tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post4385821296832875295..comments2024-03-28T06:32:24.557-04:00Comments on The Elephant Bar: Turn Back the national SocialistsDeuce ☂http://www.blogger.com/profile/13472858446242700869noreply@blogger.comBlogger83125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-13573974037854411512009-08-02T13:37:08.503-04:002009-08-02T13:37:08.503-04:00Doug... I like my bike. I used to cycle to work ev...Doug... I like my bike. I used to cycle to work every day. I got pretty good at it, so much so I could ride without holding the handlebars (trick lies in the thighs and hips), but certainly not to the level shown in the video! Nevertheless, that made me an object of derision amongst the hip and trendy girls.<br /><br />I guess cutting down on my carbon footprint and preventing glueball warmening isn't as nice as it sounds when I can't drive people around in a fancy car, and is perceived as a cheapskate cyclist.<br /><br />Viktor, the overreach has yet to happen. So far, the media has managed to cover up the Gates and Ricci affairs. It's not helped when the Repubs are too stupid to take advantage.<br /><br />It really has to be an overreach that the media cannot explain away, costs real lives, stirs up real anger. It should precipitate in violent action by liberals to shore up their support, followed by a counter-attack by non-liberals that puts down the crazies for good and delegitimizes their ideology. It should also result in a revolution in liberal strongholds, especially academia and the public education sector.<br /><br />Otherwise, nothing has changed. You'll still be fighting the same goddamned battle every decade.<br /><br />Dammit, there HAS to be some way to prompt their overreach. I wish there is some aspiring black conservative who's smart and daring enough to go undercover and attempt to infiltrate to the highest levels of liberal power, and then expose the whole mess of crooks when the time is right.<br /><br />Shatter the f*$&in liberals so completely they will never mess up the world as badly as they have.<br /><br />Then it'll be a straight fight between conservatives and libertarians, and I can live with that tension. At least economically, it won't go too far wrong.The Wobbly Guyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09301556031735052090noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-9410590937568851762009-08-02T08:09:17.225-04:002009-08-02T08:09:17.225-04:00Elephant Bar Cycling Team<a href="http://www.spike.com/video/indoor-team-cycling/2677713" rel="nofollow">Elephant Bar Cycling Team</a>Doughttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16770268554450465514noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-8568843330830831312009-08-02T07:52:28.743-04:002009-08-02T07:52:28.743-04:00I do find it interesing, doug, that "Democrat...I do find it interesing, doug, that "Democrat" keeps your links going, while it is Mr Grassley who promises to have a Health Care Bill readable by recess.<br /><br />Still trying to create a partisan divide, when there is none, ideologically. With the politicos arguing over the 'details' not the concept.<br /><br />While you, doug, gnash your teeth over the MSM, you buy into their Federal Socialist storyline of a partisan divide.<br /><br />With whit calling the Dems national Socialists, but rolling back from Republican responsibility for TARP 1 and the nationalization of the Banks.<br /><br />rufus telling US all is well, since "we" are profiting from the leglislation. It was for our own good, and good stuff we are getting from it.<br /><br />The Dems and the Pubs, they're joined at the hip.desert rathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02369546288659566961noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-32327574370379399432009-08-02T07:50:41.177-04:002009-08-02T07:50:41.177-04:00This comment has been removed by the author.desert rathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02369546288659566961noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-41643849409434170092009-08-02T07:41:45.499-04:002009-08-02T07:41:45.499-04:00"BTW, we're steadily making money on the ..."<i>BTW, we're steadily making money on the TARP. We'll make money on everybody, except, probably, AIG.</i>"<br />---<br />Evidence?Doughttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16770268554450465514noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-65316212074292526482009-08-02T07:37:58.092-04:002009-08-02T07:37:58.092-04:00In the end, the only way to control costs inside a...In the end, the only way to control costs inside a bureaucratic structure is to cut doctors' pay, transfer patients into managed care, impose government global budgets and introduce price controls.<br /><br />And that's exactly what Bay State leaders have announced they'll do. Last week, a state commission recommended that the government stop paying health care providers for each procedure and instead compensate provider networks with a flat fee per patient. Of course, such a system of global payments, or "capitation," encourages provider groups to skimp on care, as they get to keep as profit any money not spent treating patients.<br /><br />If congressional Democrats get their way, every American can look forward to a similar system of capitation in the future. This would upset the care of 85% of Americans who are currently insured and greatly increase government control. Exactly the results Democratic leaders assure can't possibly happenDoughttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16770268554450465514noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-86834616850307880032009-08-02T07:31:31.857-04:002009-08-02T07:31:31.857-04:0083% satisfied with present plans, 60% unsatisfied ...83% satisfied with present plans, 60% unsatisfied with Romneycare:<br /><br />Such a Deal!Doughttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16770268554450465514noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-17729603981599909972009-08-02T07:29:53.277-04:002009-08-02T07:29:53.277-04:00Rufus,
Does the fact that all of your socialist we...Rufus,<br />Does the fact that all of your socialist wetdreams are bankrupt ponzi schemes mean anything?<br /><br /><a href="http://www.forbes.com/2009/07/29/health-reform-massachusetts-opinions-contributors-obama-insurance.html" rel="nofollow">Forbes</a> and the <a href="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/economy-watch/2009/07/mass_treasurer_rips_mandated_h.html" rel="nofollow">Washington Post</a> both describe the disastrous Massachusetts health care system — with which the Obama care models share similarities — and the post begins with a warning from the Commonwealth’s treasurer.<br /><br />Some have asked, as national healthcare reform works its way through Congress, is there anything we can learn from the Massachusetts experiment? Yes, according to the state’s treasurer, interviewed today on CNBC: Whatever you do, don’t do what we did. In a blisteringly frank interview, treasurer Tim Cahill laid out some jaw-dropping stats, which eviscerated the plan and excited every conservative’s worst fears about government getting further into the health insurance business:<br /><br />– The program has so far cost 30 percent more than anticipated.<br />– It already has a $9 billion shortfall projected over the next two years.<br />– Costs have risen 41 percent since the program’s inception, well outpacing the rise in healthcare costs nationwide, which stands at 18 percent.<br />– We thought this program would mean fewer people would go to hospitals, which is the highest cost any insurance plan has to pay. In fact, fewer people are not going to hospitals.<br />– A Harvard study shows 60 percent of state residents are unhappy with the plan. The most unhappy? Those whom it should be helping the most — those making $25,000 to $50,000 per year.<br />– To cut costs, the program is now having to kick out legal immigrants.Doughttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16770268554450465514noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-30155823427746208082009-08-02T06:43:32.343-04:002009-08-02T06:43:32.343-04:00Barack Hussein Strangelove
Where race is concern...<a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204619004574322054186035002.html" rel="nofollow"> Barack Hussein Strangelove </a><br /><br />Where race is concerned, I sometimes think of the president as the Peter Sellers character in “Dr. Strangelove.” Sellers plays a closet Nazi whose left arm—quite involuntarily—keeps springing up into the Heil Hitler salute. We see him in his wheelchair, his right arm—the good and decent arm—struggling to keep the Nazi arm down so that no one will know the truth of his inner life. These wrestling matches between the good and bad arms were hysterically funny.<br /><br />When I saw Mr. Obama—with every escape route available to him—wade right into the Gates affair at the end of his health-care news conference, I knew that his demon arm had momentarily won out over his good arm. It broke completely free—into full salute—in the “acted stupidly” comment that he made in reference to the Cambridge police’s handling of the matter. Here was the implication that whites were such clumsy and incorrigible racists that even the most highly achieved blacks lived in constant peril of racial humiliation. This was a cultural narrative, a politics, and in the end it was a bigotry. It let white Americans see a president who doubted them.<br /><br />Mr. Obama’s “post-racialism” was a promise to operate outside of tired cultural narratives. But he has a demon arm of reflexive racialism—identity politics, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, and now Skip Gates. You can only put a demon like this to death by finding out what you really believe. We should hold Mr. Obama to his post-racialism, and he should get to know himself well enough to tell us what he really means by it. As for the odd triad of Messrs. Gates, Crowley and Obama, only Mr. Crowley seems to have functioned outside his cultural narrative.Doughttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16770268554450465514noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-68811742926683175952009-08-02T00:13:37.335-04:002009-08-02T00:13:37.335-04:00Mark Steyn, baby.
Health-care “reform”? As we’ve ...<a href="http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=YzlmYWZhMjZjZDAwYjMxOTZkZTNmODI5ZDAyZmExNDY=" rel="nofollow">Mark Steyn, baby</a>.<br /><br /><i>Health-care “reform”? As we’ve seen this past week in the House of Representatives, put not your trust in “Blue Dog Democrats.” And, as we’ll no doubt see in the weeks ahead in the Senate, put not your trust in “moderate Republicans” whose urge to “reach across the aisle” is so reflexive it ought to be covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act.<br /><br />The president needs to get something passed. Anything. The details don’t matter. Once it’s in place, health-care “reform” can be re-reformed endlessly. Indeed, you’ll be surprised how little else we talk about. So, for example, public funding for abortions can be discarded now, and written in — as it surely will be by some judge — down the road. What matters is to ram it through, get it done, pass it now — in whatever form.<br /><br />If this seems a perverse obsession for a nation with a weak economy, rising unemployment, and a war on two fronts, it has a very sound strategic logic behind it. As I wrote in National Review a week or two back, health care is the fastest way to a permanent left-of-center political culture. That’s its attraction for an ambitious president: It redefines the relationship between the citizen and the state in a way that hands all the advantages to statists — to those who believe government has a legitimate right to regulate human affairs in every particular</i>.desert rathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02369546288659566961noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-80367294085587427312009-08-02T00:02:56.345-04:002009-08-02T00:02:56.345-04:00I know nothing of Mr Hoyer, other than a quick gla...I know nothing of Mr Hoyer, other than a quick glance at his wiki bio. The NRA 'F' and his money skills.<br /><br />He is one of the old timers, so he'd fill the bill, for the Dems. As to a change in course, I'd think not. Perhaps in tone, but not in substance, except maybe at the margins.<br /><br />Have a nice night.desert rathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02369546288659566961noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-32986963780016335712009-08-01T23:58:33.331-04:002009-08-01T23:58:33.331-04:00And here, we get to see that the US economy is sti...And here, we get to see that the US economy is still the model of exceptionalism, that the Democrats know it is, and the economy is forging ahead, dispite President Obama.<br /><br /><i>This is more than a summer rally; it’s a new bull market in stocks. Resilient capitalism is pushing back against Obama</i>. <br /><a href="http://www.nationalreview.com/" rel="nofollow">► LARRY KUDLOW</a>.<br /><br />All a matter of perspective and predisposition, what you want to see, you often can. <br />Even if it is not there.desert rathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02369546288659566961noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-27731946757143303102009-08-01T23:53:38.462-04:002009-08-01T23:53:38.462-04:00Rat
You would be right that I did not vote for Ob...Rat<br /><br />You would be right that I did not vote for Obama. I've never been impressed with the man. So, yes, I do view his abilities through biased eyes.<br /><br />Pelosi is an out and out socialist. Hoyer is not. In that respect he is more moderate. While it is true that he is a very partisan Democrat I believe he is a man you can do business with. Simply put, I view him as more moderate than Pelosi and, if I may say, a heck of lot smarter.<br /><br />Hoyer and Pelosi have what appears to be a rapprochement but he is well known to lust after the role of Speaker. Hoyer is a very powerful Majority Leader and Pelosi is especially weak right now with abysmal approval ratings and losing seats in the next election would finish her off.<br /><br />I have to be off now, Rat. We can debate this another time if you wish.<br /><br />Outside my livingroom window is English Bay. Tonight, in about one hour, Vancouver is having a major fireworks display. This the forth in a series that has been going on the last ten days.<br /><br />The local news says there are 400,000 people on the shoreline that are going to watch. <br /><br />My wife and I are of the opinion: "seen one, seen 'em all" so we are high tailing it out of town for a few hours until the show is over.Blackbirdhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17564593406229397540noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-32428681917149278512009-08-01T23:45:55.135-04:002009-08-01T23:45:55.135-04:00Smuggling Coors Banquet Beer, that used to be a pr...Smuggling Coors Banquet Beer, that used to be a profitable sideline for a horse hauling buddy of mine.<br /><br />We'd be buying horses off the local track, giving them four to eight months under saddle and over fences, then ship them to CT and the East Coast show jumping circut. <br /><br />Four horses in the trailer, twenty cases of beer under the bed, in the camper shell.<br /><br />Coors Banquet Beer, that was all the rage, back in the day.<br />Colorado Kool Aid.desert rathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02369546288659566961noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-73864679541766495222009-08-01T23:29:26.377-04:002009-08-01T23:29:26.377-04:00Health Care passage by November, more likely than ...Health Care passage by November, more likely than October.<br /><br />But as Senator Grassley said, he's working on it, day and night.desert rathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02369546288659566961noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-28417088615275839752009-08-01T23:18:46.408-04:002009-08-01T23:18:46.408-04:00No, there will not be a recovery, to the old norma...No, there will not be a recovery, to the old normal.<br /><br />This is really the beginning of a restructuring, rather than the "end" of a recession.<br /><br />The fundamentals of energy, stagnated wages and the debt overhang on so many homes have closed the trail back to the old economy.desert rathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02369546288659566961noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-39449744807850713022009-08-01T23:16:42.528-04:002009-08-01T23:16:42.528-04:00The Saudis "Own" Fox News, and NBC. The...The Saudis "Own" Fox News, and NBC. The most profitable corporation on the planet is Exxon, and they're just one of several. Chevron, Shell, BP, to name a few.<br /><br />They will all fight any meaningfull progress on alternative fuels (which, in all reality is ethanol, ethanol, and ethanol) to their dying breaths. And, we're in for a bunch of years of "tough sledding," I'm afraid.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-24887932492130225782009-08-01T23:13:45.220-04:002009-08-01T23:13:45.220-04:00As evidence that Obama Care bounced off that wall ...As evidence that Obama Care bounced off that wall and continues to careen down Pennsylvania Avenue ...<br /><br /><i>WASHINGTON (AP) - In a triumph for President Barack Obama, Democrats narrowly pushed sweeping health care legislation through a key congressional committee Friday night and cleared the way for a September showdown in the House. <br />The 31-28 vote in the House Energy and Commerce Committee, along party lines, was weeks later than either the White House or Democratic leaders had hoped</i>.desert rathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02369546288659566961noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-5124642211069128712009-08-01T23:08:36.889-04:002009-08-01T23:08:36.889-04:00For the life of me, I DON'T think it's Pos...For the life of me, I DON'T think it's Possible.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-22130650169513819582009-08-01T23:08:05.916-04:002009-08-01T23:08:05.916-04:00The average family will be spending in the neighbo...The average family will be spending in the neighborhood of $15.00/day, or <b>$450.00 month for gasoline</b>. That's UP about $330.00 month from what they were paying when we started trying to "dig out."<br /><br />How will That effect the bottom two quintiles?<br /><br />Can you imagine any way the economy can "recover" when the bottom two quintiles are lopping off $330.00 MORE, Every Month, and sending it to Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emerites?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-91140267746111814102009-08-01T23:08:02.300-04:002009-08-01T23:08:02.300-04:00That is why the will be a "New Normal", ...That is why the will be a "New Normal", rufus.<br /><br />Exactly what that will be, hard to say, exactly. But the fundemental change in US society will become more evident and fully entrenched.desert rathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02369546288659566961noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-59774121342898313852009-08-01T23:04:56.512-04:002009-08-01T23:04:56.512-04:00Afghan mission falls short of expectations.
"...<a href="http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.6c394a230bece3a4943ecb703a1405f3.e01&show_article=1" rel="nofollow">Afghan mission falls short of expectations</a>.<br /><br /><i>"We conclude that the international effort in Afghanistan since 2001 has delivered much less than it promised and that its impact has been significantly diluted by the absence of a unified vision and strategy grounded in the realities of Afghanistan's history, culture and politics," the report said. <br /><br />"Although Afghanistan's current situation is not solely the legacy of the West's failures since 2001, avoidable mistakes, including knee-jerk responses, policy fragmentation and overlap, now make the task of stabilising the country considerably more difficult than might otherwise have been the case.</i>" <br /><br />Masters of understatement, those Brits.desert rathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02369546288659566961noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-37348381488279571232009-08-01T23:00:40.049-04:002009-08-01T23:00:40.049-04:00To be in full "recovery" mode we will ha...To be in full "recovery" mode we will have to be importing about 13 Million Barrels of oil/day. This will, easily, run the price back to $150.00/barrel +.<br /><br />We started trying to recover when the price was a touch over $30.00/barrel, and we were importing 10 Million Barrels/Day. Our "marginal" Imports have to, by definition, come from the Middle East. <br /><br />So, when we started trying to recover we were sending $300 Million/Day offshore for oil. That's about $9 Billion/Mo, or $108 Billion/Yr.<br /><br />In a full-blown "recovery" we can expect to be sending $2.05 (call it $2 Billion/Day offshore with close to half of it going to the Middle East. That's $60 Billion/Mo, or <b>$720 Billion/Yr</b>. Almost, Half of it going to "terrorist-supporting" States.<br /><br />How long do you suppose THAT "Recovery" will last?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-30576003919594765922009-08-01T22:59:10.942-04:002009-08-01T22:59:10.942-04:00And you think that with a NRA F score that Steny w...And you think that with a NRA F score that Steny will lead US on a more 'centrist' path?<br /><br />Being one of their top money raisers, he could buy the job, perhaps, but I think that job is akin to riding a tiger, as much as it's herding cats.<br /><br />He's on their bus, now, isn't he? If Pelosi is driving, he's collecting the fares.desert rathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02369546288659566961noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-48550943698465811882009-08-01T22:47:44.794-04:002009-08-01T22:47:44.794-04:00Coors Banquet Beer, for me, that Colorado Kool Aid...Coors Banquet Beer, for me, that Colorado Kool Aid, please.<br /><br />But were you impressed with Obama in October of '08, viktor? Did you vote for him? I'd submit your view is tad predisposed. ;-)<br /><br />Those that did bote for him, they still would, as far as I can see.<br /><br />The boys at <a href="http://realclearpolitics.blogs.time.com/2009/07/31/the-ongoing-misread-of-obamas-poll-numbers/" rel="nofollow">Real Clear Politics</a>, they have a good piece that puts Obama square in the norm of historic Presidental public opinion, from 20JAN09 to date.<br /><br />We'll see a Health Care Bill pass in October. Whatever it is Obama claims success.desert rathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02369546288659566961noreply@blogger.com