Ultimate Authoritarianism

I've been thinking about this for a while now. The recent idiotic statement of John Edwards just finally brought it to a head for me. Here's the statement:

"It requires that everybody be covered. It requires that everybody get preventive care," he told a crowd sitting in lawn chairs in front of the Cedar County Courthouse. "If you are going to be in the system, you can't choose not to go to the doctor for 20 years. You have to go in and be checked and make sure that you are OK."

He noted, for example, that women would be required to have regular mammograms in an effort to find and treat "the first trace of problem." Edwards and his wife, Elizabeth, announced earlier this year that her breast cancer had returned and spread.

Edwards said his mandatory health care plan would cover preventive, chronic and long-term health care. The plan would include mental health care as well as dental and vision coverage for all Americans.

Got that? Mental health checkups will be mandatory. Preventative care – mandatory. You would have no – zero – right to decline to see a doctor. One presumes that Edwards would also make damn sure there are penalties for failing to do your duty to see a doctor when you are ordered to.

Say goodbye to all of your rights. If you welcome socialized health care, the Edwards version will take away all of your right to even refuse to take his "free" coverage. Nothing is ever free if the government is involved. In this case it will cost you your basic rights. But carry on. We're already very, very far down the road into an authoritarian state. Not the one the left screeches endlessly about, either. This is one where the left decides what is good for you. They have already targeted and marginalized people who smoke. For your own good. They are now targeting overweight people. For your own good. They are putting in place biofuel programs that will drive the price of food up relentlessly. For your own good. They want to kneecap the American economy. For your own good.

And it is not looking a lot like America in America any longer. Because "for your own good" is really all about the authoritarianism that the left screeches about all the time. But they are imposing it – systematically. Step-by-step they are taking away your rights, your choices.

Most people blogging this are on the rightish side of the issue. Ann Althouse, Right Wing Nut House, Clayton Cramer, Concurring Opinions, PoliBlog, alicublog, Hot Air, Neptunus Lex, Betsy's Page, Six Meat Buffet, Outside The Beltway, Redstate, Charlie Foxtrot, protein wisdom, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, QandO. All worth reading.

Tryouts For Right Tackle

The Chincoteague, Virginia High School football team apparently wasn't aware that it was holding tryouts for the position of right tackle. But at least one candidate tried out anyway. And best of all, he doesn't need any equipment. He's already got antlers.

CHINCOTEAGUE — Cameron Savage was riding his mo-ped back to work after lunch during a sweltering August afternoon when he noticed a large deer standing in the middle of Maddox Boulevard — one of the town's busiest thoroughfares.

He slowly inched the mo-ped forward, hoping to perhaps provoke the deer — he thought it to be a six-point buck — into moving out of the road.

Instead, it charged him, struck him head-on, damaged the front of his mo-ped and badly scraped his arms.

"It's just crazy," said Savage of the incident. "Deer are everywhere, even on Chincoteague."

Savage, 15, said his injuries were minor, with a bit of "road rash" on his arms and knees. Even so, his plans of playing on Chincoteague High School's football team this season have been temporarily put on hold until the results from more medical tests.

Most people visiting Chincoteague probably don't consider an overpopulation of deer to be a serious issue. However, the Town Office receives numerous complaints about deer throughout the year.

The island (and town of the same name), best known for its annual "pony penning" and auction, is getting help from the USDA in coping with their deer overpopulation. Which appears to be rather severe. (The ponies swim over from nearby Assateague Island – as do the deer.)

The island (and town of the same name), best known for its annual "pony penning" and auction, is getting help from the USDA in coping with their deer overpopulation. Which appears to be rather severe. (The ponies swim over from nearby Assateague Island – as do the deer.)

Going Up The Country

I'm going, I'm going where the water tastes like wine.
I'm going where the water tastes like wine.
We can jump in the water, stay drunk all the time
I'm gonna leave this city, got to get away.
I'm gonna leave this city, got to get away.
All this fussing and fighting, man, you know I just can't stay.
(Alan Wilson (Canned Heat), Going Up The Country)

Ah but what if you bring the fussing and the fighting with you when you move up the country? One thing that continues to amaze me is the way people move into areas, then protest about something that was already there before they moved in. This happens near airports all the time, with new homeowners protesting the noise, or (as I have personally experienced) someone moving next door to a power plant, then complaining about the noise and the dust. It always is happening more and more in the country. People move into farming areas and are shocked, shocked I say, that farms can sometimes be noisy or smelly. Welcome to Nicholasville, Kentucky where the neighbors are upset with a farmer who is trying to protect his corn crop.

NICHOLASVILLE, Ky. – A group of residents is suing a farmer, claiming the propane cannon he uses to scare away birds from his sweet corn is too loud.

Some of produce farmer Dennis Polley's neighbors say the propane blasts — sometimes as loud as 120 decibels — have prevented them from enjoying their property.

Phil Palmgreen, whose property is roughly 500 yards away from Polley's, said he could feel the impact of the blasts in his chest.

"It's been so bad all summer we've never even had a cookout on our deck because it was going to go off every couple of minutes," Palmgreen said.

Polley acknowledged the device is loud, but "it's got to be loud to work," he said. "To get the birds' attention, it's got to shock them a little bit."

Just another outbreak of NIMBY-ism. The county has a noise ordinance, but that law specifically excludes agricultural operations. I'd be more sympathetic to the neighbors if Polley were firing ears of corn out of the cannon, but so far he appears to have resisted the temptation to shell the neighbors.

Palestinians Shell Infants, Claim Victimhood

In the convoluted world of Palestinian-speak any response by Israel, no matter how restrained, to any provocation, no matter how foul, is automatically Israel's fault. Hence today, when the Palestinians fire a rocket that hits right next to a crowded daycare center with 15 infants inside, Hamas is screeching that they are the victims. In advance of any retaliation, of course. Call it preemptive victimhood.

SDEROT, Israel – A Palestinian rocket landed in a courtyard next to a crowded day care center on Monday, sending panicked mothers scrambling to take their screaming toddlers to safety and bringing warnings of retribution from Israeli leaders.

None of the 15 children at the center was hurt. But frantic parents in Sderot — already furious over the government's failure to protect them and their children from the near-daily rocket fire — pulled their children out of schools on the second day of the academic year. It was unclear when studies would resume.

The army said seven rockets were fired Monday morning at Sderot, a frequently targeted city just a mile from the Gaza Strip. Islamic Jihad, a radical Palestinian militant group that has fired hundreds of rockets into Israel in recent years, claimed responsibility.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Israel would show no restraint in its efforts to stem the attacks from Gaza.

"We will not limit ourselves" he told a news conference in Jerusalem, adding that Israel would "do everything to provide better security for the residents (of Sderot)."

The military carries out almost daily ground and air strikes aimed at rocket-launching squads in northern Gaza, but the crude rockets continue to baffle the high-tech military.

Hamas spokesman Taher Nunu called for the international community to prevent Israeli reprisals.

"We are taking this new threat by Olmert seriously," he said. "We are warning of coming massacres against the people in Gaza."

They shell children but it's Israel's fault if they strike back. Yeesh. This time, however, even the European Union is not staying silent. Shelling babies is a war crime even by their "blame Israel first" standards:

Visiting EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana condemned the attacks on Sderot, adding that on a previous trip to Israel he had been in the town as rockets fell.

"I'd like to show my solidarity with the people of Sderot," he said at a news conference in Jerusalem with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni.

"I know what it means, and to see today again the same experience for the people, in particular at a time when kids are in school, I think it's something that I have to condemn," he said.

The Daily Mail describes the scene at the day care center:

Soldiers scrambled to evacuate babies from a day care center in rocket-scarred Sderot today after a projectile fired by Palestinian militants thudded into the courtyard.

None of the 15 babies at the center was hurt. But frantic parents across the city – already furious over the government's failure to protect them and their children from the near-daily rocket fire – pulled their children out of schools on the second day of the academic year.

The army said six rockets were fired at the southern Israeli city, which lies just a few kilometres from the Gaza Strip, and at least one landed. The Islamic Jihad militant group claimed responsibility for firing three.

Israel has been unbelievably restrained in responding to this non-stop aggression by the Palestinians. At some point patience and restraint will vanish.

(T)Hugo Seizes Hilton

The government of (T)Hugo Chavez has taken over the Caracas Hilton hotel and is claiming a great victory for socialism. They now promise that all the residents of the "worker's paradise" will have access to the hotel.

If they can afford the unchanged rates.

It has been a landmark for the last 38 years, a point of navigation for taxi drivers and tourists alike, but now the Hilton Hotel in Caracas has been taken over by the state to become a "socialist tourism business".

"We want to put this hotel at the service of the people," said Eustacio Aguilera, the president of the Simon Bolivar Centre, the government cultural institution that owns the hotel. "Now everyone will have access to a great hotel and be able to enjoy it."

How the people will be able to afford a stay at the rechristened Hotel Alba Caracas is another question, as room prices will remain unchanged at £70 for the most simple rooms in a country where the average person lives on about £100 a month.

Meet the new boss. Chavez is nothing but a shakedown artist.

Preview

A preview of things to come is unfolding in California right now. A heat wave is causing record energy usage, but the California infrastructure for power transmission is failing under the loads.

Temperatures as high as 108 were expected in the Hollywood Hills, with the mercury likely to pass 110 in the region's desert areas, according to the National Weather Service. At 7 a.m., the weather service said, it was already 77 in downtown Los Angeles, where thermometers peaked at 100 on Sunday.

About 3,500 customers in scattered parts of Los Angeles still had no electricity early Monday, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power spokeswoman MaryAnne Piersen said.

"Probably more than 90 percent of them are due to stress on the system due to the heat," she said. "Different pieces of equipment get fatigued and blow out, so they have to be replaced."

Lightning striking power system equipment during scattered desert thunderstorms added to the strain on the system.

And the ban on coal-fired generation isn't helping matters.

In December, California banned all import of of electricity from coal, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

In September, California are worried about a shortage of electricity in some areas, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

You don’t think the two could be related?

Nyah. Just a coincidence. California, population 36 million, is trying to save the Earth by meeting emissions standards that are tougher than anywhere else in the United States.

Meanwhile, China, population 1,300 million, is not even close to U.S. emissions standards.

A few years back California had massive power problems that were directly related to their artificially low, government-imposed electric rates. Now they are experiencing other problems having to do with overloaded infrastructure, aging equipment and a self-imposed ban on coal-fired electricity. My guess is that if they have a major generating plant trip off line right about now that they will be in real trouble, real fast. Politicians and amateur armchair experts imposing feel-good artificial restrictions do not lead to a good system. Ever.

It’s Gonna Be A Long Summit

The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum hasn't even kicked off in Sydney, Australia yet. But the moonbattery is out in full force already.  

SYDNEY (AFP) – Climate change activists staged a break-in at an Australian power station Monday as a pattern of guerrilla-style raids emerged ahead of a summit of Asia-Pacific leaders in Sydney.

The protest came as already draconian security measures were boosted a day ahead of the arrival in Sydney of US President George W. Bush, who was expected to be greeted with a flurry of angry protests.

Four environmental activists chained themselves to a coal-carrying conveyor belt at the Loy Yang power station in the southeastern state of Victoria, just a day after a coal ship was targeted in a port near Sydney.

The power station, which provides nearly a third of Victoria's electricity, reduced output for five hours before three men and a woman were cut free by police and arrested, a spokesman said.

A spokeswoman for the activists, Michaela Stubbs, said several more protests were planned against the fossil fuel industry to highlight the need to reduce emissions of the greenhouse gases blamed for global warming.

The demonstrations were designed to send a message to the 21 leaders of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum meeting in Sydney this week, she told national radio.

"We need to see real action now. Their non-committal, aspirational targets are completely inadequate to stop dangerous climate change," she said.

Global warming is high on the summit agenda, but host Prime Minister John Howard has revealed no attempt will be made to set binding targets for the reduction of greenhouse gases.

As power generation stations go, Loy Yang is one of the ones that have the least amount of energy overhead. Loy Yang is a "minehead" power plant, so transportation of the coal over long distances is not necessary, thereby eliminating the carbon emissions of transport. (Chaining yourself to a conveyor is really stupid. Had they not been noticed and the conveyor started up, we'd be reading a different story today.)

The Doctor And The General

And they are the same person. Phillip O'Connor reminds us that General David Petraeus is also Doctor Petraeus with a PhD in Political Science from Northwestern. O'Connor is himself currently in Iraq and is witnessing, first hand the real-world application of the theories that General Petraeus has developed in his counterinsurgency handbook.

Author of the "Army and Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Field Manual," Petraeus has literally written the book on 21st Century real-world application of a well-established political science theory on defanging armed insurgencies. David Kilcullen, the Australian adviser to Petraeus, has said that counterinsurgency is 100 percent military, 100 percent political, 100 percent economic and 100 percent social.

Petraeus, acting hand in glove with Ryan Crocker, the new U.S. ambassador to Iraq, is moving on all four fronts. Progress in these four areas will not be even or simultaneous. To the contrary, sequencing is crucial. Establishment of security, area by area, must be followed by such things as improved services, job creation assistance and local governance and policing.

The objective in counterinsurgency is not to destroy the enemy directly but to deprive him of the ability to intimidate the population and thereby displace the legitimate government.

Leadership "pheremones" seem to be permeating the air in the embassy and the Green Zone. One wakes up every morning knowing that whatever one's job is that day, it's contributing to a large counterinsurgency mosaic. Now I have an idea what it must have been like to play for the Green Bay Packers when Vince Lombardi was running the show. You are confident that there is a game plan and you understand how you fit in.

All but the farthest of the left elements have abandoned the attempts to smear Petraeus in advance of his testimony to Congress. There still are a few, mind you, but it has dialed back somewhat after some Democrats began to recognize – and admit – that real progress was being made in Iraq. It is the strategy of General Petraeus built from the theories of Doctor Petraeus that are making that difference. O'Connor's article shows why the left's smear strategy was always a bad idea.

On Duty In Fallujah

Ralph Peters spoke with several Marines from the 1st Platoon, Fox Company, 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marines in Fallujah, Iraq recently. Today he writes about them and how they feel about their mission.

You'd expect complaints. I didn't hear one. And talking to three Jersey boys, I was surprised to hear just how positive they felt about the mission.

"I'd do it again in a heartbeat," Lance Cpl. Justin Blitzstein of West Milford told me. Self-assured and ready for anything, he added, "Anybody who doesn't think we should be here should see the difference we've made in the way these people live. And everybody here's a volunteer. We want to be here."

Lance Cpl. Jason Hetherington of Cape May County leapt in, "The progress from us being here [in the police precinct] less than six months is unbelievable. People who don't think we're making a difference should just see what we do."

A thoughtful man, Hetherington paused to choose his next words. "We were surprised that it wasn't a combat situation in Fallujah anymore. It's rewarding to see the kids out in the streets and the shops open."

Blitzstein nodded. "We were amazed at how easy it was when we moved in. We were the first Marines thrown into the meat grinder, right in the middle of Fallujah, but it worked out. It was good planning on somebody's part."

How do they cope with the tough living conditions and cramped quarters? The Marines built themselves a workout room, and at night, they run up and down the stairs. (It's still hot after dark, but not as deadly.) And the mission's demands keep them focused.

"The more work, the better," Blitzstein said. "It makes the time go faster. Better six busy months than one month doing nothing."

Peters says he could not get any complaints at all from these guys, even trying to ask leading questions. (And he also says that there were no officers or NCOs around making sure the Marines stayed on message.) Here in the states today is Labor Day. We should remember those who are laboring for this country in Iraq, too. They are making a difference.