Bob's Political Digest for August 2 2009

Comcast update
Regular readers have been following our challenges with Comcast, our cable, TV, Internet and phone provider. When Comcast installed our cable, they left the cable lying in the grass behind our condo. They promised to come back & bury it the next day. Been a few weeks and it’s still there. So I called them to report it, because as sure as God made little green apples, the lawn guys will eventually cut it.

The service person said that it would be ten days before they could get out to bury it. “What if they cut it and we lose service?”

“Then they would come immediately.”

“Wouldn’t it make sense for them to come immediately before it’s cut, and you have to replace the entire cable?

“That’s not how the system works, sir.”

This is typical of monopolies, be it a utility or a government monopoly such as the DMV, the Post Office (where the postal unions made it illegal for you kid to leave you a note in the mailbox you bought and paid for, to keep private enterprise from competing with them) or soon, healthcare.

Battle fairness
Yesterday, I had a safety conversation about guns with my 8-year-old granddaughter. She asked if I had shot anyone in Vietnam. I said no, that while I was ready to, my job was to run a radio, so I never had a chance to shoot the bad guys. "That's not fair" she said. I believe there is hope for her.

Newt on Defense
http://www.myheritage.org/media/?bcpid=18808669001&bclid=19170525001&bctid=30064111001
But is anyone listening?

Soldier Turned Journalist Finds Contempt for Military Among Classmates, Teachers
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/clay-waters/2009/07/29/soldier-turned-journalist-finds-contempt-military-among-classmates-teac
Not fit to shine his boots. When the loose “freedom of the Press” they will understand who protected it—too late.

The Gates Foundation
http://www.webcpa.com/news/Henry-Louis-Gates-Foundation-Revise-Tax-Return-51156-1.html
And
http://www.riehlworldview.com/carnivorous_conservative/2009/07/a-gatesgate-at-henry-gates-bogus-charity.html
No surprises here. “obey the law? Is that what happens to a black man in America? He has to obey the law? Not if he’s a pal of BO, and can scream “racism” if questioned.

Shoe Bomber sues to resume his jihad from prison, Obama caves in
http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/027071.php
Yet another Which-Side-Is-Obama-On Alert

Spain: Muslim stabs his daughter 20 times in attempted honor killing
http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/027068.php

Gaza Muslim bludgeons his daughter to death with an iron chain because she owned a cell phone
http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/027069.php
The “honor” of death.

Town halls gone wild
http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20090731/pl_politico/25646
The right learns from ACORN. And some video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eq5mWkF5zuo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOLs7Cybnqw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOdlZgMHKcQ

Probe finds new clues in AmeriCorps IG scandal
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/Probe-finds-new-clues-in-AmeriCorps-IG-scandal--52109667.html
Chicago-style politics may not work so well at the national level. They ignore them here.

Lobbyist: Sneak trial-lawyer tax break through Congress
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/Lobbyist-Sneak-trial-lawyer-tax-break-through-Congress-52100467.html
The Democratic Party: Government of the lawyers, by the lawyers and for the lawyers.

Here’s a website designed to please Nazis, Jihadists, and leaders like Jessie Jackson.
http://www.jewwatch.com
And here’s a petition about it:
http://www.petitiononline.com/rjw23

In Ranks of Heroes, Finding the Fakes
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/02/us/02imposters.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=In%20Ranks%20of%20Heroes,%20Finding%20the%20Fakes&st=cse
Good hunting.

Overwhelming the System
http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=6967
Seems to be working.

Cash for Clunkers
http://video.nytimes.com/video/2009/07/31/business/1247463760359/cash-for-clunkers.html
When government gets in the economy, always weird.

LtCol. Alan West Video
http://xroadcop.blogspot.com/2009/08/lt-col-allen-wests-video.html
Cool campaign video.

Frequent Flyer Humor
If you find yourself on a plane next to someone who's annoying you, do the following.

Take your laptop out, open it slowly and carefully. Make sure it's on, including the sound, and make sure he/she sees this. Access the internet. Close your eyes for a moment, then open them and look up for a moment.
Take a deep breath, let it out slowly, then access this site.

http://www.myit-media.de/the_end.html

Note from a Marine Friend
I find this particular incident to be pretty dramatic, and severely underreported, but what seems to me to be the continuation of down & dirty Chicago politics.

A week ago from last Friday the head of CBO, Dr. Elmendorf, stands up in the hearing on the HC bill and tells Congress that the plan as it is will not reduce costs, and will in fact increase them. This of course really upsets the apple cart, and reinforces the Blue Dog Democrats concerns about the bill. And that pretty much completed the stall on it, so Pelosi and Reid cancelled the votes until after summer break.

A few days later Mr. Obama invites Elmendorf to Oval Office for a little chat. No head of CBO has been in the Oval Office since before the Carter administration (if ever) since CBO is a nonpartisan gov't function that is supposed to stay divorced from any and all partisan contacts. Elmendorf very politely refused to say a word about what when on in the meeting, talked only about how impressed his kids would be that he met the President personally.

A few days later Obama's budget director Peter Orszag moved in as the heavy muscle, and warned the CBO in a public letter that it risked feeding the perception that it was "exaggerating costs and underestimating savings." This is pretty much the official notice that you are saying things we don't want said and you need to shut the hell up.

Looks to me like one more instance of a heavy-handed attempt at intimidation of a neutral public servant. Nobody has accused Elmendorf yet of being a closet Republican or going senile, but there's still time. Or maybe this time some advisor will decide that it'll be counterproductive to take this any further.

I think that Mr. Obama is starting to use up some of his charm credits, and more Independents are becoming at least less enthusiastic, if not disillusioned. Keep it up, baby. --Del