Snark of the Day: Jennifer Rubin

If you want to be in the business of economic recovery you need to do things to encourage that. If you want to be in the business of conducting a grand social experiment, you ignore the advice and pleas of just about everyone with a stake or expertise in the economy. And then you watch the markets continue to dive.

Jennifer Rubin, Commentary Magazine.

How clueless is the rookie President Barack Obama?   Enough that Paul Krugman and Charles Krauthammer are on the same page,  first  Krugman:

Many analysts agree. But among people I talk to there’s a growing sense of frustration, even panic, over Mr. Obama’s failure to match his words with deeds. The reality is that when it comes to dealing with the banks, the Obama administration is dithering. Policy is stuck in a holding pattern.ame wavelengthj,

And second  Krauthammer:

And yet with our financial house on fire, Obama makes clear both in his speech and his budget that the essence of his presidency will be the transformation of health care, education and energy. Four months after winning the election, six weeks after his swearing-in, Obama has yet to unveil a plan to deal with the banking crisis.

If President Obama does not want to deal with our financial crisis,  he should step aside.

Hat tip:  James Taranto, Best of the Web.

T’d rather be right than “nice” and “polite” — and so would any intelligent adult who values the truth.

Kathy Shaidle, Five Feet of Fury.

Yes my favorite north of the border, female blogger who is under five feet.

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

This is the “Boy am I looking forward to spring” edition.

It’s getting warmer around here. It started this morning above 50 degrees, and there’s a smell of spring in the air. In just a few weeks, now, I’ll be bringing our camper home from storage and setting it up for the season.  I’ll admit to having a decent case of cabin fever going.

• The law student speaks: Go and read this from Boortz. Did you read it? Good. My reaction: The letter he posts makes a great deal of sense, but ignores the point that we’re already physically seperated to a larger degree than many want to acknowledge.  Take a look at the foreclosure rates, and the unemployment rates. Where those rates are the highest is where leftists dominate. Think anyone will notice?
• When even his supporters see it: Glenn says today:
  

  Paul Krugman says Obama’s killing the Dow by dithering. So the question keeps coming up: Incompetence or malevolence? Either way, that people are asking is a bad sign .

  No, Glenn, not quite. The right’s been asking all along. I’d take the left (And the ostensibly Obama supporting moderates) now asking the same questions as a confirmation that the right’s questioning was valid all along, and that the options, incompetence or malevolence, have been properly defined. There are no other options. Obama has us on course to Alinsky style radicalism, and it’s killing us.  Too bad we had to get killed for the left to begin to understand what we’ve been saying about their wet dreams all along. It’s as I said this morning; When on ship, you notice a bunch of rats on deck, diving into the water, you’d best assume they know something you don’t, and start looking for the life preservers.

•  More socialist than the socialists: Over at Commentary, Jennifer Rubin notes
  

  Communist China is more friendly toward capital than Obama? Yup. No capital gains tax there…

  I wonder if any of our vaunted White House Press corps has the stones to press Obama on this issue. I doubt it. If you see something of the sort, though, let me know so I can credit them accordingly.

•  The Democrats Rush to hatred: Me at OTB this morning:
  

  Nobody (Democrats aside) ever claimed that Limbaugh was a leader in the Republican party. Nor is he in reality a spokesman for them, or even for their values.What he is, however is a leading voice in the conservative movement. He’s only tied to the Republican party insofar as the Republicans are conservative, which isn’t all that much of late.
  Certainly, he tends toward the Republicans, because historically, they’ve been the more conservative of the two parties. But if you listen to his show, which I do occasionally, he’s been spending his time, when addressing Republicans, in trying to get them to return to conservatism.

  I think I’ve said it here before, and I still consider it the core of this; The attacks on Limbaugh and trying to get him in the public’s perception as the face of the Republican party, is an orchestrated attempt to separate the Republican party from it’s conservative base thereby rendering it impotent.
  …
  …he’s a hate object. Hitler had the Jews. For that matter, so do the Arabs. Obama has the Rich, as a group to hate, but no longer had any one single personae to focus their hate on.
  Consider; over the last few decades, they had Reagan, Bush, Newt, and Bush, to serve as objects to focus their followers’ hate on. As a result of the most recent election, they have no elected Republicans of any real stature to focus their followers’ hate on. So, Limbaugh now serves that role.

  It amazes me the number of people who ignore those points.

• Please pass the Galt: Good points, Bryan, but simalies never work at all points anyway, so I’m not sure how concerned aI am about this.  And in any event, I’m convinced 90% of liberals don’t fully understand what Galt is.  I suppose if they did, they’d be less leftist.
•  We want the government to have our medical records, why, again?: Joe the Plumber has sued Ohio over his private records being probed.  About bloody time.
• Ha!  There’s one I wish I’d though of, Michelle.
• We have a winner: So, after jumping up off the witness stand at his own murder trial, and stabbing the judge, will the jury in that trial be allowed to rule on his guilt for the stabbing/murder he was originally on trial for? Oh, by the way… the cop that gathered the case against the guy in the first place? Arranged for the perp to assume room temperature, on the spot, likely saving the life of the judge. Good for him. (Can you imagine the ‘See, I told you so” look from the cop?)   Still, there’s the issue of the ruling on the trial he was there for… They’ve gotta put something on the books. Makes you wonder if in spite of what they saw in the courtroom, if they’d rule “not Guilty”. Ah, California….

There’s a rumbling below decks on the good ship Obama.

Geithner’s choice as his deputy has pulled out of the running.  Sanjay Gupta  has also withdrawn his name as Surgeon General. Charles Freeman is about ready to give up on taking over as head of the National Intelligence Council… he of the remarkable view that ‘Tiananmen Massacre Was Justified’   that raised so much smoke a while ago. And of course, Freeman is Anti-Israel, as well. 

(Am I alone in finding his surname… Freeman… rather ironic? The guy has no idea of freedom, apparently… OK, we’ll get to that another time. Focus, Eric, Focus!)

  Captain Ed Morressy snarks:

That makes … how many appointments to fail in the Greatest Transition Evah?  And the countin’s not done yet.
—
…maybe at some point, we’ll get the media to recognize that their obsequious hosannas to the Obama transition had no relation to the truth.

Yeah, maybe, Ed. Maybe, but I doubt it. 

See, here’s the deal:

We have an economy on the ropes, a stock market that’s lost half it’s value since Obama took the oath of office, a foriegn policy that has in five weeks gone from respected to laughing stock status, with our once solid freinds now openly annoyed with us… and giving huge amonts of money to our enemies. 

Again, Obama has managed all of this in only five weeks, and yet the Dinosaurs refuse to recognize, apparently even to themselves much less to their readers, the pattern of disaster that Obama represents. I’ll tell you true;   If they’ve not admitted to getting the message by now, they’re not going to. 

As for the rest of us, I think it’s about time to start considering this presdient a failure of epic proportions, and react accordingly. Those he’s been trying to appoint to various positions within the administration, apparently are. That should be a warning to us all. As Ed says, this is just the beginning in terms of withdrawals and resignations. 

When on ship, you notice a bunch of rats on deck, diving into the water, you’d best assume they know something you don’t, and start looking for the life preservers.

(Edit, Bit, typos)

Stink Progress has their knickers in a twist of this, somewhat inarticulate, statement from Zack Wamp(R-TN):

WAMP: Listen, health care a privilege. […]

MSNBC: Well, it’s a privilege? Health care? I mean if you have cancer right now, do you see it as a privilege to get treatment?

WAMP: I was just about to say, for some people it’s a right. But for everyone, frankly, it’s not necessarily a right.

Wamp’s statement of fact upset one Ryan Powers:

Aside from the fact that healthcare for Americans cannot – from an economic or a humanitarian stand point – be viewed as a privilege, Wamp is misrepresenting exactly why so many Americans lack coverage

So sorry to inform you Ryan, but Congressman Wamp is right, and you are dead wrong.   Health care is not a right and can never be a right.    Rather health care is a commodity.   That it is the product of human endeavors.    For in order for health care to be given to one person, it first must be taken from another.   In a free society, no man ever has the rights to the fruits of another man’s labors.     Your health care, like your mortage, is simply not my problem.

Simply coveting the fruits of another person’s labors does not, and can not, create a right.    As much as you may crave for me to pay for your health care,  that in of itself does not create some magical right for the fruits of another’s labors to pay for your health care.   That is called greed and that what you libtards purport to rail against.

More, Stephen Spruiell, National Review:

I’m not sure what else Zach Wamp said to incur the wrath of the blue-blog zombies, but he is absolutely right about one thing: Health care is not a right, at least not according to the conception of rights upon which this country was founded. Your rights include life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. You may not be unjustly deprived of these things. Your rights do not include things that I or anyone else must be forced to provide for you, such as a home, a car, a job, or health care.

Alas in the this of presidential inspired greed, simply having soemthing the left wants is more than enough to provoke their wrath.

Who’d have thunk,  Senator Charles Schumer, camera shy, Greg Sergeant:

Senator Charles Schumer has privately expressed concerns directly to White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel about Chas Freeman, the Obama administration’s pick to head the group that prepares some of the intel community’s most politically sensitive assessments, a person familiar with their conversation tells me.

Obama’s choice of Freeman as head of National Intelligence Council – which has aroused opposition because of his strong criticism of Israel and other things

It has been said, the most dangerous spot in Washington is between Chuck Schumer and a camera.

“We have real problems in this country right now and the American people are looking to us for answers, not distractions, not diversions, not manipulations.”

Barack Obama, via: James Taranto. Best of the Web.

Welcome, one and all to the most intense nightly read on the sphere; Bitsblog’s Nightly Ramble

This is the “Would you buy a used car from this Blog?” edition.  Rmemeber, no down payment and 72 years to pay.

• Our first offering this afternoon is a brand new offering from Jennifer Ruben at Commentary. I’ve said repeatedly that I’m a fan of hers, and this kind of stuff is why.
  

  Eli Lake reports that Chas Freeman is indeed to be investigated by the Inspector General. At issue are his ties the to China National Offshore Oil Corp, in which the Chinese government has a majority stake, and his role as president of the Middle East Policy Council (MEPC), which is in part Saudi-funded. And not surprisingly, the backpedaling has already begun:

  Mr. Freeman has not submitted the financial disclosure forms required of all candidates for senior public positions, according to the general counsel’s office of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

  Nor did Mr. Blair seek the White House’s approval before he announced the appointment of Mr. Freeman, said Mr. Blair’s spokeswoman, Wendy Morigi.

  “The director did not seek the White House’s approval,” Ms. Morigi said. “In addition to his formal background security investigation, we expect that the White House will undertake the typical vetting associated with senior administration assignments.”.

  All the easier to dump him then, perhaps. And how is it possible that a key position was filled without completing these steps? Lake reports: “Three former NIC chairmen and one former vice chairman told The Washington Times that Mr. Freeman’s business ties to China, Saudi Arabia and other nations should be vetted before Mr. Freeman takes his post.” But this was, bizarrely, not done before Freeman was appointed, we are now told.

  Well, of course the fact is that he was vetted… at least so far as the vetting process goes anymore in the White House given the current occupants, who gave us the specticle of the guy appointed to run the IRS being a tax cheat, and so on. I’m quite sure that’s how this one’s going to come out.   How in the world are these folks going to run our economy if the appointment process apparently gives them so much problem?  Of course there’s another angle; The process is giving them so much problem not because they’re trying to get good people into high level positions and failing, but rather because they’re trying to get their cronies in, many of which have questionable backgrounds and connections. Change we can believe in.

• The usually liberal Boston Globe has fionally noticed the bacon is burning, and they’re publicly asking “Will Obama be like Bush on executive power?”  Yeah, well, it’s not like I didn’t call this one.  I told you near on the first of the year that his polices would echo Bush, and in more that just Middle-eastern policy. That of course runs exactly in the opposite direction from what he told us he’d do during the campaign. Karl Rove notes this as well.
  

  .Barack Obama won the presidency in large measure because he presented himself as a demarcation point. The old politics, he said, was based on “spin,” misleading arguments, and an absence of candor. He’d “turn the page” on that style of politics.

  Last week’s presentation of his budget shows that hope was a mirage.

  For example, Mr. Obama didn’t run promising larger deficits — but now is offering record-setting ones. He’ll add $4.9 trillion before his term ends and $7.4 trillion if given a second, doubling the national debt in five years and tripling it in 10. Mr. Obama’s deficits will be much larger than he admits because he relies on rosy economic assumptions and gimmicks that mask spending and debt (like assuming popular new programs he supports won’t be renewed).

  Nor did Mr. Obama run promising more earmarks. Instead, he said he’d reform the earmark culture and “scour the federal budget, line by line, and make meaningful cuts.” Now he wants to wave through a $410 billion omnibus spending bill with about 8,500 earmarks. This is on top of the $787 billion stimulus bill signed into law two weeks ago.

  In every area, this is not the Obama we were told we were going to get.

• Glenn says, today:
  

  .ON PJTV, Michelle Malkin and I talk about Rush Limbaugh, Michael Steele, and the nationwide “tea party” movement. Is the GOP leadership so weak that people have resorted to self-help? Or does this go beyond party?

  Well, look; I’m on record as always having been above party, from day one on this blog. It’s just that I see the Republians in spite of all their faults, as the best tool to move us in the direction we need to go.  And that is away from the socialism being offered by the Democrat Party. I suspect a lot of other people are start, at last, to see this. Now; To the extent that we see some Republicans moving in the same direction as the Democrats, you’ll see me scream. But then again, you’re seeing that in the ran and file, also. Look at the reaction to Steele V Limbaugh, as an example. And trust me, these “Tea parties”  are not just attacking Democrats. Indeed, if the Democrats were to start being conservative and supporting the individual, I’d support THEM. Not that I think there’s a hope in hell of it ever happening, of course.

• And about these tea parties… and yes, I know I’ve spoken to this before… But let’s understand something about this, together, you and I.  I note that going along with this is a sharp rise in gun sales. Are these two situations directly related? I think they are. And I’m not talking armed rebellion, here. But people are looking at government and seeing, as if for the first time, the reality that their freedoms are under threat. They also see the distinct possiblity of mid-sixties style rioting, or worse, once the reality of the trainwreck that is Obama settles in.  Do I consider that armed rebellion is the likley course? No. Do I consider it a wise course? At the moment, no, I don’t. After all, bring in a couple of planes and the whole thing is over, should there ever be such an uprising. But clearly, the possibility of these things is being prepared for by thoe buying arms, and creating an ammo shortage in the doing.  But you know where the biggest change is going to come from… the biggest move to get the federal goverment out of the role of ruler and back to it’s constitutional role as a servant? The individual states. I’ve  sat of late, and watched the States invoking the tenth amendment. As of this writing, 11 have done so, and more are moving that direction.  More than this, even the more liberal state high courts are starting to side with the states as well. Consider the Vermont case we saw on the wire yesterday. I don’t fully know, but it’s starting to look like these battles will be fought state by state. Is this in response to the pressure of the anger I’ve been speaking of these last several days? I think it is.
• Yes, I’ve noted Limbaugh’s debate offer. I’ve not said much because you know Obama will never take him up on it. We know now, as I told you yesterday, that this attack on Limbaugh was a planned event… planned before the election, even, and intended to seperate the Republcan party from their conservative base.  Rush’s response here means it’s put up or shut up time for Obama and his minions… and trust me, he’s going to  slink away into the night, and hope nobody notices.  If there’s a better metephor for this administration than ‘train wreck’ I’ve no idea what it might be.
• Did you see this bit with the AFL-CIO? Can someone please explain to me how they’re getting a pass on this? This is the unions, folks. Your Union dues paid for this nonsense.  It’s no different from those parties in the White House, I guess. Obama gets a pass on them, too.   You do not see a pattern here. These people are not the problem. You can go on about your business.
• According to this survey done by Quinnipiac University, 64% of Americans are of the opinion that the Obama’s mortgage plan is unfair to people who pay their mortgage on time.   So, why, then are his approval numbers so high?  Seems MSNBC has an answer for that; There’s a gap between his personal approval numbers, and the approval numbers for his policies.  I read the numbers as saying Obama’s going to be in real trouble once the honeymoon is over and reality sets in.
• Krauthammer on ‘cap and trade’:
  

  It is an ill disguised tax on the production of carbon. It will be a blow to American industry, particularly in the heartland, to the American economy. Particularly in our economic distress, it makes no sense at all.The only purpose is the reduction of global warming, which in and of itself is speculative. And even if it were not, the fact that India and China are not in on this means that any of our savings on that, which are going to add a huge expense to our economy, will be swallowed up entirely by increased pollution by India and China.

  India this week has said it will not cooperate on a regime of enforced carbon reduction. We will get nowhere on this except really injuring our economy.

  No kidding?  You would be hard pressed to get that thought into the head of Tax cheat in chief  Geithner. Ya know, the more I watch the actions of this administration, the more I’m convinced they simply don’t CARE about the economy, or are active in their seeking to tear it down. It’s rapidly coming to the point where there’s no other logical explaination.

The New York Post, today:

There was Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, boldly testifying Tuesday before Rep. Charlie Rangel‘s Ways & Means Committee – promising that the Obama administration intends to propose “a series of legislative and enforcement measures to reduce . . . tax evasion and avoidance.”

Did he look Chairman Rangel in the eye when he said this?

Can he look himself in the eye at the shaving mirror each morning?

A crackdown on “tax evasion and avoidance”? Oh, the irony.

Only after he was nominated to Treasury did Geithner pay some $40,000 in taxes he blew off while working for the International Monetary Fund from 2001 to 2004.

And Rangel’s famous tax troubles are even now the subject of a House Ethics Committee investigation – laggard though it may be.

Probity for thee, but not for me?

Damned straight.

Really. I mean, look; In what bizzaro world would either of these two be taken seriously, let alone both of them, and particularly given the subject of prosecution of tax cheats??  Change you can believe in.

Yo Eric, Michael Steele got the memo:

“I just want to make one thing very clear. Folks need to understand what’s happening here, Sean. You’ve already talked about it. This is a systematic effort, I think, very well planned out to distract. They’re saying, “Oh, yeah, prices are going up for everything you have to pay for. Oh, let’s talk about Rush… Your 401K just dropped. Let’s talk about Rush… The stock market it tanking. Let’s talk about Rush…” We get it. We’ve figured it out now what the game plan is.”

Video:

Hat tip and More: Gateway Pundit:

The Obama Economic Disaster continued today as stocks dropped another 174 points out of the blocks.

Mean while back at the ranch Glenn Reynolds, Instapundit and Doug Ross, Journal,  debate if Obamanomics is a grand conspiracy or utter incompetence.

Good for the Italians!

ROME (AP) — Italy has pulled out of a U.N. conference on racism seen by many Western governments as being hijacked by Muslim attempts to attack Israel and shield Islam from criticism.    Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said Thursday that Italy had withdrawn its delegation from the negotiations ahead of the so-called Durban II conference due to “aggressive and anti-Semitic statements” in the draft of the event’s final document.    Frattini made the comments in Brussels, where he attended a NATO meeting. Ministry Spokesman Maurizio Massari said Rome would not participate in the conference unless the document is changed.    A similar condition has been impose by the United States, while Israel and Canada have already announced a boycott.

I want to know why the US even sent a delegation.  And while you’re at it, explain to us why the UN is of any use whatever to the stated goal of peace.

So question, what is more danger9us, the  bullet or the ballot.    I contend the latter.   Mrs. Pelosi  seems to think the opposite.    Mrs. Pelosi was set to give District of Columbia residents representation in the House, albeit simply unconstitutional.  Chad Pergram and Mosheh Oinounou, Fox New :

The House Democratic leadership Tuesday decided to delay a plan to grant a seat in the House to the District of Columbia. Since it is not a state, Washington, D.C., does not get a vote in Congress.

The Senate approved a similar bill to give the District voting representation. And approval in the House seemed all but assured. But an amendment attached to the Senate version of the legislation by Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., created problems in the House.

Mrs. Pelosi contends that giving D.C. residents voting representation in Congress is imporant, enough so to violate the Constitution.   Yet denying D.C. residents their Second Amendment rights is more important to Mrs. Pelosi that their voting rates.  Some strange woman.

D. C.  Delegate D.C. Eleanor Holmes-Norton seemed to forget who was supposed to represent:

“There is no choice between a vote for American citizens and a completely unrelated and reckless gun bill. That is a non-choice,” Norton said during an emotional impromptu press conference following the Democratic caucus meeting Tuesday afternoon. “That’s not a fair exchange. That’s not even an unfair exchange. That is an absurd exchange that no one would accept.”

Holmes-Norton would trust constituents with ballots but not bullets.   How sad.

Hat tip and more:   Ed Morrissey, Hot Air:

As it turns out, those Blue Dog Democrats that Nancy Pelosi was so pleased to get in 2006 have pretty strong views on gun ownership and want to end the practice of disarming law-abiding citizens in DC.  In order to get the bill to the floor, the bill has to clear a procedural vote on “rules”, and a significant number of House Democrats refuse to vote for the rules if the Ensign Amendment is not included in the House bill.

Instead of allowing that amendment to remain on the bill, Steny Hoyer and Nancy Pelosi tabled it.

I don’t have much faith in the blue dogs.  But they do seem to offer some limited ability to rein in Mrs. Pelosi’s radical agenda.

As the economy and the markets continue to tank, the question become  is the Obama administration just plain inept or purely evil.    The evidence suggests the latter.   The five dumbest word in a soft economy may well be “Cap and Trade,” and “”carbon tax.”   The Obama administration is at least smart enough to recognizes Cap and Trade will drive energy costs, and the cost of lving, through the roof.  Yet for what ever reason, the Obama administration is intent on distroying the economy and our very way of life, video:

Hat tip and more: Gateway Pundit:

White House Budget Director Peter Orszag also admitted this week that the cost of cap and trade on consumers would be enormous.
Boy, this sounds like an excellent program to introduce during a recession.
Brilliant!

Anthropogenic global warming is a hoax and a fraud.   The Obama administration is intent on wrecking the economy to solve a problem that is  the produce of Algore’s fervid imagination.

Quickly… I recently picked up a used Palm Treo 650… a nice little beast.  But…

Turns out there’s an issue with the microphone. The level is VERY low.  I’ve been given to understand there’s a software issue with the thing, but I’ve not found a workable solution, yet. One thing I did try was a program called “Volume Care”, which supposedly solved the issue for a lot of folks. Not me, here, however.

Anyone seen this issue, and have an idea I might try?