UPDATE: Secretary Napalatano has finally copped to the security inadequacies leading up to this attack. The story below and headlines are from 1:00 EST, this morning.

Get ready, it’s happening again. In the aftermath of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab’s attempted takedown of Delta Flt. 253 with its 278 passengers and eleven crew members, the administration is treating the case like a mild episode of Irritable Bowl Syndrome. While Obama enjoys the tasty waves in Hawaii, the Administration – to use a way loose term – trotted, well, lugged out Janet Napolitano to tell us, “The system worked.”

Excuse me while I catch up. The system worked? What is this woman on?

Press Secretary Robert Gibbs assures us that the President wants reviews. We have to take Bob’s word for it; no one can find Obama. “There are a series of database universes that list people that are of some concern to several agencies across the government,” Gibbs said. “We want to ensure that information-sharing is always happening as it should.”

How freaking reassuring! Let me contribute, Bob. It Isn’t.

It is becoming abundantly clear that the Obama Administration, like Bush before them, intends to conduct the domestic war on radicalized Islam like we have conducted the war on drugs for the last 40 years – ineptly. True, HLS has foiled multiple terrorist attacks since 9-11, but no amount of double-speak can make that an offensive war on jihadists. We are hunkered down here, ignoring the obvious, and all too soon one of these inbred nutcases will succeed. Our intelligence communications are as incoherent as a Gibbs press briefing, and Napolitano needs therapy if she honestly thinks she can sell this drivel to anyone not on Prozac.

Yesterday morning Jonah Goldberg called for Secretary Napolitano to be fired, but it will do absolutely no good, unless we decide to win the war. Not the war in Afghanistan – the war right here.

There are several things we can do before, God forbid, the Islamists get their hands on a suitcase bomb and deploy it in an American city. These measures will sound extreme but we are coming late to the game, and if we don’t move quickly and decisively we will soon lose many civilian lives.

1) Restrict all foreign visas, preventing any Muslim from entering the U.S. before undergoing a deep background check. Restrict all exit visas, requiring the same of Muslims – citizens or otherwise – traveling from the U.S. abroad. Revoke all student visas and deport them.

2) Begin deportation proceedings against all non-citizen Muslims who are linked with radical mosques in the U.S., whether or not they are guilty of a crime. We have done this with Mafia associates for years, and believe me, the FBI knows who they are.

3) Close the borders now, with armed National Guard troops and Predator drones, if necessary. Right now our points of entry – legal and otherwise – leak like sieves.

4) Finally, either set out to win an all out victory in Afghanistan, or bring the troops home, now. An all out victory means turning the poppy fields in the Helmand province to something roughly resembling the surface of the moon, and doing the same with Taliban and al Qaeda strongholds on both sides of the Pakistan border.

During the 1960s the anti-war movement had signs printed and they became quite the commercial success. They read, “What if they gave a war and nobody came?” It’s amazing that something so stupid could catch on, but it did. Well, America can no longer afford experiments in passivism. The threat to our homeland is the greater than any we have faced in history. If we are to survive we must develop a World War mentality. Because they are coming.

HEADLINE NEWS

London Telegraph: You Do the Hokey Pokey Then You Turn Yourself Around … Napolitano finally admits system didn’t work.

London: Detroit terror attack: MI5 hunt for bomber’s accomplices MI5 is hunting for possible accomplices of the Detroit airline bomber amid fears that he may have been planning to launch the attack from Britain.

AP – Detroit explosive common, easily detectible – The explosive device used by the would-be Detroit bomber contained a widely available – and easily detected – chemical explosive that has a long history of terrorist use, according to government officials and explosive experts.

Yemen Real Home of Al Qaeda: The Detroit airline bomb plot was planned in the land of bin Laden’s ancestors. Richard Spencer reports.

NewsMax: GOP Slams Administration for Security Breakdowns Leading to Airliner Attack – WASHINGTON – Investigators piecing together a brazen attempt to bring down a trans-Atlantic airliner said Sunday the suspect tucked a small bag holding his deadly concoction on his body, using an explosive that would have been easily detected with the right airport equipment.

You Tube: Senator Max Baucus Drunk / Intoxicated on Senate Floor – Shouts Down Wicker

NewsBusters: Tom Shales Honors Barack and Other Lefties – WaPo’s Tom Shales Puts Obama on His Best TV of the Decade List …

Ann Coulter does a good job in this article of debunking a false attack by the left on Senator Coburn of Oklahoma, and of reiterating why the left is lying about their health care “reform” plan.

They are lying, and it’s not hard to uncover.

The liberals said the goal was to insure EVERYBODY.  By their own admissions 20 million people will still be uninsured by 2019.

The liberals said access to health care would increase.  By cutting compensation to doctors, the doctors will either quit taking new patients on the plans that don’t sufficiently compensate them, or leave medical practice altogether if forced to operate at a loss.  Since we already have a shortage of doctors, and the democrats intend to add between 30 and 50 million new people to the insurance rolls, how is access to doctors and health care going to INCREASE?

The liberals said health care would be cheaper.  Here’s what came out of their own bill.  An UNMARRIED couple each making $30,000 per year would pay approximately $1,500 to $3,000 more for health care under the new plan.  A MARRIED couple would pay approximately $12,000 more for health care under the democrat plan.  Double whammy.  Everybody pays more, and you further promote the destruction of the American family by HEAVILY penalizing MARRIED couples.  There are myriad other taxes and fees associated with this bill that impact EVERYBODY, not just the top 5% of wage earners in the country as Mr. Obama promised.

The bill they are trying to pass is unconstitutional under the 10th Amendment.  The government does NOT have the authority to force anyone to buy their insurance.  Hate to break it to you liberals (i.e. Diane Feinstein) who think they do, but the commerce clause and general welfare clause don’t give them that authority.

Assuming that the senate and congress are able to reconcile their versions of the bill and get it to Chairman Maobama’s desk for signature, there will be immediate constitutional challenges.

Can you afford $1,500 to $12,000 more in medical insurance costs?  Can you afford it when Obama’s economic development plan costs you your job, or at least results in a pay cut?  Will you choose to pay your mortgage, or pay the mandatory health care insurance premium levied unconstitutionally by the government?  What about your car payment?  Are you willing to risk jail time for not paying the mandatory insurance bill?  These and many other choices are ones you are about to be forced to make.

In Other Words…

by Ann Coulter
Posted 12/23/2009 ET
Updated 12/23/2009 ET

Irritated at the bumps on the road to the Democrats’ Thousand-Year Reich, liberals are now claiming that Republican Sen. Tom Coburn requested a prayer for the death of Sen. Bob Byrd during the health care debate last Saturday night.

Here is what Coburn actually said: “What the American people ought to pray is that somebody can’t make the vote tonight. That’s what they ought to pray.”

After reporting Coburn’s remark, The Washington Post’s Dana Milbank added: “It was difficult to escape the conclusion that Coburn was referring to the 92-year-old, wheelchair-bound Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.V.).”

Contrary to Milbank’s claim, I find it extremely easy to get away from that conclusion. In fact, I’m a regular Houdini when it comes to that conclusion. That conclusion couldn’t hold me for a second.

There are a million ways a senator could miss a vote, other than by dying. Ask Patrick Kennedy. At 1 a.m. on a Sunday night in the middle of a historic blizzard in the nation’s capital, I don’t think the first thing that came to anyone’s mind was death. More likely it was: “Last call.”

Milbank was employing the MSNBC motto, “In Other Words,” which provides the formula for 90 percent of the political commentary on that network. The MSNBC host quotes a Republican, then says “in other words,” translates the statement into something that would be stupid to say, and spends the next 10 minutes ridiculing the translated version. Which no one said. Except the host.

Also, by the way, Sen. Coburn did not “go to the Senate floor to propose a prayer,” as Milbank reported. He was giving a floor speech in which he used the turn of phrase, “What the American people ought to pray is …”

Inasmuch as liberals want to talk about anything but their plan to take over one-sixth of the American economy, let’s talk about health care!

Democrats tout Medicare as their model for a government-run health care system, bragging about what an extremely popular government program it is.

Medicare is tens of trillions of dollars in the red. It is expected to go bankrupt by 2017. In order to pay for Medicare alone, the government will either have to cut every other federal program in existence, or raise federal income taxes to rates as high as 77 percent.

Medicare is like a $500 hamburger: I assume it’s good — it had better be — but no one would say, “THAT’S A FANTASTIC SUCCESS!”

Until 10 minutes ago, the liberal argument for national health care was that it wasn’t fair that some people — “the rich” — have access to better health care than others.

In liberals’ ideal world, everyone lives in abject poverty and stands in long lines, but we all live in the same abject poverty and stand in the same long lines — just like in their beloved Soviet Union of recent memory! (Except the commissars, who get excellent health care, food, housing, maid service and no lines.)

Instead of being honest and telling us that their plan is to make health care worse and more expensive — but fairer! — liberals have recently begun claiming that providing universal health care will actually save money. Overnight, they went from wailing about basic human needs being “more important than bombs” to claiming: “Our plan will be cheaper!”

Hmmm, I didn’t make any notes to debate the manifestly insane points. But I’m pretty sure that extending full medical benefits to 30 million people who don’t currently have them — 47 million once the federal health commission rules that illegal aliens are covered — will not be less expensive than the current system.

You can say — mistakenly — that the liberals’ plan is more compassionate. You can say — also incorrectly — that it will be fairer. On no set of facts can you say it will be cheaper.

Democrats keep citing the Congressional Budget Office’s “scoring” of their bills as if that means something.

The CBO is required to score a bill based on the assumptions provided by the bill’s authors. It’s worth about as much as a report card filled out by the student himself.

Democrats could write a bill saying: “Assume we invent a magic pill that will make cars get 1,000 miles per gallon. Now, CBO, would that save money?”

The CBO would have to conclude: Yes, that bill will save money.

Among the tricks the Democrats put into their health care bills for the CBO is that the government will collect taxes for 10 years, but only pay out benefits for the last six years. Will that save money? Yes, the CBO says, this bill is “deficit neutral”!

But what about the next 10 years and the next 10 years and the next 10 years after that? Will the health care plan continually pay benefits only in the last six years of every 10-year period? I think their plan assumes we’ll all be dead from global warming in a decade.

Also, I note that the Democrats claim it’s urgent that we pass ObamaCare by Christmas, but the bill doesn’t get around to paying out any benefits until 2014. Poor uninsured chumps.

In other words … Democrats are praying for the death of Bob Byrd!

An atheist group has a sign up in the Illinois state capitol which reads as follows:

At this season
OF THE WINTER SOLSTICE
may reason prevail.

There are no gods,
no devils, no angels,
no heaven or hell.
There is only our natural world.
Religion is but
a myth and superstition
that hardens hearts
and enslaves minds.

This is the same message that was posted in the Washington state capitol last year. If you click that link, you’ll see Bill O’Reilly’s take on the issue. Now he has the genuinely dumb Ann Coulter chiming in this year.

First Billo says atheists are stupid for making people angry. Really? Bill O’Reilly is making this a central part of his argument? It’s a strategy that has clearly brought him success.

The next point he makes is that this is a “Christian-generated holiday”. First of all, Christmas has its roots outside Christianity. Second of all, it’s a federal holiday that the Supreme Court has ruled has been secularized to the point where it sufficiently lacks enough religious connection to be allowable as a holiday in the first place. As I said last year, if it was deemed to simply be a Christian celebration, it would not be a federal holiday today. Third, the Illinois state capitol does not endorse Christianity.

For some bizarre reason, Billo then says that atheists are demanding to be allowed to call people “idiots” for believing in Christianity or Christmas. First, no. Second, I ‘believe’ in Christmas. I plan on celebrating it like I have every year. I don’t intend on telling everyone at the Christmas party to stop being idiots, myself included. Third, the atheist group is stating its position that belief in gods and devils and angels and other such things are false beliefs. If a Jewish group put up a sign saying there is no hell, that would inherently be telling hell-believing religions they are wrong. Would Billo and Little Anny Coulter be jumping down their throats? Christ. It’s a group promoting its view. Deal with it.

Billo next says it’s just insulting to be called an idiot. Again, no one did that here, but if it makes him feel better, I can get rid of this strawman for him: Billo. You’re an idiot.

Little Anny then goes off into kook land and claims that the U.S. was established on the belief in God and makes distinctions between religions. She’s an idiot, too.

Finally Little Anny tries her hand at analogies. Being someone who is genuinely dumb, she fails – as one should expect. She says this is all like everyone bringing in a picture of his or her pet but then one person brings in a sign that says “I hate Fluffy and Fluffy sucks”. She concludes that this doesn’t fit within “the public forum definition” and thus shouldn’t even be tolerated. (Conveniently, she just defined herself as a bigot for me. Thanks, Anny.) In other words, the Illinois state capitol is open to religious displays and religious displays only. I find this fascinating since Little Anny has time and again argued that atheism is a religion. I guess if atheist signs should be banned for not being religious, then atheism isn’t a religion. Crazy! Who would have thought a genuinely dumb person would hold entirely contradictory positions at once?

When you read an incisive, erudite piece of analysis like the above quote, you just know it’s from a highly-informed and respectable source, someone with the pedigree of a, say, Bill O’Reilly or Ann Coulter. Sure enough, it comes from O’Reilly talking to Coulter yesterday on Fox News, that echo chamber of disingenuous hillbilly claptrap. These two heads on the Blowhard Hydra™ were engaging in their yearly repudiation of all those evil forces trying to undermine and destroy Christmas (this year, as usual I imagine, the atheists and ACLU took the brunt of it).

Now, attempting to contradict a member of the Blowhard Hydra™ is about as useful and productive as trying to swim up a waterfall (and is beneath your dignity, really), so I won’t bother. I’ll just say it was interesting to see, on Christmas Eve, a bunch of “atheist defences of Christmas” published in places such as Calgary, California and Australia. And someone called “revere” over at ScienceBlogs explains, rather succinctly, why there isn’t really much cognitive dissonance involved when an unbeliever professes appreciation for the season:

…for reasons we don’t understand atheists aren’t supposed to like Christmas. But lots of us do. It’s not a Christian thing (I’m not nor have I ever been a member of the Christianist Party). We like Christmas for some of the very reasons so many people seem to hate it: it’s a great commercial and secular holiday that’s warm and pleasant at a dark time of year (that’s the idea, right?)

O’Reilly and Coulter full of shit? I know, try to recover from the shock.

But then, even a giant pile of dung can be concealing a small nugget of gold, so I must concede that part of Bill-O’s argument does hold up: some atheists are just stupid. Case in point: Irv Sutley. A former Marine and militant atheist, the 65-year-old forced officials to remove stars and angels from a Christmas tree in a government building last week. Well, by “forced” I mean “asked”, since apparently he was the only one to complain — yet officials still did away with the “offending” ornaments “to avoid any controversy”.

Look, I know Sutley has a Constitutional leg to stand on, but if there’s one thing that annoys me as much as (if not more than) proselytizing religious folks, it’s proselytizing atheists. And this Sutley fellow (who has also raised a stink about Buddhist statues and the Star of David in the past) comes across as nothing more than an old-fashioned faithless shit disturber. So the correct response to his complaint would have been “go get fucked. Oh, and Merry Christmas.”

To be sure, there are others folks of Sutley’s ilk, skulking around, meticulously eying every public display, checking for any unacceptably ostentatious expression of religiosity. But O’Reilly’s idea of a “War on Christmas” is patently preposterous — not simply because anything that comes out of his mouth is inherently preposterous, but because the term “war” suggests a large-scale battle.

There is no large-scale battle taking place. There are a handful of Blowhard Hydra™ heads pandering to their relatively small constituency of delusional paranoids. And then there are delusional paranoids on the other end of the spectrum — the Irv Sutleys of the world — perpetually fighting the influence of “cultish” behaviour in the public sphere by, yes, forcing their own manner of thinking on others.

But for the rest of us, the majority of us — believers, unbelievers and skeptics of all stripes — “Christmas” is merely that end-of-year time when the weather gets ugly, our brains tune out of work for at least a week, cheesy music blares from every available speaker, everyone puts on a few pounds and we momentarily indulge in the redemptive power of nebulous concepts like “happiness” and “goodwill” (regardless of their reality-based connection — or lack thereof — to the religion with which the holiday is ostensibly linked).

I can’t help but think of the atheism-themed bus advertisements rolled out in London and other cities this year, where the concluding message is “stop worrying and enjoy your life.” If we can divorce that line from its source, it seems like a good message for everyone, for at least one day a year, don’t you think?

.

.

.

.

In Other

Words...

by Ann Coulter

.

.

__December 23rd, 2009

ANNCOULTER.COM

AnnCoulter.com

Irritated at the bumps

on the road to the Democrats’

Thousand-Year Reich,

liberals are now claiming that

Republican Senator Tom Coburn

requested a prayer for the death of

Sen. Bob Byrd during the health

care debate last Saturday night.

Here is what Coburn

actually said:

“What the American people ought

to pray is that somebody can’t make

the vote tonight.

That’s what they ought to pray.”

After reporting Coburn’s remark,

The Washington Post’s

Dana Milbank added:

“It was difficult to escape the

conclusion that Coburn was

referring to the 92-year-old,

wheelchair-bound

Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.V.).”

Contrary to Milbank’s claim,

I find it extremely easy to get

away from that conclusion.

In fact, I’m a regular Houdini

when it comes to that conclusion.

That conclusion couldn’t

hold me for a second.

There are a million ways a

senator could miss a vote,

other than by dying.

Ask Patrick Kennedy.

At 1 a.m. on a Sunday night

in the middle of a historic blizzard

in the nation’s capital,

I don’t think the first thing that

came to anyone’s mind was death.

More likely it was:

“Last call.”

Milbank was employing

the MSNBC motto,

“In Other Words,”

which provides the formula for

90 percent of the political

commentary on that network.

.

.

The MSNBC host

quotes a Republican,

then says

“in other words,”

translates the statement into

something that would be

stupid to say,

and spends the next 10 minutes

ridiculing the translated version.

Which no one said.

Except the host.

.

.

Also, by the way,

Sen. Coburn did not

“go to the Senate floor

to propose a prayer,”

as Milbank reported.

He was giving a floor speech

in which he used the turn

of phrase,

“What the American people

ought to pray is …”

Inasmuch as liberals want to

talk about anything but their

plan to take over one-sixth of

the American economy,

let’s talk about health care!

Democrats tout Medicare as

their model for a government-run

health care system,

bragging about what an extremely

popular government program it is.

.

.

Medicare is tens of

trillions of dollars in the red.

It is expected to go

bankrupt by 2017.

In order to pay for Medicare alone,

the government will either have

to cut every other federal program

in existence, or raise federal

income taxes to rates as

high as 77 percent.

Medicare is like a $500 hamburger:

I assume it’s good —

it had better be —

but no one would say,

“THAT’S A

FANTASTIC SUCCESS!”

Until 10 minutes ago,

the liberal argument for

national health care was that

it wasn’t fair that some people —

“the rich” —

have access to better

health care than others.

.

.

In liberals’ ideal world,

everyone lives in abject poverty

and stands in long lines,

but we all live in the same abject

poverty and stand in the same

long lines —

just like in their beloved

Soviet Union of recent memory!

(Except the commissars,

who get excellent health care,

food,

housing,

maid service and no lines.)

Instead of being honest and

telling us that their plan is to

make health care worse

and more expensive —

but fairer! —

liberals have recently begun

claiming that providing universal

health care will actually

save money.

Overnight,

they went from wailing about

basic human needs being

“more important than bombs”

to claiming:

“Our plan will be cheaper!”

Hmmm,

I didn’t make any notes to debate

the manifestly insane points.

.

.

But I’m pretty sure that extending

full medical benefits to 30 million

people who don’t currently

have them —

47 million once the federal

health commission rules that

illegal aliens are covered —

will not be less expensive

than the current system.

You can say —

mistakenly —

that the liberals’ plan

is more compassionate.

You can say —

also incorrectly —

that it will be fairer.

On no set of facts can

you say it will be cheaper.

.

.

Democrats keep citing the

Congressional Budget Office’s

“scoring” of their bills as

if that means something.

The CBO is required to score

a bill based on the assumptions

provided by the bill’s authors.

It’s worth about as much as

a report card filled out by

the student himself.

Democrats could

write a bill saying:

“Assume we invent a magic pill

that will make cars get 1,000

miles per gallon.

Now,

CBO,

would that save money?”

The CBO would

have to conclude:

Yes, that bill will save money.

Among the tricks the Democrats

put into their health care bills

for the CBO is that the government

will collect taxes for 10 years,

but only pay out benefits

for the last six years.

Will that save money?

Yes,

the CBO says,

this bill is “deficit neutral”!

But what about the next 10 years

and the next 10 years and the

next 10 years after that?

Will the health care plan

continually pay benefits only

in the last six years of

every 10-year period?

I think their plan assumes

we’ll all be dead from global

warming in a decade.

Also, I note that the Democrats

claim it’s urgent that we pass

ObamaCare by Christmas,

but the bill doesn’t get around

to paying out any benefits

until 2014.

Poor uninsured chumps.

In other words …

Democrats are praying

for the death of Bob Byrd!

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

It isn’t often that Elective Decisions gets to do a special interview, but when Santa called from the North Pole, I was happy to hop on a flight to so see him.  So I asked Santa why he chose Elective Decisions to do the interview.  Why not simply call up Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity or Mark Levin?  Santa pointed out that all of these men were busy with their families.  He also made mention that since I had no life, I would be perfect.  And, of course, he was right.

After a long flight to Canada, I got on Santa’s private plane and was flown to his secret compound behind his workshop.  Christmas decorations were adorned everywhere—lights, wreaths, trees were decorated, and even a life size nativity scene stood in front of the workshop.  It was grandiose, a place that would warm the heart of even the nastiest scrooges.

Upon completion of the tour of Christmas central, we sat down in his office, where Santa had plenty to say about Obama and this current rogue Congress.

Elective Decisions:  First, I want to thank you for bringing me here.  The place looks great.  You look like you’re busy too.

Santa:  Much busier than years past.

Elective Decisions:  Why?

Santa:  Because of this rogue Congress and Obama.  Parents are laid off and have far less to buy their children than during those prosperous years under George W. Bush.  Since 2006, this Congress has assaulted the American people, and I’m tired of it.

Elective Decisions:  O.K.  But I just have to ask.  So many people are confused, Santa, with your propensity to give things away.  Are you a Democrat?  We have to know.

Santa:  A Democrat?  I don’t think so, sonny boy.  I’d much rather have a mother in a whore house than a brother in the Democrat Party.  I’m an original patriot.  I’ve been an American since Philadelphia and ’76!  So don’t you ever ask me that question again, or I’m kicking your butt out into the snow, and you can walk back to Colorado!

Elective Decisions:  All right, but I had to clarify it for my readers.  All three of them.  I mean the Democrat Party gives things away, and so do you.  So I made that connection, but I guess I was wrong.

Santa:  Yes, boy, you were wrong.  I give things away in representation of our Lord Jesus Christ.  He was the ultimate gift to the world.  He is the reason for the season.  I am an extension of just that.  You must be good to get a present.  And the entire Democrat Party is on the naughty list this year.  That includes their voters, donors, supporters, etc…

Elective Decisions:  So what do they get this year?  Coal?

Santa:  No, no, no.  Coal is far too good for scum like Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi.

Elective Decisions:  So what are they getting for Christmas?

Santa:  I’m glad you asked.  I have had the elves bagging up Comet and Blitzen’s poop all year.  We’ve been feeding them lots of apples, and let’s just say it isn’t a wonderful fragrance.  On Christmas night, I’m going to dump 100 pounds of reindeer poop by the tree with a pretty red bow on top.  The kids shouldn’t suffer.  It isn’t the children’s fault their parents and grandparents are liars.  I just want Democrats to get the message:  This is what you represent.

Elective Decisions:  Let’s talk government run healthcare.  Are you for or against it?

Santa:  Strongly opposed to it.  I am pissed off.  Any plan that sentences senior citizens to death is horrible.  Seniors are the most experienced citizens we have—simply by living longer than anyone else.  Not to mention that the whole plan is unconstitutional.  You cannot mandate that anyone purchase anything.  It also tramples over the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution and other areas.  Now I am no expert, but I am a huge fan of Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Mark Levin.  Between 12:00 p.m. EST and 10:00 p.m. EST, I have their internet feeds piped into the workshop.  The feed makes the elves far more productive.  If you want to know exactly how government run healthcare tramples on the Constitution, then tune into Mark Levin.  He is undoubtedly one of the finest legal minds in America.  And he is going to have something special this Christmas.

Elective Decisions:  But he’s Jewish?

Santa:  That doesn’t matter.  He is a patriot of the highest order, and he deserves it.  I do want to give a shout out to all those soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines and coast guardsmen who so willingly volunteer to keep this country free.  I wish them a very Merry Christmas!  Know that you and your children will get something very special this Christmas.  You keep this country free, and for that, Americans are forever grateful.  Even though this worthless Democrat Party loves to hate you, know that I love each and every one of you!

Elective Decisions:  About that.  What about national security?  Is Obama up to the task?

Santa:  You’re joking.  Right?  The man is an utter joke, and it’s a miracle that something devastating hasn’t happened to this country yet.  When George W. Bush was in office, I never had to worry about whether a plane was going to fly into my workshop.  He may have been a big spender, but he executed his duties in defending the people of America.  Obama is weaker than a wet paper bag.  He makes me sweat like a dog in a Chinese restaurant.  I’ve got my own perimeter defense set up outside—some razor wire and a couple of fifty caliber machine guns with a 1,000 meters line of sight.  That’s in case I ever need it.  And thanks to those people that elected this dufus, I just might.  I give Obama a big fat F!  As in we’re totally screwed.  I do have high hopes for 2010.  Conservatism is on the march, and that give me optimism.  That and my daily dose of “The Passion” of conservatism.

Elective Decisions:  Speaking of conservatism, are there any conservatives you have high hopes for?

Santa:  Yes.  I love Marco Rubio in Florida.  He can do some great things.  It’s time the people of Florida got rid of the deusch bag Charlie Crist.  We need to say no to RINOs.  John McCain has got to go.  We need to say yes to Sarah Palin, Bobby Jindal, Mike Pence, and hundreds of others out there that love America.

Elective Decisions:  Do you think Sarah Palin should run in 2012?

Santa:  I’d love for her to run.  But it’s too early to tell and she’s not indicating one way or the other.  However, it’s great to see a strong, conservative woman running for office.  We have some of them now.  And they’re all hot, which makes ugly, liberal women mad.  But it’s too bad.  Look at our women: Ann Coulter, Michele Bachman, Michelle Malkin, Sarah Palin, etc…  The list goes on and on.  Americans need to get behind these women.  They’re doing great things for our country.

Elective Decisions:  Illegal immigration.  Are we ever going to do anything about it?

Santa:  Not with these pieces of human debris in control of Congress.  At best, we’ll get amnesty, which is wrong.  There are hundreds of thousands of immigrants that have come to this country and pledged their loyalty to America.  If immigrants can’t do that, then they need to stay in their country of origin.  This is the greatest country in the world, and we can’t have you come here and take a big dump on it.  It’s dangerous to keep an open border.  It is a threat to our national security, but Obama doesn’t give a damn about that or this country.  All he wants is to ram his Marxist agenda down our throats.  Well, we’re not going down without a fight!  And in November of 2010, we’re coming with millions of pooper scoopers to clean up this country.  So back up the manure truck.  Back it up!

Elective Decisions:  I didn’t know you felt that way about America, sir.  I figured you to be a global citizen.

Santa:  If you say that again, I’m going to have some of the elves beat the crap out of you.  I am an American, and I have been for over 230 years.  So shut your damn trap about this global citizenry crap.  America is a sovereign nation, and it represents the ideals of freedom that so many in the world don’t have.  I got behind that in Constitution Hall back in 1776.  It’s important for everyone to know that the North Pole is American territory.  I’ve petitioned Congress time and again to make us a state, but those toe sucking Democrats won’t vote for it.  It goes along with everything else in their agenda.

Elective Decisions:  So you don’t believe in global warming, or climate change as the liberals call it now?

Santa:  It’s a boat load of crap.  I’ve been around a long, long time.  Hell, I got underwear older than you boy.  Rush Limbaugh has it right, “How can we destroy that which we did not create?”  God created the heavens and the Earth and sent his only begotten son, Jesus Christ to die on the cross in remission of our sins.  What’s so hard to understand?  And we can then destroy something God created?

Elective Decisions:  But what about atheists?

Santa:  All right.  For arguments sake, we’ll look at it this way.  We still didn’t create the Earth.  There wasn’t a construction foreman out there yelling for more fill dirt.  To believe we can destroy it is utter arrogance—something liberals believe to advance their communist agenda.  Mark Levin has that right as well, “The old Red is the new Green.”

Elective Decisions:  So how do conservatives take back America?  What should we do?

Santa:  Well, I’d start by picking up a copy of Mark Levin’s book, Liberty And Tyranny: A Conservative Manifesto.  There are ten specific things in the book we need to do to restore this country to a Republic.  And every conservative should support those candidates that propagate the principles Levin states in his book.  They also need to get behind those candidates that support that kind of legislation as well.

Elective Decisions:  What ten things?  What are you talking about?

Santa:  Don’t tell me you didn’t read the book.  There are ten fundamental things you need to know.

via: patriotpost.us

The New York Times’ Nicholas Kristof recently wrote a column about John Brodniak of Oregon, who developed a cavernous hemangioma, causing him great pain as blood leaks into his brain.

According to Kristof, Brodniak can’t get medical help because we don’t have universal health care. Senators who vote against ObamaCare, Kristof said, are morally equivalent to someone who would walk past a man “writhing in pain on the sidewalk.”

In another article in the Times, William Yardley wrote about Melvin Tsosies — also of Oregon — who ended up with $200,000 in medical bills after having a heart attack.

As of March 2008, Yardley reported, Tsosies was waiting to find out if he would win the Oregon lottery for health insurance. But with 600,000 uninsured state residents and a “universal” health care program with only enough money to pay for about 24,000 of them, Tsosies is more likely to win a Powerball lottery.

How can this be happening? Oregon already has “universal health care”! (Probably just a coincidence, but isn’t Oregon also the only state with physician-assisted suicide?)

Once again forgetting about the existence of the Internet, the Times neglects to mention its own erstwhile enthusiasm for Oregon’s universal health care plan, introduced back in 1990.

Back then, the Times published an editorial titled “Oregon’s Brave Medical Experiment,” hailing this technocratic monstrosity as an example of “hardheaded compassion” designed to make “health coverage available to many more families.”

Ron Wyden — then a congressman from Oregon, now a U.S. senator at the forefront of pushing “universal health care” onto the nation — said: “This is a strong dramatic step toward universal access of health care.” He predicted, “this is going to be copied everywhere.”

No wonder Wyden is such an ardent proponent of national health care — it will force states that didn’t adopt these idiotic universal health care schemes to bail out the ones that did.

Liberals cite medical horror stories from the very states they once cheered for enacting universal health care in order to argue for a national health care plan that will wreck the entire nation’s medical care the same way liberal states already wrecked their own medical care.

Only Democrats could propose fixing one Bernie Madoff-style scam with an even bigger Bernie Madoff-style scam.

Maybe when national universal health care fails, we’ll be able to go international. Then interplanetary — then interstellar! Why should I pay for my gall bladder surgery when some Venusian could?

Eighty-five percent of Americans are happy with their health care, but Democrats have a plan to make it worse for more money. As a bonus, national health care will add trillions of dollars to the national debt, and your insurance rates will skyrocket.

Democrats are being utterly disingenuous to say that you won’t have to leave your current plan under national health care. Maybe, but it won’t be your choice: Your employer will be making that decision for you.

Recall that one of the big selling points of national health care is that it is supposed to reduce costs for American businesses. The only way national health care will make American companies “more competitive” is if they dump their employees into the public health care system.

It’s so weird! We expected X number of people to show up for health care and instead 75X showed up! Yeah, just like every other government program in the history of the world.

Ten years from now, we’ll be talking about cost overruns of $6 trillion — but by then, national health care will be an untouchable “third rail” of politics, just as Medicare is now. (Ironically, injuries sustained from actually touching the third rail won’t be covered under ObamaCare.)

As with Medicare, voters will be terrified to go back to even the wisp of a free market system we have now, afraid that they’ll never be able to get health insurance without the government providing it. Having been dragged unwillingly into the government plan, how will a 58-year-old be able to leave the public system and get insurance on the free market?

Speaking of which, how many of you are planning to retire on your Social Security benefits? Just you there, with the shopping cart full of cans?

The only solution will be for the government to keep running up gigantic deficits and raising taxes on “the rich,” which, in turn, will stifle job creation and economic growth in a phenomenon known to economists as “the Carter years.”

In addition to forcing Americans into dealing with surly government workers in order to obtain medical care, sooner or later, there’s no free lunch. (And if government X-rays are anything like the photos the DMV takes for your license, count me out. I don’t want my lungs looking like they had a bad hair day.)

Even if national health care puts the screws to doctors and pharmaceutical companies by reimbursing them below cost — so all future doctors will soon resemble DMV employees and no new drugs will ever be invented — the government is still going to have to cut services and pay for the system with massive tax hikes.

Which is exactly what happened with Oregon’s “Brave Medical Experiment.”

COPYRIGHT 2009 ANN COULTER DISTRIBUTED BY UNIVERSAL UCLICK

President Barack Hussein Obama and ALL U.S. Senators and Congresspersons are hereby publically warned that they WILL be subject to CRIMINAL VIOLATION of their OATH OF OFFICE which is punishable by REMOVAL FROM OFFICE AND CONFINEMENT or a fine.

Here is the U.S. Senate House of Representatives Oath of Office: 

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God. 

This oath is also taken by the Vice President, members of the Cabinet, and all other civil and military officers and federal employees other than the President.

In the United States, the Oath of office for the President of the United States is specified in the U.S. Constitution (Article II, Section 1):

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.

When ANY legislation causes a person to be subject to criminal penalties for NOT buying a product (in this case health insurance), then the U.S. Constitution is nullified, since the health care bill would necessarily SUPERSEDE IT by stating the penalties for not complying with their UNCONSTITUTIONAL EDICTS. The U.S. Constitution states:

The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.

So, instead of these Constitutionally-bound Congressional legislators going through the Amendment Process that the U.S. Constitution provides for, they WILLING bypass the EXPLICIT intent of the Framers whereby the document EXPLICITLY says that ALL POWERS NOT DELEGATED TO THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT are given to the States and The People. 

Therefore, they are in violation of their oath of office and subject to the CRIMINAL PENALTIES provisions already enumerated in Law: 

Federal Law regulating Oath of Office by Government Officials is divided into four parts along with an Executive Order which further defines the law for purposes of enforcement. 5 U.S.C. 3331, provides the text of the actual Oath of Office members of Congress are required to take before assuming office. 5 U.S.C. 3333 requires members of Congress sign an Affidavit that they have taken the oath of office required by 5 U.S.C. 3331 and have not or will not violate that oath of office during their tenure of office as defined by the third part of the law, 5 U.S.C. 7311, which EXPLICITLY MAKES IT A FEDERAL CRIMINAL OFFENCE (and a VIOLATION of their Oath of Office) for ANYONE EMPLOYED in the United States Government (including members of Congress) to “advocate the overthrow of our constitutional form of government.” 

The fourth federal law, 18 U.S.C. 1918 provides penalties for violation of oath office described in 5 U.S.C. 7311 which include: (1) removal from office and; (2) confinement or a fine. 

The definition of “advocate” is further specified in Executive Order 10450 which for the purposes of enforcement supplements 5 U.S.C. 7311. One provision of Executive Order 10450 specifies it is a violation of 5 U.S.C. 7311 for ANY PERSON taking the Oath of Office to advocate “the alteration … of the form of the government of the United States by unconstitutional means.” Our form of government is defined by the Constitution of the United States. It can ONLY be “altered” by Constitutional Amendment. 

Thus, according to Executive Order 10450 (and therefore 5 U.S. 7311) ANY ACT taken by Government Officials who have taken the Oath of Office prescribed by 5 U.S.C. 3331 which ALTERS THE FORM OF GOVERNMENT other by amendment, is a CRIMINAL VIOLATION of the 5 U.S.C. 7311.

Article V Amendment

The Congress, whenever two-thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the Application of the Legislatures of two-thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments, which, in either Case, shall be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as part of this Constitution, when ratified by the Legislatures of three-fourths of the several States, or by Conventions in three-fourths thereof, as the one or the other Mode of Ratification may be proposed by the Congress; Provided that no Amendment which may be made prior to the Year One thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any Manner affect the first and fourth Clauses in the Ninth Section of the first Article; and that no State, without its Consent, shall be deprived of its equal Suffrage in the Senate.

Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court.

The Congress shall have power to declare the Punishment of Treason, but no Attainder of Treason shall work Corruption of Blood, or Forfeiture except during the Life of the Person attainted.

Article VI

Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.

Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution

Amendment 10

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

Let it be hereby known to every U.S. Senator and U.S. House of Representative member who casts a vote for ANY legislation that has a Mandate that supersedes the U.S. Constitution WILL be subject to answer for that CRIMINAL OFFENSE according already established Federal Law.

Can I get an Amen from anyone?

In other news, The Slaves of the Democratic Party - Obamacare is a Complete Betrayal of the American People, Copenhagen a Sham

The Socialist Revolution Has Come to America

Global Warming Hoax, Planned in 1961?

Change Nobody Believes In –  A Bill so Reckless That it Has to be Rammed Through on a Partisan Vote on Christmas Eve

CZARS WARS: Thousand DEMAND Obama Dump ‘Safe Schools Czar’ Homosexual Pedophile Pusher, Peter Jennings

Quote of the Day: “As our president bears no resemblance to a king so we shall see the Senate has no similitude to nobles. First, not being hereditary, their collective knowledge, wisdom, and virtue are not precarious. For by these qualities alone are they to obtain their offices, and they will have none of the peculiar qualities and vices of those men who possess power merely because their father held it before them.” – Tench Coxe, An American Citizen, No.2, September 28, 1787

Thanks for listening,

777denny

The Democratic National Committee strategists have resigned themselves to the practice of identity politics, stigmatizing the conservatives as racist, backward, and anti-woman.  They have recently stated that we have a “woman problem”, suggesting that our movement does not offer a place for women.  However, this short-sighted claim has been vividly contradicted on the national front by the efforts of Palin, Coulter, Malkin, Bachman, Blackburn, and Ingraham. 

And this grave misconception as also been shattered by the women involved in the St. Louis scene of common sense conservatism. 

Dana Loesch has been a tireless activist fighting for the core values of faith, freedom, and family.  She the host of her political radio show on 97.1 on Sunday Night from 8-10, and weeknights at from 7-8pm.  Her Sunday show is the highest rated for that time slot.  She is also a chief organizer of the St. Louis Tea Party Movement, and along with Bill Hennessy they have brought together many dedicated and talented people to shake the foundation of the American political universe.

Dana, along with Dr. Gina Louden, conducted a wildly successful boycott for Whole Foods in Town and Country.  Dana also has Hall Pass on That, the Dump Dede campaign, and Justice for Kenneth Gladney among her many accomplishments for the St. Louis conservative movement.

Michelle Moore was interviewed on Fox, where she challenged the president’s right to impose a political message on students without the parents review.  Moore’s clearly defined her objection to Obama’s maneuver, providing one of the best cases for the often misunderstood issue.  She is also involved in Smart Girl Politics, a forum for women’s advancement of  the conservative cause.  Her internet show “Moore From the Right” is an exciting program that features a unique perspective on the movement. 

Annette Read’s organization “I Heard the People Say” is an invaluable resource for conservatives to stay plugged in.  Her web site “Iheardthe peoplesay.org”  offers up to date information on the issues of the day.  She is also a member of “My Conservative Group”, an organization that is involved in the St. Louis Tea Party, candidate development, education, and research. 

Stephanie Ruben is the architect of the Million Med March held in Clayton, Missouri last November.  This event assembled several doctors and medical professionals, who provided an expert perspective on the Tea Party opposition to the Health Care Reform Act.  Her speech at the November 28 gathering  exposed the myths behind the push for socialized medicine.  She is also a member of Move-On-Up.org, and website for black conservatives.

The Greyfalcon would also like to recognize the efforts of Le Combat, a conservative blogger from Austin Texas.  Le Combat has been a tremendous asset to us on twitter, as well as with her WordPress blog.   Her piece on “Liberal Colonialism”, was an enlightening essay on how the Democratic party have  indoctrinated Hispanics.  Le Combat’s personal insight on this matter is absolutely effective in challenging the Left’s use of identity politics to control women and minorities.

So when the progressive authoritarians discuss a “woman problem”, they’re actually talking about the problem that our women are giving them.

School is finally out…and snow canceled a bunch of flights, stranding your artist in MA until Tuesday. Ffff. (At least I have a friend to crash with…and a huge backlog of fic to work on.)

Fake News
Needs Met, page 13 (comic | Jon/c!Stephen, Jon/l!Stephen | G)

Hellsing
Hole in the Heart (art | dark!Seras | worksafe)
Like Nobody’s Watching (art | Integra/Alucard | worksafe)

Pretty Anchor Sailor Jon
I’m A Sailor PC (art | sailor!John Hodgman, Justin Long | worksafe)
Queen Coulter (art | Beryl!Ann Coulter | worksafe)

General/Miscellaneous
A Bevy of Bismillahs (calligraphy | me, a kid named Mohammed, a whole lot of Arabic script | worksafe)

Next Week in Shine:
The Ghost of Iscariot Future shows…well, pretty much what you would expect from Enrico’s future.

There has been a lot in the news lately about congressional perks, especially about travel expenses and Pelosi’s new jet. We went online to see if we could find out more. Most of the figures quoted here are from the Congressional Accountability Project, Citizens Against Government Waist, or the National Taxpayers Union. Much of the data is dated, meaning that actual figures are probably higher.

In 1999 the annual salary of a member of Congress is $141,300, plus benefits. Today it is $174,000 plus benefits. Since January 2006, both Congress and the Senate have increased their annual salaries by more than $10,000. No one had to ask you for the regular raises, because most of the increases came in the form of a cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA. That way congress doesn’t look as though it votes itself a fat pay hike every time Nancy Pelosi needs another boob job.

Here are the salaries:
Speaker/Senate Leader: $223,500
Majority and Minority Leaders: $193,400
House/Senate Members: $174,000.

They also receive a $3,000 a year housing deduction. Senators are paid while they campaign and travel on personal business. In 2005 the Senate repealed the No Work-No Pay Law; Congress still lives by it but they are trying to repeal it.

The incentive to get reelected, as you can see, is high on Capitol Hill, and should be; hidden in the nooks and crannies of virtually every piece of legislation are new perks or improvements on old ones, many of which can be stuffed right in their pocketbooks.

Both the Senate and the House have gymnasiums with swimming pools. Geesh! It took me hours to find that one, and I wouldn’t have, had there not been a staff infection scare at the Senate facility recently. Both houses have restaurants, although I suspect mostly staff use them. Washington is full of fine restaurants and cocktail lounges where legislators can hobnob with the lobbyist friends. They pay themselves for “working” meals.

The average lawbreaker, a-hum, lawmaker, employees between 74 and 95 staffers; New York Senator Chuck Schumer’s latest office expenses report indicated he had 73 people on his payroll over the six-month period that ended March 31, the most recent data available. Senators are allotted around $3.3 million a year for staff, top pay $169,459. Senate office expense data is not disclosed as readily as House data, but NTU estimates that combined Senate allowances range from $2 million to under $4 million per office.

Congress and the Senate have a rich history of taking with one hand and giving back with interest with the other. The Ethics Reform Act on 1989 increased Representatives and Senators salaries at different rates. Representatives’ pay increased from $89,500 in 1989, to $125,100 by 1991. Eventually the Senate caught up by foregoing honoraria and hiking their salaries. Now that’s change you can believe in.

Office Expenses:
Senate office expense data is not disclosed as readily as House data, but NTU estimates that combined Senate allowances range from $2 million to under $4 million per office.

Members of Congress who committed felonies before 2007 still receive pensions. In March of 1995 NTU research determined that at least 13 former lawmakers convicted of offenses such as bribery and tax evasion were collecting taxpayer-funded benefits, some doing so while sitting in jail. Other convicted lawmakers, ranging from Dan Rostenkowski (1995) to James Traficant (2003) to Randy “Duke” Cunningham (2005) have joined this list.

After 20 years in congress, a representative draws 80% of his or her highest year’s pay for life. Congressional pension benefits are 2-3 times more generous than what a similarly salaried executive could expect to receive upon retiring from the private sector. I don’t know, can Charlie Rangel scrape by on that?

Have you ever wondered where all these blogs came from? I mean there are literally hundreds of conservative blogs on the Internet, a few getting as many as 20,000 hits a month, many getting 5,000 or more.

The statement is attributed to Newton, “For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.” Maybe that doesn’t exactly apply here but a similar law is in effect.

The Fourth Estate had a sale in the 1950s. It began years earlier, with the “Lost Generation,” expatriates like Hemingway, Fitzgerald, and Ezra Pound, during the First World War, not all journalists, but writers. During the 1930s it became fashionable to join the American Communist Party. A lot of people, Hollywood movie types, academics, some journalists and so forth, joined these cells for a short time and lost interest, others became more involved. But the press made a decided turn to the left, as did Hollywood.

All of this came to a head in the 1950s when both houses of congress initiated investigations into communist influences in both government and other aspects of American society. Today it is known as the McCarthy era, largely due to the fact that Senator Joseph McCarthy played so bad on television. Robert F. Kennedy – the nearest thing liberals had to Jesus Christ until Barack Obama came along – was assistant counsel on that committee.

I won’t get into the Army-McCarthy Hearings or Alger Hiss, only to say that McCarthy and his counterparts in the House were right; the government was rife with lefties and Alger Hiss was a spy.

Enter Edward R. Murrow, the nearest thing the media have to Jesus, irrespective of Barack Obama. Murrow became indignant (tsk, tsk), that anyone would think communist spies were among us. Thus the revisionist historians went to work, and the mention of McCarthy’s name in media circles is treated as though someone cut an SBD at a Press Club cocktail party.

In 2007, Ann Coulter wrote a good article on this topic on Human Events, entitled “McCarthyism: The Rosetta Stone of Liberal Lies.”

In the intervening years there are thousands of examples of media injecting personal bias into the news. Everybody’s “Uncle Walter” Cronkite – military genius that he was – announced that the Vietnam War was lost, during Tet in 1968, just one case in point. Cronkite spawned lots of little Walters, like Evan Thomas and Anderson Cooper, who regularly declare everything American wrong now. Now it has raised its ugly head in the Climategate Scandal, and the press is giving crooked scientists a pass at the country’s expense. They neglected to vet Barack Obama and his associations with some of the most radical members of the Left because – let’s face it – they wanted him elected. They kicked Hillary Clinton to the curb to get him.

Ed Turner, brother of CNN founder, Ted, during the 1990s, said, “The news is what we say it is.” He was only right to the extent that the public once trusted the media to be honest.

When one has an estate sale the last thing to go is the house; the little things are sold off one by one, until the real property remains. Truth in the U.S. media died long ago; it sold off its ethics and integrity, and now all that remains are the walls. They will have you believe their financial troubles are the due to the advent of the Internet. Nonsense.

They have a presence on the Internet and could own it if they simply printed objective journalistic copy. There would be no NewsMax or Michelle Malkin, or Red Hot Right to print “the other side” of the issue, at least in the numbers they currently exist. There would be no Left Coast Ledger. The public wouldn’t need us.

… And that’s the way it is, December 17, 2009.

“We ended the practice of allowing baseless but expensive lawsuits to drag on indefinitely, requiring plaintiffs to provide expert witness reports to support their claims within four months of filing suit or drop the case… 

“Changes were seen immediately, and continue to be felt. All major liability insurers cut their rates upon passage of our reforms, with most of those cuts ranging in the double-digits. More than 10 new insurance carriers entered the Texas market, increasing competition and further lowering costs. 

“As a result, Texas doctors have seen their insurance rates decline by an average of 27 percent. 

“The number of doctors applying to practice medicine in Texas has skyrocketed by 57 percent.” 

At a time when a debate rages over whether the U.S. has enough doctors, Texas has seen its number of doctors leap by about 15,000. And Perry points out that tort reform has brought service to critically underserved, predominantly minority and poor communities. 

“The number of obstetricians practicing in rural Texas is up by 27 percent, and 12 counties that previously had no obstetricians now have at least one. The statistics show major gains in fields like orthopedic surgery, pediatrics, neurosurgery and emergency medicine. 

The Rio Grande Valley has seen an 18 percent growth in applications to practice medicine, adding about 200 doctors to this critically underserved area.” 

According to state Representative Joe Nixon, many of Texas’ news physicians have moved to rural or underserved areas, and “Texas, once listed as 47th worst state in the ratio of doctors per citizen, will soon be in the lower 30s and improving.” 

Perry says Texas tort reform has had other benefits to patients: 

“And what about the money that used to go to defending all those frivolous lawsuits? You can find it in budgets for upgraded equipment, expanded emergency rooms, patient safety programs and improved primary and charity care.” 

Further, according to the Texas Academy of Family Physicians, tort reform has resulted in an improvement in the quality of health care in Texas, with the percentage of complaints about medical care actually going down. 

Yet, despite the striking evidence of tort reform benefits in the nation’s second most populous state, this simple, basic and essential component of health care reform is completely missing from all Democrat proposals. 

According to opensecrets.org, Democrats received over $178,000,000 from lawyers’ donations during the 2008 election cycle — three times what they donated to Republicans. Over $43,000,000 of that went to the Obama campaign. 

Forty-three million reasons why Obamacare doesn’t include the one component of health care reform that has been proven to work: tort reform. 

Jay
Is for something proven to work, not for the libtards proven failure of single-payor. 

Gah! What’s this!?

Apparently noted thinker and famous Mike Huckabee supporter Chuck Norris has a regular column at Townhall.com, your clearinghouse for all things Ann Coulter and Sarah Palin. Looking back through the archives, it seems Norris has written about Obama’s health care reform plan quite a bit. He also wrote a two-part column called “God and Guns,” which we’re sure is tremendous.

Nothing though — and we mean nothing — can top his Tuesday column. In fact, we’re pretty sure he should just call it a career after this one; he’s never gonna top this:

Yes, bravo Chuck Norris! Bravo! You’re asking the questions only an insane person would ask. Congratulations on that.

Of course, this was no rhetorical question from Chuck Norris. Oh no. He has answers!

As we near the eve of another Christmas, I wonder: What would have happened if Mother Mary had been covered by Obamacare? What if that young, poor and uninsured teenage woman had been provided the federal funds (via Obamacare) and facilities (via Planned Parenthood, etc.) to avoid the ridicule, ostracizing, persecution and possible stoning because of her out-of-wedlock pregnancy? Imagine all the great souls who could have been erased from history and the influence of mankind if their parents had been as progressive as Washington’s wise men and women! Will Obamacare morph into Herodcare for the unborn?

Okay, first of all, WTF? Is this a joke? This has to be the worst Christmas column ever. More importantly, though, what’s going on here?

Let’s make sure we have this premise down correctly, shall we. If Barack Obama had been…uh…mayor of Jerusalem (?) in the year ZERO and had offered a Medicare buy-in to Joseph (?), Mary would’ve aborted Jesus? Is that right?

Ugh.

Look, wasn’t Jesus’ whole deal that he was sent here to die for Christians’ sins? Wouldn’t his being aborted have just sped up the process? What’s the big deal, Chuck Norris?

Ugh again.

Look, we’re gonna keep reading this column, but we’re not sure we can really take Chuck Norris the political pundit seriously. Maybe we should get our political and policy opinions from someone who hasn’t been kicked in the head 9 million times.

Hillary Clinton acknowledged this week what anyone with eyes and a high school freshman’s intellect has known since she took office as Secretary of State in January. Negotiations with Iran in their quest for a nuclear weapon haven’t worked. “I don’t think anyone can doubt that our outreach has produced very little in terms of any kind of a positive response from the Iranians,” the Secretary said in a statement to the national media.

All this while the “What Me Worry,” president logs frequent flyer miles, bowing to third-rate potentates, sucking up to South American strong men, and basking in the adoring accolades of Euro Lefties.

Not only have negotiations and sanctions not worked, they may have helped the Islamist state develop the technology they need to complete the Bomb. In a recent interview with the Washington Post, Ali Soltanieh, Iran’s representative to the IAEA in Vienna, said, “We should thank the Americans for sanctions, because they have united our country.” And indeed Iran is moving forward at dizzying speed in accomplishing their goal.

The revelation highlights an even larger concern: The threat of a nuclear Middle East, a threat made worse by administrations of both major U.S. political parties for 20 years. Most recently the U.S. has given Pakistan more than $10 billion to buy their cooperation in our war against al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan, some of which has almost certainly gone toward Pakistan’s rapidly expanding nuclear weapons program.

U.S. leaders have not yet learned that cooperation cannot be purchased without the risk of creating disastrous and often greater consequences in the future than currently exist. Pakistan is not Nicaragua, where we for years promoted U.S. interests, by supporting the Somoza regime and later the Contra’s, when Somoza lost power to the Sandinistas. Pakistan posses a very real threat of becoming an extremist Muslim state, should Obama play true to form and screw up in our war against radical Islamists, and it will be a Nuclear state.

The fundamental problem in our “war on terror” is reflected in the nom guerre itself. Obama, as with Clinton and both Bushes before him, fails to recognize the mission. We are not on the verge of World War III, we a re in it. Our war is with Islam. Period.

We have always been at war with terror, but we are now at war with a religion. I thought that Bush understood that in October 2001, when he met with Vladimir Putin and arranged the lifting of the ban on tactical nukes in Afghanistan. I was wrong.

During the bombing of Dresden in February 1945, allied air forces incinerated the city, killing an estimated 25,000 civilians alone. Brutal, yes, but one does not win a war by killing ones enemy’s army alone; wars are won by disrupting the lives of the civilians that support that army, a fact well known by Osama bin Laden.

Not that Bush should have needed Putin’s permission, but the President blew it big time in Afghanistan; in using tac nukes in Tora Bora he could have cut off the head of al Qaeda’s leadership and saved hundreds of American lives.

Our dilemma in Iran should not be a great one; the answer is simple, albeit distasteful. If we do not implement a surgical preemptive strike on Iran now, we force Israel — our only true ally in the Middle East — into the untenable position of doing it. If the strike requires the use of tac nukes we must do it. God rest the souls of the innocent, but we must act before Iran does, because Iran will use any weapon they have to destroy us.

The Reid-Pelosi Health Care Reform legislation will save the flagging Medicare-Medicaid programs, add millions of Americans to the rolls of the insured, and create a level playing field for thousands of young doctors entering the medical profession out of medical school; it will reduce costs for tens of thousands of small business owners who are strapped by the mounting cost of private health care.

I just said that in case the White House is reading.

It wasn’t, however, a complete lie. The new legislation will expand Medicare and Medicaid to cover younger Americans. In fact, the latest incarnation of health care reform will exactly or nearly so, reverse the current health care “crisis.” It will cover most people who do not currently have health insurance, and shift the bill to those who can afford to pay. It will penalize the haves to cover the have-nots. The “haves” being anyone with a job and a roof over their head.

What is the Democrat strategy for the monstrous takeover of the health industry in America? Why are Reid and Pelosi seemingly sending their party to a Tuesday Night Massacre in 2010 by ramming through a program that Americans overwhelmingly oppose?

They are forcing their legislation through because the lion share of health care reform, regardless of which bill goes to Barack Obama for signing into law, will not take place until 2013. Aren’t we clever now?

Many have speculated that Obama really only intends to be a one-term president to build his resume, that he will retire to perhaps run for United Nations General Secretary. But make no mistake, whatever his future goals, BHO intends not only to be elected to a second term, but he and congressional Democrats intend to control the direction of government in this country for centuries to come.

Health Reform legislation is only one piece of a master plan by the Obama administration to seize power in Washington and take America down the one-way superhighway to socialism. They are betting all the marbles on the fact that the electorate will not get onto their scheme until these various Marxist reforms are passed and it is too late to turn back. In a perfect liberal world a one-party government is the optimum end.

They may be right.

Americans have a short attention span and an even shorter memory. Obama’s favorability numbers shifted into the black last week when he announced a 30,000-troop surge in Afghanistan. He is already gearing up for the 2012 campaign cycle and expects to convince the electorate that talk radio, Fox News, and alarmist Teabaggers misled the American people.

Reid and Pelosi’s strong-arm tactic is a gambit that liberal Democrat strategists believe will work, and they are counting on the fact that opposition support will wan as it becomes clear that the sky won’t fall the day health care reform is signed into law.

This week Barack Hussein Obama finally found a king he didn’t need bow to this week in Oslo, and an audience he could offend with only collateral damage to base on the Left. Casualties were minimal. After all, the President didn’t expect Norwegians to fall into lockstep and shout, “Seig Heil,” the way they did when Heinrich Himmler’s troops rolled into town.

In a speech that has the American media positively gushing and conservative pundits laying out kudos, Obama managed to have his cake and eat it too in Oslo. Which is something Norwegians know all about, Norway being the capstone of moral relativism our media so dearly loves. Hey, when snowballs are your idea of Weapons of Mass Destruction …

So what’s all the hubbub about?

Former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton encapsulated Obama’s speech most succinctly as, “pedestrian, turgid, and uninspired.” In a speech loaded with self-importance and International leftist code, Obama managed to make an implacable argument for war while leaving the door open for negotiation with terrorists. You can work on that one; I missed the brilliance.

Charles Krauthammer in his own inimitable style allowed that the speech was Obama’s best on foreign soil. “It went against the grain of that audience of his, which was overdressed, over-titled, underemployed, one-world Scandinavian lefties.” Krauthammer later added that the last 2/3 of Obama’s speech was filled with “old stuff.”

In the first 1/3 of his acceptance speech for a prize that even had Juan Williams scratching his head, Obama did indeed sound, not only presidential, but darned near hawkish; the remainder of the presentation played like a Saturday Night Live skit.

“Where force is necessary, we have a moral and strategic interest in binding ourselves to certain rules of conduct,” the President said to his captive cast of glazed-over Euro-trash. But Obama garnered applause later, when he elaborated. “That is why I prohibited torture. That is why I ordered the prison at Guantanamo Bay closed. … I believe that we must develop alternatives to violence that are tough enough to change behavior – for if we want a lasting peace, then the words of the international community must mean something.”

Call Joan Baez, let’s hold a love-in, now that enhanced interrogation can only be used by our enemy. Better yet, Eric Holder can be the next Nobel laureate.

In summation, what did Barack give us in Oslo to make us believe his sincerity toward winning the war on terror? Well, as the SNL skit goes: “zilch … zero … nada … jack … squat,” absolutely nothing.

In another self-aggrandizing tribute to the wonderfulness of Barack Obama, the President gave us hope only to quickly snatch it back; he worked up backbone, and then let it slip like a male hustler in Times Square. Barack Obama managed to turn, what should have been personal embarrassment for accepting an award he does not deserve, into an embarrassment for America.

Rowrr! Yes, it finally happened: Ann Coulter belatedly clawed Meghan McCain back early this morning on Red Eye. It was a joke but it hit its mark with cat-like precision (based on the reaction of her fellow panelists).

Almost nine months ago to the day, Meghan McCain penned her Daily Beast column entitled “My Beef with Ann Coulter.” She wrote, “I find her [Coulter] offensive, radical, insulting, and confusing all at the same time….I don’t like her demeanor. I have never been a person who was attracted to hate or negativity.” Not holding her fire, McCain added, “Everything about her is extreme: her voice, her interview tactics, and especially the public statements she makes about liberals.”

When Coulter did not immediately go after her, McCain appreciatively remarked, “At this point, I have more respect for Ann Coulter than I do for Laura Ingraham because at least Coulter didn’t come back at me with heartless, substance-less attacks about my weight.” (For a less-than-conservative characterization of Ingraham’s remarks, cf. this ThinkProgress.org link.)

On Red Eye today, Coulter returned as a guest commentator. During a segment on Tiger Wood’s continuing saga, host Greg Gutfeld played a Today clip of Jamie Jungers who claims to have had an eight-month relationship with the golfing great. After viewing footage of the cute chubby blond, Coulter jested, “Wait! Meghan McCain had an affair with Tiger Woods?”

Gutfeld and his sidekick Bill Shultz roared with laughter. Even liberal guest, professor Marc Lamont Hill of Columbia seemed to join in the merriment. Shultz laughed, “I hope I register my disgust in that two-shot, Greg. Ooh!” Gutfeld joked, “How did she have the time between Twittering?”

In the author’s view, Jungers does seem to bear a resemblance to McCain and Red Eye is a politically incorrect free-for-all. Ergo, Coulter may have waited for the perfect time to scratch back at her GOP antagonist without any blowback.