the Revolution was for real and declared an alliance.
Obama’s arrogance and “death panels” will prove his undoing, like Burgoyne’s arrogance and savages.
“”"”"If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen.
-Samuel Adams, speech at the Philadelphia State House, August 1, 1776″”"”"
For all intents and purposes, Adams was unwittingly referring to what would soon become the Canadians. You know, the ones with that great health care system?
34. Lifeofthemind:
I see your point, more like Wagram or Waterloo. Both sides know that the whole bag of marbles is on the line. I ahve to hope that the lovers of Liberty are up to the task at hand.
SL/40; yep, “Johnny” Burgoyne had made public promises and money bets before his campaign jumped off –to split the rebellion into parts, and wrap it up in no time. The spread between his mouth and his results sent him packing back to England in short order. He too was a young overconfident charismatic ‘talker’.
LotM/36; re ‘shrinking the economy’ look at here at a Greenpeace heavyweight (no bigmouth footsoldier) actually claiming the intention (as well as admitting a lie about ‘shrinking icecaps’).
What geniuses, expecting a post-apocalyptic human race to be ‘ecology-minded’. These people need to read a book.
#3 Peter Boston:
I think Waxman looks like an elf or a gnome. With those big ears sticking out and the upturned nose. And he’s really short.
#26 Habu
I know some really out there black helicopter believers that have always spoken about revolution as if it were a sand box game. They are wack jobs. The people I have had speak about revolution and arms lately are people with major skin in the game. Large business owners, Chamber of Commerce people, Junior Leaguers.
When this sort of folk start talking about open defiance of government, then the “establishment” is scared. They are the game changer.
To me the Himmler lookalike is Eric Holder. Not so much in physiognomy as ‘aura’ –movement, furtive expression, empty-socket eyes and all. Gen-u-ine creep if ya axe me. Makes Janet Reno look like Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farms.
Docbill & Habu –keep in mind tho that such an outbreak of violent open revolution may well play into the hands of foreign ‘rivals’ –or at least factions within –and that this thought neatly wraps a lot of our “how can this administration be so stupid?” head-scratchers.
Everything rests on ‘the Oath’.
Makes Janet Reno look like Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farms.
Obama makes Hilary Clinton look like a young Queen Victoria.
You just gotta know we’re in deep doo-doo.
Regardless of who he looks like, Waxman creeps me out. I get this image of the guy hunched over gnawing on a femur. Don’t ask me from where. I don’t know. Is Dr. Sanity in the house?
yep, PB, it’s that nagging thought at the back of the mind that the dems have been taken over by Franks and Waxmans and others who were probably wounded in childhood and are in politics to get revenge on the ‘normals’.
Larson
Don’t get me wrong; I don’t advocate letting the dogs of war loose. However, when folks of substance become involved rather than just observing from the sidelines then there is hope for real change. Their voices, money, and connections change the tenor of the discussion and the significance of the decisions. For the most part people of substance have shaded socialist for the last 75 years because it was “cool”. Maybe it will not be so cool in the future. The white middle class guilt vote elected O. Hopefully a change there will mean an end to the socialist drift.
L3 @ 13…
C Corps filling a standard 1120 must pay taxes on retained earnings.
Those receiving dividends then pay another 15% haircut on the payout.
Rocketing 1040 tax schedules will make many S Corps elect to file as C Corps.
C Corp tax levies are quite low at first; they converge towards 35%.
http://taxguru.org/incometax/Rates/1120.htm
Obama, the Dhimmicrats, the thieves at Goldman Sachs
Anyone know if it is possible to develop dyslexia in middle age?
It seems I have been scrambling/misreading things over the past year or two. The funny thing is, the misread words always come out as some kind of joke.
Like I thought trangbang was saying “G*dd*mn Sachs” above.
Today on my way home I drove by a sign that, upon first glance, I thought read, “Allegheny Cheesecake Physical Therapy.” (Real sign: Allegheny Chesapeake Physical Therapy.)
And last month, coming home from a visit to Ohio, I passed what I swore was the “School of Tards.” (That would be School of Trades.)
Hmmmm.
I’m all for ya, Docbill –i just worry about playing into the hands of the enemy, and wonder if that’s even a legit concern or not. i just have no idea –and it keeps my head on a swivel –
One of the real issues, to me, perhaps no one else, is that middle and upper level executives in most large businesses no longer consider themselves “Americans”. There is a globalization aspect to this. They do business around the world. Their loyalty is first, to themselves, then to the business. They don’t care where they live because money and privilege insulate them. They travel from enclaves in New York to enclaves in Beijing to enclaves in Ireland,…well you get the drift. I have had some long conversations with these types. I listen a lot. They talk a lot. They have plants and markets where business dictates. In some ways, they remind me of the old New England clipper ship captains.
The reason I bring this up is that it occurs to me that they don’t care what happens with health care, etc. If it becomes more expensive to do business in America, they will move their operations (at least the ones still in CONUS), to some other country willing to buy their presence with cheap labor, low operating costs and walled living areas. In fact, if the public options go through, it reduces their costs here. Why wouldn’t they support it?
I fear all the sturm und drang ist vor nichts. Just show. Everything is going as planned. The only thing that cheers me is that life is uncertain. Nobody can predict the future with complete accuracy. GOD moves in mysterious ways his wonders to perform.
“”"”"However, when folks of substance become involved rather than just observing from the sidelines then there is hope for real change. Their voices, money, and connections change the tenor of the discussion and the significance of the decisions.”"”"”"
DocBill:
Obama is giving such “people of substance” much pause these days. From raiding their Swiss bank accounts to telling them how much they can make from their labors. Also, watching the administration pouncing on any business that shows weakness so they can nationalize it must give them the willies.
Obama has shown a pronounced dislike for most professional groups other than lawyers and academics, and has also shown disdain for small businessmen and lesser entrepreneurs as well. All the second and third-stringers in the American economic system who would have a chance to move up in a dynamic economy are seeing their chances slipping away under a President who is openly hostile to them.
Here’s some interesting data on the effect that this healthcare debate is having on the public. I believe the healthcare debate is so inflammatory not just because it touches every American’s life personally, but moreso because it exposes the ugly, hateful, power-mad nature of Democrats. Americans elections politicians to serve the people, but Democrats behave as if they’ve been elected to RULE the people. That’s still a no-no in the good ol’ USA.
From Power Line Blog:
Obama’s Decline In Historical Context
Share Post PrintAugust 19, 2009 Posted by John at 10:48 PM
At The Corner, Peter Wehner cites data from an email by Nicholas Thompson, vice president of the Tarrance Group. Thompson analyzed data from the Gallup poll on Presidential approval ratings from the Eisenhower administration to the present:
Obama’s approval is down 14 points from his initial rating — tying President Clinton for the biggest drop since the Eisenhower era.
For those interested, here’s how different presidents match up when comparing their initial approval rating with their average approval rating in the August of their first term: Eisenhower +6 (from 68 to 74 percent), Kennedy +4 (from 72 to 76 percent), Nixon +3 (from 59 to 62 percent), Carter -3 (from 66 to 63 percent), Reagan +9 (from 51 to 60 percent), George H. W. Bush +18 (from 51 to 69 percent), Clinton -14 (from 58 to 44 percent), George W. Bush -1 (from 57 to 56 percent), and Obama -14 (from 68 to 54 percent).
Wehner doesn’t emphasize the point, but Obama has the lowest Gallup approval rating at this stage of his term of any post-Truman President, with the exception of Bill Clinton. I assume that what sank Clinton’s rating was Hillarycare. Seems to be a pattern there.
Well no one should be to sangine about a win on Obamacare, should this indeed happen. If the Democrats pull back, paper the matter over, say enoungh mea cuplas, and then stack the deck in the next elections, we will in fact be in worse shape. Now is the is the moment to take the consternation over Obamacare to the net level and get over to the electorate that this business in not a momentary lapse of judgement, that this is SOP for the Democrats and part of a much larger and generation long design agaisnt us all.
We should make the case of how good things just might be if the Left is thrwon out of power at all levels in government, media and academia, and what a return to the sort of country we once were would mean: A bright and shining future built on high liberty and great prosperity.
This is just the beginning of the fight.
Just in case their are doubters out there who think obama and the commies aren’t working together just take a look at the hand in glove relationship obamas Organizing for America and the CPUSA have going.
http://cpusa.org/article/archive/27/
This just isn’t happening , someone is tasked with coordinating things but our transparent president is too opaque to allow us to see.
Well, we see plenty.
mongoose, your’re right. there’s a term for it already –the Rollback –it just needs the pictures.
here’s one place to get them, from Vanderleun:
http://www.youtube.com/user/alinskyrules
Now let me see, the Chairman mused
Faint smile upon his lips
It seems to me that you’ve abused
Our taking little trips
On corporate jets to places where
There’s girls and money too
And while that’s neither here nor there
I’ll tell you what I’ll do
I’ll overlook a little bit
Your opposition now
And tell you how I think you’ll fit
Into our plans somehow
We may be forced to have a look
Into your books you know
To see if you, by hook or crook
Are playing hide the dough
But with your help we can avoid
Unpleasantness and strife
You know the President’s annoyed
And you may say that’s life
But come on board with all his men
Support his plans right now
And we can take your jet and then
Have fun in Curacao
If things are going this badly just on a proposed change in healthcare, what’s going to happen when the horrible trend to increasing casualties in Afghanistan dawns on the public? Already the WaPo is reporting that Public Opinion in U.S. Turns Against Afghan War
.
The proportionate casualty rates in Afghanistan are now approaching and surpassing the worst months in Iraq, and President Obama’s thoughtless (as in no thought present) declaration that this is a “war of necessity” must be challenged soon. One would think.
In their brutish way, this new Hoover-esque assault on the health insurance companies noted by Drudge is just another example of the Chicago way, as is the imminent Holder-led “investigation” of imaginary “war crimes” during the Bush Administration. Surely it wasn’t just a coincidence that CNN et. al. chose today to re-introduce the supposed scandal of hit teams going after bin Laden. Surely even Democrats remember that President Obama himself says this is our strategic goal, right? I had to laugh at a snip on CNN on this story, the mindless (yes, lack of mind) comment by the talking head and guest blurting out “why would we have contractors do this, why doesn’t the military do it?” You, baby-killing, mass murder, targeted assassination – why, that’s what the military is for! Arrrrggggghhhh.
bogie wheel @ 54:
We all have our Dross to Bare.
bogie wheel @ 54:
We all have our Dross to Bare.
Oh well, as long as I don’t have to drink the crass tea beer. That *would* be a fate worse than death.
Linda @44 –
“I think Waxman looks like an elf or a gnome. With those big ears sticking out and the upturned nose. And he’s really short.”
You are on the right track, but isn’t it obvious that Waxman more closely resembles an orc? File those teeth a little, slap a couple of earrings on in innappropriate places, bit of motley armour and a scimitar, and you are off to the races.
Gentlemen,
I think that you have been distracted by concentrating on conventional politics. What is happening now is very new and very old. The American people are extremely annoyed with all of them, Democrats and Republicans alike.
We have seen more than a million ordinary citizens, people who have never attended a political event in their lives, exercise their right to “peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
They specifically reject party allegiance and, until now, do not have leaders. I think that that is about to change.
“The chastened wicked witch of the north, from her igloo on the frozen tundra, pens two words – Death Panels – and lightning sunders the land”.
This is shaping up as an historical realignment in this land of ours. It’s going to be fun to watch.
For your entertainment. Dr. Manning takes on the “long legged Mac Daddy” …he sees the coming revolution. Hysterical!
http://la-gun.com/manning/obama/
My preferred analogy is Spain – Spring of 1936, just waiting for an “incident”.
And yes, this time we all have skin in this game, moneyed businessmen, and little minnows alike. The only thing is, alert people realize it and dullards and ideologues will be painfully surprised.
Roy Lofquist @ 67,
Yes, there will be panels,
and yes, deaths will result,
yet none but a witch would
be so crass as to utter the
words,
“Death Panels”
For Shame!
#1 Amit Green,
On the contrary, the actions of the Democrats and their allies give every evidence of thuggishness [and worse intent] and the countervailing evidence that should be there if that intent was not, is absent. As an example, Buraq sent union thugs to get in the faces of those who were attending constituent meetings with Congressmen. “Pushing back twice as hard” being the expressed desire.
If you were a member of Congress, and suddenly groups of union thugs came in and started physically attacking your constituents; if it was not what you wanted to happen, would you not be screaming like a ruptured Bann Sidh in an attempt to disassociate yourself from the violence. Instead they at best tacitly accept it and pretend that it did not happen, and at worst they hold their “Town Halls” in Union halls blocking out real constituents. It is the dog that did not bark.
They intend to intimidate anyone who is not part of their recasting of American life to a totalitarian mold. They will ignore the law and Constitution, threaten to use the legal power of the State prejudicially and illegally, and they both threaten and use physical violence with the sanction of the State. I suspect that the only thing restraining them from committing more violence at the Town Halls is the fact that now in open carry states, people are carrying and the next time they attack a stage 4 cancer patient; they may get a chance to observe the operation of an ER firsthand. There is also the likelihood that in non-open carry states, there are now concealed carry license holders present.
#21 Roderick Reilly
The Republicans and Conservatives are two different entities, not yet completely divorced but with irreconciliable differences. The Conservatives are resisting Buraq Hussein, the Republicans are trying to be eaten last. I’m pretty sure that the Republican party is busy thinking up new ways to seek carnal knowledge of the canine as we write.
And there remains the problem that the conduct of the Democrats I noted in the comment to Amit Green is NOT the conduct of a party that expects to have to face the wrath of voters ever again. With the rule of law in shambles; it has to give you pause.
Subotai Bahadur
two links not to be missed, at this instapundit URL
45. DocBill:
Point well made and well taken ….I admire your friends for acknowledging the peril and you for bringing us up to speed on the folks who have means being aware of the knife’s edge we are walking. Good job sir.
***Buddy, While admitting that our enemies would find it an ideal time to make a move I can think of no nation (without using nukes) who could take this country given it’s persoanlly owned firepower and both active and retired knowledge base, Additionally while say Canada might sit byand await a US revolutions putcome I douby if they would brook a move by another country.
habu, but what about our small allies out on the edge of injun country? KSA under USSR influence would really suck, and that’s just for starters. You can bet the KGB has an ‘America in crisis’ playbook, and it says ‘get permanent control of world oil allocation’.
‘course, thing’s'd have to get awfully bad before our military started feeling it. But things could get awful bad.
If they must, tho, they must. we’ll just have to let the chips fall where they may. If it’s between the Constitution and the Superpower, we gotta choose the Constitution. otherwise, wtf, drink and die, like USSR old farts do.
47. luddy barsen:
Everything rests on ‘the Oath’.
Bingo. Mine’s on my bathroom mirror; I read it every day, while shaving.
Doug @71,
Doug, I’m not quite sure what you’re trying to say. Maybe I’m a bit dense.
Roy
Rurik @#70
That’s what I’ve been saying for some time: the Calvo Sotelo moment approaches. After that, the only questions are a)who is on the target list, and b)what side will the military support.
67. Roy Lofquist
I agree with you. We’re in uncharted territory, and everyone is still observing/acting using the old models. They’re no longer adequate.
Many think that the ultimate object is to create chaos, and have the left step into the void, the following of some ingenious master plan. This is not going according to some “plan”. People can’t fathom how any administration could act so stupidly, so they make the assumption that their actions are well thought out and purposeful.
In fact they’re acting through ignorance, not stupidity. They talk only to themselves, hear their views echoed in the media, and don’t even realize the true state of things. They don’t realize that there is a possibility that they are misguided, or have misinterpreted things. That’s not allowed on the left. They are right, 100% of the time, with no possibility for error, and we that don’t get it are idiots, or knuckle dragging racists. A very profound weakness that’ll come back and bite them big time.
The big question is, what comes after? Twenty years from now it’ll be obvious by hindsight, but it’s not so clear now. Events will drive things, and we don’t know what they’ll be.
Roy,
Sorry not to be clear.
I was commenting on all the derision poured on Palin from both the left and right (media types)
for using the term “Death Panels” even though it describes reality.
The Death Book for Veterans
If President Obama wants to better understand why America’s discomfort with end-of-life discussions threatens to derail his health-care reform, he might begin with his own Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). He will quickly discover how government bureaucrats are greasing the slippery slope that can start with cost containment but quickly become a systematic denial of care.
Last year, bureaucrats at the VA’s National Center for Ethics in Health Care advocated a 52-page end-of-life planning document, “Your Life, Your Choices.” It was first published in 1997 and later promoted as the VA’s preferred living will throughout its vast network of hospitals and nursing homes.
After the Bush White House took a look at how this document was treating complex health and moral issues, the VA suspended its use.
Unfortunately, under President Obama, the VA has now resuscitated “Your Life, Your Choices.”
“Your Life, Your Choices” presents end-of-life choices in a way aimed at steering users toward predetermined conclusions, much like a political “push poll.” For example, a worksheet on page 21 lists various scenarios and asks users to then decide whether their own life would be “not worth living.”
The circumstances listed include ones common among the elderly and disabled: living in a nursing home, being in a wheelchair and not being able to “shake the blues.” There is a section which provocatively asks,
“Have you ever heard anyone say, ‘If I’m a vegetable, pull the plug’?”
There also are guilt-inducing scenarios such as “I can no longer contribute to my family’s well being,” “I am a severe financial burden on my family” and that the vet’s situation “causes severe emotional burden for my family.”
When the government can steer vulnerable individuals to conclude for themselves that life is not worth living, who needs a death panel?
One can only imagine a soldier surviving the war in Iraq and returning without all of his limbs only to encounter a veteran’s health-care system that seems intent on his surrender.
I was not surprised to learn that the VA panel of experts that sought to update “Your Life, Your Choices” between 2007-2008 did not include any representatives of faith groups or disability rights advocates. And as you might guess, only one organization was listed in the new version as a resource on advance directives: the Hemlock Society (now euphemistically known as “Compassion and Choices”).
@Peter Boston
When I look at Waxman, I think Lon Chaney Sr in “Phantom of the Opera.”
He who plans revolution had better succeed. Otherwise, he faces a mountain of trouble.
One thing I respect the signers of the Declaration of Independence for is how they were aware the consequences of defeat.
…we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.
They knew very well that defeat meant the gallows, confiscation of their property, and the shame of defeat. They knew what they were getting into.
Failure at insurrection historically means that legal recognition of the rebel’s property rights becomes forfeit. Andrew Johnson’s amnesty for rebel southerners was an exception. I have no doubt that Barack Obama is a revolutionary. I also have no doubt that Barack Obama would like to redistribute property of his enemies to his supporters. So, it would be wise to note that he may not be averse to provoking his enemies into open revolt so he would have a valid pretext to gain title to rebel property.
Against a man such as Obama, it is not only important to stand up for one’s principles. It is important to win. I intend to win inside the present constitutional system. This is partly because I believe in the present constitutional system and this is partly because I think it would be easier to defend our rights within the present constitutional system than outside of it.
Doug @80,
Yuppers. I think it was the whore of Babylon, Maureen Dowd, who called her a witch, or maybe she said bitch.
Dtmack @79,
You’re right about the old model. Before they became so dependent on polls the precinct captains told them what was happening. This flowed up through the party structure and gave them a clear picture of what the people were really thinking. It no longer works that way. The lower levels of the party structure are issued directives but are not listened to. They have become to believe in the innerancy of the polls. After all, the numbers are reported down to the first decimal. They are flying the needles, not the airplane.
As to what will happen? I think that ancient history, say 1994, is instructive. Hillarycare – Republican control of both houses for more than two years, the first time since 1932. This time there is so much more than health care. We all know the list and it is huge. I think 2010 is shaping up like 1932. The Democrats will be cast into the wilderness for three generations.
Long shot that may be the biggie – Palin is FDR.
I see the VA as the best reason in the world to get shut of Afganistan, I visit for my ears damaged when I was but a lad of 18 and each four years I am allowed to get new hearing aids. Last few visits I have noticed a large influx of women Vets who get pissed with the Same old same old treatment made famous by the VA since WW2
These wounded women vets will not stand for the shitty treatment us men have endured No way!
I would not want any of my family of vets to go there for treatment and I have a son and two nephews who have served multiple tours in both shitholes, Iraq and afganistan we have one cousin lost his life there.
All this, divorce, time away from home and death just to have an idiot mismanage the war until it’s lost or unwinnable.
Now I advise each family member not to go because with Obama’s views we could lose just to assauge hurt muslim feelings and all the sacrifice would be for nothing much as it went in Vietnam and Korea.
So I say fok afgnaistan it ain’t worth one drop of American blood nor one cent of American treasure unless by God we plan to win with a victory that can be called such.
Something Mr. Obama (PBUH) has already said we will not seek.
#83 Alexis
I intend to win inside the present constitutional system. This is partly because I believe in the present constitutional system and this is partly because I think it would be easier to defend our rights within the present constitutional system than outside of it.
Your intentions are honorable, and the rest of your post indicates that you have a realistic appreciation of the gravity of the situation. However, once , as #78 Mac says, the ‘Calvo Sotelo moment’ comes; the constitutional system will not be operating until this is brought to an end, and not then if we lose. Writs of Habeas Corpus are of little practical use once the government decides that the Black Marias will roll, and that the holding cells need to be lined with tile and have a floor drain in the center. At that point, the Constitutional system becomes less an active bulwark, and more of an end goal to be achieved by the necessary tactical means.
Events are driving matters, albeit less so for the regime than for us because they hold the tactical and strategic initiative. We are, at this point, reacting to their moves and not so much the other way around. The “Cold Civil War” has reached an intensity that both sides realize, at some level, that failure to win means a literal failure to survive. Somewhere in the vicinity of the ‘Calvo Sotelo’ moment [exactly where and what the trigger will be is unknowable other than in retrospect] Robert’s Rules of Order will perforce be replaced in relevance by Clausewitz’s Vom Krieg, Book One, Chapter 1, Item #24.
Whenever that point is reached, especially when opposing a Leftist regime, history shows that the only choices that remain in the end are victory or submission. And submission is usually equivalent to death.
If matters reach the point where that is what is being put to the touch; methods of both sides will necessarily converge. Survival will require it. And there is absolutely no guarantee that the end will match our original intentions. But the alternative fates of ourselves and our children will require that we try.
Until the ‘Calvo Sotelo’ moment however it may come, or until the regime drops any mask of operating under the Constitution [the existence of future elections being in question, the validity or lack thereof of the vote count, restrictions on the political activities of either citizens in general and any opposition in particular, the normalization of the use of force by regime agents acting with impunity outside the law, or the obvious targeting of political opponents for punitive legal actions of dubious validity, or any number of other indicators]; we must stay within the Constitutional system. The key, for individual patriots and groups thereof, is the recognition of when a transition point occurs. It has to be assumed that the decision to make that transition, if it is not triggered by events [a likely possibility] will by made by the other side and they will strike the first blow.
This will be more like Kafka crossed with Poe than like Hollywood. Happy endings are not assured.
Subotai Bahadur
the regime drops any mask of operating under the Constitution [the existence of future elections being in question, the validity or lack thereof of the vote count, restrictions on the political activities of either citizens in general and any opposition in particular, the normalization of the use of force by regime agents acting with impunity outside the law, or the obvious targeting of political opponents for punitive legal actions of dubious validity, or any number of other indicators…
And herein lies our delemma. One constant of the Leftist playbook has been to co-opt institutions gradually, incrementally shift things, and BRAZENLY LIE AS LOUDLY AS POSSIBLE about what’s happening. All of this combines to create confusion and doubt about what’s going on. To look at some of Suboitai’s indicators for example:
Validity of the vote count – how valid was Al Franken’s election to the Senate? Christine Gregoire’s 2004 victory in the WA Governor’s race? Obama’s Texas primary victory over Hillary? I’d say they were all pretty fraudulent, but each had “official” cover from coopted judicial bodies and in the future could easily have “exit poll” coverage supplied by the media. After the 2010 elections, we could find ourselves wondering if we’re reverse Pauline Kael’s. “I don’t know anybody who voted Democrat, but the news stories all say they won an overwhelming victory…”
Restrictions on political activity – can anyone say “Campaign finance reform?” This is, and has been for a few years now, the preferred method of restricting political activity. With Democrats in control of the agencies responsible for enforcing campaign finance laws, you will see (as you already see if you pay attention) debilitating and very public enforcement against conservatives, coupled with absent or deemphasized encorcement against loyal incumbents (Repulicans included). The biggest impact isn’t actually in the general elections, but in the primaries. Disfavored candidates see their funding dry up in response to CFR challenges – the issues never even need to get resolved. The government can keep up a pretense of an opposition here, since the opposition is a tame one on a short funding leash. Eliminating political oppoents in the primaries (by campaing finace means or by leaking other embarrassing documents, say hello to Mr. Ryan’s divorce records please) is an easy means of keeping control that slips under almost everyone’s radar. What is visible looks to be above board and legit – the dirty work was all done ahead of time before anybody took the main stage.
The obvious targetting of political opponents… – what makes it obvious? There are so many laws now that it’s almost guranteed that a political oppenent has run afoul of something. A pattern of prosecuting one party might be an indication of a crackdown on political opponents, or it might be an indication of just how corrupt that party is. I mean, we (properly) see “Friend of Angelo” Dodd and “Freezer Cash” Jefferson and the other corrupt (D-xxx) as products of a corrupt party and system, but with enough PR, might someone less ideologically committed be pursuaded it was all Republican thuggery, trying to bring down political oppoents?
Or just the simple fact that Obama and his party lie about the contents, intent and impact of legislation they pass. Remember, there are no “Death Panels” in the health care reform bill, quoats aren’t part of Affirmative Action, and the government won’t use gun registration lists in order to infringe on 2nd Ammendment rights.
All of which is to say, what is obvious to you and I will not be obvious to everyone. I agree, there will be many potential Sotelo moments as the Left continues their incrementalism, and none of us will know for sure which one is the real one except in hindsight.
Barry @ 85,
I’m slowly coming around to that point of view RE: troops in harm’s way. If we don’t intend to win, don’t have a plan, and are there only to make it seem like we’re “doing something” in the War on Man-Caused-Disasters (WOMCD), then let’s not waste any more lives. We can only hope Obama does want victory in the Middle East, but that directly contradicts his anti-war candidacy stance.
My sense was that the American public at large trusted Bush not to spend American lives unless he thought it was worth it, we were gaining something. Now… Iranian assassins sent back to Iran, the Scots releasing the Pan Am bomber…
Anyone else get the sense that our enemies have taken Obama’s measure, and found him feckless? I don’t believe there is any chance in hell the Lockerbie bomber would have been released during Bush’s presidency. This is just my sense of current events, but the U.S. is rapidly losing it’s “strong horse” status.