Obama: Master of Unintended Consequences
When I was at the Scott Brown victory bash with Stacy and Peter, Ace (also in Nevada to grab some quickies) and the rest, I sat next to The Telegraph's US politics reporter. In the course of our discussion, I mentioned that one of the things that was different was that a lot of conservatives were out of work, and therefore had oodles of time, like university students or paid progressive activists, to do political organizing and campaigning. Well, today the NYT gets around to the story:
When Tom Grimes lost his job as a financial consultant 15 months ago, he called his congressman, a Democrat, for help getting government health care.
Then he found a new full-time occupation: Tea Party activist.
In the last year, he has organized a local group and a statewide coalition, and even started a “bus czar” Web site to marshal protesters to Washington on short notice. This month, he mobilized 200 other Tea Party activists to go to the local office of the same congressman to protest what he sees as the government’s takeover of health care.
It's hypocrisy, you see, to want to utilize any of the resources that you've paid into all your working lifetime by fiat, because that money could be going to Obama-loyal slackers who support (in the sense of voting for) expanded social welfare programs (or laid-off NYT staff). I'm guessing that the government health plan he asked his representative to help him get enrolled in might have been COBRA, but I can't tell, because the NYT writer prefers to be vague about this, in order to intimate but not to specify hypocrisy.
Of course, Progressives never bother their elected representatives for anything at all, if they're Republicans, so I suppose I'm being unfair.
The MSM had the same reaction to Republican earmarks after the Stimulus Bill: how could these people now ask for money for their districts after voting against the bill? Let's say that you and some friends pool your money on vacation, and they decide that they'd like to go to a fancy eatery. You'd rather not pay that much for dinner, but you feel compelled to come along. They tell you that you're not invited, because you expressed opposition to the idea, but they're going to spend your money on the outing, too. Thats pretty much what these cries of hypocrisy boil down to.
Obama has made AmeriCorps his own ideological jobs bank. He wanted to give ACORN a place in the Census, but they blew it. He's now got his Ready Reserve, also paid for out of Federal coffers, and just as likely to be an ideological wing of progressivism. Apparently, they're to do some of the things that The Salvation Army presently does, but doubtless they will be unionized, and doubtless they will do these things less well and at much greater cost. Only a liberal could not see the rank, actual hypocrisy involved. Now, what happens if by some strange turn of fortune an American Nationalist Party somehow comes into power? You are some truly dumb motherfuckers.
Jeebus. William Jacobson has some other mind-numbing unintended consequences (and thanks for blog of the day designation, and all the views I get from your place).
Unclothed Mid-Day Repast
Jeff:
It is an Orwellian world in which we live when fucking novelists want to distance themselves from those who criticize the government. Were Kiteley’s disgust over the comic purely aesthetic, I could at least entertain his point. But that isn’t the case: instead, Kiteley objects to the content, and sees Darleen’s cartoon as the online equivalent of shouting fire in a crowded movie theater.
UPDATE: Hahaha, it's trending at Memeorandum. Well played, Kiteley. You twisp.
Unfortunately, although the court’s ruling frees SpeechNow.org to raise money and speak, the court upheld other burdensome requirements identical to those struck down in Citizens United. Gall said, “Laws that are unconstitutionally burdensome for General Motors and the AFL-CIO have to be unconstitutional when applied to a volunteer group like SpeechNow.org. The court’s ruling that SpeechNow.org must comply with political committee regulations is just flat wrong.”
Also related. (via FIRE)
In case Dr. Ric drops by, here's my latest Seuss parody.
Joan Walsh Is on a Tear . . . of Lies
Just a few days ago, I noted that Ms. Walsh had a little fit of demagoguery over Stupak and the nuns. Today's column carries on the same technique of taking as givens (for purposes of "informing" her audience) assertions that simply aren't true, then castigating others for moral equivalency.
The opening gambit is to compare Eric Cantor's assertion that his office was shot at with that of Ashley Todd, a McCain campaign worker who claimed to have been beaten up by political opponents, and whose story was later discovered---Tawana Brawley-like---to have been manufactured. Cantor's office storefront in Richmond, according to police, was hit by a stray bullet, but there is no evidence to suggest that someone was aiming for it. Cantor had announced the incident earlier in response to demagoguing by congressional Democrats regarding Tea Party (or as they like to say, Tea Bagger) violence, with the MSM quickly following their cue, as you can see here.
Let's for the moment put aside comparisons, such as those regarding noose incidents, some examples of which can be found here, here, or here, though I could reach back and find many others. Let's also put aside the privacy violations that were so loudly decried by opponents of Bush, but which are magnified a thousand fold under ObamaCare and the relentless drive towards totalitarianism, and the question whether Ms. Walsh has so much as tut-tutted any violence to persons or property at peace or anti-globo rallies. In fact, I'm feeling so generous that I'm not even going to bother to find out what, if anything, she said about Kenneth Gladney's beatdown by Purple Shirts of color spewing racist epithets.
Instead, let's stick to what Ms. Walsh asserts. Ashley Todd was an ass, and I hope that she was charged with filing a false police report at the very least. That said:
But for a few days, the right wing insisted Todd's attacker was the Democratic equivalent of the menacing crowds at Sarah Palin rallies shouting "Kill him!" and "Terrorist!" about Obama.
It's completely untrue, based on an assertion by one journalist who is contradicted by the numerous Secret Service agents sprinkled throughout the crowd. Nevertheless, it is hauled out as a given thing by Ms. Walsh.
We needn't really go that far back, though. The claim that Emanuel Cleaver was spat on the other day turns not to be true, either. A vociferous man who was not even hollering at Cleaver himself, did not prevent his spittle from impacting Cleaver as he went by. It was claimed that a rock was hurled through anti-abortion Democrat Driehaus's office window, when that office is on the thirtieth floor of a Cincinnati building. The Carnahan coffin incident didn't turn out as advertised. Then there's the matter of Condomquiddick. And if anyone has documented proof of the n-word being hurled, as claimed by Andre Carson, against the CBC the other day, Andrew Breitbart will make you $10k richer. Surely, given the numbers of recording devices, there must exist a trace of this awful slur.
Walsh does reference the story of a maniac rear-ending the car of a man with an Obama sticker on the bumper, and that person ought to be put away for awhile. Does she doubt that I could cite numerous instances of violence or threats of violence against Republicans by Obama supporters? She need look no further than the mockery that was made of American election law by virtue of Holder's bizarre decision to quash a judgment against members of the New Black Panthers in Philadelphia. Some gay supporters of Hillary in Chicago have been harassed by Obamaphiles so much that they've responded with a blog. Does she remember the uproar about Bill Sparkman, supposedly murdered by yokels as a threat to Census workers everywhere? Has she denounced actual incitements to violence on the airwaves?
Ms. Walsh's denunciations aren't worth an Obama EO, when she resorts to lying to make her case. I'm sorry, but that is an immediate bar to credibility here, just as it is in the case of AGW. Straighten up, Joanie Baloney, because our Tea Party anger stems from the insulting lies that the administration and their Congress keep telling us, and that you and most of the MSM seem only too willing to abet.
(Idea of Scott Baker at Breitbart.tv)
The House voted to censure Joe Wilson when he shouted "You lie!" after Obama claimed that illegal immigrants wouldn't be covered by his legislation. They then had to spend the night making their counter-claims true. And we will see, won't we, Joan? And I'm sure you'll be the first person to point out that Obama will have lied, even if he grants amnesty to those illegals, and to demand an apology on his behalf, because you are a paragon of journalistic virtue.
UPDATE: Many thanks to Ed Morrissey at Hot Air for linking me up.
Enoch_Root – Saturday’s Easily Offended Guy
1) people who don't use their turn signals, keeping me pinned down from turning left as they approach from the left, only to turn onto the street I am waiting on for them to pass by
2) people who walk in front of me in the grocery while I am studying the shelves of food... and don't say, "excuse me."
3) gas station attendants who chat on the telephone while I am trying to buy something from them
4) my daughters' friends who call after 9pm - sometimes as late as 11pm
5) people who drop off their kids for us to babysit them without calling ahead. Not that 5 of our own are quite enough, but still.
6) people who jaywalk sloooooowly, as if purposefully/willfully/passive-aggressively, forcing entire lanes of traffic to stop - what gives?
7) Loud People
8 ) People who swear in public within earshot of my kids
9) busybodies who don't own mirrors
10) me - when I am feeling overly sensitive for noticing these things
???
I Turn 50 on Sunday
And feel very blessed to have such good friends, internet and otherwise, family (Mom and Dad still alive, kids healthy), marriage good, health, check. If you'd like to get me a gift, buy my book, or comment. Because (not to put too fine a point on it) I'm fuckin' awesome.
But here's the thing I'd like most for you to do. You've always meant to pay someone a compliment, but you've been too abashed. Please make a point of doing so, then let me know what happens. Unless you get slapped, in which case it's Treacher's fault.
When masks slip, part…
Oh hell. we'd all better just get used to it; because the masks have seemingly come off since the passage of Obama's "historic, landmark" healthcare legislation. Do you recall how during the debate the mere allusion that Obamacare was essentially national medical care in the finest Euro-socialist tradition engendered the howling, screaming, crying and gnashing of teeth by any of it's supporters; and the subsequent labeling of the person making that observation as being among the RACIST!, hating, hicktard rubes, that, at once, didn't understand what was in their own economic interest as well as, you know, clearly wanting sick children to die?
Well, now that legislation has become "the law of the land", and there is no longer any need for such misdirection; at least as far as the Chairman of the Senate Finanace committee Max Baucus is concerned. Darleen at Protein Wisdom has the text of his breathtaking, but not surprising, remarks:
In an unusual speech on the Senate floor moments ago, Max Baucus declares that the “healthcare bill” to be “an income shift, it is a shift, a leveling to help lower income middle income Americans.” Baucus continued, “[t]oo often, much of late, the last couple three years the mal-distribution of income in America is gone up way too much, the wealthy are getting way, way too wealthy, and the middle income class is left behind. Wages have not kept up with increased income of the highest income in America. This legislation will have the effect of addressing that mal-distribution of income in America.”
[emphasis Darleen at PW]
So in Baucus' own words, the bill was about addressing the "maldistribution" of wealth in our society; gee, and here all of us rubes thought it was about healthcare. But I guess that's what we get for listening to Palin and the RETHUGS! Thanks for clearing that up Max! But while you're clearing things up, maybe you and Boss Obama will be so kind as to tell us just how many people are allowed to be wealthy in our society, and are non Obamites allowed to be rich? Or, is it only the Democrat Apparatchicks like yourself...
This is no real surprise though, at least for anyone who actually listened to the blather of the candidates during the primaries, and general, campaign. In addition to Obama's slip while speaking to Wurzelbacher, there was the very public allusion to penalizing the successful during the debate with Hillary in Philadelphia. Asked pointedly by ABC's Charles Gibson why then Candidate Obama so strongly supported raising capital gains taxes, when there is a large body of evidence correlating increasing rates with falling treasury revenues, the Presidential contender esentially answered, "because of the fairness!". And went on to elucidate, if that's the proper word to describe his characteristic "Wizard of Uhhhhhs" performances when he is sans teleprompter, that regardless of the effects on treasury revenues that it was time for the wealthier Americans to pay more of their income in taxes. Indeed this has been a strong meme among the Democrats since Al Gore lost in 2000; because as we all know, America is always socially fair and enjoying booming economic prosperity when Democrats are in the White House; and especially so when they control 1600 Pennsylvania avenue as well as both houses of Congress.
The Obamacare vote in the House last Sunday night was a shameful perversion of the very nature of "the people's house". Instead of acting as conduits for the exercise of the people's will, the Democrats overwhelmingly voted against it; indeed "our betters" were deciding what was good for us RAAAAAAAACIST!, hicktard plebes who had been duped into opposing the measure. And for those who blanched at both the arrogation of power by the House Democrats as well as the rising spectre of socialism that this bill really represents? Well good ol' Reverend Al was happy to remind us that, if this is indeed socialism, the majority of Americans voted for this last year anyway when they elected the wO!n.
But nothing could be further from the truth, Reverand Al. Obama went out of his way to masqerade as a centrist during the 2008 campaign, but has revealed himself to be the most socialistic leader this country has ever had-bar none. And while some of you may posit FDR as a strong contender for that crown, I'll remind you that despite taking advantage of the Great Depression, you know, not letting that good crisis go to waste and all, in order to place dramatic wage and price controls, hamstring business, and institute social security, he didn't go as far as the Obamacrats have. Obama is a compulsive liar who is bent on enacting his agenda by any means necessary-regardless of the effects on the American people. He and the other Marxist Democrats are willing to pull out all the stops in order to institute an agenda that they are convinced will bribe enough of the electorate to cement socialist Democrat majorities in perpetuity.
See more details at Hot Air and Ace's
(H/T AllahP at Hot Air)
These Are Dangerous Times
NBC really knows its target audience. They aim to please. If you have trouble viewing, try reloading.
Dick Cheney and Palin coming,
Rush Limbaugh on radio.
Last night CNN was cov'ring,
Condom in mail, oh no!
Gotta get down to it
Wingnuts are chucking their rocks
(Thirty floors up? What a throw!)
What if you knew her
And found her faint on the couch?
How can you run when you know?
Speaking of dangerous times, it appears that images of men in swimsuits may be a "gateway" to porn addiction for otherwise diligent SEC employees.
Evelyn Waugh on Wills on Chesterton
At the NRO (from 1961):
He was a lovable and much loved man abounding in charity and humility. Humility is not a virtue propitious to the artist. It is often pride, emulation, avarice, malice — all the odious qualities — which drive a man to complete, elaborate, refine, destroy, renew, his work until he has made something that gratifies his pride and envy and greed. And in doing so he enriches the world more than the generous and good, though he may lose his own soul in the process. That is the paradox of artistic achievement.
It was a happy chance that Chesterton lived before the era of television. His gifts, his amiability, his very simple eccentricities would have tempted him to become one of the great performers on that damning machine.* He lived on the edge of the chasm. Men still had to express themselves in writing until Chesterton was too well habituated to literature to learn new tricks. Living today his words would be lost, his prestige prodigious and his renown brief.
Alas, in the interim Wills has become very lazy.
In other news, the flourishing genre of Magical Hatism, which, though differently derived etymologically, is indeed related to High Asshatism.
Do go tell Jerry what you think of the new logo, too.
* Waugh makes me reflect how fortunate I am to be too handsome for television.
Pussy Per Se: Kelo Applies to Your Work
All your pussy are belong to us!
I can strip at will for meatpacking plants, funeral homes and car washes. I just can’t go near strip clubs. Freelance writers may write for strip clubs and bowling alleys, but not for publications. The general rule: If a client is a perfect fit for your services, you can’t work for him. The law is enforced directly against employers for the alleged benefit of the workers. But what if the workers prefer to remain non-employees? The AGO said that the law has no concern for the workers’ wishes. So much for the legislature’s and the AGO’s claim that their primary concern is our welfare.
Jerrold Levinsky, a lecturer in the department of legal studies at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, says the entire country is going in the direction of Massachusetts, stripping IC’s of their independence: “The courts and legislatures are moving more toward employment status.”
The AGO’s second stated motive is to collect more tax revenue for the commonwealth. Robert Shea says the AGO wants workers to be “employed by someone.” That is, someone who will withhold taxes. IC’s do pay taxes, usually quarterly, but evidently the state wants its cut faster. Shea says the law has had unintended consequences. The legislature was going after the construction industry, but it caught all sorts of innocent people in its wide net, like dolphins mixed in with the Albacore. He offered a ray of hope, saying the AGO “doesn’t have the resources to enforce the law industry by industry.” Thus far, the AGO has gone after food delivery services, drywall companies and painting companies, among others.
When the King Arthur’s verdict was announced, the Boston Globe self righteously applauded the decision, chiding the club for not paying wages, and wrote that our state’s employment laws are “among the best and toughest.” They may have to rewrite the editorial. Cochran, one of the winning lawyers in the King Arthur’s case, criticized the Globe for using so many freelance writers as a way of avoiding paying wages and taxes. His co-counsel, Liss-Riordan, said the Globe “had better watch out.”
Condomquiddick: See the Violence Inherent in the System
Unsealed condom found in letter to Congresswoman who voted in favor of HCR! (via Memeorandum)
What if you knew her and found her faint in her chair? How can you run when you know?
Follow Dan!
All the Kool Kidz are doing it...
Creature Commentariat
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- Mary Mullane on Rasmussen: Consumer Confidence Falls to New 2 Year Low and other Polls
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