Vanity Fair and many in the US didn't have a problem "Jokerizing" Bush. But when an unnamed artist does the same to Obama, suddenly the Left gets a conscience?
The Snarky Files. Snarky means several things. I prefer the definition of "sharply critical." Here's my take on some news stories this past week. No real news here, just snark.
The Joker's on Us
The posters with Obama as the Joker invaded LA this last week. That's old news. Of course the left-wing media went berserk over the whole affair, with cries of racism echoing hollowly off the sides of buildings all along Wilshire Boulevard. This was clearly a case of: "We will vilify Bush all we want because we declared him to be evil since he doesn't think like we do. But no one has the right to even suggest that Barack Obama is anything other than the reincarnation of Jesus/Ghandi/Muhammad/The Buddha/The Bab/Michael Jackson."
What's a little socialism among friends? Why so worried?
Packing Heat
Americans are buying more guns than ever and more applied for conceal carry permits than ever before. (USA Today) While statists on the liberal left find this appalling, I find some degree of interest in the news.
Americans carrying more guns than ever reminds me of canaries.
Canaries happen to be quite sensitive to methane and carbon monoxide gasses. Coal miners used to take canaries down the mine shafts with them. If the canary dropped over, the miners knew gas levels had risen to toxic levels and could get out of the mine before passing on themselves.
Can new gun owners and conceal carry permit holders be trying to tell us something?
Oh Rahm!
Rahm Emanuel, the White House Chief of Staff, was accused of trying to orchestrate an attempt to intimidate members of Congress and governors who raised concerns over the effectiveness of the spending package ("stimulus"). The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform sent out a press release and a letter to Emanuel demanding an explanation for his intimidation:
“At what point do you believe your practice of Chicago-style politics violates a public official’s right to speak out in favor of alternative policies,” [House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Darrell] Issa asks. “The American people have a right to know what role you played in developing the threatening letters to Governor [Jan] Brewer [of Arizona] and whether you intend to continue to engage in these tactics in the future.” (Press Release)Let's see. Considering all of the media attention against Republicans and conservative American protests, you'd think that something like the White House sending intimidating letters to members of Congress and to certain Republican governors would rank right up there as a news story.
Once again, the leftist media shows its second face - the one where conservatives are vilified and liberal faux pas are quietly forgotten.
Healthcare Battles
The debate over socialized medicine certainly took the front seat this past week. Without rehashing all of the details, or beating a dead horse, here are some of the stories that caught my attention.
Steamrolling Along
If the current Congress is known for anything besides bankrupting the country, it will be known for its strong-arm tactics to pass questionable and expensive legislation as quickly as possible. While Nancy Pelosi couldn't quite reach the necessary votes to pass the healthcare bill, she and Obama succeeded in getting the bill out of key committees before the summer recess. (Breitbart)
For those who oppose the bill, I've got some good news and some bad news. The good news is that the bill won't be reconsidered until September or October, leaving our representatives at the mercy of the people in their states. The bad news is that the bill will be reconsidered in September or October.
At least Congress slowed down enough on this bill to take a vacation. Maybe some of our representatives will actually read it while at the beach. Would that be too much to ask of them? Apparently.
Opposing Voices
Yesterday, I posted a rant video of MSNBC's Rachel Maddow attacking Republicans for daring to speak up against the Holy Healthcare Act of 2009. (I think that is the current name of the bill. The name's changed so many times in the past month it's difficult to keep up.) Here are some prime examples of the concerns Barbara Boxer's well-dressed protesters have with the bill:
Under Section 1401, a Center for Comparative Effectiveness Research would be set up, creating a bureaucracy through which federal employees could determine whether any treatment is "comparatively effective" for any individual based on the cost, likely success and probably the years left in life.What does this mean for you and me? Under the current version of the healthcare bill, a government agency, with no oversight and no voter control, will have power to determine what treatments we can and cannot receive based on cost, likely success of treatment, and age. It's certainly no wonder why some of the old folks in the country are starting to worry about this bill. At least they dress well when going to protests.
It also..."covers abortions, transsexual surgeries, encourages counseling as to how many children you should have, whether you should increase the interval between children."
The plan would allow...for the collection of information about individuals' health records, both "published and unpublished," and recommend policies for public access to data.
Yet, in the same section, the bill would cover costs for abortions and transsexual surgeries. Think about that one for a minute. Besides the moral concerns, the bill creates protected classes withing the healthcare system. Women who want abortions and people who want to change their sex will receive preferential treatment.
The adage that some people are more equal than others will certainly hold true in this case.
There's more. The bill would give government the authority to determine how many children a couple can have and how long they must wait in between. Is this really the role of government, to administer national birth control? I don't know. It just sounds so...Chinese to me. At least the abortionists will be happy.
The bill would also remove doctor-patient privilege - making your medical records available to government agencies. I can conceive of no argument where such a thing would be desirable. Ostensibly, this would allow certain government agencies to streamline a person's healthcare process. In reality, this would violate privacy and lead to future abuses of government's authority.
Do you know what we used to call governments that dictated what its citizens could and could not do? We used to call them dictatorships.
Stifling Debate
Perhaps the most egregious news this past week is the Left's response to protests against the healthcare bill.
First off is this from President Obama himself:
"But I don't want the folks who created the mess to do a lot of talking. I want them to get out of the way so we can clean up the mess. I don't mind cleaning up after them, but don't do a lot of talking." (Breitbart)Notice how smarmy Obama is in this video. I ask, is this any way to run a democratic republic? Is this any way for the President of the United States to act and speak? Did he really say what we all heard him say?
Take out the bull horns folks, we have a lot of talking to do.
Along these same lines, White House Deputy Chief of staff had this to say about those who dared protest against healthcare:
That's also a basis for good government - quell the opposition with strong-arm tactics. In response, what do Democrats do? They close the doors on public meetings and push protesters out of the way. This video comes from Tampa, Florida.“If you [meaning congressional Democrats] get hit, we will punch back twice as hard,” Messina said, according to an official who attended the meeting. (Politico)
Is this how the system is supposed to work? Of course, congressional Democrats aren't to be thwarted by a few protesters. They vow to have their way with healthcare whether we like it or not, or whether what they do is quite in keeping with congressional procedures:
Senate Democratic leaders are promising to push through a health care bill even if negotiations with Republicans fail. (Breitbart)The saving grace in all of this (was that phrase too religious?) lies in the continued will of Americans everywhere to keep the fires of protest going. As a model, here's a group who take on Pennsylvania's Arlen Specter, a practice, by the way, with which I heartily agree. Specter should be booed wherever he appears.
We have only a few weeks left to let our Congress know that the healthcare bill is truly a bad idea. Yet, I'm afraid that this Congress will claim yet another distinction - the most power-hungry Congress ever - and pass the bill despite the best interests of Americans.
Illegal Aliens
No, I'm not talking about Mexicans. I'm talking about the visitors from outer space who apparently took over the White House and decided to encourage the easily confused liberals in our country to forward emails and blogs that took exception to the healthcare bill.
Apparently, the White House collecting information like that is illegal. Remember Watergate? Same difference:
Of course, no other news agencies besides FOX News figured this out. They're too busy positioning themselves to be the next Big Brother agency and spread leftist propaganda."The White House is in bit of a conundrum because of this privacy statute that prohibits the White House from collecting data and storing it on people who disagree with it," Judge Andrew Napolitano, a FOX News analyst, said Friday. (FOX News)
Read My Lips
Raising taxes after promising not to stopped the elder George Bush's presidency. I doubt Obama will suffer the same fate, since liberals all know that whatever he said to appease the conservatives isn't really what he meant.
President Barack Obama's treasury secretary said Sunday he cannot rule out higher taxes to help tame an exploding budget deficit, and his chief economic adviser would not dismiss raising them on middle-class Americans as part of a health care overhaul. (AP)Seriously, when Obama promised not to raise taxes on the middle class, did anyone really believe him?
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