Conservative Cabal

In what has become an alarmingly annual (even, gulp, bi-annual)  tradition, the version of WordPress used by this blog has been updated to the most recent available. We are drinking bubbly even now to celebrate the occasion (we didn’t saber the bottle, though we were tempted). We’d also like to tell all fellow bloggers exporting their database to SQL that it is VERY VERY important to select  “IF NOT EXISTS” when exporting.  Just sayin’.

In any case, what does this update mean? Will we still get the daily user registrations from Russia and employees at, umm,  enlargement facilities? Hopefully not, though of course we hope they keep reading.

Speaking of Russia, I’m very grateful that our government can keep everyone equally unsafe.  There are bad actors in the world, and though it’s unpopular to say, the U.S. is not one of them.  Our liberal friends prefer that we lead by example, but does anyone honestly believe that the real Bad Actors will follow us? Come on, if they would do that, they wouldn’t be bad actors in the first place!

But why was there the rush? Was Obama really that scared that Harry Reid wouldn’t be able to get the treaty through in the next Congress? And what did it really accomplish? It will lessen our stockpile of nuclear warheads and “delivery vehicles” , but this is just to get those in line with what Russia’s already has. Russia already plans to put multiple warheads on single launchers.  And the treaty will also lessen our ability for missile defense.

The Senate can of course only give its advice and consent on treaties — they cannot rewrite them.  So we signed. Now it’s up to the Duma.

And even after all that, they still don’t trust us. Right back at ya, Mr. P.

The current President? No, he has better things to do… like playing golf and thinking up more ways to stimulate the economy. Maybe he should just play more golf!

Anyway, W surprised some troops coming home or passing through DFW. I didn’t agree with all Bush’s policies (seriously, who did?), but this is a class act, and a good reminder of what a  patriot President Bush was. (And will these be seen outside Facebook and random blogs like this? Doubtful.)

Facebook | USO Dallas/Fort Worth’s Photos – President Bush surprises the troops

Ten medical workers have been killed in Afghanistan, possibly at the hands of the Taliban (though the Taliban are known for taking credit after an attack, even one they did not orchestrate).

The Bloomberg report notes this:

“They were not doctors. They were trying to spread the Christian religion in Karan wa Manjan,” Mujahed [a Taliban spokesman] said. “And at the other hand they were spies. Our Mujahedeen people arrived there and tried to stop them, but they escaped and our Mujahedeen had to open fire on them.”

The International Assistance Mission, which describes itself as an international Christian organization providing education and health aid in Afghanistan, said on its website it has been informed that 10 foreign and Afghan people, likely members of a team providing eye care in communities in Nuristan, were killed while returning to Kabul.

British Sky News reports that the Brit who was killed — Dr. Karen Woo — was not Christian. Her fiance says that instead she was a Humanist, and he highly doubts that she was preaching. That may be the case, but she was working from a Christian organization. And one which is quite careful to avoid offending its host country:

“Amongst others, we ascribe to the code that aid will not be used to further a particular political or religious standpoint. IAM fully commits to the standard that aid is given regardless of the race, creed or nationality of the recipients and without adverse distinction of any kind.”
- International Assistance Mission Standards

Frankly, the ability to be a secular Humanist and work with an organization dedicated to serving others out of a love for Christ is not something that jihadists or Islamists can comprehend, and is not something they themselves would accept in their own organizations.

Islam, remember as Bush told us for 8 years, is a religion of peace. That might be the case if you are Muslim. If you aren’t, it is anything but.

Though it’s been ages.. AGES… since we’ve blogged, we (or maybe it’s just me) still feel as strongly that the healthcare bill needs to be repealed and replaced as. soon. as. possible. November can’t come soon enough, though now I’m a little worried that Republicans feel like it’s already a fait accompli and therefore almost useless to fight against it any longer. That would be a terrible, disastrous choice for their campaigns. And oh yeah, for the economy and for healthcare in general.

May we remind the good congressmen and women that the healthcare bill was passed late in the dark of a winter’s night, and only after Ms. Pelosi twisted so many arms the Indian burn was felt all the way to Michigan, and was so uncomfortable it caused sudden and unexpected resignations across the fruited plain. This means, people DON’T LIKE IT. (Republicans, if they’re smart, will capitalize on this.)

And then businesses did what businesses are legally bound to do — their accountants wrote down the massive charges the companies would take. And Democrats, many of whom are absolutely clueless about business, complained that companies were only publicizing their charges because they are all against Obama.

But why should we repeal the whole thing? Continue reading ‘Repeal and Replace’ »

So sayeth the prophet of Obama.

44 – Gibbs says health-care will become law this week, but House Democrats still short of votes

And the arrogance of this administration continues apace.

What worries me is that many Democrats who are not Obama/Pelosi/Reid just DON’T care about the political fallout of this thing. Many have announced they won’t be seeking reelection this year — so essentially they can do whatever they want between now and November. And we’ll thank them for their sacrifice later, or something.

Let us be clear once more — health care is NOT a right. It is NOT.  Neither is wealth, shelter, or frankly, friendship.  The “progressive” push has been to eliminate the view of natural rights on which this country, like it or not, was founded. The U.S. was not founded by members of  the Frankfort School or Hegelianism or the other REALLY BAD ideas that came out of Germany in the last part of the nineteenth century.

The founders did not all agree with one another, and obviously there are academic debates about how Christian they were, or if they were, or how centralized they felt the government needed to be. But they did all believe that as a republic, we had to be a moral country, or we would fail. They all agreed that there are “certain inalienable rights” — healthcare was not listed.

I mention our founders because I do believe that the arrogance of this administration is at least reminding many people of our founding principles, and there may in fact be a rebellion against this “revolution” that the true-blue Obama voters believed they were ushering in.

It was a good week for conservatives, more or less: Scott Brown’s win in Massachusetts, thereby putting Obamacare on indefinite hold; the Supreme Court’s decision for the First Amendment in Citizens United vs. FEC, which was correct in upholding the Constitution  (though we’re thinking this could benefit statists, since big business (along with unions, ironically),  is actually not conservative. But again, the law is the law); and the bankruptcy of Air America — no more Ron Reagan, Jr.? Perish the thought. (though one could argue that this will just be another excuse for the Left to pass the Fairness Doctrine) .

So about what can we be gloomy?

How about Eric Holder’s Justice Department? They have just announced the release from Gitmo of Hassan Zumiri, a guy who wanted to bomb Los Angeles Airport in 2000. To Algeria. Gee, that sounds like a great idea. And let’s not  forget that this is the same Justice Department that has decided that those who plotted 9/11 — like the mastermind of it all Kalid Sheik Mohammad — should be tried in civilian court. Even though he already confessed and said he wanted to be executed. Military commissions are apparently okay for lesser-known terrorists, but the big guys deserve respect.

Here are former Bush official John Yoo’s comments about what the U.S. Constitution will now offer our enemies::

The Constitution requires that we have an open public trial for any criminal defendant tried by our government, and one of the rights that every defendant has is to force a government to open up its files and provide all the information it has on the defendant.This is going to be terrible for our efforts against al-Qaeda because we will have to explain, for example, how we knew where Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was, how we were able to intercept his cell phone calls, how we were able to read his e-mails, and how we captured him. All of this is going to have to be made public.

Feel better? Let’s not rest on a couple victories, friends.

Let’s hope it’s heard in DC.

Amazing history made tonight in Massachusetts. Scott Brown is the first Republican elected to the U.S. Senate from Massachusetts in 38 years.  40-55% voter turnout — in a special election. In January.

What’s more ironic? That a Republican won in Massachusetts on a platform, in part, against Obama’s healthcare plan, or that he replaces the very man who pushed so hard for so long for that very bill, and for whom the bill is named??

And in case you were watching MSNBC or CNN and therefore missed Senator-elect Brown’s acceptance speech, see this text  (from The Corner). (It is missing his jokes about his daughters, alas.)

as prepared for delivery:

Thank you very much.  I’ll bet they can hear all this cheering down in Washington, D.C.

And I hope they’re paying close attention, because tonight the independent voice of Massachusetts has spoken.

From the Berkshires to Boston, from Springfield to Cape Cod, the voters of this Commonwealth defied the odds and the experts. And tonight, the independent majority has delivered a great victory.

I thank the people of Massachusetts for electing me as your next United States senator.

Every day I hold this office, I will give all that is in me to serve you well and make you proud.

Most of all, I will remember that while the honor is mine, this Senate seat belongs to no one person and no political party – and as I have said before, and you said loud and clear today, it is the people’s seat.

Continue reading ‘Shot Heard ‘Round the World’ »

Really, it’s the only thing Coakley in Massachusetts has to run on .. Scott Brown is Republican! Scott Brown would vote against the healthcare bill! How can a Republican hold Teddy Kennedy’s seat? Teddy KENNEDY’s seat?

Inevitable, we suppose. Ben Nelson has asked that the provision in the healthcare bill that would have exempted Nebraska from new Medicaid costs be removed.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Nelson-seeks-deletion-of-apf-1525519888.html?x=0&.v=1

Meanwhile, he is booed in Pizza Hut in Nebraska.  He seems to misunderstand their anger.

It’s not pretty, what is currently going down in Washington, DC. And I’m not talking about the snowstorm or even  Sen. Coburn’s remarks about Sen. Byrd, which has Dana Milibank in a tizzy of disgruntlement. (Why, by the way, is it unseemly for Sen. Coburn to say he hopes – devoutly – that the Dems won’t have enough members to pass the bill tomorrow, while it’s okay for Dems to drag a sick man from his bed to pass something four days before Christmas that not even a majority of Americans WANT? )

Does anyone — ANYONE — really know what is in the bill? And if  you do, HOW could you in good conscience vote for it? As James Taranto noted last week in the Wall Street Journal, even socialist Bernie Sanders was (at least at one time) opposed to it because it is simply not socialist enough.

But here’s this, from Yuval Levin on the Corner:

The CBO assessment of the bill tells the appalling story. We are going to raise taxes by half a trillion dollars over the next ten years, increase spending by more than a trillion dollars, cut Medicare by $470 billion but use that money to fund a new entitlement rather than to fix Medicare itself, bend the health care cost curve up rather than down, insert layers of bureaucracy between doctors and patients, and compel and subsidize universal participation in a failed system of health insurance rather than reform or improve it.

Again, we must wonder WHY Democrats are in such a panic? I mean, don’t they believe they have a mandate from the people? If so, what are they so worried about? Maybe it’s because what the bill will really do and who it will affect is leaking out. See this Sunday evening Wall Street Journal editorial:

Never in our memory has so unpopular a bill been on the verge of passing Congress, never has social and economic legislation of this magnitude been forced through on a purely partisan vote, and never has a party exhibited more sheer political willfulness that is reckless even for Washington or had more warning about the consequences of its actions.

Democrats say that Republicans have no alternatives. That is, of course, hogwash. How about making more minor adjustments to current insurance coverage so that it is portable, available across state lines, gives the same tax benefits to individuals as companies receive, and still ensures coverage for those with preexisting conditions? I HAVE in fact read many ideas from conservatives and Republicans that espouse just this route, and give details on how this could be done, at FAR less cost to taxpayers and patients alike.

Let’s hope the House members want to go home to a HAPPY holiday, and not one where their tax-paying constituents will be openly rioting.

This is the price we must pay so that white liberals could soothe their racial guilt? I feel sick. Guess I should call my doctor before another layer of bureaucracy wants to know WHY.