Bensblurb #518 01/10/10
Ah, January.....
While freezing in this global warming era, please note some other notable concerns facing us today. Airport security, for instance, and a monster health care reform bill full of everything it seems except tort reform and availability of insurance across state lines.
The question of airport security reminds me of something. Two Janets: One named Reno directed the massacre of a commune in Waco, Texas. And one named Napolitano has directed the de facto strip-searching of airline passengers in the War on Terror...Why? We have some 60,000 TSA workers, security forces and tons of money invested in protecting our airlines and us. Since 9/11/01 you must admit they have succeeded by and large. The terrorist’s slayings at Fort Hood were the major exception.
We certainly would have saved many more American travelers more effectively, for example, by diverting a few of those big bucks to waging total domestic war against drunk drivers. In some ways, they are a much greater threat than those nutty jihadists.
Item: In 2008 nearly 12,000 Americans died in drunk driving-related crashes, according to Mothers Against Drunk Driving. Which proves nothing, just like the nonsense over the administration’s prioritizing health care “reform” over fixing the economy. Meantime, the jobless can just go hang. Or get killed on the highway by a drunk driver.
The question of “transparency” aside (making Obama look absurd now over his earlier C-span comments), consider these comments on the health fiasco by Sen. Tom Coburn (Okla.)---
“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.”
Megan McArdle (in the Atlantic) piles on:
“Congressional Democrats started out with a CBO score they wanted, and worked backward to the bill. They’ve been pretty explicit about the fact that no one wants this actual bill; rather, the plan is to pass basically anything, and then go and totally rewrite it when the budget spotlight is off. I’m not aware of any other piece of legislation that was passed this way. Essentially, the Democrats have finished the process of gaming the CBO scores. They’re now meaningless. You don’t pass a piece of legislation that bears any resemblance to what you intend to end up with; you pass a piece of legislation that gets a good CBO score, and then go and alter it piece by piece. . .”
Victor Davis Hanson (in Pajamas Media) puts it all in context:....
“...A clear majority of Americans is opposed to almost everything Obama has to offer; congressional representatives know they are acting against the will of the people, but know too that they are offered all sorts of borrowed money for their districts to compensate for their unpopular actions. And a charismatic commander in chief believes that he can charm even the angriest of critics, and that anything he promises (Iran’s deadlines, closing of Guantanamo, new transparency, no more lobbyists, etc) means zilch and can be contextualized by another “let me be perfectly clear” speech spiced with a couple of the usual “it would have been impossible for someone as unlikely as me to have become President just (fill in the blanks) years ago”
Finally, here’s one last look-back at the past year’s most unfortunate comment, on the Fort Hood massacre:
Gen. George Casey, Army Chief of Staff, said that the murders were a tragedy, but worried that it "could potentially heighten backlash against some of our Muslim soldiers." He then warned, "As horrific as this tragedy was, if our diversity becomes a casualty, I think that's worse."
*****
.
Ah, January.....
While freezing in this global warming era, please note some other notable concerns facing us today. Airport security, for instance, and a monster health care reform bill full of everything it seems except tort reform and availability of insurance across state lines.
The question of airport security reminds me of something. Two Janets: One named Reno directed the massacre of a commune in Waco, Texas. And one named Napolitano has directed the de facto strip-searching of airline passengers in the War on Terror...Why? We have some 60,000 TSA workers, security forces and tons of money invested in protecting our airlines and us. Since 9/11/01 you must admit they have succeeded by and large. The terrorist’s slayings at Fort Hood were the major exception.
We certainly would have saved many more American travelers more effectively, for example, by diverting a few of those big bucks to waging total domestic war against drunk drivers. In some ways, they are a much greater threat than those nutty jihadists.
Item: In 2008 nearly 12,000 Americans died in drunk driving-related crashes, according to Mothers Against Drunk Driving. Which proves nothing, just like the nonsense over the administration’s prioritizing health care “reform” over fixing the economy. Meantime, the jobless can just go hang. Or get killed on the highway by a drunk driver.
The question of “transparency” aside (making Obama look absurd now over his earlier C-span comments), consider these comments on the health fiasco by Sen. Tom Coburn (Okla.)---
“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.”
Megan McArdle (in the Atlantic) piles on:
“Congressional Democrats started out with a CBO score they wanted, and worked backward to the bill. They’ve been pretty explicit about the fact that no one wants this actual bill; rather, the plan is to pass basically anything, and then go and totally rewrite it when the budget spotlight is off. I’m not aware of any other piece of legislation that was passed this way. Essentially, the Democrats have finished the process of gaming the CBO scores. They’re now meaningless. You don’t pass a piece of legislation that bears any resemblance to what you intend to end up with; you pass a piece of legislation that gets a good CBO score, and then go and alter it piece by piece. . .”
Victor Davis Hanson (in Pajamas Media) puts it all in context:....
“...A clear majority of Americans is opposed to almost everything Obama has to offer; congressional representatives know they are acting against the will of the people, but know too that they are offered all sorts of borrowed money for their districts to compensate for their unpopular actions. And a charismatic commander in chief believes that he can charm even the angriest of critics, and that anything he promises (Iran’s deadlines, closing of Guantanamo, new transparency, no more lobbyists, etc) means zilch and can be contextualized by another “let me be perfectly clear” speech spiced with a couple of the usual “it would have been impossible for someone as unlikely as me to have become President just (fill in the blanks) years ago”
Finally, here’s one last look-back at the past year’s most unfortunate comment, on the Fort Hood massacre:
Gen. George Casey, Army Chief of Staff, said that the murders were a tragedy, but worried that it "could potentially heighten backlash against some of our Muslim soldiers." He then warned, "As horrific as this tragedy was, if our diversity becomes a casualty, I think that's worse."
*****
.
posted by Ben Blankenship at
9:47 AM
