Seriously, if we are no longer involved in a “war on terror” and instead are at war with al-Qaeda then why is the headline this morning
U.S. to Hunt Down Afghan Drug Lords Tied to Taliban
Enquiring minds……
Archive for August, 2009
Concerning government involved in our health decisions (ie by high taxing of cigarettes/soda etc)….
Lifestyle dictators will have none of that, of course. They’d rather end personal financial responsibility for health-care costs and then claim government has a right to mandate how we live — since it pays the bills.
Read Gateway Pundit for a number of outrageous stories over the weekend.
And watch how Peter Schiff does an amazing job of not committing murder.
Instead of watching the left go nuts over town halls, I went here. (I silenced the sound because all you can hear is wind)
I also was lucky enough to see her.
No, I was not that close!
Product endorsement. I used a Mystery Ranch Backpack that I borrowed from a guy who’s at least a foot taller and much bigger. I overpacked more than I needed because I really wanted to test it out. Yes, my calves are sore from the downhill, but my back could have carried that pack for far longer. If you need one and are not into the ultra lite stuff, I give this one 5 stars!
Just to catch you up, we are no longer involved in a war on terror.
Nope. Instead we are at war with al-Qaeda.
“The President does not describe this as a ‘war on terrorism,’” said John Brennan, head of the White House homeland security office, who outlined a “new way of seeing” the fight against terrorism.
The only terminology that Mr. Brennan said the administration is using is that the U.S. is “at war with al Qaeda.”
“We are at war with al Qaeda,” he said. “We are at war with its violent extremist allies who seek to carry on al Qaeda’s murderous agenda.”
That’s alright, I suppose, but then what the hell are we doing killing (or is it now murder) Taliban leaders?
Baitullah Mehsud, the leader of Pakistan’s fearsome Taliban militia, was killed Wednesday in a C.I.A. missile strike, two Taliban fighters said Friday, adding that a meeting was taking place to determine which of his top deputies would replace him.
…….. Maybe it was incidental….nope.
The U.S. government made killing or capturing Mr. Mehsud one of its top priorities this year. Believed to be in his late 30’s, he ranked as Pakistan’s enemy No. 1.
So we’re fighting Pakistan’s wars now? I just want clarity!
Charles Krauthammer writes about the simple solution to health care reform.
The Anchoress has a post full of links concerning the “mobs” and what would actually help lower the temperature out there. Perhaps instead of suggesting “punching back harder” the President could be “presidential”.
The headlines today are about violence at the townhalls. In every story I’ve read the violence has been meted out by the supporter of Obamacare to a protester of Obamacare. Good job not getting goaded out there!!
Best of the web had the best commentary on the phenomenon going on. The big fight FOR Obamacare is “leave Obama alone!”
So, let’s review the arguments:
• Republicans are bad, they lost the last election, and they have partisan motives for wanting to stop ObamaCare.
• People who are angry about this are crackpots who display swastikas and other invidious symbols. Also, their anger is insincere, and they are shills of the RNC. They wear nice clothes, and this is not to their credit.
• Some of the arguments against ObamaCare are false, according to Obama.
• If ObamaCare is defeated, Obama would be hurt.
Is there any argument for ObamaCare?
Read on for more.
UPDATE: Do read this interview too. From a guy who thinks our healthcare is worth keeping.
Nothing that has value, real value, has no cost. Not freedom, not food, not shelter, not healthcare. If you’re going to put money into the economy at a time of crisis, I’d imagine you want to put it into the best paying jobs, the cleanest industries, the most sustainable opportunities. And then I’d look and say I don’t think we want to create jobs making textiles again, we exported that when it became a commodity. People are doing that for 80 cents an hour around the world. Do we want our kids doing that?
Okay, where else do we want to put money in our economy? You know where I’d put a lot of money? Great high-paying jobs for Ph.D.s and professors solving problems, curing diseases, making advanced technologies to give people products to make their life better. [Medical technology is] one of the few industries where the U.S. still exports to the world and we still have leadership.
The whole debate is twisted. These guys want you to be afraid this is going up. We should celebrate that. These guys say, “We don’t want to ration.” You’re rationing now. The way to ration less is to make more good technical solutions.
From a guy who knows. Dr. Dean Kamen, “one of the world’s most prolific inventors of healthcare technologies” (ht a href=”http://www.instapundit.com”>Instapundit)
These sorts of arguments are silly. There’s always an example to refute things.
The “government” always want more control of the “mobs” of us. Yes, this government seems to want even more, but fighting by example isn’t the route to take. There are always examples.
This letter from Senator John Cornyn is brilliant though.
I can only imagine the level of justifiable outrage had your predecessor asked Americans to forward emails critical of his policies to the White House. I suspect that you would have been leading the charge in condemning such a program-and I would have been at your side denouncing such heavy-handed government action.
So I urge you to cease this program immediately. At the very least, I request that you detail to Congress and the public the protocols that your White House is following to purge the names, email addresses, IP addresses, and identities of citizens who are reported to have engaged in “fishy” speech. And I respectfully request an answer to the following:
click through for the rest
Go to town halls, write letters, make phone calls, don’t be loony.
Because it’s entertaining, here is Megan McArdle on the subject.
Harold Meyerson has a bizarre column in the Washington Post today that leads you to think he was given an assignment stating, “write a column about how crazy Republicans are and emphasize that they are in the minority and super whacko and suggest that the filibuster is basically a mechanism used by these crazy people”.
He jumps from the town hall meetings that have white conservatives “whipped into a frenzy” and blacks and union members not in attendance (ps Harold, union members have good insurance. Unions may be for healthcare reform in order to save themselves money, but union MEMBERS aren’t necessarily believers) to the “birther” movement where he concludes:
I suspect they’ll conclude that this Obama-isn’t-American nuttiness refracted the insecurities and, in some cases, the hatred that a portion of conservative white America felt about having a black president and about the transformation of what many thought of as their white nation into a genuinely multiracial republic.
I’m curious as to what he thinks of the “truther” movement. Was it racism? Was it fear of the white male Fraternity member? hmmmmm
Anyway – the point of his column is to dis the filibuster. “it wasn’t even used much until 2006 and now Republicans are using it for minority rule!!!” UNFAIR.
Here’s the “unthinkable” part.
One day – sure, maybe it’s in the far, far distant future, but let’s put our imagination caps on and imagine that a Republican gets back into office and Republican take over Congress.
As Democrats, do you not want to have the filibuster? As Democrats do you want someone like President Bush being in charge of your healthcare? As Democrats do you want Republicans to create money out of thin air in order to pay for things like more prisons or a bigger war on drugs or a bigger military, or abortion control or land raping or…..whatever their agenda might be at the time.
The “government” is not Obama. Saint that he may be. (she says while rolling her eyes and suppressing a gag)
The “government” is also Richard Nixon, and Karl Rove, and George W. Bush and John Ashcroft. (picking names out of a hat that the left agrees whole heartedly are evil)
Think the unthinkable and make your decisions.
Or think logically….
As Professor Mankiw (via John Kranz) notes, the health care debate shouldn’t even be about money. It should be about freedom.
A large part of the policy debate boils down to this: Are you more worried about losing the freedom to pursue your family’s best health care strategies or about protecting long-term innovation?
UPDATE: Now that I’ve reread this post, the quote above doesn’t quite go so let me adjust it to fit.
Terri: ” Are you more worried about losing the freedom to pursue your family’s best health care strategies and protecting long-term innovation or about the national debt and saving money via health insurance reform?”
Hugo Chavez is in Dickepedia. Which I’d never heard of until this Fausta blog. Hilarious.
And Daniel of Venezuela has much to say on Loony Hugo’s latest censorship antics. Not very hilarious at all.
Freedom of expression must be limited
….in Hugo’s world apparently.
