Archive for December, 2009
Just Lost Another Monocle
Obama (12/22/09): “I didn’t campaign on the public option.” Really dude? Really? In case you think this was isolated, here is an actual Obama health care white paper: Specifically, the Obama plan will: (1) establish a new public insurance program available to Americans who neither qualify for Medicaid or SCHIP nor have access to insurance [...]
What Manner Of Man?
People of a certain age will remember Playboy‘s longtime PR catch phrase “What Sort of Man Reads Playboy?” Well, what sort of man does the Republican Party welcome into its fold these days? Looking at the newly-former Democratic Representative from Alabama, Parker Griffith, one would have to say: A man who doesn’t care two hoots [...]
Crime And Punishment
In an L.A. Times article about the ruling of the 2nd District Court of Appeal in the Roman Polanski case, I came upon this startling little paragraph: His supporters have said that the month and a half that he spent in state prison the year of his crime was enough and that he should be [...]
Coming Into The Straight
So the Senate healthcare reform bill has met its first major cloture vote, and passed. (The vote was to cut off debate on the manager’s amendment, which incorporates the compromises worked out to satisfy one and all. By Senate rules, Republicans can — and, therefore, will — force debate to continue for a maximum of [...]
Jim Inhofe’s Moment Of International Stardom
What comment is even possible? This is the proverbial story that speaks for itself: Sen. Jim Inhofe flew across the Atlantic and — on little sleep — braved the snow, the cold and the dark to deliver his skeptical message at the international climate conference. What he found when he got here: a few aides [...]
A Word From His Sponsors?
Funny how once Ben Nelson realized he was becoming a Pivotal Senate Vote, he started to find insurmountable objections to abortion language that he had earlier indicated he was willing to live with. Here’s Nelson, back on November 17: Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., who last week insisted that the Senate health care bill include tight [...]
I-Am-Spartacus, Democrat Style
It strikes me that what we are witnessing is Democrats’ version of the iconic I-am-Spartacus moment from the 1960 film. One by one, Democratic senators are standing up to say: “I am the one who is prepared to kill healthcare reform if my idiosyncratic demands are not met.” Sadly, this is the only type of [...]
Inconveniently Democratic Developments In Pakistan
Democracy can be so inconvenient, especially in countries crucial to our strategic interests. There was Asif Ali Zardari, sitting pretty as Pakistan’s president, partly because the U.S.’s favorite tinpot Islamic dictator, Pervez Musharraf, had airily decreed a law granting amnesty to senior politicians against corruption (and other) charges. Back in the days of Pervez Musharraf, [...]
Will Nelson Be Number 60?
This hasn’t exactly gained wide currency yet, but we are now being invited to believe that Ben Nelson does not intend to obstruct the healthcare reform bill even if his demands over abortion language are not met: As for Nelson, the aide says that the Nebraska senator is playing a “constructive role” in meetings and [...]
The Poster Child For Sociopathic Indifference
No one in the Democratic party has any right to say that they are surprised by the garbage that Joe Lieberman is pulling. A lot of people are bandying around the word “betrayal”. But betrayal is a word you can use only when you have some reason to be surprised by the action in question. [...]