Harry Reid has unilaterally decided that the rest of America will pay the Medicaid costs for Nebraska. He bribed Ben Nelson to get his vote:

We’ll be blunt. The ‘health care reform’ legislation under consideration in the Senate is the most corrupt piece of legislation in our nation’s history. Yes, we understand that is a strong statement and there have been other abominations throughout our nation’s life. But never before did corrupt legislation threaten to radically and forever change the live’s of every American.

Exhibit A is the outright bribe extracted by Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Corn Huckster State) from Sen. Harry Reid. As a result of Nelson’s performance in his role of Hamlet in the health care deliberations, we will have two health care systems in this country; one for Nebraska and one for the other 49 states.

In its quixotic attempt to ensure everyone has health insurance, the Reid legislation greatly expands Medicaid eligibility. Because Medicaid is a program whose costs are split between the federal and state governments, this expansion in eligibility raise costs dramatically for states. States will be forced to either raise taxes or cut other services to accommodate the forced increase in Medicaid spending.

Unless that state is Nebraska.

What an absolute disgrace. The Democrat from Nevada meets the Democrat from Nebraska behind closed doors and swing a deal in which the rest of the nation is taxed to provide benefits specifically to Nebraska. I am calling both my Senators tomorrow and let them know what I think of this.

Great Moments in Public Education

This sort of thing is why Laurel and I are seriously considering home schooling:

TAUNTON, Mass. (AP) - An 8-year-old boy was sent home from school and ordered to undergo a psychological evaluation after he was asked to make a Christmas drawing and came up with what appeared to be a stick figure of Jesus on a cross, the child's father said Tuesday.

Silly, silly, silly. This is my favorite part, though:

An educational consultant working with the Johnson family said the teacher was also alarmed when the boy drew Xs for Jesus' eyes.

Now if I was that teacher, I would have assumed the boy drew Xs for eyes because that his how death (or grave injury) is portrayed on Saturday morning cartoons. In this case we are informed that the teacher was alarmed, but no explanation is forthcoming regarding why this is alarming or why a psychological evaluation might be required as a result.

The Nobel Peace Prize

Funny, I didn't think President Obama deserved this award until James Taranto posted the acceptance speech he should have given:

When I heard about this prize, I didn't think I deserved it. I mean, what have I done? But then I looked at the list of past recipients. Yasser Arafat? A peace prize for a terrorist? What's the deal with that, guys? Al Gore? For what, making a movie with charts? And Jimmy Carter. Jimmy Carter! He endorsed me, and even I can't stand that sanctimonious little twit!

Clearly, Mister Obama is more deserving of this than many of his recent predecessors.

Nothing bothers me more about the left than its willingness to justify any behavior, no matter how reprehensible. It is revealed that Tiger Woods is a multiple adulterer, and Joy Behar says its all good, he's not a hyprocrite:

Let me say this on his behalf. He has never held himself as one of these pro-marriage, right-wing, kind of guys who is anti-gay. In other words, the guy is not a hypocrite in his personal life.

Never mind the personal oath he made to his wife and the children they are raising. He never told Joy Behar or the rest of us that his wife and children matter, so that's a mark in his favor.

To Joy Behar, saying one thing and doing another makes you a hypocrite (and that's bad), but breaking your vows to your wife and children is not hypocritical (and that's good). What a twisted world view.

Time For Tasteless Tiger Jokes

Q: What's the difference between an Escalade and Titleist?
A: Tiger Woods can drive a Titleist more than 300 yards.

Q: Why did Tiger hit a fire hydrant and a tree?
A: He couldn't decide between an iron and a wood.

Q: What do Tiger Woods and a baby seal have in common?
A: They both got clubbed by a Scandinavian.

Q: What's Elin's new name for Tiger?
A: Lyon Cheetah

The media asked Elin how many times she hit Tiger, and she said, "Just put me down for five."

Remember the 2002 anniversary edition of E.T. in which the guns carried by the federal agents were digitally replaced with walkie-talkies?



Well, tonight, we are watching Rudolph the Rednose Reindeer, and I am thrilled to report that Yukon Cornelius still has his six shooter!

Alison meets Santa

So Much for Checks and Balances

Nancy Pelosi believes her power is unlimited:

In a recent press release, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., argues that constitutional objections to the individual mandate are "nonsensical," because "the power of Congress to regulate health care is essentially unlimited."

That's enough to send a chill down your spine.

From Merriam-Webster:

Main Entry: rab·ble
Pronunciation: \ˈra-bəl\
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English rabel pack of animals
Date: 14th century
1 : a disorganized or confused collection of things
2 a : a disorganized or disorderly crowd of people : mob
2 b : the lowest class of people

With that definition in mind, check out Chris Matthews' analysis of President Obama's speech at West Point.

He calls the United States Military Academy the "enemy camp" and says Paul Wolfowitz went there to "rabble rouse," thereby calling the USMA Corps of Cadets "rabble."

But don't question his patriotism.

Hubris and Narcissism

Update: This from Thomas Sowell:

Stepping beyond your competence can be like stepping off a cliff. Too many people with brilliance and talent within some field do not realize how ignorant — or, worse yet, misinformed — they are when talking like philosopher-kings about other things.

With that, I give you Harry Reid:

Tonight, I found this in The New York Times:

In one last touch on Wednesday, Mr. Reid and his aides finally named the bill that he wrote over the last few weeks, selecting parts of bills previously adopted by two Senate committees. It is called the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. “This legislation is a tremendous step forward,” Mr. Reid said. “It saves lives, saves money and will make Medicare stronger.”

So, we are informed that Mr. Harry Reid of Nevada has written a bill over the space of a couple weeks. And that bill will take over the delivery of medical care to 300 million people. Now, one might ask, what in Harry Reid's past qualifies him to design such a system? Is he an economist? A doctor? A master planner? Hardly. He sole life accomplishment is election to public office. From Wikipedia, here is Harry Reid's CV:

Southern Utah University

Utah State University

George Washington Law School

City Attorney, Henderson, Nevada

Nevada Assembly

Nevada Senate election (lost)

Las Vegas Mayor election (lost)

Chairman, Nevada Gaming Commission

US House of Representatives

US Senate

There you have it. Not a single private sector job in his entire life. Not a single business owned, not a single payroll met. Not a single non-government job. Not a single health care related connection, not a single insurance related connection. And this man feels himself capable of designing a system that usurps the private insurance industry and purports to deliver and administer medical care to us all.

And it only took him a few weeks to write it! Who wouldn't be suspicious of such a thing? Hmmmm?

That's a mighty high horse this man is on.

The New York Times reports that the FDA is threatening to ban drinks containing both alcohol and caffeine:

Top federal food regulators threatened on Friday to ban caffeinated alcoholic drinks unless their makers quickly proved that the beverages were safe.

In a statement, the Food and Drug Administration said it told nearly 30 manufacturers of the drinks that unless they could provide clear evidence of safety, the agency would “take appropriate action to ensure that the products are removed from the marketplace.” Officials did not say how long such a determination might take.

One wonders if they will take this to its logical conclusion and ban rum & cokes as well.

Pleh

Well, November 12th was one lousy day.

I awoke about 0630 to a raging northeast storm. The wind was gusting over 50 mph, and the rain was coming down in buckets. There was a slapping noise outside, which I attributed to some fabric chairs we have on the deck outside our third floor bedroom, and went back to sleep.

I woke again around 0800 and discovered that the sound I heard was loose vinyl siding flapping in the gale outside the bedroom window. Once the wind gets behind that stuff, it comes apart like a big zipper, so I had to secure it.

I ran downstairs and outside into the rain to see how big a job it was going to be. That was when I discovered that both Jeeps in the driveway had the passenger window smashed out, both GPS units had been stolen, and the rain had been flooding them for hours.

I raced around trying to track down roofing nails to secure the siding and duct tape to seal the cars. The duct tape didn't work because the metal was too wet, so I climbed out on the second floor porch roof in the wind and rain to tack in the siding and keep the wind from taking off the rest. While I inspected the project, I put down my hammer and it slid right down the roof and 20 feet to the ground. So it was back inside, down to the yard to retrieve the hammer, and back to the roof.

A few minutes later, drenched and cold, I had successfully secured the siding. Time to turn our attention to the Jeeps.

Laurel and I made room in the garage for one car, and oriented the other leeward with a plastic cover on the broken window to deflect any more rain. Now we had a new problem: neither car was drivable in this weather, but we had to pick up 160 pounds of raw chicken about 40 miles away. The dogs don't care about wind, rain, cars, crime, or anything. They need their chicken.

At 0900, Laurel made a reservation with Enterprise so we could rent a car to pick up the dog food. It wouldn't be ready until 1200, so that gave us three hours to piss and moan about our misfortune. Which, believe me, we did. We also called our insurance company and Safelite Auto Glass.

End of story, I spent three hours retrieving raw chicken backs in a rented car, Laurel spent another 45 minutes bagging it up, and Safelite is scheduled to come out tomorrow and fix our car windows (weather permitting).

What a mess. But I am thankful for my Laurel and my Alison. The cars will be fixed and the GPS replaced.

In his taped address for the 20th Anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall, President Obama said this:

"Few would have foreseen ... that a united Germany would be led by a woman from Brandenburg or that their American ally would be led by a man of African descent. But human destiny is what human beings make of it."

Prompting this analysis at Poweline:

Obama's brief remarks are an exercise in bowdlerization, circumlocution, evasion. Omitted from the remarks, among other things, is any mention of the Soviet Union or Communism, Harry Truman or Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher or Pope John Paul. Obama neither decries the villains nor salutes the heroes of the story. Rather, Obama celebrates himself. He is an agent of destiny. He is the fulfillment of history.

Redneck Christmas Lights

The environmentalists are coming after your golf balls.

"There has been very little research on the environmental impact of golf balls, but it's safe to say the indicators are not good. We are planning to collaborate with environmentalists in America to conduct more tests to fully explore the extent of the problem."

It seems the bottom of Loch Ness is full of the things, according to "scientists" that were down there looking for the monster.

I found this at a link on Megan McArdle's blog. It gave me a good laugh and reminded me of the bulletin board at my college student union, so I put it up here for my own amusement. For the record, my diet doesn't require a support group. And I am not vegan curious, either.



These folks seem to have substituted "vegan" for "gay" to create a new oppressed class; how odd that these causes employ the same language for such disparate behaviors. Are we to now assume that vegans and vegan curious types are somehow in a closet and need non-judgmental support to continue their diets?

Everybody wants to play the victim card, it seems.

Green Jobs to China?

Massachusetts taxpayers have subsidized green jobs for a few years. Evergreen Solar is one of a few company which have benefited from revitalization efforts at Devens, a former Army base. Now facing competition and lack of demand the company is shifting green jobs to China.

And financial analysts quoted in the WSJ say that's not even enough, the company is hamstrung by needing to keep 350 jobs in Massachusetts as part of the deal the company made with the state when it built the Devens facility. Another issue is that Chinese companies are flooding the market with cheaper solar panels.

This is the industry that is supposed to be saving American jobs, but the reality is that no industry is safe from international competition.

If the government truly wants to help out with jobs, it should be subsidizing large scale infrastructure projects. We have an aging electrical grid that needs tons of work, aging rail systems, aging bridges and tunnels. There are plenty of opportunities for our tax dollars to benefit all by investing in the very backbone of our country. These would be American jobs because they are projects located within our borders. Of course, our government would probably award the contracts to foreign owned construction companies.

Jonah Goldberg is right. This is hilarious!

By contrast, the WBGU study says the United States must cut emissions 100 percent by 2020—i.e., quit carbon entirely within ten years. Germany, Italy and other industrial nations must do the same by 2025 to 2030. China only has until 2035, and the world as a whole must be carbon-free by 2050

That's right folks! Carbon-free! Sit down, hold your breath, don't exhale. Don't move, don't fart. Don't use any energy whatsoever. This is how absolutely silly this "debate" has become. It's not really a debate, though, is it? It's a series of ultimatums, and this is the ultimate ultimatum. Create a society that produces no carbon and do it in 10 years. No matter that all of civilization, starting with fire and ending with electricity, has been generated by harnessing carbon-based energy. Just stop it all! Now!

I would add "walk to work" to the to-do list, but walking and working are impossible in a carbon-free society.