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July 4, 2010
“The Orator, with his Flood of Words….”
It’s been a long time since I debated John Kerry’s Liberal Party at Yale. (We, the Conservative Party, whopped ‘em good.) Even longer since I debated in high school. Having listened to and analyzed President Obama’s speech on immigration, I’m more convinced than ever that Obama is a one-trick pony, an increasingly unsuccessful one.
The war in Afghanistan is in trouble, and the Talban might snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. Therefore, Obama gives a speech. The American economy is in trouble and high unemployment persists. Obama gives a speech. Spewing oil in the Gulf is unchecked. Obama gives a speech. Drugs and criminals are running across the border into Arizona. Obama gives a speech. You get the idea.
When he gives a speech, he sounds like he is addressing the subject at hand. But that is only an illusion, an illusion that even his former supporters are beginning to recognize for what it is. Continue reading “The Orator, with his Flood of Words….”
June 16, 2010
By Alan Caruba
President Obama is one of the most articulate we have had in that office. His ability to deliver a speech or a short talk such as his first from the Oval Office Tuesday evening is impressive. He knows how to deliver an address.
What he doesn’t know or doesn’t care about is the difference between the truth and a lie.
His fifteen-minute address was the piling on of one lie after another regarding America’s use of energy and its needs for the future. Continue reading Obama Asks America to Commit Suicide
May 14, 2010
Posted by seamus in: Accountability, Advice, African-American, Commentary, Comments & Discussion, Communications, Congress, Creative Writing, Current Events, Democracy, Democrat, Economics, Entertainment, Freedom, Governance, Homeland Security, Inspiration & Motivation, Islam, Journalism, Life Experiences, Minorities, Morality, Motivation, Opinion, Personal Experiences, Politics, Republican, Social Aspects, Social Classes, Social Issues, Terrorism, The Economy, The Media, The Pundit's Corner, World Issues
 Amazing how many high government officals (including the Attorney General), political pundits, politicians, school officials and religious leaders comment so harshly on the immigration law in Arizona and publicly admit they haven’t read the ten page document.
The document basically states that when being stopped for a traffic violation or questioned concerning a crime that [...]
May 14, 2010
Posted by seamus in: Accountability, Advice, Attitude, Business, Cap and Trade, Commentary, Communications, Congress, Creative Writing, Current Events, Democrat, Economics, Entertainment, Finance, Freedom, General Topics, Geopolitical Events, Governance, Homeland Security, Humor, Journalism, Life Experiences, Lifestyle, Literature, Minorities, Morality, Motivation, Opinion, Personal Experiences, Politics, Recovery, Republican, Satire, Self-Help, Social Aspects, Social Issues, Sociology, Terrorism, The Economy, The Media, The Pundit's Corner, Women's Rights, Working Women, World Issues
Pick Your Reason 10. I voted Democrat because I believe oil companies’ profits of 4% on a gallon of gas are obscene but the government taxing the same gallon of gas at 15% isn’t.
9. I voted Democrat because I believe the government will do a better job of spending the [...]
April 7, 2010
Posted by Muhammad Cohen in: Accountability, Cap and Trade, Commentary, Communications, Congress, Current Events, Democrat, Healthcare, Marketing, Medical, Republican, Travel
Republicans were for healthcare insurance mandates before they were against them – and the Obama White House missed it. [...]
February 10, 2010
Once upon a time in a land far far away.
• “Roosevelt is a socialist, not a Democrat,” declared Republican Rep. Robert Rich of Pennsylvania during a debate on the House floor on July 23, 1935. That remark came after Republicans hinted they were considering a move to impeach Roosevelt, according to the New York Times .
• “The New Deal is now undisguised state socialism, declared Senator Simeon D. Fess (R-Ohio) today as he pictured President Roosevelt as the New Deal’s leading socialist,” reported the Chicago Daily Tribune on Aug. 7, 1934. “The president’s recent statements,” Fess said, “remove any doubt of his policy of state socialism, which necessitates increased activities of the government in either ownership or operation of industry, or both.”
• “The Russian newspapers during the last election [1932] published the photograph of Franklin D. Roosevelt over the caption, ‘The first communistic President of the United States,’” said Sen. Thomas Schall, a Republican from Minnesota. “Evidently the Russian newspapers had knowledge concerning the ultimate intent of the President, which had been carefully withheld from the voters in this country. In fact, the voters of the United States were meticulously misled as to such intentions Continue reading Socialists Need Not Apply to the Tea Party Convention
January 24, 2010
By Alan Caruba
“The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.” — Margaret Thatcher, former British Prime Minister
It began as a beautiful cruise to a land of “hope and change”, but it has become a nightmare in which the ship of state is being deliberately steered toward a whirlpool of debt from which, if Obama is successful, the nation cannot escape.
One of the primary reasons the U.S. economy has grown over the years has been the confidence in its innovation and productivity. It has generated investment from around the world from those who wanted to profit from our success story. There was a time when U.S. securities were the safest in the world, but that is no longer the case.
On December 24, 2009, the U.S. Senate voted to raise the ceiling of the government debt to $12.4 trillion, described by an Associated Press reporter as “a massive increase over the current limit and a political problem that President Barack Obama has promised to address next year.”
On January 20, 2010, barely a month later, Senate Democrats “proposed allowing the federal government to borrow an additional $1.9 trillion to pay bills, a record increase that would permit the national debt to reach $14.3 trillion.” Continue reading The Bill Comes Due for Socialism in America
January 23, 2010
By Alan Caruba
For the past two years, it has been obvious to a lot of conservatives and independents that we have a President whose elevator doesn’t go to the top floor. This is a seriously flawed person.
Anyone in law enforcement will tell you that there are few people, including serial killers, who “look” like criminals and a danger to society. This is not to say that profiling isn’t a helpful tool, but that there is no Hollywood generic “bad guy” image in real life. About the only people that deliberately try to assume that image are professional wrestlers who play the villains in the ring.
Homicide detectives will tell you that, time and again, the murderers they capture, interrogate, and who end up confessing often break down in tears and some even ask if they can see their momma before being taken off to jail. Only occasionally do they encounter a seriously bad person who insanely kills to satisfy some demonic itch.
Now, I am NOT saying the President of the United States is criminally insane, but I am saying that he is so seriously immersed in a communist ideology that everything he says and does is intended to get him just that much closer to destroying the nation. Continue reading Observing the Obvious
November 8, 2009
Nancy Counts on Corruption
by John Armor
Nancy D’Alesandro Pelosi, Speaker of the House of Representatives, has regularly accused the Republicans in the House of displaying “a culture of corruption.” Yet the critical vote to get the House version of the health bill out of the House, demonstrates that Speaker Pelosi not only likes corruption, she counts on it. Remember her middle name because it figures in the proof.
On 7 November at 11:15 pm House bill 3962 passed by a vote of 220-215. Votes in favor of that bill included the following: Norm Dicks (D-Wash), Jane Harman (D-Cal), Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), Alan Mollohan (D-WVa). Jim Moran (D-Va), Charles Rangel (D-NY), Laura Richardson (D-Cal) and Peter Visclosky (D-Ind). If just three had voted against the bill, or had not been in the House to vote for it, the bill would almost certainly have failed.
Why that curious comment about not being in the House? A staffer for the House Ethics Committee put an internal document on a home computer with file sharing capacities. As a result, the complete list of Members of Congress under ethics investigations escaped into the press. These yes votes on the health bill were provided by Members who might have been expelled, had their possible ethics violations had been promptly and adequately examined, decided and acted upon. Continue reading Nancy Counts on Corruption
October 24, 2009
Mr. Obama inherited a domestic and global mess the likes of which have not been seen by any of his predecessors. As he tries to sort it all out, he must remember that he was elected as the voters chanted ‘Change’ at every polling booth. ‘Business as usual’ will not be acceptable to them, regardless of how much a spineless Congress wants to maintain the status quo and please their wealthy campaign contributors. [...]
October 24, 2009
 By Alan Caruba
I am always amazed at the variety of choice that exists in my local supermarket. There are other supermarkets in the area, but the one I frequent most has lower prices on most items and almost anything you want to purchase allows one to select among several brands available.
We Americans may not think much about choice when it comes to what we buy because we have so many choices. It is the mark of a free marketplace where competition determines winners and losers. It says a lot about a society that puts a high premium on freedom.
Your government, however, has decided that, in 2012, you can no longer choose to purchase and use Thomas Edison’s iconic invention, the 100 watt incandescent light bulb. By 2014, all such bulbs will be banned from sale. That’s right, they will vanish from the shelves of supermarkets and other outlets.
As this is being written, your government is debating taking away your choice to purchase health insurance. Or not. If it gets its way, everyone, old and young, healthy or ill, everyone will have to buy health insurance—most likely the brand issued by the government because it will drive most present insurance companies out of business. That is so un-American as to defy belief. Continue reading Taking Away Your Choice
October 15, 2009
In 2012, the new rulers of China will “all” have been educated in the West. After Mao died and the gang of four, responsible for the horrors of the Cultural Revolution, went to prison, Deng Xiaoping and his supporters “rebuilt” the government. The party instituted term limits, two five-year terms for any political position and an age limit of sixty-seven, something we don’t have in the United States.
These changes were implemented to avoid having another modern emperor like Mao. Those who spoke out against Mao usually were killed, went to prison or fell out of favor. Deng Xiaoping was one of those people. When his son was dropped from the top of a high rise and was paralyzed for life, the message to Deng was to “shut up or else”.
A high-ranking, retired Communist that fought with Mao during World War II and the revolution told me that the seventy million party members (like America’s Democrats and Republicans) do not always agree on issues. The difference is that the world hears little of what goes on behind the scenes in China. Doing business that way has little to do with the party. That type of behavior is classically Chinese—not to talk about the Elephant in the room or to hang out your dirty laundry for everyone to see as the West does.
In addition, in America, the outcome for a Presidential Election is decided by the Electoral College, card-carrying members from the two major political parties. The popular vote does not elect the American president. The Communist Party acts similar to America’s Electoral College without the hypocrisy of a popular vote. Critics argue the American Electoral College is inherently undemocratic. Continue reading China in Transition, Part 2
October 13, 2009
Posted by seamus in: Attitude, Current Events, Democracy, Democrat, Economic Crisis, Economics, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Relations, General Topics, Republican, Social Issues, Uncategorized
Back from Italy and bummin’-caught a massive cold….funny, in March I was in the UK and they were really slurping Obama. Same in June in Germany although in July it changed when Merkel said he wasn’t going to ruin the German economy.
Obama is not a happening thing now. Saw Obama voodoo dolls in [...]
September 30, 2009
 By Alan Caruba Here’s a look at the introduction of a draft bill co-sponsored by Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA), co-sponsored by John Kerry (D-MA). It is the Senate alternative to the horrid “Cap-and-Trade” bill authored by Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA). Call it “Cap-and-Switch.”
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
A BILL
To create clean energy jobs, achieve energy independence,
reduce global warming pollution, and transition to a
clean energy economy.
All those who believe Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and the Jolly Green Giant are real should stop reading now.
Let’s look at the objectives of the Senate version of a huge tax on all energy use by every American. As I will note later, the bulk of the cost will fall on low-and-middle income households.
“To create clean energy jobs.” This is pure bunk. Such jobs would be primarily in the production of solar and wind energy. Other such jobs involve biofuels such as ethanol. Combined, solar and wind represent barely one percent of all the electricity generated daily in the nation. If solar and wind were profitable, you can be sure that American entrepreneurs would have long ago become more active, but if it were not for taxpayer dollars subsidizing solar and wind, neither would likely exist.
The only thing ethanol has done has been to raise the cost of the corn from which it is made and reduce the mileage of every gallon of gasoline to which it is added. Continue reading Cap-and-Switch: Hello Sucker!
September 26, 2009
Posted by Alan Caruba in: Cap and Trade, Congress, Current Events, Democrat, Energy, Environment, Global Warming, Governance, Healthcare, Opinion, Politics
By Alan Caruba
It is not a new observation, but it is one that needs review and repeating every so often. Why do liberals always seem to get on the side of any issue concerning America’s future? Its sovereignty? Its financial security? Its defense?
I think this question is particularly timely given the public discussion of Obamacare that included a huge peaceful protest march on Washington September 12th. The President’s non-stop campaign to get “reform” passed and the heated exchanges in Congress do not represent actual healthcare reform, but are testimony to a liberal obsession with a very bad idea.
You know something is desperately wrong when Democrats will not permit the proposed bill to enjoy a grace period of 72 hours during which both the public and members of Congress can actually read it before a vote is taken.
The irony of the current battle is that the bill will significantly change Medicare, a program advocated by liberals and, like Social Security, established by Democrats in Congress. It will destroy a free market for insurance programs individuals may choose to purchase. Or not.
There is no dispute that both programs, safety nets for Americans, have been helpful. Neither is voluntary There is no doubt that both are insolvent because they are unsustainable. This has been exacerbated by the way Congress has dipped into the funds intended to be set aside for them.
Obamacare will end up killing a lot of the people that Medicare was intended to save from the diseases and accidents that afflict the elderly. Continue reading Liberals are Killing America
September 11, 2009
By Alan Caruba
I think President Obama and the Democrats have found a way to move hated legislation through the houses of Congress. They intend to bore us to death.
Following his prime time speech to the joint session of Congress on Wednesday evening, on Sunday Obama will be featured in a segment on CBS’ “Sixty Minutes” and on Monday he will give a speech on the nation’s financial crisis.
The President has given over a hundred speeches regarding his still totally undefined “healthcare reform”, ceaselessly repeating the same vague notions of why a long established system cannot be fixed in its bad parts, but must be thrown overboard and recreated virtually from scratch.
The other element is to produce bills that are all a thousand pages or longer, ensuring that no Senator or Representative is ever going to read them. Their legislative aides are assigned that task and many can be seen wandering the streets of Washington in the late hours mumbling incoherently to themselves about Sub-Section B of Part A referencing Paragraph D. Continue reading Boring Us to Death
September 10, 2009
By Alan Caruba
Has it been eight years?
What I learned from 9/11 was that a lot of Americans have concluded that it was America’s fault we were attacked. That may sound screwy to people who correctly believe that al Qaeda planned, funded and provided the men who carried out the attacks, but why deal with the facts when conspiracies are so much more fun? Why not just blame the victims?
9/11 was not the first attack on the Twin Towers. For those with any attention span, the first attack came in 1993 and was treated as a criminal act by a “gang who couldn’t shoot straight” Muslims, one of whom actually returned to the rental agency to get his money back because the truck used in the attack was destroyed.
Here’s where we are eight years later. As far as the government is concerned, it has learned NOTHING from the event and the subsequent efforts to kill the Taliban and al Qaeda lunatics who were operating in Afghanistan and badlands of Pakistan.
Not only are we still in Afghanistan, not only have we blandished billions on “nation building” in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well on Pakistan, but the Obama Justice Department thinks the CIA interrogators are the bad guys and wants to extend Miranda rights, the full protection of the U.S. Constitution, to terrorists. Continue reading 9/11 Eight Years Later and No Safer
September 8, 2009
Posted by Prentiss Gray in: Accountability, Attitude, Congress, Current Events, Democracy, Democrat, Economics, Geopolitical Events, Politics, Republican, Women's Rights
 That’s it. I’m done. This once staunch Republican, is out of the party. Frankly, I’m just too embarrassed to stay associated with what has swiftly become a party of low life, low brow, say anything to get votes, jerks.
We lost the election. Aren’t we supposed to be at our noblest in loss? Aren’t we supposed to be good losers? I liked John McCain, I really did. In fact, I still do. But even I ended up voting for Barach Obama. Sorry, my fellow Republicans, just too many nuts came to the party.
I just can’t count myself with Jerry Falwell, Russ Limbaugh and Ann Coulter (even her name gives me the creeps). I don’t think marriage is about “a man and a woman”, it’s about love and commitment. I just don’t think a woman’s right to choose has anything to do with church doctrine, further, I can’t think of anything that does. Religeon can be a nice, and a possibly uplifting practice/belief, but when it starts telling other people how to live their lives, count me out. It definitely doesn’t go with politics.
It used to be such a nice party, Republicans won elections because they knew how to work together; be a team. The Democrats were always the “all-other” party, and spent so much time fighting over 10,000 individual agendas, I was always amazed to see them win any office.
We had some great Presidents, great Congressmen and great Governors. It was not an embarrassing thing to be a Republican. Continue reading The Embarrassed Republican.
September 7, 2009
Posted by Alan Caruba in: Accountability, Congress, Current Events, Democracy, Democrat, Economic Crisis, Governance, Healthcare, Opinion, Politics, Republican
 By Alan Caruba
Barack Obama has crashed headlong into a wall of distrust. If he had any understanding of American history he would know why, but his sole interest is himself and he proved that by writing not one, but two memoirs.
The men who waged the American Revolution and then met in secret to write the U.S. Constitution all shared a distrust of government. They understood government was necessary, but they wanted to keep a federal government small and ensure that most powers resided in the individual states and in “the people.”
For most of American history, the federal government was small. Its main function was to maintain armies and navies to protect its sovereignty and its commercial interests. Early presidents encouraged the exploration of the continent and its populating by the many discontents who arrived seeking a better life than the Old World could or would provide.
America promised the intoxicating opportunity to be free to make a life for oneself that had few restraints so long as one did not break the law, honored one’s contracts, and took part in the process of debating issues and electing representatives. This necessity to rise above family bonds and other allegiances to participate in the affairs of one’s community, one’s state, and one’s nation has been the glue that has kept generations of old and new Americans connected. Continue reading A Very American Distrust
September 4, 2009
 Birth of a New Political Party
by John Armor
The last time a new American political party came into being, one strong enough to elect a President, was in 1854. As you have guessed, that was the Republican Party. Its first elected President was Abraham Lincoln in 1860.
Many third party and independent campaigns have been mounted since then. The Progressive Party around 1900 managed to elect Governors and majorities in the legislature of several states. Their high water mark was in 1912, when former President Teddy Roosevelt chose that Party as his vehicle to run again when the Republicans declined to nominate him, again. (No, there never was a “Bull Moose Party.” Don’t send letters and postcards claiming that there was.)
What’s the relevance of this ancient history to the off-year, congressional election in 2010? Well, take a look at that history and see what seems familiar. Continue reading Birth of a New Political Party
September 4, 2009
 The conversation we can’t have–politics
by Bill Hazelgrove
A lady the other day started spouting off about how Obama was ruining the country. I was working in  the corner of this coffee shop and didn’t say anything. Then she started going on about how she hates the media because of the way they treat Sarah Palin and how she would never watch the condescending talking heads. I say nothing and continue working. Then she goes on about how Obama is a socialist and has created the mess we are now in. So I said something.
You got to be kidding. Bush created this mess over a period of eighty years. The woman stares at me and then says with an imperious brush of the shoulders. “I’m not going to talk to you.” And that was that. Another gag order on political dissent. This woman was shocked I had called her on her beer hall speech of one. I had dissented with the majority view. The real problem is not that she had said anything or I responded but that we couldn’t even have a real conversation Continue reading The conversation we can’t have–politics
September 4, 2009
 Coruscating on Thin Ice
The Obama Administration is young and out of touch
by Peggy Noonan
At a speech in Colorado someone asked if I was concerned about some of the appointees to the Obama administration. The questioner was referring obliquely to conservative dismay at Van Jones, special adviser for green jobs on the White House environmental council. Apart from a flirtation with radicalism (you have to hope it did not become a full, deep and continuing relationship), Jones, in February, thoughtfully attempted to capture the essence of the GOP in a speech in Berkeley, Calif. “Republicans are —,” he explained. We don’t print the word he used, but it refers to a body part involved in elimination. He was speaking at the inaugural ceremony of the Rahm Emanuel Center for the Study of Political Comportment. Ha, just kidding.
But Mr. Jones is not my concern. All early administrations draw to their middle and lower levels a certain number of activists from the edges—flakes. But because they are extreme, they become controversial, and because they are controversial, they become ineffective. In its way the system works.
 A greater concern about President Obama’s staffers and appointees is that so many of them are so young and relatively untried. And not only young and untried, but triumphant. They’re on top of the world. They came from nowhere and elected their guy against the odds. Against expectations, they beat a machine (the Clintons) and a behemoth (long-triumphant Republicanism). Now nothing can stop them, Let’s do big things, let’s be consequential. Consequentialism has been the blight of America’s political life for a decade. Because of it, America’s nerves have been rubbed raw. Continue reading Coruscating on Thin Ice
September 2, 2009
 By Alan Caruba
“Tailgunner” Joe McCarthy, a 1950s U.S. Senator who lent his name to any effort to expose America’s enemies, was right. At the height of his fame, he said the U.S. government was shot through with communists, many of whom were participating in a vast espionage effort orchestrated by the Soviets.
Though McCarthy was singularly unsuccessful in uncovering communists within the government during Eisenhower’s first term, the “Army-McCarthy” hearings, April 22 to June 17, 1954, were televised for all to see and he became one of the best known anti-communists of his day. Were there Communists and spies for the Soviet Union? Yes, but we would not learn more until a young Senator from California, Richard M. Nixon identified Alger Hiss, a high-ranking State Department official as one.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union in the 1990s, the records that became available to historians and other scholars confirmed McCarthy’s worst fears.
During the 1930s and 1940s, communism appealed to many Americans. Some had soured on capitalism because of the Great Depression. Others saw communism at work in the Soviet Union and, believing the propaganda, concluded it was a viable alternative to capitalism. It would take a speech by Soviet Prime Minister Nikita Krushchev to draw back the curtain and reveal the horrors of living under Stalin. Continue reading Obama’s Communists
August 28, 2009
A Fitting Legacy for Teddy
by John Armor
What would make a fitting legacy for Ted Kennedy in the Senate? I think it would be the election of a Senator to take his place, who committed to the same great public ideas that Senator Kennedy spoke about, so often and passionately.
Teddy often spoke of his dedication to and respect for the Constitution. This is to be expected where Sam Adams created the Sons of Liberty who threw the tea in Boston Harbor. And where the first shots of the American Revolution were fired at, and later fired by, the Minutemen at Concord and Lexington. So, the person who replaces Teddy should never vote to confirm as a judge, much less a Justice of the Supreme Court, anyone who has stated his or her intent to follow personal choices, rather than the Constitution itself, in deciding cases.
Again and again, decade after decade, Teddy bellowed his insistence for “new and fresh ideas” in the government. That’s an excellent idea. But new and fresh ideas do not usually come from tired old men. So, the person who replaces Teddy should support what John Adams called, “rotation in office.”
Today that’s known as term limits. Periodically, office holders would stand aside, let others be elected, and go home to live under the laws they’d written. The Framers thought that the prospect of living under the laws they wrote was the best assurance that office holders would always favor the interests of their constituents, rather than their own, personal interests. The person who replaces Teddy should be committed to serving just two terms in the Senate, and supporting a constitutional amendment which would install limits for Senators and Representatives like the present limit on Presidents. Continue reading A Fitting Legacy for Teddy
August 28, 2009
Ted Kennedy led the left while the country overwhelmingly turned to the right. [...]
August 27, 2009
 By Alan Caruba
The only thing that is “shovel ready” in America today is Teddy Kennedy’s corpse and casket. Fortunately for his mortician, Kennedy had already embalmed himself.
One can only pray that his brand of insane, unrealistic, and very expensive liberalism will be buried with him, but that is not likely so long as our Marxist President draws breath.
With considerable schadenfreude I watched as William Kristol, founder and editor of The Weekly Standard, choked back his utter disdain for Teddy Kennedy during a panel discussion on the Fox News. Columnist Charles Krauthammer had nothing good to say of Kennedy either and it was to both their credit they did not feign any regret over his passing beyond the standard expression of sympathy for his family. Continue reading Shovel Ready in America
August 27, 2009
Posted by mrlloyd in: Democrat
Ted Kennedy was a good man but…he made a big mistake one night, one dreadful night. [...]
August 25, 2009
By Alan Caruba
If you had purchased a stock in January of this year that had lost as much of its value as Barack Obama, you would be desperate to sell it by now. The problem is, the only buyers would be the mainstream media and their stock has been falling too.
I cannot think of a single President in our 233 year history that was so disliked by so many Americans in so short a time. His polling numbers drop daily and he is poised to make history by losing the confidence and support vital to the ability to lead, let alone to administer the federal government.
It is his judgment that is the issue and, concurrent with that, his actions. If anyone would have predicted that he would impose so much debt on the nation in so short a time they would have been called mad. Barely seven months into his administration the estimated national deficit will be reset at nine trillion dollars between now and 2019. Continue reading Time to Resign, Mr. President
August 21, 2009
By Alan Caruba
Brace yourself, when Sen. Teddy Kennedy dies—and it looks like that could be any day now—the mainstream media will launch an orgy of tributes, minute-by-minute coverage of all the hoopla that will surround the event. It may make the coverage of Michael Jackson’s recent passing seem mild by comparison.
The Kennedy’s have acquired a mythic quality despite the fact that this was and is a deeply flawed family. John F. Kennedy’s time as president was quite brief, but it was enough to engage in one of the great blunders of the post-war era, the aborted invasion of Cuba by a CIA-trained and funded group of mercenaries.
JFK was later able to redeem himself in the confrontation with the Soviet Union over the placement of missiles in Cuba. As Dean Rusk, his Secretary of State, put it, “The other side just blinked.” It was, however, Kennedy who signed off on the growing U.S. involvement in Vietnam. Military “advisors” metastasized into more than 50,000 dead when Lyndon Johnson assumed the presidency in the wake of his assassination.
Unquestionably the most liberal among his Senate brethren, we can thank Teddy for the ghastly “No Child Left Behind Bill” and all others that have advanced the interests of the National Education Association. His support for Obama critically turned the tide against Hillary Clinton’s nomination. He has worn Big Government blinders for years, eager to see it grow for any reason. Continue reading The Kennedy Death Watch
August 20, 2009
 By Alan Caruba I have this theory that nations go crazy from time to time. Collectively they lose their wits or, as is often the case, the people either elect or have imposed on them a complete lunatic, discovering it in slow stages as reports of various horrors make their way to the countryside.
These days, those stages are greatly speeded up by the mass media that swiftly spread the word. Unlike the United States, in many nations the news is what the government says is news, but it must also be said that the mainstream media has utterly disgraced itself over the course of the recent campaign and the first months of the Obama administration. There are signs, however, some have rediscovered their role in our society.
The most vigorous signs of sanity among the general populace of America have been the recent town hall meetings. The tea parties, too. And just wait for the big march in Washington, D.C. on September 12!
That will surely put the fear of the people into the hearts of Congress men and women. It is far better that they fear us than the other way around. Continue reading Signs of Sanity
August 19, 2009
 By Alan Caruba
“Mouthpiece” is one of those wonderful words that just says it all. As slang, it refers to a lawyer for a mobster, but its more respectable definition is “a person, newspaper, etc., that conveys the opinions or sentiments of others; a spokesperson.”
There are many thankless jobs, but surely being the White House spokesperson, the individual who must face the reporters every day to explain policy, make announcements, and respond to criticism of the President, must surely rank high on the list.
Bush began with Ari Fleischer, a very skilled and apparently well-liked White House spokesman, but when Fleischer left, he was replaced by Scott McClellen, a man so out of his depth that the occasional missteps of Bush were magnified by his inability to put any kind of spin on them. After he left the office, he wrote a bitter book about the experience, further confirming that he was a weasel.
Some, however, were very good at it. I think immediately of Tony Snow who joined the Bush administration at a time when it was under fire for its Iraq policies. Tony dealt with all questions with amazing grace and good spirits. Only cancer could and did get the best of him.
Dana Perino stepped in after Snow’s passing and turned out to be a poised and perfect replacement. As they say in the world of sports, a natural. It didn’t hurt that, in a male dominated news corps, she was very easy on the eyes. Continue reading Mouthpiece
August 18, 2009
 By Alan Caruba
To understand how insane the Cap-and-Trade bill really is you need to know that it based on the belief that carbon dioxide emissions must be reduced to avoid a global warming that is NOT happening.
The American Clean Energy and Security Act is a giant scam involving “carbon credits” to be sold and traded. It is also about billions in taxpayer’s dollars being wasted on wind and solar generation of electricity. If this was a sensible way to produce energy, it would be a dominant producer, but it isn’t. Short of producing electricity by peddling bicycles, it is as inefficient and impractical as possible.
So-called “clean energy” accounts for just over one percent of all the electricity Americans use every day and it exists only because the government subsidizes it by taking your tax dollars and giving them to wind and solar energy producers. Some States require utilities to buy electricity from them.
As for “security”, how much energy security does the United States enjoy if it must import 60% of the oil it uses for transportation and a wide range of products, not the least of which is anything made from plastic?
Real security means drilling and mining right here, right now. There’s plenty of oil in ANWR and offshore. The government forbids access to it. And, where’s there’s oil there’s natural gas as well. As for coal, the U.S. has enough for centuries of affordable electricity, but the environmental organizations have in recent years stopped the building of a hundred coal-fired plants and they brag about it. Continue reading Cap-and-Trade Insanity
August 17, 2009
 By Alan Caruba
There are some lessons one learns from a life spent first as a journalist and then for many decades as a public relations professional. You cannot succeed in PR if you cannot spot the early signs that the media herd is heading in one direction or the other.
It was obvious from the beginning that the mainstream media (MSM) fell in love with Barack Obama. Like Chris Matthews, it was a complete crush. Obama was the anti-Hillary, come to save America from her shrill voice and to redeem our sad history of racism.
At this point, however, it is just as obvious that he has managed to say and do any number of things that have aroused the distrust of the all but the 28% of those convinced he is a dandy President. The rest no longer feel that way.
The MSM is presently sticking its finger in the wind to find out which way it is blowing. They are checking Rasmussen and Gallup polls. Once they conclude that Obama is unpopular to a point beyond which they can no longer obscure or influence, they will do what all fearless MSM do; they will begin to gang up on him.
By the time Jimmy Carter left office, even the Peanut Farmer’s Gazette was glad to see him go. Continue reading Watch for the Signs
August 14, 2009
 By Alan Caruba “I’m melting! I’m melting!” cried the Wicked Witch of the West after Dorothy threw a pail of water on her when her broom caught on fire.
I cannot seem to get this image out of my head as I watch Barack Obama’s polling numbers head south.
The August 13 numbers released by Rasmussen Reports which tracks a daily presidential approval rating reveal that 29% of the nation’s voters strongly approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President; thirty-seven percent (37%) strongly disapprove, giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -8. (Minus 8!)
If only 28% strongly approve, that means that 72%, minus the 37% who strongly disapprove, still leaves 35% who are not happy campers. A total of 72% who share varying degrees of disapproval for the President’s performance is an ugly number for Barack Obama.
By the end of July, six months into his term, a blog at Real Clear Politics noted “Barack Obama’s public approval rating has fallen faster than presidents from George W. Bush to Jimmy Carter, based on a Real Clear Politics review of historical Gallup polling.”
By October of his first and only term, the public had already figured out what a lemon Jimmy Carter turned out to be. He hit 54% by mid-September and, gee, Obama has already hit 47% by August! Continue reading Mr. Unpopular
August 13, 2009
 By Alan Caruba
Not long ago I published a list of elements of the original Obamacare bill that upset a lot of people who accused me of publishing lies about it, but the original bill—now something in the area of five different versions that the Senate and House will consider on their return—was every bit an abomination as the new ones.
Since then, a lot more people have undertaken the trial of reading the more than 1,000 pages intended, we’re told, to “reform” healthcare in America. One of them is Dr. Stephen Fraser. He recently wrote his Senator Evan Bayh (D) citing page by page why the current version of Obamacare is not a reform, but a total corruption of our current system.
Here are just a few of four pages of citations that will doom healthcare in America while putting the federal government in charge of the most intimate aspects of everyone’s lives.
Page 22 of the HC Bill: Mandates that the government will audit books of all employers that self insure!!
Page 30 Sec 123 of HC bill: THERE WILL BE A GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE that decides what treatments/benefits you get.
Page 29 lines 4-16 in the HC bill: YOUR HEALTH CARE IS RATIONED!!! Continue reading The Obamacare Abomination
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Corruption Is Good, In the Right Hands
Corruption Is Good, In the Right Hands
I listened to every word of President Obama’s statement on signing the financial institutions’ “reform” law, Wednesday morning. This was a filthy job, but somebody had to do it. The longest applause during the entire charade was when Obama thanked Rep. Barney Frank and Sen. Christopher Dodd for their “tireless work” in getting this bill passed.
Now, class, let’s conduct a brief review. First, not every Act that contains the word “reform” actually reforms or improves anything. As your grandma used to say, “Just because the cat has kittens in the oven, doesn’t make them biscuits.”
Second, this “reform” law doesn’t lay a finger on the two federal lending corporations, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which were at the heart of the phony financial instruments which nearly crippled the national economy. Why would they, of all institutions, be left out?
Back up a bit. Senator Dodd, both then and now, is Chairman of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee that handles finance legislation. As such, he helped write and pass the original laws which required lending institutions to make increasing numbers of bad loans to increasingly dubious homeowners, in the interests of “fairness.” Continue reading Corruption Is Good, In the Right Hands