Breakfast Scramble

Why the one hasn’t won yet, Jay Cost, RCP:

Last week, President Obama said again and again that the time for talk is over. Yet this week he’s going on the road to defend his new bill. This is why. ObamaCare is politically vulnerable. It lacks the bipartisan support that created and protected new entitlements in decades past. The public does not have confidence in it. Worst of all, it creates an imbalance between winners and losers for four years, and it amounts to a staggeringly expensive new entitlement at a time when the country has to think hard about how to trim its sails.

The Obama who stole Christmas.  WRAL:

Durham, N.C. — Uninsured Triangle residents said Monday that they eagerly await the overhaul of the nation’s health care system.

“It’s just going to be like Christmas,” said DeCarlo Flythe, who lost health coverage for his family when he was laid off almost three years ago. “It’s going to be great. You know, no worries (about) the bills. We are going to go ahead and pay our co-pay and be alright.”

Flythe may think it is Christmas, but he doesn’t know what year it is.   From Bob Owens, Confederate Yankee:

I pity DeCarlo Flythe, a local man without insurance, or much in the way of smarts.

Obama Care is for the peasants, Ben Domenech, New ledger:

For as long as the political fight took over the past year, the abbreviated review process on the health care legislation currently pending on President Obama’s desk is unquestionably going to result in some surprises — as happens with any piece of mashed-up legislation — both for the congressmen who voted for it and for the American people.

One such surprise is found on page 158 of the legislation, which appears to create a carveout for senior staff members in the leadership offices and on congressional committees, essentially exempting those senior Democrat staffers who wrote the bill from being forced to purchase health care plans in the same way as other Americans.

The SOB’s who wrote Obama Care want to impose the draconian bill  on you, and your family, but not themselves, and their family.

Busting Obama Care Lies, from the Left, Jane Hamsher, Puffington Post:

Real health care reform is the thing we’ve fought for from the start. It is desperately needed. But this bill falls short on many levels, and hurts many people more than it helps them.

Is ACORN really dead? From New York Slimes:

The community organizing group Acorn announced Monday that it would close all its remaining state affiliates and field offices by April 1.

The organization is “developing a plan to resolve all outstanding debts, obligations and other issues,” said a statement released by the group.

A charitable obituary from James Joyner, Outside the Beltway:

Over time, activist organizations — and perhaps especially decentralized ones — lose sight of their original purpose and adopt a “means justify the ends” mentality.  And, frankly, relying on poorly trained, poorly- or uncompensated employees only adds to the troubles.

Unlike Mr. Joyner, I am skeptical of ACORN proclaimed death and believe that ACORN was never anything other than a criminal enterprise.

Blondie does Canada.   Ann Coulter goes to Canada and  proves that some Canadians have a sense of humor and others are liberal.   Kathy Shaidle,  Five Feet of Fury, files this front line report from the People’s Republic of Ottawa:

Last night, I attended Ann Coulter’s first ever talk at a Canadian university campus.

(Here’s my mini-report at NewsReal. Video to follow.)

This event was the brainchild of twenty-something UWO student Andrew Lawton. He’s been telling me about his then-pipe dream for at least a year. Even after he was felled by a freak stroke that’s left him with a slight limp, Andrew carried on, armed only with his trusty cellphone or whatever it is kids use these days.

Out.

The connection between the Jewish people and the Land of Israel cannot be denied. The connection between the Jewish people and Jerusalem cannot be denied. The Jewish people were building Jerusalem 3,000 year ago and the Jewish people are building Jerusalem today. Jerusalem is not a settlement. It is our capital.

Benjamin Netanyahu, via Real Clear World.

Welcome, one and all to the most intense nightly read anywhere on the ‘sphere…. The BitsBlog Nightly Ramble.

• HAYWORTH & MCCAIN: Whatever else J.D. Hayworth may represent, to John McCain he represents the worst nightmare possible.  Hayworth, as you may understand is running against John McCain for the Senate seat in Arizona.  The most recent polls put John McCain up by a mere seven points. The movement away from ‘the maverick’ to a real conservative has long been needed there.  We’ve been saying here for a long time… (years,  in fact) … that McCain’s biggest problem is our too conciliatory attitude toward the left.That fact has apparently and finally become clear to him, with the angry noises  that he’s started making about how this Healthcare monstrosity was rammed through the Congress, without a hint of bipartisanship being the clue there. He knows he’s in trouble and he’s at least partially figured out why.   The fact of the matter is…( and if we take his statements of the last two days as indication…McCain is apparently just figuring this out…. ) that his calls for bipartisanship for the last however long,  essentially gave the left a platform from which to launch this atrocity on the American people.  In short, not only has McCain not been representing the interests of his district, or of conservatives for that matter, but he has in fact long been a big part of the problem. … the walking definition of a useful idiot.And, yes, before you start, I know about Hayworth the Jack Abramoff thing.   Yet, I am unaware of anyone proving that he had done anything illegal.  On the other hand, McCain is up to as eyeballs in the Keating scandal . And yes, I think it demonstrable that wrongdoing was done there by Mr. McCain.
  Don’t mistake me here… Make no mistake.  J.D. Hayworth’s conservative record is far from perfect.  Still, he is substantially better on conservative issues than is the McCain.  I point to an example; I mentioned immigration amnesty yesterday.  Hayworth has always vigorously opposed amnesty, whereas McCain has not only been championing the cause, but doing so in a way that makes you wonder who side he’s really on certainly, he’s not on our side.
  Anyone who has over the last several years watched a John McCain in action knows that at some point if reelected he will work against America on energy taxes beat restrictions on amnesty on border enforcement just to name a few positions he has taken that are contrary to what a real conservative would espouse .  I endorsed John McCain over Obama in 2004, because in my view he was marginally better than what we ended up with.  Given the events of the last 48 hours, I think that assessment still holds true.   Still, isn’t it time that we had a real conservative in every position of power as opposed to one who will give up his principles so as to be seen as conciliatory?The Republican leadership has yet to get the message about campaigning real conservatives versus wafflers like John McCain.  McCain obviously enjoys their continued support.  I think it will be interesting to see how that Republican leadership reacts, when they discover that they no longer have support of the Conservative Republican base.

  Arizona at least in terms of conservative races, is the coal mine canary for the Republican party.  The information that comes from that situation is vital to the survival of the Republican party.  Frankly, I wonder if the republican leadership is smart enough to recognize that and react correctly to it.That beings to mind one additional point, here; that of former Alaska governor Sarah Palin.  I’m not sure of all of the reasons for her campaigning for McCain, and frankly I’m not sure I much care. McCain has the support of the republican leadership , and Palin is probably responding to requests from that leadership to throw in with McCain.  Given the demonstrated animosity between the two over the months since the campaign, and during it, that seems to make more sense to me than any loyalty she might feel to McCain and his agenda.  But it strikes me that in campaigning with McCain, she has damaged her credibility with conservatives.Whether not that damage is enough to have prevented her from running for president in the next cycle, I don’t know.  Certainly, her success will be somewhat limited in that effort.

  As a parting shot I’ll pass along a “BillyQuote”…

  I, for one, don’t give a damn in the world who is the black-hat on some simpleton’s scorecard in the wake of this. What I care about is what real, live individual human beings are going to have to live through under this atrocity. I don’t give a runny shit about the prospect of Republicans’ political profit at the polls: they can all go to hell unless and until they swear their lives, fortunes and sacred honor to ridding me of these commissars, and; I would not thank them for doing it, for it is only the right thing.

  And there, to my mind, is the central issue with John McCain.  He will most certainly worry about whether or not the Republicans gain anything out of this atrocity inflicted on the American people and yet not worry at all about conservative principles being advanced in that.

  Think, now;  at what point in the past has John McCain ever voted against an entitlement program? For that matter, who of the current crop of Republicans has done so? They have at best been supervisors of the infliction of these freedom killers. As Billy points up:

  They have been passively complicit in this whole disaster every step of the way, in their spineless stupidity, and I wouldn’t care if they ended up painting Nancy Pelosi’s toenails and feeding her bon-bons for the rest of their worthless lives.

  And OK, I understand that Billy will probably be a little uncomfortable with me for putting his quote into this context, but I do so to make the point that unless and until the Republicans start putting people willing to do as Billy suggests into positions of power they are not a conservative party.  (Billy insists he’s no conservative, to which I’ve always responded that is dependent on what you’re trying to conserve. To wit; By today’s standards, Billy’s certainly correct in that statement.  )

  If they are not real conservative, they will not maintain any degree of popular support, past that of their ability to defeat the Democrats who are at the moment the larger enemy.  That’s not enough however, as McCain’s defeat in ’08 should have shown clearly.

  I have said it many times in these spaces; I am a Republican only insofar as I see them as the best tool to defeat the biggest enemy this country has; The left.  Alas, far too often, the people that the Republican party has offered us far from being conservative have been a large part of the problem.  John McCain is a prime example of that.  It’s time for him…and all faux conservatives.. to leave.

• UNDOING THE HEALHCARE BILL: I will reiterate this, because it’s vitally important that you understand this.  I keep hearing about how the Republicans are going to go ahead and once in power dismantle this socialist nightmare that Obama has constructed.  First of all, even assuming that they were of a mind to do that, at what point in the past have Republicans ever managed to dismantle any entitlement program?  The answer, of course, is “never”.  I note that this includes periods of overwhelming Republican majority.  It seems at least a little disingenuous for them to be making such a noise is now, particularly when the vast majority of them have been as Billy says passively complicit in creating our current situation.  Getting this thing on done is going to require two things… A national will to see it undone and it’s going to require real conservatives in overwhelming numbers in positions of power.  Short of that, this monstrosity is going to be around forever.  That, my friends, is why there were so many smiles around the White House yesterday.  They know what’s not going to be undone.  Not without far more conservative representation than what we’ve been seeing.
• AMNESTY and VOTERS: Then too, in terms of our ability to toss this healthcare mess out,  there’s the forthcoming change in the voter patterns, which Obama will bring about by way of Amnesty for illegal aliens. I mentioned this yesterday, but I will mention it again today for clarity.There’s been a good deal of discussion about the next step that Obama and company will take.  I submit based on comments that he is made and other legislative efforts I see forthcoming that the next thing on the agenda will be what is laughingly known as “immigration reform” or Amnesty… (Yes, Amnesty as pushed by John McCain.  Ah, yes, amnesty; one of the most potent examples of why “bipartisanship” is to be avoided at all cost. )  It is estimated that we will see something on the order of between 15 and 30 million new Democrat voters, which will effectively wipe out any backlash against the Democrats for the Healthcare monster Obama’s created. Is there anybody who seriously considers that such an honesty beneficiaries would not immediately become lifelong Democrats? so, even assuming that Republicans currently in power had any kind of will over removing this Healthcare monster from the books, such people would be overwhelmed by the huge number of freshly created Democrat party voters, by way of amnesty. The words “stacked deck” come to mind.
• BIRTHDAYS AND REALITY: Happy birthday yesterday to Jonah Goldberg, whose LA TIMES column today is a must read.
  

  “Insurance companies are now heavily regulated government contractors. Way to get big business out of Washington! They will clear a small, government-approved profit on top of their government-approved fees. Then, when healthcare costs rise — and they will — Democrats will insist, yet again, that the profit motive is to blame and out from this Obamacare Trojan horse will pour another army of liberals demanding a more honest version of single-payer. The Obama administration has turned the insurance industry into the Blackwater of socialized medicine.”

  Reynolds in noting this quote quips:

  I think that’s unfair to Blackwater

  I think that’s right, but you get the point… Jonah is using black water in the Democrat mode… that of a scapegoat. Then again, wasn’t it you, Glenn, who made the favorable comparison of prostitutes to Congress? Wasn’t that unfair to the prostitutes?

While you slept Sunday,  Mrs. Pelosi, and two hundred eighteen of her co-conspirators screwed you and the entire country.

Obama writes new Contract with America, William Kristol, Weekly Standard:

This year Obama has handed Republicans a one-item Contract with America, an item a majority of the public supports–opposition to, and therefore repeal of, Obamacare

BO PO’s.  Obama faux executive order has enraged both the anti and pro-abortion factions, from Fox News:

Pro-choice and pro-life groups on Sunday strongly denounced a deal by pro-life Democrats and President Obama to ensure limits on taxpayer money for abortion services, outlined in a Senate health insurance overhaul now on the verge House approval.

Susie B dumps Dumb Bart, Fox News:

Susan B. Anthony List Candidate Fund President Marjorie Dannenfelser said the group was revoking its “Defender of Life” award to Stupak, which was to be awarded at its Wednesday night gala.

“We were planning to honor Congressman Stupak for his efforts to keep abortion-funding out of health care reform. We will no longer be doing so,” Dannenfelser said. “Let me be clear: any representative, including Rep. Stupak, who votes for this health care bill can no longer call themselves ‘pro-life.'”

World’s Smallest Violin:

Baby Killer supporter Democrat Bart Stupak, who sold his soul for Obamacare yesterday, was called a Baby Killer on the House floor last nigh

Hat tip:  Jim Hoft, Gateway Pundit.

Good news, bad new on Obama Care.    The good news for  Barack Obama is that his achieved his dream of controlling one sixth of our national economy.  The bad news is that he now has to defend it.

Obama care is deeply unpopular.   Its expensive price tag kicks in immediately.    Whereas its benefits will await four years.   During which time the details will become public record.    Obama will be forced to defend a law which he does not understand, but which the public will and which it will not like.    To defend Obama Care , TOTUS will need facts and not mere talking points.

Welcome, one and all to the most intense nightly read anywhere on the ‘sphere : The BitsBlog Nightly Ramble

the

• THE OBAMACARE VOTE:I really don’t have a whole bunch to add to what I said earlier this morning. In reading commentary around the sphere I don’t see any persuasive arguments that this thing is going to be changed even assuming a massive change in party domination after the midterm elections.  Nor am I convinced that there will or will not be a political lift for either party over this thing going forward.  Nor, frankly, I sure that in the end it matters very much at all.  Now, that’s not despair talking, that’s a look at the other countries who have gone through the kind of travails that Obama and company have set us on the road toward, last night.  The countries that have tried government as a solution to health care issues have found it to be a disaster.  But none of them have mounted a successful effort at reversing direction on big government in any substantial way.  On that basis I find predictions of reversing this monster in future congresses to be laughable at best.  The wild card in all of that is going to be the lawsuits being put together by the individual states.  Virginia, for one.  But personally, I refuse to get excited about such matters right now.  the reason for that is simple, and it’s one I mentioned this morning; the next thing on the Obama plate is immigration.  Amnesty.  That’s going to change the dynamic of the electorate to the point where this stuff will be enshrined in stone.  Does anybody seriously think those benefiting from amnesty will not become lifelong Democrats, and vote as such?  As for the rest, I admit that there is a part of me that refuses to believe that the Health care that I receive should be fodder for political discussion.One of the comments that I keep hearing, (most recently in the comments section at Outside The Beltway ) is that the Republicans didn’t do their job in terms of convincing the country that they really didn’t want this thing.  That’s at least the disingenuous read, given that the polling data shows that by a as close to a 75/25 split as no matter the American people didn’t want this bill.  Seems to me that the Republicans did in fact do the job rather handily.  Or perhaps, the bill was so bad that the American people rejected it without the help of the Republicans.  Either way you read that, there wasn’t much persuasion required in it. Still that didn’t even slow down the Democrats in their pursuit of socialist health care.  That’s true, for all the reasons that I mentioned this morning.  Go and read it.Final comment for today on the subject; The fastest way I can think of to get Republicans elected, and to answer forever the question about integrity of the Republican party is to make repealing this highly unpopular law.  I submit this as a plan of action: Every Republican running for Congressional or Senate seats, should state up front in “Contract with America ” style, that goal number one is to repeal this monstrosity.  I see some of those commenting on the matter suggesting that that’s suicidal .  But given the amount of opposition that we saw in the polling to this bill, I don’t think so.  Moreover, so what?  Let it come down to a referendum. I suggest that taking a strong stand on this, and actually following through on it, is the best thing the Republican party could possibly do in this situation.  The question of course, is, will they?Some of the others commenting here: Rick Moran,  Dan Riehl, and The Washington Examiner, and Brian T. SchwartzThe
• OBAMA A WAR CRIMINAL? I notice in the mail this morning Cindy Sheehan … (you do remember her supporting Obama in the last election, right?  ) … now calling the Obama a war criminal. The funny part is the mainstream press is ignoring the woman.  Apparently it’s not the veracity of her attack, but whom it is she is attacking that garners the press.
• TO HELL WITH ALL THE BLOGGERS:  I don’t know what the politics behind “Speak to Power” are.  And, frankly, for this purpose, I really don’t care.  Author T. Sharp, though Points out an incident where former Mayor Willie Harrenton  is supposed to have honored “to hell with all the bloggers”.  Sharp apparently sees clearly what is what, saying:
  

  The bottom line is that when you say “to hell with all the bloggers” you have automatically stopped the conversation, a discussion that might have served you down the road.

  Well, apparently not.  Yes, the intent of the comment is to stop the conversation.  What Sharp fails to recognize, however, is that citizens discussing matters and coming to their own conclusions seldom serves the interests of liberal politicians.  How much actual discussion, for example, was there about health care?  Granted, that some of that lack of discussion was because of a recognition on the part of the electorate that the debate really wasn’t about health care at all.  But, I digress.  All of this brings up a point that Matt Drudge went to some links to point out to us several years ago; the mainstream media is not serving the purpose of a national discussion.  The only interests that they’re serving in the political world is that of the liberal politician.

• FEAR MONGERING TOYOTA: Those who have known me for any length of time will tell you that I am not want to defend the Japanese auto companies. I think that the Toyota Prius is probably the worst pile of crap on the highway today, but for reasons that have nothing to do with breaking system.    At the same time I find it interesting that all of these investigations, and lawsuits, should show up at the point in time where the majority holder in the American car companies is our Federal government.   Yes, the same Federal government that is leveling all these investigations.  The more we look at the situation, the more we begin to realize that the supposedly a blown this with Toyota vehicles is overblown and possibly with a less than honest reason behind it. is it possible that our own Federal government is trying to spur American auto sales by fear mongering?   William Briggs at Pajamas Media discusses.

In the end, this unsustainable bill jeopardizes the very thing it was supposed to fix – our health care system. Somewhere along the way we forgot that health care reform is about doctors and patients, not the IRS and politicians.

Sarah Palin, via Jack Fowler, National Review.

Some comments on the events of last night, in no particular order:
The costs of this thing will be its undoing.  And ours, I suspect.  The move towards governmental power will invariably accelerate. Exponentially so, when given such a boost as we saw last night.  What nobody has mentioned thus far is the costs have a tendency the to accelerate exponentially, as well.

As I’ve indicated in other threads, insurers will no longer be such, at least in any meaningful sense.  As increased government regulation of insurers takes hold, there will be increasingly less resistance to government taking over their roles entirely.  I for one, do not consider this a good thing.

As big government takes hold, it not only changes the business aspects but it also changes the very character of the people .  It also changes the relationship of the individual and the state.  We’ve already seen this as a huge negative in the places where governmental health care has taken hold.  It’s gotten to the point where there is large movement afoot to reverse course in those countries , away from government run health care.  I should point out that the move away from cradle to grave government in those situations has been only marginally successful.

Then there’s the issue of the cost involved;  This plan such as it is is unaffordable.  Take a look at Canada, and the whole of Europe.  And you will notice that the first thing that they drop in the face of these unaffordable costs of big government here at home is global military capability.  For that matter, as the costs have risen for cradle to grave government, there seems a question as to whether not Canada and Europe can support any kind of defense force whatsoever.  Canada’s military in particular has become something of a neighborhood joke.

I suggest that this will lead to further attacks against these United States as our enemies smell weakness.

So what do we have here, in total?

We have a bill that took massive amounts of corruption, and quid pro quo , to get passed.  The fact is there was more corruption in the writing and passing of this bill and then what the Democrats have offered as heretofore, which is of course is saying something.

We have less health care, fewer doctors, longer wait times, all of these points in ample evidence in every situation where government driven health care has taken over. The history of the thing should have been alarming enough to cause the vast majority of Americans to reject the bill. (Oh, wait… they did that. Never mind)

We have more government bureaucracy, including a large expansion of the IRS, a debt load that makes our debt heretofore seem minuscule by comparison, and an inability to react a global military situations as they arise, even within our own borders.

It remains to be seen whether not the American people will react appropriately to this breach of trust … (after all the vast majority of Americans, even the majority of Democrats wanted nothing to do with this bill ) … but the bottom line is that if that mattered, the Democrats would not pursue this course in the first place.  They now have socialism built into our Healthcare system.  Even assuming a large turnover to the Republicans come November the chances of overturning this monstrosity seem small it best.

At least, in terms of Congress itself overturning it. The next act in this tragedy is going to play out in the midterm elections and in the courts.

Very shortly we’re going to find out how the lawsuits against the Federal government and particularly the Democrat run Congress and the White House fare in the face of state’s rights lawsuits.

There is that, along with the election campaign.

If we can take the special elections in New Jersey, Virginia, and Massachusetts , as well as the close call a New York 33 as any indication it’ll be a mere eight months, when we’re going to have a shift in power in Congress.  And two years beyond, another presidential race.  So, between now and then we’re going to see a massive effort on the part of the Obama White House and on the part of the Democrat machine to convince the voters that this bill holds something of value for them.  It’s my suspicion that they will be singularly unsuccessful in convincing them of this, the politics of health care are nothing if not via little.  Certainly, the only thing that is certain for the Democrats their immediate sense upper hand,  is uncertainty. I point out again, however, that the history of this thing around the world is pretty well laid out in favor of big government.

And the trump card has yet to be played, there. (I’ll get to that in a minute)

For us in the meantime, we have is a law that will unquestionably remove a number of freedoms.  I watched last night as Nancy Pelosi wandered around in Congress with a huge gavel in her hand.  The symbolism was both startlingly clear and convoluted.  The speaker in her delusional state apparently equates the monster she forced through last night with the civil rights legislation of the ’60’s.   What the Speaker apparently doesn’t recall is that the civil rights act of 1964 was passed by Republicans, over the objections of the Democrats, including LBJ.  She also misses the point that the purpose of the legislation was to guarantee freedoms.  The fact is what passed last night will do nothing to the sort, but rather will take freedoms away.

The question remains what the reaction will be.  What of the trump card?

Billy this morning points to WC Varones, who in turn suggests that the electorate is far from static... That Obama and company have immigration legislation on their plate, the plan being to grant amnesty to illegals living here now.  Current estimates put the totals something on the order of fifteen to 30 million people.  The assumption that they would become immediate and lifelong Democrat voters is a logical one, and the kind of numbers being bandied about would suggest that any backlash against the Democrats over this monstrosity and others in the next few elections will be more than overwhelmed by the number of new Democrat voters brought in by way of “Amnesty”.

But to me, it looks like this is the reason that the Democrats feel absolutely no need to listen to the wishes of the majority of the electorate right now. Simply put; they are not legislating for this current electorate. They are legislating for the electorate-to-come, the one that will exist after Amnesty is granted to 15-30 million new Democrat voters. It’s a trump card. Essentially, this means that 2008 could end up being the last major election that our current electorate (as demographically constituted today) will ever have participated in. Thus, they know that they might never have to answer to this current electorate again.

What will happen at that point?  Billy has what seems to me the most logical answer:

America is being legislated out of existence.  I am no great fan of Milton Friedman, but he was absolutely correct when he pointed out that you can have free immigration or a welfare state, but you cannot have both.

Israel attacked, from Haaretz:

A Qassam rocket fired from the Gaza Strip struck an open field in a kibbutz near Ashkelon on Sunday, just three days after a foreign worker was killed by a rocket in the northern Negev.

There were no casualties or damages reported in the attack on Sunday

No reason to expect anything other than stone cold silence from the Obama White House and Mrs. Clinton’s State Department.    Let me see, housing for Jews, evil.   Attacks on Jews, benign.  Did I miss anything?

Obama Care is pro-abortions, Robert Stacy McCain.   A vote for a democrats is a vote to kill unborn human beings.

Obama’s phony executive order, Andy McCarthy, National Review:

So what could the White House possibly give Stupak that would not be thrown out by any federal judge in a second?

Looking at the executive order (which you can read here), the answer is clearly nothing. The executive order quite literally does nothing that the Senate bill does not already do, and it is careful to say as much.

IF Obama purports that an executive order can over ride statutory law, he is either a poor lawyer or simply a liar.  What say you?

Daily Koz in melt-down mode, from Hill Buzz:

Kos is a very nasty, rotten place, but we got a tip they were in full-on pants-wetting meltdown mode over “Motions to Recommit” and wanted to know what the fuss was about

Hat tip:  Smitty, Other McCain.   Smitty might be the best second banana since Ed McMahon

Wind farms, much hot air, little energy, from Fiona Macrae, Mail(UK)

Some of Britain’s most beautiful landscapes have been blighted by wind farms for only small returns in energy, research shows.

The analysis of power output found that more than 20 wind farms are operating at less than one-fifth of their full capacity.

Experts say many turbines are going up on sites that are simply not breezy enough.

They also accuse developers of ‘grossly exaggerating’ the amount of energy they will generate in order to get their hands on subsidies designed to boost the production of green power.

With all the hot air coming out of Washington, wind farms might work there.

Hat tip: Jim Hoft, Gateway Pundit.

Thousands fo peaceful protests demonstrated in the Capital yesterday to protest Obama Care.   So what doesthe  leftosphere complain about? From Stink Progress:

Tea Party activists have gathered on Capitol Hill today for a “Code Red” rally against health care reform. Speakers at the event included Republican Reps. Steve King (IA), Michele Bachmann (MN), and Mike Pence (IN). The gathering was organized by Tea Party Profiteer organizations like FreedomWorks and Americans for Prosperity. ThinkProgress attended today’s rally and spotted a sign threatening violence if health care passes. The sign reads: “Warning: If Brown can’t stop it, a Browning can,” referring to Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA) and a Browning firearm:

Mean while back in world of the sane, from Fox News::

Just days after holding a rally in Washington, Tea Party activists returned Saturday to make one final stand against the health care reform bill ahead of an expected Sunday vote.

Thousands of Tea Partiers descended upon the Capitol in an effort to derail the march toward “Obamacare” by pressuring undecided lawmakers to vote “no” Sunday.

Thousands of citizens, peacefully protesting, and Stink Progess has their knicker in wad because they found, or planted, one sign threatening violence, unlike the Obama care whch  promises to hire IRS thugs to to enforce it and kill unborn b babies.

When a group of thousands of people turn anger or violent, it not a demonstration, but rather a riot.    I know of no reports of mob  violence.   Certainly, if Stink Progress has real act of violence to report, it would be their lead.  It is not.  I rest.

Addendum: (Eric)
But notice the pattern, David… By some reports that I’ve seen tens of thousands of people showed up to protest against this monstrosity.  Funny part is, the mainstream press didn’t have thing one to say about it …. and you would hardly know when it happened at all.  Until, that is, somebody managed to come up with the apparently false accusation that the liberals in question had been accosted with words that liberals cannot tolerate.  TPM:

Tea partiers and other anti-health care activists are known to get rowdy, but today’s protest on Capitol Hill–the day before the House is set to vote on historic health care legislation–went beyond the usual chanting and controversial signs, and veered into ugly bigotry and intimidation.

Civil rights hero Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) and fellow Congressional Black Caucus member Andre Carson (D-IN) related a particularly jarring encounter with a large crowd of protesters screaming “kill the bill”… and punctuating their chants with the word “nigger.”

Standing next to Lewis, emerging from a Democratic caucus meeting with President Obama, Carson said people in the crowd yelled, “kill the bill and then the N-word” several times, while he and Lewis were exiting the Cannon House office building.

“People have been just downright mean,” Lewis added.

But were they really? I mean, what did actually happen?

See for yourself:

Funny thing;I don’t see any evidence of what the liberals are accusing the protesters of.  Nor in fact do I hear any, either. I suspect that you don’t, either.

So, one might conclude that the only way those protests were going to get reported was if something that made those protesters look evil , somehow, could be slipped into the story. Even, apparently, if it was all a lie.

The end of Hope as we know it, Benjamin Domenech, CBS News:

Over the past week, in backroom conversations with members of Congress, Obama changed his negotiation tone from demanding to desperate. He told progressives that the outcome of the rest of his term depended on what happened on health care, and a member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus confided to Politico that Obama changed his position on this weekend’s vote by saying “the fate of his presidency” rested on it.

It’s not hard to see why the president would feel this way. The tidal wave of popularity he rode into office has crashed and withdrawn. This week Gallup found, for the first time, that more Americans disapprove of President Obama than approve – a shift made all the more jarring when you consider how little he has achieved in his short tenure in return for so much spent political capital.
Geez Louise, Slaughter gets slaughtered, video:

Hat tip:  Glenn Reynolds, Instapundit.

White House does Spam, CBS News:

The White House Office of Health Reform Director Nancy-Ann DeParle has been feverishly sending out unsolicited email messages to federal employees in an effort to build support for President Barack Obama’s health reform package over the last several weeks.

DeParle’s unsolicited emails have been regularly coming to some federal employees’ official government email inboxes for weeks without permission or request

Eric, I believe this is illegal.

Representative Slaughter get slaughtered, video:

More,  Ed Morrissey, Hot Air:

Democrats like Louise Slaughter keep saying that Republicans have no plan to reform health care. Paul Ryan showed up at the Rules committee meeting today to explain that they do — and demonstrate that Democrats either don’t understand it or want to ignore it.

Paul Ryan has a plan to cover health care and can explain it.   Mrs. Slaughter has no clue.

Pervert Bait, perverts are attracted to positions of trust, such as priests and even Boy Scout leaders:

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The Boy Scouts of America call them “perversion files,” internal documents used to track Scout leaders suspected of sexually abusing young boys, and they have become part of the public record in an Oregon lawsuit.

[…]

Attorneys Paul Mones and Kelly Clark won the release of files from 1965-85 to help them make the case in a $14 million lawsuit against the Boy Scouts filed by a 37-year-old Oregon man. He was sexually molested in the early 1980s by assistant Scoutmaster Timur Dykes, who was convicted three times between 1983 and 1994 of sexually abusing boys, most of them Scouts.

Lawyers are attracted to money.

Main Stream Media is attracted to sensationalism, Christian Science Monitor:

Wal-Mart ‘All black people leave’ arrest a media wake-up call

In the last week, both Toyota and Wal-Mart bore the the brunt of alleged consumer skulduggery. Critics say the media is more gullible than most Americans when it comes to reporting stories like the racist PA announcement or the runaway Prius.

The first day of spring in Rochester, means we only have ten more inches of snow fall projected.

Michelle is reporting:

Well, well, well. Breaking news all over that the Dems have now abandoned Demon Pass.

WaPo alert:

House Democratic leaders say they will take a separate vote on the Senate health care bill, rejecting an earlier, much-criticized strategy that would have permitted them to “deem” the measure passed without an explicit vote.

The Hill tweets: “Our Roxana Tiron reports Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.) told her Pelosi now WILL NOT use ‘deem and pass.'”

It’s certainly an interesting development, but I am less than fully impressed that it is a good thing.  It strikes me that the reason that the democrats decided that they were going to use such trickery was because they didn’t have the votes.  Is it possible the reason they decided against using such trickery is that they actually do have the votes, after all? 

Reynolds says this morning:

RASMUSSEN: 44% “Strongly Disapprove” of Obama; only 43% approve of Obama at all.

23% of the nation’s voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Forty-four percent (44%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -21. That matches the lowest Approval Index rating yet recorded for this President (see trends). . . .  Overall, 43% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of the President’s performance. That also matches the lowest level yet recorded for this President. Fifty-six percent (56%) disapprove.

Will the press start talking about “the increasingly unpopular President Obama” any time soon?

Well the obvious answer is ‘No, they won’t’. …  but it gets deeper, here.

In my travels across the country in the last few weeks, I got into many discussions on the impending Democrat-made healthcare  disaster. One question that kept popping up tells me that they really don’t understand the motivations behind this government takeover of healthcare.

“Do they really understand how unpopular this is?”

My answer, particularly in watching the story the last few days is that they really do understand. They just consider it part of the longer term endgame.

Jennifer Rubin:

Should he squeak it out, Obama’s “victory” would come with a heavy price. Gone is the image of a policy sophisticate (try watching that Bret Baier interview a few times without wincing). Gone is the “moderate” moniker. And gone is the notion that he’d usher in a new era of less contentious and less corrupt politics. (It’s a new era, perhaps, but hardly a better one.) There is no mistaking now the depth of the campaign deception. The public has figured out what he is all about. And increasingly, they dislike what they see.

Thing is they’re not interested in short term popularity. They’re interested in long term power. They understand as Stalin did before, that a short term political price must be paid to get to the degree of socialism they want to see. And that is the goal, my friends, make no mistake, here.

OK, I know. I hear you saying: “But Eric, don’t they need to be popular to get elected?”

No.
Watch closely, here and take the long view in the doing.

Notice, please first, that the consequences of this bill… the higher taxes etc, none of these come into play until after the current administration is long gone, and presumably, the Democrats in Congress with them. That’s one f the few details we;ve managed to get out of the ever changing bill.  So who gets the blame for this Democrat made disaster? The party in power,  that’s who.   I point out, that will not be the Democrats by that time.

Megan McCardle adds:

This I am confident of: they’re not going to “pass this bill and then fix it,” and the people saying that this should be the priority of people who are against the bill–including people like Rep. Lynch–seems borderline delusional.  You think the Democrats are going to take up health care again this term?  Given that they look more likely than not to lose the House, you think Democrats are going to take it up again before these laws go into effect?

Those like my colleague Andrew, who want Republicans to turn to the task of improving this monstrous bill–how is that going to happen?   The “fixes” are all the unpopular stuff: the taxes, the spending cuts.   You think that now that Democrats got to hand out the goodies, Republicans are going to be the nasty folks who volunteer to hand around the bill for a law they didn’t even want to pass?

…

The idea that you pass a program of dubious sustainability because you can always make it sustainable later, seems borderline insane.  I can’t think of a single major entitlement that has become more sustainable over time.  Why is this one supposed to be different?

So, now we all understand the thing isn’t going to be made better… just worse. More….. I already pointed out that the CBO numbers as presented on this monster, are more than a little twisted. Greg Mankiw takes that perception to a new level today, saying:

There has been a lot of talk lately about the CBO scoring of the health bill.  Here is one thing people should understand about their numbers: When they estimate the budget impact of a bill like this, they assume the path of GDP is unchanged.

Recall that the bill raises taxes substantially.  Some of these tax hikes are the explicit tax increases on capital income to pay for the insurance subsidies.  Some of these tax hikes are the implicit marginal rate increases from the phase-out of the insurance subsidies as a person’s income rises.  Both of these would be expected to reduce GDP growth.

Indeed, to be very wonkish about it, these tax changes could have especially large GDP effects.

Now of course all that won’t become apparent to the electorate until after the GOP regains power in Congress, and presumably the White House.. At which point it’ll be too late to close the barn door… the horse being a mere echo in the hills. The press, of course will be quick to pin the whole thing on the GOP. As Glenn points out they’ll never cast any leftist in the correct….bad… light.

So in the long view, the Democrats will have both the socilaist legislation they’ve coveted for so long and will by that point have regained the power. .. and none of the blame for it being such an expensive pile of crap.

Just some notes for the other authors…

I’ve upgraded to WP292, apparently without incident. Updated several plugins including a new SEO and  the random quotes plugin.

I’ve added some speed ups to compress the raw HTML and the CSS, as well as what Java scripting I’ve been doing.  The HTML itself is now tight enough that you can’t fit water in there, and the page loads are very very fast indeed, now, though I wonder what is being presented to the search engines. I’ll have to keep a watch on that.

Backups are going according to plan (Thanks Art!!)  and I now have a few safety sets on tape here too.

Database is now optimizing itself nicely, every hour. That will help keep the backup volumes down and the front end response time where it should be.

Eric Holder’s double standard, Leftist Propaganda Machine:

“Those who reaffirm our nation’s most essential and enduring values do not deserve to have their own values questioned,” Holder told a group of lawyers who offer “pro bono,” or voluntary, legal services. “Let me be clear about this: Lawyers who provide counsel for the unpopular are, and should be treated as what they are: patriots.”

In the Holder universe, defending illegal combatants is patriotic.  On the other hand, defending the United States of America is a prosecutable offense, Wall Street Journal:

Current AG Eric Holder assigned the project to his new leader of the professional responsibility office, veteran D.C. prosecutor Mary Patrice Brown.

Ultimately, however, it seems the decision to stop short of disciplinary recommendations for Yoo and Bybee fell to David Margolis, who, reports the WaPo, “has spent more than three decades at the center of some of the most sensitive issues at the Justice Department.”

By the Holder Standard, such as it is, if defending an unpopular client, in this case the United States of America, is patriotic, then Holder ought to consider John Yoo and Jay Bybee patriotic heroes and not criminals.

An armed citizenry is a free citizenry, Environmental Graffiti:

Ensconced in the snow, his white camouflage suit rendering him invisible to the invading Soviet soldiers he stalked, Simo Häyhä steadied himself to fire. During the 1939-1940 Winter War, in temperatures as low as -40 °C, the Finnish sniper undertook a killing spree that saw him single-handedly take the lives of at least 700 men in less than 100 days. Over 500 of these he shot using a standard, bolt-action rifle with non-telescopic sights. Is it any wonder he earned the nickname The White Death among his enemies? Meet the man who would take Rambo to the cleaners.

Hat tip: Glenn Reynolds, Instapundit.

Tyrants, like Po Pot,  Hugo Chavez,  Barack Obama and Fidel Castro do not like an armed citizenry.

Bull Pucky, New York Daily News:

Blame it on a computer.

Embarrassed cops on Thursday cited a “computer glitch” as the reason police targeted the home of an elderly, law-abiding couple more than 50 times in futile hunts for bad guys.

Maybe you can get by with blaming the computer for the first mistaken raid, but not for the last forty-nine.   Citizens expect more from their government, even in New York City.