Political Digest for August 9 2009

This didn't get published on time. Sorry. ~Bob

August 7: an anniversary, mostly forgotten
http://www.loriborgman.com/Archives/Remembering%20Guadalcanal.html
On August 7, 1942, the Marines landed in the Solomon Islands. They handily took possession of the airstrip on Guadalcanal but encountered fierce fighting across the sound on Tulagi and several smaller islands. Supplies were brought ashore, but air attacks hindered unloading cargo.Early August 9th, a stealth Japanese fleet arrived and destroyed four Allied cruisers and crippled a fifth. The remaining transports, carrying supplies and additional troops, departed. “When we woke up, everything was gone, our ships with our supplies, ammunition, artillery, all gone. The Japanese owned the sea, the air and started landing troops.”

Swampscott controversy carved in stone
http://www.itemlive.com/articles/2009/08/06/news/news01.txt
Excerpt: In Swampscott, some residents said the monument appeared too commercial, promoted patriotism and was carved in China. Others in town objected because the soldier depicted carries a machine gun. The Swampscott Historical Commission spoke out publicly against placing the monument in the Monument Avenue area because members said it did not keep with the character of the historic Olmstead district. Supporters of the monument are just as passionate, including the families of those who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan.

(Massachusetts) Health care agency's payroll bloated
http://news.bostonherald.com/news/politics/view.bg?articleid=1189479&format=text
When government runs healthcare: The payroll at the agency steering the state’s controversial universal health care effort has swollen to more than four times its original size in just 18 months - with a top-heavy bureaucracy led by dozens of high-paid managers… There is, for example, a chief communication officer, chief information officer, director of public affairs and chief marketing officer - all at six-figure salaries.

Three Lessons from Massachusetts
http://www.ncpa.org/pub/ba667
Excerpt: Lessons for America. Of all these developments, the most sobering one is the soaring waiting times to see a doctor. Previously, Massachusetts enjoyed the highest number of physicians per capita of any state, and it had one of the lowest rates of noninsured in the country. If any jurisdiction could have accommodated a surge of newly insured people it should have been Massachusetts. By contrast, California has half as many physicians per capita and twice the level of uninsured. Imagine what will happen to waiting times in California if all the uninsured suddenly become insured. As in Massachusetts, if they can't see a doctor on a timely basis, patients may seek treatment at hospital emergency rooms. But California doesn't have any excess capacity there, either. Waiting times in ERs will soar. Other big states like Texas and Florida are even less able than California to serve the newly insured.

10 Steps to Free Our Health Care System
http://www.ncpa.org/pub/ba669
Unfortunately, personal responsibility and freedom are not good politics.

Congressman Issa excoriates Rahm
http://republicans.oversight.house.gov/media/letters/20090804EmanuelStimulus.pdf
Forwarded from a Marine with this note: This letter is from the Oversight Committee to Rahm Emanuel. He CANNOT ignore it and must comply with the request to answer it on or before August 11, 2009. If he fails to comply, he is subject to a subpoena and sworn testimony before the committee, and possible legal penalties for official misconduct.

Town hall violence -- by Obama supporters
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/Town-hall-violence----by-Obama-supporters-52640632.html
Excerpt: In Saint Louis, the Post-Dispatch reports that Kenneth Gladney, a conservative activist, was distributing Gadsden Flags at a town hall meeting for Rep. Russell Carnahan, D-Mo., when he was allegedly beaten by a group of Obama supporters. One of them reportedly flung racial epithets at him (he is black). Gladney ended up in the Emergency Room, and six people ended up in jail, including a reporter for the Post-Dispatch whom police accused of interfering. Carnahan was not present at the town hall when the incident happened.

Angry Mobs Department: That was then, this is now
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/That-was-then-this-is-now-52608562.html
Excerpt: Democrats screaming to high heaven about those disrupted town hall meetings could use a little refresher on recent history concerning their partisans' conduct in 2005 in response to President George W. Bush's attempt to get Congress to move on a genuine Social Security reform.

Union leaders live it up in bad economy
http://nrtw.org/en/blog/right-work-president-mark-mix-pjtv-08052009
Have to keep up appearances

AARP Town Hall Meeting on Health Care - Dallas, August 4, 2009
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AoMNDdQ1_h0
White-haired radicals! Need to report these Fishy people to BO for his enemies list!

Tax cut for trial lawyers
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/aug/06/tax-cut-for-trial-lawyers/
Excerpt: Congress adjourns for August recess this week. As lawmakers try to explain to their constituents back home why the world's most advanced health care system should be altered, the one special interest that ought to be targeted is the only one that may get off scott-free -- trial lawyers. In fact, the lawyers want a tax cut.

A $191 Million Question
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/06/AR2009080603918.html?wpisrc=newsletter
Excerpt: The tale of their four-year relationship is an allegory for the chronic problems afflicting the government's $532 billion procurement system. Reforms a decade ago, intended to make the system more efficient and entrepreneurial, had unintended consequences: insufficient oversight, conflicts of interest, unprecedented outsourcing and an endlessly revolving door that leads government officials into the offices of contractors. (But Government-run health care will be different & save money, you know.)

With Senate Vote, Congress Refuels 'Clunkers' Program
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/06/AR2009080601656.html?wpisrc=newsletter
Congratulations, your grandkids just bought a car….for someone else.

U.S. Official: 'Strong Indications' Pakistani Taliban Leader Baitullah Mehsud Is Dead
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/International/story?id=8270116&page=1
And some folks say the MSM doesn’t cover good news.

White House: 'War on terrorism' is over
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/aug/06/white-house-war-terrorism-over/
we elected BO, and global warming has stopped, the war is won, Wise Latinas are deciding what the Constitution really means, and life is wonderful.

"They...cut their heads one after the other and thereafter, shouted allah akbar in wild celebration accompanied with several gun shots" http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/027142.php
Whoops. Guess they didn’t get BO’s memo that Terror is defeated.

Health Care Reform: A Better Plan
http://townhall.com/columnists/CharlesKrauthammer/2009/08/07/health_care_reform_a_better_plan
Excerpt: This is all quite mad. It creates a Rube Goldberg system that simply multiplies the current inefficiencies and arbitrariness, thus producing staggering deficits with less choice and lower-quality care. That's why the administration can't sell Obamacare. The administration's defense is to accuse critics of being for the status quo. Nonsense. Candidate John McCain and a host of other Republicans since have offered alternatives. Let me offer mine: Strip away current inefficiencies before remaking one-sixth of the U.S. economy. The plan is so simple it doesn't even have the requisite three parts. Just two: radical tort reform and radically severing the link between health insurance and employment.

Orders Are Easy to Give, Just Hard to Carry Out
http://townhall.com/columnists/PaulGreenberg/2009/08/07/orders_are_easy_to_give,_just_hard_to_carry_out
Excerpt: In short, the more the Obama administration studies the difficulties this president invited when he announced that Guantanamo would be shuttered, the more it comes to adopt the Bush administration's way of dealing with these hard cases.

Questions to ask at town hall meetings
http://townhall.com/columnists/PaulDriessen/2009/08/07/questions_to_ask_at_town_hall_meetings
Excerpt: Global temperatures are not increasing. Thousands of scientists say humans and carbon dioxide are not causing a climate disaster. Hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, droughts and heat waves are not increasing. Emissions from China and India will quickly replace any CO2 reductions the United States might achieve by taxing and restricting fossil fuel use, crippling our economy, and hurting seniors and poor families most. Why does Congress refuse to allow real debate? Why does it simply assume and decree that we have a global warming crisis and must enact legislation immediately?

Cash for Codgers
https://mail.google.com/mail/?hl=en&zx=1mk7cesoioeh6&shva=1#inbox/122f499982aa8ebb
This is satire. I think. It’s so hard to tell nowadays.