Ice Scream In

I scream, you scream we all scream for the blizzard to stop screwing up our delivered wisdom…

A downtown protest of the climate change talks in Copenhagen became a victim of Wednesday’s snowstorm.

“Not many people showed up because of the blizzard conditions,” said organizer Clea Major, an international studies student at the University of Utah.

It didn’t take long for the six friends to pack up a bullhorn and posters they’d planned to use for their “scream-in,” an outlet for their frustration about the failure of the Copenhagen climate talks earlier this month to curb the pollution blamed for climate change.

One simply has to love it when liberal arts meets the cold (literally), hard reality of the world as it actually is. Which is not as Ms. Major thinks it is.

This is not Ms. Major’s first frosty disappointment (read the whole article). Maybe it will begin to sink in next time.

A Vacuous Weltanschauung

Victor Davis Hanson looks at the Obama worldview (that’s the translation of the word in the post title) and sees why nothing is working for Obama:

In 2007 candidate Obama had some interesting theories about the world abroad — not unlike those voiced in the 1920s by the well-intentioned who formed the League of Nations to end all wars. A Gilbert Murray or H.G. Wells or Alfred Zimmern all had interesting things to say, as did Smuts and House — all interesting and all dead wrong once an Austrian-born corporal fancied himself the architect of a new Reich.

The “reset button” foreign policy postulated that twangy, “smok’ em out” Bush had caused all the bad feelings. As an antidote, a postracial, postnational charmer could assure the world that we were on its side. We are back to 1930 in a blink of an eye.

Remember, in this reset narrative, there are no such bothersome things as irreconcilable differences, antithetical agendas, or reductionism such as thugs like Ahmadinejad, Assad, Chavez, or Putin, who always interpret magnanimity as weakness in their nonstop quest for more influence and power at the expense of the perceived weaker party.

So here we are after all the apologies, all the bowing, all the trashing of Bush, all the Cairo speeches and al Arabiya interviews: Putin brags about a new generation of nuclear weapons, bullying his neighbors and doing nothing to stop Iran; Iran kills its dissidents while we sleep and promises a bomb to come.  Chavez wants one too, and Syria does it best to destroy Lebanese autonomy. And that is just the beginning.

It was not supposed to happen that way. (All those adoring crowds in the streets of London, Cairo, and Nairobi were supposed to translate into their leaders’ infatuation with Obama.)

Tilting at Windmills

Those in the faculty lounge, in the community-organizing hall, or media green room often wax on about how “they” are doing nothing to make us energy independent. In this fantasyland of a con artist like Van Jones, millions of windmills and solar panels will free us from energy costs and cool the planet.

The weltanschauung is screwed up because the cloud cuckoo land world never actually existed outside Obama’s insular little make-believe world prior to gaining the White House. His foreign policy is a joke because the thugs of the world do not respond as he thought they would. And they never will. The jobs are gone because his economic model doesn’t actually work. The deficit is exploding because his theories are ridiculous and counterproductive to real economic growth.

His health care will literally kill you and yours.

I walked into a mall today – a big one. There were so very many empty stores that I was shocked. And let’s face it, I am not all that optimistic these days. Yet the sheer volume of empty space was frightening even to me. All of the retail locations at the entrance – the main one – were vacant. All of them. Five prime retail spaces utterly empty. And I live in an area that has generally been pretty lucky in this recession.

If Congress passes ObamaCare, I’m betting on a full scale depression. This is truly frightening.

New Year’s Eve

The plans my wife and I had for this evening fell through. So we are staying home and just threw dinner into the oven (the screaming ended after a few minutes). My youngest boy is watching a Twilight Zone marathon (the original series). My youngest daughter is hiding out in her basement abode.

All quiet at the Crabitat.

To all my readers, may you have a safe and happy New Year’s Eve. Please be careful if you venture out.

May next year be better than 2009 for you and yours.

How Bad Will It Be?

James Pethokoukis from Reuters is predicting that the Democrats will lose the House in 2010. He cites a number of reasons, including this one:

7. Discontent with Democrats. At the same time, the generic congressional ballot has shifted from a high single-digit Democratic lead to a low single-digit Republican lead as independents veer back to the GOP. What’s more, a recent poll by the liberal Daily Kos blog found just 56 percent of Democrats definitely or probably voting in 2010 vs. 81 percent of Republicans. Note that a new Rasmussen poll has Sen. Ben “60th Vote” Nelson, who won reelection in 2006 with 64 percent of the vote, down 61-30 in a hypothetical 2012 matchup vs. Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman. Dems in both chambers will surely take note of those numbers. Indeed, the prospect of a terrible 2010 environment has already pushed some veteran Democratic legislators in competitive districts into retirement such as John Tanner of Tennessee and Brian Baird of Washington.

I agree with his reasoning on the points he raises. (Please go over and read all the points he makes.) But I’m betting that he is actually overly cheerful about the Democrat’s electoral prospects. Why?

Because Bendover Nelson is so scared of the poll results that he has started campaigning three years before he faces the voters again:

As a fresh poll measured the political cost of Sen. Ben Nelson’s health reform vote, he prepared Tuesday to take his case directly to Nebraskans during Wednesday night’s Holiday Bowl game.

Nelson will air a new TV ad in which he attempts to debunk opposition claims that the Senate legislation represents a government takeover, and he makes the case for health care reform.

“With all the distortions about health care reform, I want you to hear directly from me,” the Democratic senator says in the ad.

Nelson, dressed in an open-necked shirt and sweater, speaks directly into the camera during the 30-second ad.

The message will be launched during the Nebraska-Arizona football game and continue to air statewide for an undisclosed number of days.

I can promise you one thing, he will turn a seething rage against him by Nebraskans into a white-hot fever to get him out of office as soon as possible. Injecting his smarmy, lying face into Nebraskan homes during the holy-of-holies, a Husker game, is going to seriously piss off a lot of people. I know a number of Nebraskans personally. They will be very, very angry about this.

I have no idea if Nebraska has a recall provision. Or a removal tool that the legislature can use. But don’t be real surprised if a push to use or get such a tool begins real soon.

One thing I will predict, Bendover Nelson is gone by the next election at the latest. Nebraskans will not forget or forgive his betrayal. Nor will they buy his explanation. Defiling the Huskers game will be icing on the cake. (I have no idea which consultant thought that running a spot in that game would be a good idea, but I promise, he or she made a horrible mistake).

And other Democrats who think they are safe should pay attention. Bendover is the tip of the iceberg. Democrats have seriously underestimated the fallout from what they have already done this year. Passing the health care “reform” will guarantee a political bloodbath for the Democrats in 2010.

Swine WHO?

The “pandemic” of swine flu killed something like 11,500 people, worldwide. (Well, until they take two years or so to cook the books, then it will be revealed that 78 zillion people actually died in less than a nanosecond). The US CDC estimates that 36,000 Americans die each year from “regular” flu.

A sure sign that all the hype, all the Obama-induced panic, all the money wasted on swine flu vaccines was crap from start to finish?

The head of the UN World Health Organization is trying to drum up more hysteria – but has not bothered to get a swine flu vaccination for herself.

Dr Chan said drug makers and countries promised to donate nearly 190 million vaccine doses to WHO, with the first doses of the donated vaccines to be distributed in Azerbaijan, Mongolia and Afghanistan next month.

However she admitted she had not yet had a vaccine but said she would have it soon.

Yeah, and I’ll trust you soon, too.I’ll believe it is a real crisis when you begin acting like it is. That Chan has not even bothered to get the shot says it all. It is not and never has been a real crisis.

The same hype, hysteria and fraud rules the global warming frenzy. Also a UN sponsored effort.

And yet another one that the Obama administration is fully on board.

Do you really want these people running – or rather ruining – your health care?

So, Which Is It?

Janet Napolitano said on Sunday that the system worked. (On Monday, she tap danced around and said it didn’t.) By Tuesday, Obama is decrying a “systemic failure”.  Get the feeling you have a bunch of rank amateurs in charge of the security of this country?

Making his second public statement on the matter in as many days, Mr. Obama said a preliminary assessment already has made clear that there was a breakdown in the intelligence review system that did not properly identify the suspect as a dangerous extremist who should have been prevented from flying to the United States.

“A systemic failure has occurred and I consider that totally unacceptable,” Mr. Obama told reporters here in Hawaii, where is in the middle of a 10-day holiday vacation. The president said he has ordered government agencies to report back to him on Thursday about what happened and said he would “insist on accountability at every level,” although he did not elaborate.

Did Obama just signal that Napolitano is already a future former White House official? How much damage is the Wizard of O taking from the crotch bomber and Napolitano’s more inane than usual usual statement?

I’d say a lot – and it is self-inflicted.

Do you really want these people running your health care? Do you really want these folks in your doctor’s office, between you and your health care?

They can’t even stop a would-be bomber when the bomber’s own father turned him in.

They can’t even keep their stories straight over two days time.

How’s that hope and change, America?

Obama’s health care will work exactly as well as Napolitano’s super-duper security apparatus and its “success” in stopping the attack over Detroit.

A Dagger Aimed At America

From within. Mark Steyn:

That’s why I believe America’s belated embrace of government health care will be far more expensive and disastrous than the Euro-Canadian models. Whatever one’s philosophical objection to the Canadian health system, it is, broadly, fair: Unless you are a Cabinet minister or a big-time hockey player, you’ll enjoy the same equality of crappiness and universal lack of access that everybody else does.

But, even before it’s up and running, Pelosi-Reid-Obamacare is an impenetrable thicket of contradictory boondoggles, shameless payoffs and arbitrary shakedowns. That’s why Nebraska’s grotesque zombie Sen. Ben Nelson is the perfect poster boy for the new arrangements and not just another so-called Blue Dog Democrat spayed into compliance by a massive cash injection.

There is no reason on earth why Nebraska should be the only state in this union to have every dime of its increased Medicare tab picked up by the 49 others. So either that privilege will be extended to all or to favored others, or its asymmetry will be balanced by other precisely targeted lollipops hither and yon.

Whatever happens, it’s a dagger at the heart of American federalism, just as the bill’s magisterial proclamation that the Independent Medicare Advisory Board can only be abolished by a two-thirds vote of the Senate strikes at one of the most basic principles of a free society – that no parliament can bind its successors.

This monstrosity kills American Liberty. Better start calling, folks. Time is running out. The only way this is going to be stopped is if enough members of Congress fear for their political existence. These “reforms” to health care are anything but.

Don’t stand for this, America.

Democrats Screwing The Middle Class

Jennifer Rubin points out that even the leftward leaning are beginning to wake up to the fact that ObamaCare is a rotten deal:

How could Democrats come up with such a scheme? Well, as Herbert points out, the idea is that those “Cadillac” plans will get slashed and changed, thereby avoiding the excise tax. But alas, “it makes a mockery of President Obama’s repeated pledge that if you like the health coverage you have now, you can keep it.” And if the the “Cadillac” plans become Kia plans after they’ve been cut down to size, what happens to the planned $150B in revenue the excise tax was supposed to generate? It gets fuzzy at that point. Herbert suggests that most of that revenue was supposed to come ”from the income taxes paid by workers who have been given pay raises by employers who will have voluntarily handed over the money they saved by offering their employees less valuable health insurance plans. Can you believe it?” In a word, no.

Herbert is actually quite caustic about it.

A survey of business executives by Mercer, a human resources consulting firm, found that only 16 percent of respondents said they would convert the savings from a reduction in health benefits into higher wages for employees. Yet proponents of the tax are holding steadfast to the belief that nearly all would do so.

That good, old magical thinking. The fact is that the “Cadillac” money will NEVER materialize, making another, substitute tax on the middle class necessary in the near future. So the screwing will be continuous. You’ll lose the coverage you like and your employer will pocket the money they save. You will be an indentured servant to insurance companies – with no hope of ever breaking free.

None of the money projections – costs or revenues – stands up to even cursory scrutiny.  That should scare the living heck out of you, regardless of your political bent.

The War Against The Not-So-Rich

Victor Davis Hanson:

There is class warfare going on in this country — but it’s not against the established rich. It’s against those who are trying to become wealthy.

President Obama has declared that those who make over $200,000 will pay higher income taxes. Caps on payroll taxes are supposed to come off as well for the upper class. Envisioned estate taxes will take 45 percent of individual inheritances valued over $3.5 million. Many states have also hiked their income taxes on the upper brackets.

Again, most of those targeted are not the already rich – a Warren Buffett or Bill Gates – but millions of the wannabe rich. They may have achieved larger-than-average annual incomes, but they’re not the multimillionaire speculators on Wall Street who nearly wrecked the American economy in search of huge bonuses and payoffs. Most are instead professionals and small-business owners who take enormous risks in hopes of being well-off and passing their wealth on to their children.

Oddly, much of the populist rhetoric about the need to gouge the newly affluent is voiced by the entrenched wealthy, who don’t have to care how high taxes go, given their own vast fortunes.

Not really so odd, actually. Having gamed the system and become obscenely wealthy, they are now trying to pull the ladder up behind them. Frankly, I’m fairly disturbed by Warren Buffet’s position on a lot of this – but then, if you consider that he appears to be trying to limit competition for himself by doing so, it makes more sense.

But, think hard before you join in on the class warfare. As Hanson points out, the real targets of this economic jihad are mostly small business owners – who normally create the majority of jobs in this country. In this environment, they would be crazy to continue to do so.

I was talking to a Realtor today – a very good one who has been very successful for a lot of years. He said that the bottom has not been reached yet, especially in commercial properties. He said businesses are failing at a rate he has never seen before. And their former buildings are a glut on the market.

The end of this mess is not yet in sight.

Major League Offense

Slime:

The actor Charlie Sheen, 44, above in a police photo, has been ordered to return to court in Aspen, Colo., on Feb. 8, after his arrest there on Christmas morning at a house where he was staying with his wife, Brooke Mueller Sheen, 32, The Associated Press reported. The police responded to a 911 call, according to an Aspen police spokeswoman, Stephanie Dasaro, and Mr. Sheen, the star of the CBS comedy “Two and a Half Men” was taken to the Pitkin County jail and booked for second-degree assault, menacing and criminal mischief.

Menacing involves the use of a gun. This is not Sheen’s first alleged assault on a woman.

“The System Worked”

Wow.

Apparently, this will be the same standard applied to ObamaCare. Think about that, kids.

Christmas Wishes

And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed. (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.

And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, (because he was of the house and lineage of David,) to be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them; and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,Glory to God in the highest,and on earth peace, good will toward men.

And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. And they came with haste, and found Mary and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child.

And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.

The Christmas according to Luke.

On this Christmas Eve, may all my readers be safe, happy and warm. For those of you who are in the path of the Christmas blizzard, please do not travel unless you absolutely have to. Better to delay gatherings than to have a considerably less festive gathering later. The entire midsection of the country is already – or will soon be – in severe weather. Please stay safe.

Merry Christmas, everyone.

The Ghost Of Christmas Future

Arrogance, Corruption And Stupidity

United States Senator – and physician – Tom Coburn:

This vote is indeed historic. This Congress will be remembered for its arrogance, corruption and stupidity. In the year of 2009, a Congress ignored the coming economic storm and impending bankruptcy of our entitlement programs and embarked on an ideological crusade to bring our nation as close to single-payer, government-run health care as possible. If this bill becomes law, future generations will rue this day and I will do everything in my power to work toward its repeal. This bill will ration care, cut Medicare, increase premiums, fund abortion and bury our children in debt.

This process was not compromise. This process was corruption. This bill passed because votes were bought and sold using the issue of abortion as a bargaining chip. The abortion provision alone makes this bill the most arrogant piece of legislation I have seen in Congress. Only the most condescending politician can believe it is appropriate to force Americans to pay for other people’s abortions and to coerce medical professional to take the lives of unborn children.

Everything about this health care “reform” is a lie. Top to bottom, not one bit of it is true. It does not – and cannot, as it is structured – control costs. It will not bring down the cost of insurance, instead it will cause those costs to increase. It will not insure every American. It will not increase access to care, rather it will bring rationing. It is not deficit neutral, taxes will rise sharply, bureaucrats will control you and yours. You will be indentured to insurance companies, forced to pay them for what they will be allowed to “give” you in benefits.

There is literally nothing in this bill worth having for the people of the United States.

Turn every member of Congress who votes for this out of office. Or try hard to do so. Or your children will be less free than you have been.

I’ll Be Froze For Christmas

Britain:

The big freeze is likely to keep many thousands of families apart at Christmas.

Drivers have been warned not to go out on treacherous roads, flights have been cancelled and train services badly disrupted by the cold.

The AA and police have urged families to postpone celebrations until the roads are safer.

United States:

A strengthening storm producing snow, ice, rain and locally severe thunderstorms over the Plains will transform into a severe blizzard spanning Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, zapping power, closing roads and placing some people’s lives in peril.

Snow and ice are already coating roads, sidewalks, trees and power lines from around Lake Michigan to the the High Plains.

Wind-whipped and blowing snow will then begin to pound Nebraska, Kansas and northeastern Oklahoma on Christmas Eve.

Germany:

A seven-year-old boy was stopped by police in northern Germany while trying to plough snow with a front loader he borrowed from his parents’ business, authorities said.

Officers on patrol found the boy atop the 3.5-metre-tall (11.5-foot-tall) excavator after he had cleared the street in the town of Reinfeld and was driving back to the parking lot.

Serbia:

Dozens of children in a southern Serbia town set up barricades with their sleighs to stop workers from putting salt on the streets and melting the snow, the Beta news agency reported on Tuesday.

Supported by their parents, the kids first got into a verbal altercation with workers in the town of Kursumlija, but then things heated up and they threw firecrackers at their equipment.

In Copenhagen, the warmists, including the president of the United States, tried to convince the world that global warming was occurring. Either your eyes or the warmists are wrong.

Which do you trust?