The Ramble for 5/16/11

Brooklyn, NY–

Me docked at Brooklyn

I’m in Brooklyn as this is posted. I ran from Rochester to Carlisle, PA last night, arriving there about 1am, and then to here.  Rain the whole way, and there’s some flooding going on in the northeast. Made driving … ummm… interesting. One of the guys I trained got assigned a new (to him) truck… a carbon copy of my own… and we both had runs to the Harrisburg/Carlisle area last night, so we ran together from the yard outside Rochester. That was rewarding in it’s own way.  Gonna be a bit of a long week, this one, I think. Just a feeling.

LOOKING AROUND:

• PORN FOUND IN BINLADEN HDEOUT: This is rich:
  

  WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A stash of pornography was found in the hideout of Osama bin Laden by the U.S. commandos who killed him, current and former U.S. officials said on Friday.

  The pornography recovered in bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, consists of modern, electronically recorded video and is fairly extensive, according to the officials, who discussed the discovery with Reuters on condition of anonymity.

  The officials said they were not yet sure precisely where in the compound the pornography was discovered or who had been viewing it. Specifically, the officials said they did not know if bin Laden himself had acquired or viewed the materials.

  (A nod to the NY Post, for the cover…. and no, it’s not real… I think) Interesting.   Would have been more so, had someone noticed homosexual porn in the stash, huh? And isn’t having such material punishable by death in the world of radical Islam? Good we got him when we did, I guess.

• SOCIALIST IMF LEADER ARRESTED; SEXUAL ASSAULT: Can someone please explain why the press is attempting to bury this one?
• WELCOME TO HOPE AND CHANGE: Here comes the inflation. Jimmy Carter is no longer the worst president in our history.
• ROMNEY:TOAST… BUT WHAT OF OBAMACARE? Paul Hsieh has an interesting article up over at Pajamas Media; Massachusetts: The Canary in the Coal Mine for ObamaCare. In it, he notes the RomneyCare model… which is only different from Obamacare in that it’s state and not federal government run,  has fallen short of the Utopia we were sold:
  

  The Massachusetts Medical Society recently reported that the state law has resulted in “longer patient wait times [and] continued difficult access to primary care physicians.” The average wait time in Massachusetts to see an internal medicine physician is now 48 days — double the national average. Over half of primary care practices are no longer accepting new patients. Fewer physicians are accepting the state-run Commonwealth Care and Commonwealth Choice insurance plans. So although Massachusetts politicians frequently boast that they have increased “coverage,” many patients cannot find doctors to provide them with actual medical care.

  Meanwhile health costs continue to skyrocket out of control, both for the state government and for privately insured patients. In a recent Forbes article, Sally Pipes notes that over the next 10 years, the plan will cost the state government $2 billion more than predicted. Similarly, prior to the new law insurance prices in Massachusetts increased at a rate 3.7% slower than the national average; after the “reform,” they’re increasing 5.8% faster.

  Hsieh points out that doctors are leaving the state in droves, retiring early etc.

  One of the ways ObamaCare will attempt to expand “coverage” will be via dramatically expanding the Medicaid program. But as Medicaid patient Nicole Dardeau recently told the New York Times, “My Medicaid card is useless for me right now…. It’s a useless piece of plastic. I can’t find an orthopedic surgeon or a pain management doctor who will accept Medicaid.” New Orleans ER physician James Aiken similarly noted, “Having a Medicaid card in no way assures access to care.” Once again, politicians can promise theoretical “coverage,” but this is not the same as actual medical care.

  Again , I point out that the only difference between these two programs is that one is run by the Federal government, one by the state.  Given the usual proclivity of Democrats to federalize everything, rest assured the that difference, whatever minuscule degree of advantage it might be, will disappear. In either event, the thing is indefensible. It’s unworkable.

  That fact has become increasingly apparent as time has gone on.  As people get exposed to government run healthcare, the more they recognize that it’s unworkable.
  

  And look; Why on God’s green earth would I sign on to support of Romney when the difference between he and the walking disaster named Obama isn’t enough to bother mentioning? That talk he gave the other day didn’t help explain this away, either, as if anything could.  The best description of Romney and his talk the other day,  is an impassioned defense of Obamacare. He thus disqualifies himself from the office of President.  And by the way, this is nothing new, here… I’ve been saying it for twenty years now;  What’s the point of voting republican if they come off being nothing more than Democrat -Lite? That’s the position Romney finds himself in just now.  And frankly, I don’t see that situation changing, mostly because he’s dug himself a hole far too deep to crawl out of, now. We can best be served by Romney going away… with no further dancing around.

• NO HUCK:
  

  B.J. Clinton and Make Huckabee, the dopes from Hope

  Word is that Mike Huckabee won’t be running.

  The morning after announcing that he wasn’t joining the race for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, Mike Huckabee gave his views on the remainder of the candidates.

  “Frankly my feelings and emotions are still a little raw from the whole process because up until a few days ago I honestly thought I would be in it,” Huckabee said on “Fox News Sunday.”

  He announced on his own eponymous Fox News show on Saturday that he would not join the race.

  Huckabee said he would not immediately endorse any of the declared or undeclared Republicans, but he had kind words for some.

  Forgive me, but the weight that any endorsement by Huckabee would carry is a negative, to my mind. it would be best for conservatism as a whole, and for that matter this country, if he would keep his endorsement to himself.  The he’s doing that just now, strikes me as the first correct thing he’s done in many years. He would do us all a major favor by bowing out of the public eye altogether, though I suspect he probably doesn’t have the smarts to do that.

• OBAMA DIDN’T WANT TO TAKE OUT BINLADEN? Frankly, I don’t link to Atlas Shrugs nearly as much as I should mostly because the stuff is so dense that it doesn’t exerpt out well. Mind, that’s a compliment. That said,  I need you to go and read this article .The picture that it paints of the despicable lack of leadership in this White House  is horrifying, at least. If true, (…and frankly I wouldn’t put it past this White House…) … it shows us what a huge mistake we made in giving Obama the reins. I have heard more than once that the decision did not come from Obama himself, but from Leon Panetta and those surrounding him.  The idea that he’s going around taking credit for it now, despite having gone down kicking and screaming on the thing, and despite outlying the interrogation methods that got us the information that got us BinLaden, shouldn’t surprise anyone , but it should anger us into action.
• Obama: I’ve got an idea…., Let’s Start Drilling in Alaska! Here’s another example of how Obama got dragged kicking and screaming the whole way toward a decision that should have been made with far less drama at least two years ago.  But as usual, the solution offered is more of a political one than a practical one.
  

  The White House will take a series of steps — including expediting drilling plans on government lands in Alaska — designed to show that the administration is serious about expanding domestic oil production and lowering gas prices.

  In short, the White House is making a show of this.  Rather than doing it two years ago because it was the right thing to do, they’re doing it now, because they’re the only ones who didn’t know was the right thing to do, and are trying to scramble to save their own cushy jobs for a second term.  I don’t think it’s going to work, but there it is.The reason I don’t think it’s going to work, is twofold; people are going to remember whose decision it was to not do this until now.  Further, the devil as with all Democrats is in the details.  Allowing leases were oil isn’t, and where costs are prohibitive, which is what they’ve been doing up until now, isn’t going to get it done.  I haven’t seen the details yet, but frankly I suspected before the echo died, that that’s what they’re up to.  I also suspect I’m not alone. bluntly, the huge public relations pushes that we seen from this white house so very seldom work out practically that the public is beginning to catch on they’re being lied to.

  Isn’t it time we had a White House that actually led, as opposed to reacted?