Decoding the Leftards on Heath Care Reform

Jan Schakowsky (Illinois – Nine) is a useful idiot.   Schakowsky gave a speech where she revealed her vision and hope for so-called health care reform.  View her deranged speech  here (will not embed).

Schakowsky’s speech is a gold mine, and one I do not claimed to have fully mined her speech of all nuggets   Here our some.

One, Schakowsky claims that Barack Obama thinks of health care as if it were a right     Obama, as is his want, is simply wrong.    Thinking the Earth to be flat does not make it flat.   Thinking health care to be right does not, and can not, make health care a right.

Health care is not right,   It is a commodity.   A commodity the product of human endeavor.   In order to provide a commodity to one person, it first must be taken from another.   Exercising a right does not diminish another person’s rights.   Whereas consuming heath care does deprive another of those services.

No amount of wanting, crying or moaning can transform a commodity, even health care, in to a right.    The threat of state provided health to take health care from one person, by force if need be, and then give to another.   Call that what you will, that is not freedom.

Two, on to Schakowsky’s details

Schakowsky, is proposing a one size fits all health plan.   If Obama Motors only made just one model car,  some would have more care than they need, others less, we’d all pay too much and nobody would like the car anyhow.   Yet Schakowsky seems to think that having some government official make your health care choices is somehow a better deal.

The congresswomen admits that her plan is not to supplement private health insurance but rather to destroy it.    The consumer has no power to make any choices, only the government.  Not freedom, and not good.

Schakowsky is demanding the full suite of reproductive health services, abortions for minors and invitrofertilization for unmarried women.

She want to provide these full range of health services to illegal aliens.   We already have enough problem with illegal immigration with using state provided health care as magnet.

Having to pick just one model of Obamamobile, would not very smart way to buy a care.   Likewise, one size fits all Obamacare, is not smart way to purchase health care coverage.

Hat tips:  Gateway Pundit, and Verum Serum.

Speaker Tablecloth, Nancy Pelosi, knew about the Bush admintration enhanced interrogation from Day One.   Michelle has the story:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi knew from September 2, 2002 that enhanced interrogation techniques, including waterboarding, were being used on jihadi detainees.

More, Gateway Pundit:

A report released today proved that Speaker Pelosi was told that waterboarding was used on terrorist suspect Abu Zubaydah way back in September 2002.

More, Glenn Reynolds, Instapundit:

ABC NEWS: Pelosi Briefed on Use of Interrogation Tactics in Sept. ’02. Pelosi says her recollection differs from the written report. Obviously, we need a Truth Commission to sort all this out 

Bring on the investigation.

From Kimberly Kindy and Ceci Connoly, Washington Post:

WASHINGTON – The Obama administration is considering an unprecedented fall vaccination campaign that could entail giving Americans three flu shots – one to combat annual seasonal influenza and two targeted at the new swine flu virus spreading across the globe.

Not only no, but hell no.   I not getting three flu shots, period.   How about  you?

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

This is the Railroaded Edition

• A measure of commitment: A great one from Don Surber: The EPA should turn off its air conditioning.
  

  Administrator Lisa Jackson of the Environmental Protection Agency should be the first to cut her agency’s power usage. She opposes mountaintop mining.

  Let her cut off her agency’s air conditioner. Let her agency use candles instead of electric lights. Let her lock the agency’s elevators.

  The EPA should set the example. If she truly believes in global warming, let her walk the talk, or in this case sweat the details. Really sweat.

  Heating, ventilation and cooling accounted for 31 percent of the household consumption of electricity in 2005, according to the Department of Energy. Almost half of that HVAC consumption was from air conditioning.

  

  Norfolk Southern Unit Coal Train passes through, Cumberland RI. Photo: Dave Hughes

  So our leaders should shut off all the air conditioners in Washington. That should cut back their use of electricity by 15 percent, if my calculations are correct.

  Indeed. They want the country to work it’s way back to the stone age? Fine. Let’s let them take the lead on this.  You and I both know they won’t, and that’s exactly the point. So, why do they expect US to?

• The Monochrome Coalition, part II:  It’s amazing what lies get passed off in the name of ‘Diversity” 
• The Folly of Ethanol:  If you’ve been following David’s posts on the topic, you’ll want to check this out at American Thinker.
• The Politics of fear:  This time, the government fears the Tea Party activists.  That’s a good thing, but perhaps someone can explain to me why the restriction was respected by the speaker and his supporters?  Is there some basis of moral authority that allows the government to shut it’s citizens up? Or is it the citizens who have the moral duty to force the issue?
•  I keep telling you, it’s about the Unions: Boortz points out today that Chrysler isn’t going to pay back the $7 Billion it borrowed. Yeah, like, who didn’t see THAT coming? They’re apparently putting that money under their bankruptcy filing.  Boortz takes it from there:
  

  So there you go. Not only do secured creditors get the hind teat … but so do the taxpayers. Who gets the front? The very union workers who helped destroy the American automobile industry. How wonderful. That’s $7 billion … gone. Poof. Never to be seen again by you or your children or grandchildren.

  Eh… we WILL see the bills for it, though. 

  By the way, I’ve blasted George Will as a matter of reflex around here often enough.In fairness, I’ll tell you he gets one pretty much correct on this topic, and is worth your time today.

• Are there any rules in the Bailout game?  Tom Cooley at Forbes says, Not if your name is Obama, no.  
• Speaking of the UAW:  Guess who was the only Republican Senator to get a donation from the UAW? That’s right; Arlen Specter.   Interesting  how this comes up now that Specter is circling the drain.
• Round and round they go…. Speaking of circling the drain, I see John Edwards… he of the “I feel pretty” brigade, is still having Mistress trouble.  Does anyone suppose he’ll be on the short list in 2012?
• Trust me, Liz is no victim, here:  I’m unconvinced the wife didn’t know what was what. Neither is Democrat Loyalist George Stephanopoulos, apparently.
• Ridge won’t go: Speaking of Specter, the wires have preliminary stories up saying that Tom Ridge won’t run for the seat occupied by Specter. Now, ordinarily, I’d take it that Toomey is a lock for being nominated by the Republicans. Thing is, I’m still convinced the RNC is not happy about running a real conservative, and that we’re going to see some kind of fast shuffle going on. I’m still hearing there’s a bit of argument at the top. It’s disturbing, though, that I’m not getting a clear map of the battles, in terms of who is on which side, and why.
•  You gotta have faith…  Unless you’re Obama, apparently.
• Here come those Santa Anna Winds again…..  Santa Barbara has serious wildfire trouble.  Ya know, the weather, and the fires, I could take. But add that to the left-leaning whackjob government there, and the deal’s off. I’d rather deal with snow. It’s a wonder anyone’s staying there, anymore. If you’re interested KNX/1070 has some vid, and they’ve a streaming site, too. They’re the big talker out there, a CBS O&O and so should be a good info source.
• Jack Kemp Memorial: The Memorial Service for Jack Kemp is Tomorrow, apparently, at the National Cathedral, at 1pm eastern.  No word at this writing if there’s TV, but I cannot imagine where at least C-Span wouldn’t  be showing up.  The Foundry has the details.
• Smoke, Mirrors and your dollars: So, the press is claiming Obama ‘trimmed the budget’?   Ed Morrissey points out that while he trimmed 0.05%, he’s boosted spending by 12%… and I’d add that doesn’t include the bailouts.  Only in Washington, and then only among liberals.
• Gore Statue? Apparently the Tennessee State Legislature doesn’t have enough things to spend money on… they want to create more. They’ve urged that a statue of Al Gore be erected. The drawback of course is the inability to tell the difference between the statue and the real thing. I must admit there is a certain agreeable twinge associated with generations of pigeons crapping on his likeness. I do wonder if the activity will be limited to pigeons, however.

Arthur Brooks, at  The Wall Street Journal suggests that there’s a bit of a culture war going on about the future of capitalism.  The headline suggests that “The Real Culture War Is Over Capitalism “

There is a major cultural schism developing in America. But it’s not over abortion, same-sex marriage or home schooling, as important as these issues are. The new divide centers on free enterprise — the principle at the core of American culture.

I dare suggest Brooks in this quote, has this exactly backward.  He’s pointing at a symptom and labeling at the root cause. Not that I blame him, really.  It’s been so long since we’ve dealt with things on the level of principle that even the more learned among us get it garbled in translation.

I agree with Arthur that this is a war that is cultural in its nature. However, the war over capitalism, as he calls it, is part of the war on culture because capitalism in its truest sense can only exist in a free society, which is a culturally generated condition.  It is the product of a particular variety of culture that…  (at least until recently)…  we here in these United States have been blessed with. What I am suggesting is that the principle at the core of the American culture is in fact freedom, of which capitalism is a product.

While it is true that there are a few places in the communist world, China for example, where capitalism raises its head in some form, it is diluted in the extreme. It is in fact, capitalism in name only.  Alas in the view of many, a goodly number of which were out on the front lines of the tea party protests last month, that kind of weak as dishwater capitalism, capitalism in name only, is the path that we have been set on long ago, and have taken several leaps toward in the recent dealings between the White House the united auto workers unions had left of the American car manufacturing companies, and the banking industry.

Freedom, in the end, is an issue of morals, the proper application of morals. It is purely a morality issue. So it is, that very few people were surprised when the current administration left an over- large the bill for our offspring to pay for bailing out the aforementioned united auto workers union, and for whatever else the government decided they were going to use it for in the name of “recovery”. There’s an immorality at the center of the current administrations actions that cannot be ignored.

In the end, that morality issue is what the Tea Parties were all about. being populated,  by and large people who haven’t walked away from their mortgages who don’t want the government largess and who certainly aren’t interested in the government taking their pockets to pay for people who did walk away from their mortgages who do want government largess and don’t care about much else.  You see…. Theft, of whatever kind, is also a morality issue.

I must be fair….Brooks gets it partially right, here, when he says:

Social Democrats are working to create a society where the majority are net recipients of the “sharing economy.” They are fighting a culture war of attrition with economic tools. Defenders of capitalism risk getting caught flat-footed with increasingly antiquated arguments that free enterprise is a Main Street pocketbook issue. Progressives are working relentlessly to see that it is not.

Advocates of free enterprise must learn from the growing grass-roots protests, and make the moral case for freedom and entrepreneurship.

Well, I’ll give him 7 points  out of ten; he’s getting close to the principles of the thing, but he’s not quite there yet.

Entrepreneurship is a product of capitalism, and cannot exist outside that environment.  Capitalism in it’s turn, is a product of freedom. Similarly, capitalism cannot exist outside an environment of freedom, which is in turn a product of morality.

In the end, what the protesters on April 15 were arguing for was that the government start acting morally.  It’s something that they haven’t done for quite some time.  Of course, there are those who will argue that moral judgments in the political world amount to a litmus test.  They are quite correct, of course it does.  But since when is that a bad thing?  Let me tell you, my friends, when you hear somebody dismissing something as a litmus test what you are really hearing is someone arguing that principles should not be applied.  There lies a snake.

It is clear that the Democrat party are never going to return to that level of morality, will never understand the relationship of morality freedom and capitalism , and wouldn’t admit it if they did.  It is then left to the Republican Party to make those connections and to trumpet their virtues.  The Republicans for their part are only going to be returning to power to the direct degree that they understand those relationships, and championed the principles behind them.

Addendum: (David L)

Who better to explain markets and freedom than Milton Frindman.   Capitalism isn’t a system.   Rather a free market economy is simply what free people do.   This video is not exactly on point, but ot is hard to wrong with Friedman.   The last half of the video is Mark Levin rant, video:

Friedman understands the  market economy, and Levin understands Obama.

I know Eric already rambled on Colin Powell.   However, I am still going stick my two cents,   For the record, Chris Strohm, Congress Daily

The Republican Party is in big trouble and needs to find a way to move back to the middle of the country, former Secretary of State Colin Powell said Monday.

Powell said the GOP is “getting smaller and smaller” and “that’s not good for the nation.” He also said he hopes that emerging GOP leaders, such as House Minority Whip Cantor, will not keep repeating mantras of the far right.

“The Republican Party is in deep trouble,” Powell told corporate security executives at a conference in Washington sponsored by Fortify Software Inc. The party must realize that the country has changed, he said. “Americans do want to pay taxes for services,” he said. “Americans are looking for more government in their life, not less.”

One, pay no attention to the democrat, Powell, behind the curtain.   The republicans nominated a candidate, John McCain, who ran to the left of George W. Bush.   Powell still endorsed a rookie Senator.    If Powell would not support McCain, there is no republican he would support.

Two, we already tried moderation, eight years of Bush.

Three, American do not want to pay more taxes.   Powell did not notice that the candidate he endorsed, Obama, campaigned on a promise to give ninety-five percent of Americans a tax cut, even those who do not pay taxes.    Yet Obama is a tax and spend libtarr, but he tried to present otherwise during the campaign.

Four what is not good for the nation, is Obama’s out of control spending.   His coming massive tax increases, and his obsession with trying run the entire nation from the White House.

Part of me, says not to go here.    Part says, read twice what I say before you bombard Eric.   So here is goes.

Is it ever permissable for a man to slap a woman?   Maybe, video

Or maybe not. Barbara Walters seems to neither condemning nor condoning Sean Conner.

Even if you accept that it permissable, sometimes, to slap a woemn, we should agree that is should never take more than one man.

So having said that, this blog officially questions the manhood of both Mario Lavandeira d/b/a Perez Hilton and Donald Trump d/b/a Miss USA Pageant.  Patterico, Patterico Pontifications, has the details:

Ben Sheffner has obtained Perez Hilton’s cease and desist letter, which amusingly fails to address the doctrine of fair use . . . at all. Which is highly unusual for such a letter – but not surprising in this particular case, where the fair use analysis is so clear.

How bad has it gotten? The Miss USA Pageant has sent NOM a cease and desist letter of its own, for the use of Miss California’s answer. Like NOM’s use of the Perez Hilton clip, this is clearly fair use, and the takedown notice is pure thuggery by a pageant embarrassed by its decision to allow Hilton to be a judge.

I am not a big fan of beauty pageants in general,  Miss America in particular and even lesss so of Miss USA.   However Carrie Prejean has my support for standing up to thugs like Lavandeira and Trump and doing so as a lady.

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

This is the BitsBurger edition.

• Letters, we get letters:  One of the questions I get about every other week, here at CasaDeBit, is where I get all these photographs I run. How is it they all refer to the Blog? And, what do I mean when I name each day’s Ramble as an ‘Edition’? Well, I guess I can take a moment to explain this to the newcomers. It’s just a bit of editorial fun I started about a year ago. I grab a picture… either off the net, or one I’ve taken myself, and I edit the thing, to make use of the signage in the picture. In today’s case, I grabbed this one off the net, and tossed it into MS PAINT to sort of ‘white out’ bits of the signage to allow me to place my own text on the sign. Then, I use either Photoshop, or even Powerpoint, to put the new text on the sign. What text? Why, referring to BitsBlog, and the Nightly Ramble. Somehow, I always manage to get that reference in. And I’ll identify the day’s Ramble by means of a reference to the picture. In this case, this is the BitsBurger edition. Yesterday, it was a sign in front of a high school I altered, and so yesterday was the Back to School edition.Now, sometimes, I’ll reuse the graphics I create, particularly if I’m writing from the road, as I often do. It’s not easy to manipulate graphics on that scale from a Palm Treo, after all.The idea is to liven up the page a little, to make each day’s ramblng graphically unique, and to give the reader something to look forward to… (I wonder what Bit’s gonna come up with today). Some are crazier than others, some a bit more complex than others. The idea is to raise a smile.  So now you understand that bit of BitsBlog trivia, let’s get busy, here. There’s a lot of ground to cover.
•  Crisis creation and management for Political ends:  I remarked the other day that the coverage of the Swine Flu bit was just a bit overdone and wondered if there wasn’t something political behind it. Turns out, I was right, as Jeannie DeAngelis of  The American Thinker  explains:
  

  The present pandemic sized health scare is a made-to-order crisis, which could serve to make palatable to the public an unpopular policy proposal. If Obama can successfully exacerbate apprehension in the public, as he has done in the past, his health care bill can pass on the wings of nationwide alarm. The swine flu epidemic presents him with an excellent opportunity to use crisis as a springboard to replace what he considers a flawed market driven health care system, with a government controlled socialized version. 

  I figure there’s a whole mess of long faces among the Democrats that the Swine Flu didn’t really take off.  there’s a great deal more to  Jeannie’s article of course. Go and read.

• The President sends to Arlington for a Burger:  Can someone please explain to me why GE owned NBC was all over the president and the VP sending out for a burger to Arlington, yesterday?  And why was NBC busy painting this ‘as something real guys would do’? Is there any other explanation, than this was a scripted hype event, and GE Owned NBC was given Obama a tongue bath, as a return the favor gesture for the billions of taxpayer dollars GE’s been getting of late?
• Empathy and the rule of law: The courts simply cannot have both. That’s a point I made yesterday by quoting Doctor Krauthammer extensively. I note, by way of The Conservative Grapevine,  Doctor Thomas Sowell at TownHall,  putting a little meat on those bones.
•  Silencing the opposition: Ah, yes, another Labor government, another typical labor ploy; Silence those you don’t agree with.  Now, look, I think Savage to be a little more than over the edge.I’ve stated that point many times.  At the same time, he’s clearly hitting some nerves, if the Labor Government reacts this way. He’s clearly asking questions and making points that expose the Labor party (And the left here in the US) as the intellectual frauds they are.  Let’s consider this. The PM bans Savage from stepping foot in what’s left of England.  Have any radical psalmists been so banned?  Has Alex Jones… arguably a bigger crackpot than Savage… been banned?  No? Anyone from Stormfront?  No? Well, now you see the problem.  
• Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water:  You thought the Tea Party stuff was all done? Think again.  And, again. Good for us.
• Parental supervision:  Glenn Reynolds links Amy Alkon, who says:
  

  “If any of us posting or commenting here were growing up today with the parental supervision we had when we actually did grow up, our parents would very likely be in jail for child neglect and we’d be in foster care.”

  Funny that should come up. I was just writing a piece for release come Christmas time, that related that same issue.  I pity the kids growing up today, that they lack that freedom. I wonder if the losses because of this trend won’t be more pronounced and more serious than just an inability to go exploring when the mood strikes. A lower level of confidence as adults strikes me as one probable result.

•  Boy, that was close: Kathleen Sebelius apparently got out of Kansas just in the nick of time. Something about this doesn’t bode well for the Democrats in the next couple of cycles.
• Enough, already: Someone tell Colin Powell to shut up.
• Specter has his non-senior moment:  Look, let’s state this right at the off… any enviroment where Jack Murtha can get re-elected given his misdeeds is bound to be a major foulup from the word ‘go’.  So, along with about everyone else, last night,  James Joyner noted the movement of the Democrats to strip Arlen Specter of his 30 years of seniority.  And now for their next magical trick, they’ll likely try to convince him to drop out of the running before a primary gets called for.  Specter having his seniority was one of the few remaining reasons Specter had any kind of edge at all in the upcoming cycle. That gone, it’ll be interesting to see how the rest of this falls out. Certainly, the polling data will shift… The most recent was taken prior to his losing that promised promised seniority. The Dems now take on the image of people who break their promises at need. Ask Bush 41 how that game gets played out.
• Meanwhile, in the Maryland Hills:  Tom Ridge…. the guy the Republican leadership is pushing for over local favorite Toomey… You know… Tom Ridge.. the guy who actually voted for the ‘Fairness Doctrine’… Turns out he’s actually a Maryland resident, these days. OK, that’s no showstopper. Ridge obviously moved to Maryland to be closer to DC, since he’s becoming more of a Washington insider of late. So, are the Republicans working for a Washington insider to get Specter’s seat? Yeah, that’s gonna fly, huh? That Senate seat and it’s foibles appears to me to be an issue of who can appear more out of touch with reality. Frankly, I’m hard pressed to tell you who’s winning that race.
• Stress tests?  So, now, we’re supposed to understand that a number of banks didn’t pass their stress tests, and will likely need further federal funding to stay afloat. Forgive me, but I ahve some problems with the reports. First off, let’s remember that the Administrationw as lothe to allow banks to return Tarp money… mostly because they didn’t want to lose control of the banks they’d loaned money to. On what basis are we now to assume that the Administration isn’t making the case for continued or extended control of those banks under false pretext? Seriously, is there anyone outside of government who understands these tests and if they’re biased in some way?

Apparently, that FOIA demand from Fox News did the trick, at least partially:

The White House plans to soon release a photo from the controversial Air Force One-style flyover of Manhattan last week, despite claiming earlier that there was no need to release any official images from the incident.

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters Wednesday that an internal report will probably be completed this week.

“We’ll release its findings and release a photo,” he said.

That was after Gibbs indicated Tuesday that the White House would not release any images.

“I’ve watched CNN,” he said at the time, noting the considerable coverage from amateur footage. “I didn’t notice a lack of archival material from that flight.”

Notice… they’re only releasing one photo. Why?

Let’s look this situation over, shall we?

  I dunno about you, but on the face of it, I’m going to take a great deal more seriously, the pronouncements of someone who looks like this, and think it looks good…

... than I am someone looking like this, who thinks it looks good.

Oh, I’m sure I’m going to be told I’m a bigot, or even worse, I’ll be scolded by the wearer of the wig, here, the self-named ‘Perez Hilton’ for being a ‘dumb bitch’… but frankly, I’m not sure I much care.

By the way, this pronouncement will doubtless come as a shock to anyone who accepts the word of the Miss America Pagent’ judges as to what is and is not appropriate pictures. Again, I couldn’t possibly care less.

Granted that beauty queens are not known, generally speaking,  for being the driest roadflare in the box. Seems to me, however, that she has a better grasp of reality than our second example. It strikes me as an indication of how just how upside down things have gotten, when we even consider taking the inDUHvidual in the second picture as being sane, much less as the final word on something.

I suspect most Americans will agree with me, here, since in my judgement they know the difference between a beauty queen, and, well… just a queen.

 ‘Nuff said.

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It is now official Arlen Specter(Independent – Soctland) the newest member of the ‘rat caucus is the most junior, Washinging Post: 

The Senate dealt a blow tonight to Sen. Arlen Specter’s hold on seniority in several key committees, a week after the Pennsylvanian’s party switch placed Democrats on the precipice of a 60-seat majority.In a unanimous voice vote, the Senate approved a resolution that added Specter to the Democratic side of the dais on the five committees on which he serves, an expected move that gives Democrats larger margins on key panels such as Judiciary and Appropriations.

But Democrats placed Specter in one of the two most junior slots on each of the five committees for the remainder of this Congress, which

Arlen, you trusted Dirty Harry Reid to let you keep your seniority.

More popcorn Eric!

If Orrin Hatch is right, the Obamatards are keen on slipping through a  Supreme Court justice before she can get vetted by the public, Manu Raju and Johnathan Martin, P0litico:

After talking to President Barack Obama on the phone today, Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch says he believes the White House will move swiftly on its Supreme Court nominee, perhaps making an announcement by the end of this week.

Obama made no timing commitments to the Utah Republican, but the senator, who has been in the middle of several pitched Supreme Court battles, said: “I’d be surprised if it went beyond this week. … I would think by the end of this week or over the weekend, he’ll nominate somebody. I’m sure they’ve discussed this internally, back and forth for months now

So what is team Obama’s hurry.   Even the best of presidents can make a mistake on the Supreme Court.   Dwight Eisenhower appointed William Brennan, Jr,  Ronald Reagan named  Sandra Day O’Connor and George (Forty-One) Bush named David Souter.   Not a sterling appoint in the lot and Eisenhower, Reagan and Bush administrations did not have the flawed vetting process that produces Tom Dashcle, Tim Geither, Hillary Clinton or Janet Napolitano.

In other words, the Obama administration yet to learn how to properly vet anybody, but reportedly want to do a Supreme Court justice in week.

In light of the the Judicial Confirmation Network(conservative) is asking the brakes to be applied, via Matt Lewis, Inside Politics Daily:

While we don’t know for sure the veracity of these reports, Senator Hatch (who spoke with the President yesterday) ventured to guess that the White House might name a Supreme Court nominee within a week. And from what we have seen so far, Senate Judiciary Chairman Pat Leahy seems eager to ram through Obama judicial nominees without giving Senators a proper chance to evaluate the nominee’s record and assess whether she will be able to uphold her statutory judicial oath of office to dispense justice impartially, according to the law, instead of tilting the law based on her own personal views and feelings, as the President has said he wants.

Obama has a profound profession for mediocrity.   No time like the present to start doing it right.

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

This is the “Back to School” Edition

• Has it been that long? I am reminded by Ed Morrissey that yesterday marks 36 years that Jim Croce has been gone from us. Amazing. It’s sobering, how long it’s been. Actually, the reminder came last night, while I was out on the road. I was cast into the memory pit, almost at once. The kind of thoughts you have on a longish drive. I do, anyway.

  I remember that “I”ve Got a Name” was the hit at the time, and the Top40’s in town, WBBF and WAXC were all over it.  Jim was something special, to me, really, someone easily identified with. That self-identification was made somewhat easier by the idea that I was dating a girl who looked rather amazingly like Ingrid, Jim’s wife.

  Jim had several albums, but the ones that mattered were the three he recorded for ABC records.  I had them all. Still do, too.  But the most striking memory of all about Jim, was a high school assembly, a multi-media affair that was a touring show, who did their thing about two weeks after his death. Very well done, particularly for the time, it was. But the one thing from that show I recall today was the reference to Croce. It was obvious that the scripting had always intended to include him and was written before his death.  It included footage of Jim in the studio, cutting “I’ve Got a Name”.  As the last notes faded away, the silence… the emotion…  in the room was such you could hear the hum from the lighting in the room… a rarity with several hundred high school kids in the room. There was an open wound in the room that afternoon, and no mistake. 

  I can’t help wondering where his music would have taken him. Certainly the style didn’t die out when Jim did. Not right away, at least. Lightfoot, for example, managed several more really fine albums, and is still touring today, mostly around Southern Ontario, this season… not far from his nest at Orillia. Of course, Gordo had been working since the 60’s and had his own following anyway. John Denver, already insanely popular, got even moreso within months of Jim’s death, too. (And, irony abounds, a plane claimed him, in the end, as well) Harry Chapin… (another tragedy)… I’ve always thought, got a slight boost from Jim’s passing, with Verities and Balderdash, Chapin’s last real hit album, peaking less than six months later.  But there’s no denying that very few people came up behind him in more or less the same style. 

  Perhaps that’s because Jim’s talent was large enough to suck all the air out of the genre, or the pain was too great for most people, to suffer a faint copy, or a combo of the two, I don’t know.

• Gee, ya think?  Why is anyone shocked athat Obama would like MSNBC and it’s leftist lean? Might this also explain the amount of tax money ending up in GE’s pocket?
•  Speaking of tax money: It tunrs out Jack Murtha’s newphew got a pile of it from Uncle Jack.  Millions, in fact. Michelle Malkin has much more.
• Hack:  So, having your healthcare records online is helpful why, again?
• The Honor is mine: An Honorable Mention at OTB’s Caption Contest.
• The Chrysler debacle:  Kevin Hassett has a great piece over at Bloomberg you need to read. What Kevin doesn’t say, because this occurred since it was written, apparently, is that a number of investors have filed suit to stop the Chrysler bankruptcy,  Why, I’ll leave to Boortz:
  

  Lauria claims that the Obama administration has violated the Constitution by trying to devalue the senior creditors’ holdings on behalf of junior creditors. What does Lauria base this on? Something called the 5th Amendment. Maybe you have heard of it. Just in case, here is a little reminder:No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

  But wait … as they say … there’s more! Lauria, who represents the group referred to as the non-TARP lenders, is going to ask that the bankruptcy court keep the names of his client confidential. Why would that be? Because they have been receiving threats. You can bet that some of the threats are coming from union members. These union goons like the idea of their pension debts being given priority to Chrysler’s secured lenders, and I think we all know what union goons do when something happens they don’t like. There was a time not too long ago when the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms noted that the number one illegal use of explosives in the United States came at the hands of union members engaged in work actions.

  But there’s another group threatening the secured non-TARP creditors. That would be the White House. Lauria and others have claimed that people within the Obama administration have made it clear that if any of these secured lenders get in the way of Obama’s gift to the unions the White House will work to destroy their reputation. Now the White House denies this. What would you expect? But listen to the language … Obama has attacked these people in public as being “vultures” and has painted them as evil capitalists who don’t want to stand by the families of Chrysler workers. If he’ll do this in public, what do you think his attack dogs will do in private?

  Exactly so. And, no I’d not put it past Obama. Neal has been doing a great job with all this, by the way, and you should be keeping an eye… and an ear… on the man over the bailout business.

  I’m interested to see if this will actually get heard in court. If it does, it will not be good for the WH.

•  No Photos:  Speaking of not good for the White House, you will recall I suggested that if the photos taken of Air Force One over Manhatan the other day were intended to be used as a part of Obama’s dog and pony show, the things would never see the light of day. Bingo.  Maybe we can use the footage of peopel running from the damn thing, taken by citizens,  instead. Reality TV at it’s finest.
• Ain’t it real?  Kaus, yesterday:
  

  John Edwards runs an entire presidential campaign based in large part on his character as shown by his loyalty to his brave, ill wife, etc.–when in reality he’s cheating on her, practically setting up a second family–and the press doesn’t care (or, rather, pretends in public that it doesn’t care, lest its readers get interested). But a year later some prosecutor comes up with a tedious, hard-to-define potential campaign violation, and it’s katy-bar-the door!

  No kidding. Of course, what’s happening here is being pushed by his wife’s forthcoming book. Can you imagine what happens when the book comes out and the Obama administration isn’t pushing an investigation into the funding matters?  It would look, correctly, like the Administration was sheilding a fellow Democrat. I’m telling you, absent the book , though, there’d be no investigation. As to the press, that’s the key to understanding all of this;  they’re openly supportive of anything offered up by the Obama administration. GE owned NBC, particularly. The amount of coverage a political event gets, then, is directly proportional to the need of the administration to spread a particular version of the story.

•  Ending Tax Loopholes?  Look, gang, let’s call this what it is… We’ve been talking about closing loopholes in the tax code for deacdes, now.  This nonsense ain’t gonna happen.  And isn’t it interesting to hear Obama complain about tax cheats when so many of his nominees are tax cheats themselves? This stuff would be laughable were it not so tragic. And again, Michelle has more.

Dom DeLuise, a face well known for many decades to most Americans died today, at age 75. The New York Daily News is reporting it this way:

Brooklyn-born Dom DeLuise, the roly-poly movie foil to best buddy Burt Reynolds during a comedic career that spanned the last half-century, died Monday in Los Angeles. He was 75.

DeLuise, also a regular in director Mel Brooks’s acclaimed comedies, passed away in his sleep at a Los Angeles hospital, according to TMZ.com.

DeLuise served as the rotund sidekick to matinee idol Reynolds in a series of films, an extension of their off-screen friendship.

The pair shared the big screen in “The End,” “Cannonball Run I & II,” “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas” and “Smokey & the Bandit II.”

“I was dreading this moment,” Reynolds said in a statement to “Entertainment Tonight.”

Yeah, I can imagine. I always rather liked him. Always a smile, always a great bit of comic timing. Here was someone who loved to have fun doing what they were doing, and wasn’t afraid to show it.