Political Digest November 4, 2009

I post articles because I think they are of interest. Doing so doesn’t mean that I necessarily agree with every—or any—opinion in the posted article.

No more Jeep Commander
I see that Chrysler, now owned by Fiat, will be making small cars instead of the Jeep Commander. This is very clever of the Obama Administration Small cars have a much higher fatality rate. The more Americans killed on the highways, the less gas they can use, the fewer healthcare dollars they will use in later life, and they will have smaller carbon footprints. The younger the mangled corpses, the greater the benefit. And Obama, Gore, Clinton, Biden et al will continue to drive in nice, safe limos, so it won’t impact them. Pun intended. The late Swine Flu vaccine helps for the same reason. Dead Kids equals a lower carbon footprint and fewer healthcare dollars they’d spend when old.

Democrats' concerns over abortion may imperil health bill
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/02/AR2009110203232.html?wpisrc=newsletter
If they ram the bill through, I think they will lose the House in 2010 due to the backlash.

Palin as politically charged lightning rod
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/03/AR2009110300024.html?wpisrc=newsletter
Book Reviews: SARAH FROM ALASKA: The Sudden Rise and Brutal Education of a New Conservative Superstar by Scott Conroy and Shushannah Walshe and THE PERSECUTION OF SARAH PALIN: How the Elite Media Tried to Bring Down a Rising Star by Matthew Continetti.

Bullets are speeding faster out of gun shops in U.S.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/02/AR2009110202712.html?wpisrc=newsletter
Barack Obama, Gun Salesman of the Year. Excerpt: In a year of job losses, foreclosures and bag lunches, Americans have spent record-breaking amounts of money on guns and ammunition. The most obvious sign of their demand: empty ammunition shelves. At points during the past year, bullets have been selling faster than factories could make them. Gun owners have bought about 12 billion rounds of ammunition in the past year, industry officials estimate. That's up from 7 billion to 10 billion in a normal year. (Guy asked his stock broker what he was buying. “Canned goods and ammo” was the reply.)

The Most Important Number in Politics Today
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/most-important-number/the-most-important-number-in-p-59.html?wprss=thefix
Excerpt: 5: That's the number of times that a new Republican National Committee ad running in New York's 23rd district uses the word "conservative", evidence that establishment GOPers are trying to wrangle the energy of the party base for their political purposes. "Do you believe in Republican conservative values, like thrift, personal responsibility, and family," asks the ad's narrator. "Let's tell the liberals, enough is enough." Later in the commercial, the narrator touts the need to vote for "proven conservative ideas" and closes the commercial by saying: "Vote conservative, it matters like never before." The short-term play here by the RNC is a simple one. After Republican-endorsed state Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava dropped from the special election race and endorsed Democrat Bill Owens, the national Republican party quickly moved to embrace Conservative party nominee Doug Hoffman who, according to polling released today, is the favorite heading into tomorrow's vote.

The "Costs" of Medical Care by Thomas Sowell, PhD (A must-read) http://townhall.com/columnists/ThomasSowell/2009/11/03/the_costs_of_medical_care
Excerpt: We are incessantly being told that the cost of medical care is "too high"-- either absolutely or as a growing percentage of our incomes. But nothing that is being proposed by the government is likely to lower those costs, and much that is being proposed is almost certain to increase the costs. There is a fundamental difference between reducing costs and simply shifting costs around, like a pea in a shell game at a carnival. Costs are not reduced simply because you pay less at a doctor's office and more in taxes-- or more in insurance premiums, or more in higher prices for other goods and services that you buy, because the government has put the costs on businesses that pass those costs on to you. Costs are not reduced simply because you don't pay them. It would undoubtedly be cheaper for me to do without the medications that keep me alive and more vigorous in my old age than people of a similar age were in generations past…. If doctors' incomes were cut in half, that would not lower the cost of producing doctors through years of expensive training in medical schools and hospitals, nor the overhead costs of running doctors' offices. What it would do is reduce the number of very able people who are willing to take on the high costs of a medical education when the return on that investment is greatly reduced and the aggravations of dealing with government bureaucrats are added to the burdens of the work

(111) New Federal Bureaucracies Created in Pelosi Health Care Bill
http://www.gop.gov/policy-news/09/11/02/new-federal-bureaucracies-created-in
Yup. That’ll save us all money. You can bet your declining dollar on it.

How Come The Democrats Health Care Bill Won’t Actually Kick In For Three Years?
http://commonamericanjournal.com/?p=5418
Excerpt: There are two reasons for the delay. First, it’s a tacit acknowledgment that prompt implementation would destroy Obama’s reelection chances in 2012. Second, it’s an outright financial scam authored by the Statist Democrats: ” The CBO has scored the bill at $1.055 trillion [which] does not take into consideration that fact that the ten-year window contains ten years of revenue and only three to eight years of major payouts –- meaning that the bill will bleed red ink in subsequent years.”

NYT: Gore’s Global Warming Financial Windfall
http://commonamericanjournal.com/?p=5490
Excerpt: Former Vice President Al Gore thought he had spotted a winner last year when a small California firm sought financing for an energy-saving technology from the venture capital firm where Mr. Gore is a partner. The company, Silver Spring Networks, produces hardware and software to make the electricity grid more efficient. It came to Mr. Gore’s firm, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, one of Silicon Valley’s top venture capital providers, looking for $75 million to expand its partnerships with utilities seeking to install millions of so-called smart meters in homes and businesses. (Surprise!)

Ditherer-in-Chief
http://townhall.com/columnists/KenBlackwell/2009/11/03/ditherer-in-chief
Excerpt: There's a vicious rumor being reported in Washington. It says President Obama was holding off his announcement of new troop movements into Afghanistan not until after Hamid Karzai's election runoff that had been scheduled for November 8, but until after today's closely-watched off-year elections. The basis for that rumor is the idea that Obama would not want to depress his own base, discourage "peace" voters from voting in Virginia, New Jersey, and New York's 23rd congressional district. I reject that rumor. I do not believe this President, or any President, would so callously disregard the lives of the soldiers, sailors, and airmen whom he has sent into harm's way. My point is something else entirely. Such rumors would not have a chance to circulate, to get "legs" if you will, if President Obama were not so publicly agonizing over his decision to send in more troops. (Unfortunately, I think it’s quite possible. God help us.)

Great Britain loses one of its finest
http://www.michaelyon-online.com/great-britain-loses-one-of-its-finest.htm
While President Wobbly thinks….and thinks…revising the “bold new strategy” he announce way back in March about this “war of necessity.”

The American Way of Abandonment http://townhall.com/columnists/PatBuchanan/2009/11/03/the_american_way_of_abandonment
Excerpt: When America is about to throw an ally to the wolves, we follow an established ritual. We discover that the man we supported was never really morally fit to be a friend or partner of the United States. (Why I don’t have a “These Colors Don’t Run” tee shirt—slinking away while those who trusted America is no better.)

Arizona woman run down by her father is dead in honor killing http://www.jihadwatch.org/2009/11/arizona-woman-run-down-by-her-father-is-dead-in-honor-killing.html
Tell me again how Islam is good for women. I keep forgetting.

Obama ties GWB on golf
http://commonamericanjournal.com/?p=5403
Excerpt: President Barack Obama has only been in office for just over nine months, but he’s already hit the links as much as President Bush did in over two years. (Remember how the Leftstream Media criticized Bush for any time off?)

Obama marks election anniversary with sabbatical http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columns/Obama-marks-election-anniversary-with-sabbatical-8474443.html
Satire: President Obama marked the one-year anniversary of his election by announcing he would take a nine-month sabbatical "to rest and refresh after a grueling year of staggering accomplishment." …During his sabbatical, Obama said he plans to challenge himself intellectually by re-reading his previous memoirs and by writing a much-anticipated third autobiography. "A president, like a college professor, has to keep his mind sharp," he said. "That's why I'm going to go back and study the works of one of the brightest minds of our generation. I know I still have much to learn from those pages."

Uncle Jay is back
http://unclejayexplains.com/2009/11/01/uncle-jay-explains-nov-2-2009/
Humor.