Big Insurance, Big Medicine

Wall Street Journal  "ObamaCare's once and future harms have been well chronicled, but the major effects so far are less obvious and arguably more important: A wave of consolidation is washing over the health markets, and the result is going to be higher costs." Via Heritage.

Returning the People’s House to the People

  Heritage  "The House of Representatives was designed to be a broad-based legislative body, more representative of widespread public opinion and responsive to the people than any other element of the federal government. This is why the Constitution grants the House exclusive power to initiate revenue bills and take the country to war. The Founders intended the House to be a decentralized lawmaking body, not one dominated by a few select leaders."

Photo: Weasel Zippers

 

Four reforms that could change the culture of Congress   "The goal is to strengthen the Constitutional design of “the people’s House,” whereby power is intended to flow from the bottom up, not from the top down, as it currently does." Ernest Istook served for 14 years as a U.S. Congressman and is now a distinguished fellow at The Heritage Foundation.

Thanking Nancy " Now ... let's see. Surely there are other things we can give Nancy credit for! How about that spectacular ObamaCare bill that we had to pass so we could find out what was in it? Princess Pelosi complains that "You have all those forces at work, pouring millions of millions of dollars into the media, and now into the campaigns to mischaracterize everything that we did." Well .. it's government accountants, not the evil media and the hated (but only as long as they're serving Republicans) "special interests," that are now telling us that Obama care is going to cost way more than you said, and that it will be adding to our deficits as early as next year. "

Exclusive excerpt from ‘Courting Disaster’ by Marc Thiessen: ‘Sheikh Osama warned you’

Daily Caller "Leon Panetta, Obama’s CIA Director, has said: “Important information was gathered from these detainees. It provided information that was acted upon.”
"And John Brennan, Obama’s Homeland Security Advisor, when asked in an interview if enhanced interrogation techniques were necessary to keep America safe, replied: “Would the U.S. be handicapped if the CIA was not, in fact, able to carry out these types of detention and debriefing activities? I would say yes.”
"Indeed, the official assessment of our intelligence community is that, were it not for the CIA interrogation program, “al Qaeda and its allies would have succeeded in launching another attack against the American homeland.”
"And in his first forty-eight hours in office, President Barack Obama shut the program down."
Hat tip to Val Brose, Santa Maria, California.

Union Stagehand Fired At Obama Event For Wearing USS George H.W. Bush Shirt

SayAnythingBlog  "Now, naming things (buildings, ships, etc.) after living politicians is something that sticks in my craw. But that being said, the guys kid is serving in the Navy on that carrier. The guy is obviously proud of his kid.
"Are these leftists really so sensitive that they have to humiliate this guy because of his sweatshirt?"

Chip Bok, Townhall

That Strange Summer of 2008/ Our president revealed himself to be doctrinaire ideologue.

Victor Davis Hanson "Subsequently, Obama compiled the most partisan record in the entire Senate, proving that he was the least willing senator to veer from a doctrinaire ideology. So if we are surprised that Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Fox News, John Roberts, the tea parties, John Boehner, the Chamber of Commerce, Karl Rove, and Ed Gillespie have later become bogeymen of the week, we must remember that this is merely the logical continuance of Obama’s earlier hardball modus operandi."

More and more NPR (Updated)

http://townhall.com/cartoons/cartoonist/LisaBenson

NPR terribly sorry it got caught "Confronted with a weeping, apologetic Scarlett, Rhett speaks these immortal words: “”You’re like the thief who isn’t the least bit sorry he stole,but is terribly, terribly sorry he’s going to jail.” (Or something like that. I don’t have the book at hand right now.)
I was reminded of that lovely quotation when I read just how upset NPR is about its decision to fire Juan Williams:"

We’re profoundly sorry that this happened during fundraising week. Juan’s comments were made Monday night and we did not feel it would be responsible to delay this action.

Fox's Rash Juan Williams Overreaction  "He talks about folks like us -- who make up the majority of Fox News' audience -- as racist and bigoted and homophobic and greedy. His declarations on the Tea Party and on small business owners simply follow doctrinaire liberal talking points that bear no relationship to reality. In fact, these opinions are routinely insulting.
"To us, Williams is an irritant to be tolerated and not a martyr to be celebrated. We sure as heck do not need to see twice as much of him."

Media Capitulation: If Juan Williams Is Fair Game……  "And yet in watching the mainstream media coverage of Juan Williams affair, we witness the fact that the media still cannot face up to its own capitulation. It’s all over the airwaves, but no one will discuss what is actually happening — the loss of the freedom of speech to Islamic supremacism and domination. This is a deadly fight — Islam in the West and its suppression of free speech."

NPR Keeps Digging  "I think she means she’s sorry she didn’t give them talking points, but she’s not ashamed she smeared Williams by suggesting that he talk to his psychiatrist (which he does not have). Not clear whether she also regrets the squirrelly manner of the firing — over the phone (classy, guys). She closes by asking for suggestions.
"Here are three. First..."  Jennifer Rubin

No freedom of speech for thee, just for me. Or else.

I received a phone call from the LCC telling us that our venue had been pulled, and that Mark Steyn would not be permitted to speak there. The reason offered by the LCC was that they had received pressure from local Islamic groups, and they didn't want to alienate their Muslim clients. It's interesting to note that the LCC is owned by the City of London, and is therefore a government operation.

"Previously the LCC had hosted Sexapalooza. Steyn is apparently more dangerous and offensive to public sensibilities -- especially the delicate Muslim ones -- than...sex! What an honor!"

Dems Playing Soviet-Style Insanity Card  "All of these seemingly coordinated efforts by Democrats and their press minions to label Party dissidents as “insane” are not only creepy, they seem like the first step down the path towards Soviet-style tyranny."  Kyle-Anne Shiver, Pajamas Media

Gary Varvel, Townhall

A DIFFERENT IDEA FOR OUR FUTURE

Neal Boortz "Obama is exactly right. He DOES have a different vision of what the future holds for America. His vision is where wealth is distributed on the basis of politically-determined "fairness," not as the just reward for hard work, personal responsibility and good decision making. Obama's vision for the future of America has no place for individual liberty; no place for economic freedom. His view is one of government dominance in virtually every segment of our lives. Is this the path you want to see your country pursue? Is this the life you want for your children and grandchildren?
"You have EIGHT days."

Voters fed up with Obama's big, bossy government

Michael Barone  "Bigger government, in this view, helps the ordinary citizen who is otherwise at the mercy of the masters of the marketplace. And those citizens will be grateful, especially in times of economic distress, to the politicians who expand government ever further.
"This theory has been getting some empirical testing over the past two years. And it doesn't seem to be working any better than Keynes thought the theories of defunct economists were working in the 1930s.
"The Obama Democrats have been giving Americans more government, with a vengeance. But the voters seem about to wreak vengeance in their turn."

Timothy McVeigh Was Not A Christian

Big Journalism  "I don’t want this to turn into a theological discussion, but let’s make this simple, you become a Christian by making a statement that you believe in Jesus Christ and accept him as your Savior. You then try to live a life consistent with that statement. It’s pretty simple. McVeigh did neither of those things. He told anybody who would listen that he was agnostic. You cannot be a Christian while saying you are agnostic.
"In the furor over the “Muslim” comments that got Williams fired, the “Christian” comment will be passed over once again. It usually is."

Obama's Foreign Affairs

Former Marine chief doubts Afghan timetable "The just-retired Marine Corps commandant says he doubts the U.S. military can withdraw from Afghanistan's volatile south by a July 2011 deadline set by President Obama for the start of force reductions."....
""Counterinsurgencies just take time," Conway said. "I hope the focus is not ... time constraints as much as it is the will to win.""

Obama's anti-Israeli hysteria dangerous and destructive "And Obama is showing that his personal popularity, not America's standing, still less matters of substance such as Iran's nuclear program, is what motivates him."
"This leads to the second explanation of his behaviour, and that is to make himself personally popular in the Muslim world. Beating up on Israel is the cheapest trick in the book on that score and it can earn him easy, worthless and no doubt temporary plaudits in some parts of the Muslim world." The Australian
More powerful commentary on this: Barack Hussein Obama: America’s First Anti-Israeli President? 

The U.S. Transition in Iraq: Iraqi Forces and U.S. Military Aid   "...one of the most critical decisions the Obama Administration and US Congress will take over the next five years is whether to fund enough US advisory and assistance efforts in Iraq. This will help Iraq create effective security capabilities, and fund major force improvements during the period before its economy can recover and it can greatly expand its own oil revenues." Anthony H. Cordesman

Why Does Obama hate Israel?  "The roots of the problem likely go back to Obama’s early formative years. I will leave such an exhaustive investigation to those more equipped to handle it. I will pause here only to point out Obama’s association with Reverend Jeremiah Wright Jr. Obama spent years absorbing the fiery, anti-Semitic rants of Wright in the Trinity United Church. Is it possible to hear such things and not be affected? Only President Obama can definitively answer that question but Wright’s feelings on Israel and the Jews are clearly articulated in the following quotes”"...

The Trouble With Talking to the Taliban"Finally, the Taliban will never honor any agreement it makes. Like most modern insurgencies, its grievances are all pretexts: What it seeks is absolute power, exercised without restraint. We know how that movie ends.
"There's one way and only one way the U.S. could get the Taliban to come to terms: a series of decisive military blows that give them no other option."

Multiculturalism: Political Correctness Run Amok

Townhall  "Historically, immigrants have come to these shores with the intention of embracing democratic ideals, not supplanting them. Without these ideals, we would cease to be America. If we are unwilling to defend the foundations of our liberty, we must realize that we are at great risk of losing it.
"For heaven's sake, let's have a robust discussion about whether the tenets of Islam are compatible with the tenets of democracy. The loss of our liberty is too high a price to pay for the sake of political correctness."
 Ken Connor is Chairman of the Center for a Just Society in Washington, DC.

A Witch Hunt for Bigots Singes American Media  "I've talked to people at CAIR and MediaMatters. I know folks who work for NPR. They all think they're smart, and yet they've just sent a bonehead message to the American public.
"Way to go, ye titans of tolerance. You've just broadcasted that an African-American moderate with a solid civil-rights record can lose his job and be branded as a bigot for quoting a convicted terrorist and admitting to a moment's hesitation if he sees someone in Muslim garb on a plane."  Debra J. Saunders

We Are All Bigots Now "Timothy McVeigh did not proclaim “Jesus Is Lord” when he blew up the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. In fact, truth be told McVeigh was a professed agnostic who said he worshipped science!
"The attacks nine years ago that killed 3,000 Americans were not just done by people who happened to have grown up in a Muslim country, but they were done IN THE NAME OF ISLAM..." David Stokes