Saturday, September 05, 2009

LAWYERS KILLING HEALTHCARE IN BRITAIN, TOO

SUNDAY EXPRESS:
HEALTH chiefs have been forced to spend more than £2.7billion of tax- payer’s money in compensation claims.

A joint investigation into NHS litigation by the Sunday Express and the Conservatives shows payouts for NHS blunders cost every working person in Britain more than £15 a year.

The latest tally amounts to £2.71billion since Labour came to power.

The number of claims last year was a record, costing the taxpayer £312million, a 1,300 per cent rise since 1997.

And payouts will almost double next year thanks to more lawyers offering no-win, no-fee deals. Hospitals have been ordered to put aside £713million to pay for botched treatment.

Lawyers’ fees are spiralling: up from 22 per cent of payouts in the financial year 2005-6 to 33 per cent in the 12 months to April this year – earning them £103million.

THIS IS INTERESTING FOR TWO REASONS: IT SHOWS THAT THE NHS IS NOT BETTER THAN US HEALTHCARE, AND THAT LAWYERS THERE ARE JUST AS AWFUL AS THEY ARE HERE.

THE BRITS NEED TORT REFORM AS MUCH AS WE DO!

10,000 PROTESTORS MARCH AGAINST SOCIALIST INDOCTRINATION IN SCHOOLS - IN VENEZUELA

BBC:
Tens of thousands of people have marched through the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, in rival demonstrations for and against President Hugo Chavez.

Opponents held a rally against what they called the president's growing authoritarianism.

They were concerned about an education law they fear could lead to socialist indoctrination in schools.

... The anti-Chavez protesters were angry about a new education law that boosts the government's control over schools and universities.

The law requires schools to base their teaching on "the Bolivarian Doctrine" - a reference to the ideals of 19th Century independence hero Simon Bolivar, such as Latin American unity and national self-determination.

Anti-Chavez protesters fear his new education law

A previous attempt at education reform was one of the factors that led to mass protests in 2002, eventually culminating in a failed coup attempt against Mr Chavez.

... The rallies came a day after protests across Latin American about Mr Chavez's policies.

Friday's demonstrations were organised by Colombian activists after Mr Chavez criticised Colombia for allowing US forces access to seven military bases.

The Venezuelan leader has already frozen diplomatic relations with Colombia and blocked bilateral trade.

An estimated 5,000 people took part in protests in the Colombian capital Bogota, and thousands more in the capitals of Venezuela and Honduras.

Smaller demonstrations were held in other Latin American capitals, as well as in New York and Madrid.

THEY ARE AFRAID OF THE SAME THINGS WE ARE - AND WITH GOOD REASON: CHAVEZ AND OBAMA ARE BIRDS OF A FEATHER - AND THE FEATHERS ARE RED!

IT IS NO COINCIDENCE THAT CHAVEZ IS SEEKING TO INDOCTRINATE SCHOOLCHILDREN AND OBAMA ARRANGED A TV SPEECH TO SCHOOLCHILDREN THIS VERY WEEK.

CHAVEZ AND OBAMA USE THE SAME PLAYBOOK.

TOP UN IPCC SCIENTIST: IT'S GOING TO GET COOLER - NATURALLY, (AND THE RECENT WARMING WAS AT LEAST PARTLY NATURAL, TOO)!

NEW SCIENTIST:
Forecasts of climate change are about to go seriously out of kilter. One of the world's top climate modellers said Thursday we could be about to enter "one or even two decades during which temperatures cool. ...

... Few climate scientists go as far as Latif, an author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. But more and more agree that the short-term prognosis for climate change is much less certain than once thought.

Nature vs humans

This is bad timing. ...

... Latif predicted that in the next few years a natural cooling trend would dominate over warming caused by humans. The cooling would be down to cyclical changes to ocean currents and temperatures in the North Atlantic, a feature known as the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO).

Breaking with climate-change orthodoxy, he said NAO cycles were probably responsible for some of the strong global warming seen in the past three decades. "But how much? The jury is still out," he told the conference. The NAO is now moving into a colder phase.
IOW: AGW = BS.

VIA DE-SMOG ME.

WALL STREET WANTS A PIECE OF THE EUTHANASIA BIZ

OBAMA AND THE LEFT WANT THE GOVERNMENT TO CONTROL YOUR PENSION AND YOUR HEALTHCARE.

WHEN THE GOVERNMENT CONTROLS YOUR PENSION AND YOUR HEALTHCARE, THEN THEY HAVE A POWERFUL INCENTIVE NOT TO SPEND MONEY ON "END-OF-LIFE" CARE FOR OLDER PATIENTS BECAUSE THEY'D SAVE THE HEALTH EXPENSE AND SAVE THE PENSION DISBURSEMENT.

THIS INCENTIVE IS WHAT GREASES THE SLIPPERY SLOPE TO VIRTUAL EUTHANASIA.

NOW - IT SEEMS - WALL STREET HAS ALSO FIGURED OUT HOW TO MAKE MONEY ON THE END-OF-LIFE: BY PACKAGING BOUGHT-OUT LIFE INSURANCE POLICIES AS BONDS.

NYTIMES: Wall Street Pursues Profit in Bundles of Life Insurance

After the mortgage business imploded last year, Wall Street investment banks began searching for another big idea to make money.

They think they may have found one.

The bankers plan to buy “life settlements,” life insurance policies that ill and elderly people sell for cash — $400,000 for a $1 million policy, say, depending on the life expectancy of the insured person.

Then they plan to “securitize” these policies, in Wall Street jargon, by packaging hundreds or thousands together into bonds.

They will then resell those bonds to investors, like big pension funds, who will receive the payouts when people with the insurance die.

The earlier the policyholder dies, the bigger the return — though if people live longer than expected, investors could get poor returns or even lose money.

WELL, ER UM . . . THE BUYERS OF THESE BONDS HAVE A POWERFUL INCENTIVE TO SEE TO IT THAT THE ORIGINAL POLICY-HOLDERS DIE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.

WHAT COULD GO WRONG!?

VIDEO REMINDER: HERE'S WHAT BJ CLINTON FELT ABOUT TRUTHERS - "HOW DARE YOU!"

CLINTON GAVE THE ONLY CORRECT ANSWER:



I WONDER WHAT HE AND HILARY THINK ABOUT VAN JONES?

OBAMA AND JARRET AND AXELROD AND RAHM KNEW ALL ABOUT VAN JONES.

THEY DIDN'T CARE.

THEY ARE UNFIT TO RUN THE WHITE HOUSE.

BILL CLINTON AND HILLARY ARE MORE FIT THAN OBAMA & CO.

AN OPEN LETTER TO MICHAEL STEELE: TIME TO HOLD A "NATIONAL GOP LISTENING TOUR"





The Tea party movement and the townhalls have awakened a sleeping giant.

It's time for the GOP to let the people know there is a party who will listen and respond.

It's time for the GOP to let independents and middle-of-the-roaders know there's a party for them that hears them; that feels their pain and acknowledges their skepticism toward Big Government Programs, and taxes and stealth agendas.

It's time for the GOP and Steele to hold National Townhalls around the country with key leaders who will LISTEN to America.

Michael Steel, Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee; Bobby Jindal, Tim Pawlenty, Sarah Palin, Arnold Schwarzeneggar; Mitch Daniels, Rick Perry, John Boehner and Mike McConnell should schedule Four National Townhalls.

First in Indianapolis, then in St. Louis, then in Manchester, NH and New Orleans.

Invite the people to vent - and LISTEN. Show respect. take notes. Make connections.

Michael can moderate. And the others can each make an opening 5 minute speech and then respond to questions and complaints.

AND THEY ALL SHOULD LISTEN.

IF YOU AGREE, THEN EMAIL STEELE HERE: Chairman@gop.com

OBAMA'S COMRADES AT ARMS

THEY SHARE AN AGENDA WITH EACH OTHER - BUT NOT WITH AMERICA!







NHS FIASCO: 860,000 PRESCRIPTIONS BOTCHED PER YEAR!

HDR: NHS drug errors may top 860,000 per year

The number of mistakes involving NHS patients being given the wrong medication may total 860,850, according to the National Patient Safety Agency.

It said that in 2005, 36,335 incidents were reported, rising to 64,678 in 2006 and 86,085 in 2007. But Professor David Cousins, a senior pharmacist at the NPSA, said only 10% of incidents were actually reported.

NATIONALIZED HEALTH CARE SERVICES SUCK.

OBAMACARE WOULD SUCK WORSE.

DISSENT ACCORDINGLY.

SUDAN GENOCIDE CONTINUES: 25 VILLAGERS SLAUGHTERED BY SHILUK MILITIAS

BBC: Sudan militias in deadly raids

At least 25 villagers have been killed in ethnic militia raids in the semi-autonomous region of southern Sudan.

The southern military is blaming the unrest in oil-rich Upper Nile State on gunmen backed by a new splinter group from the south's ruling party.

But the SPLM-DC leader has rejected the claims and denies he has a militia.

It is the latest in a string of bloody clashes observers fear threaten a 2005 peace deal which ended the 21-year civil war between the north and south.

THE CIVIL WAR:
The war is usually characterized as a fight between the southern, non-Arab populations and the northern, Arab-dominated government.

ARAB MEANS MUSLIM...

... It is estimated that as many as 200,000 Southern Sudanese and Nuba children and women have been taken into slavery—mainly to North Sudan—during raids perpetrated in Southern Sudanese towns and villages.

SLAVES OWNED BY MUSLIMS...

Roughly 1.9 million civilians were killed in southern Sudan, and more than 4 million southerners have been forced to flee their homes at one time or another since the war began.
ALTHOUGH MOST OF THE GENOCIDE IN SUDAN WAS PERPETRATED BY MUSLIMS, THIS TIME IT WAS AN INDIGENOUS TRIBAL ATTACK,

STILL: WHERE'S THE OUTCRY FROM THE EU AND UN!?

WHY ISN'T OBAMA SENDING GEORGE MITCHELL TO THE SUDAN TO SAVE THE NON-MUSLIMS FROM THE MUSLIM GENOCIDE AND MUSLIM SLAVERY - OR TO STOP THR TRIBAL WARFARE!?

  • SINCE THE NUMBER OF DEATHS IN SUDAN IS 1000 TIMES THE NUMBER OF DEATHS IN THE ARAB-ISRAELI CONFLICT,
  • IT SEEMS WEIRD THAT LEFTISTS WHO FANCY THEMSELVES HUMANITARIANS FOR PEACE SAY BUPKUS ABOUT SUDAN,
  • BUT ARE ALWAYS ATTACKING ISRAEL AS IF ISRAEL WAS THE CAUSE OF ALL THE TROUBLE IN THE WOLRD.

WHY DOES THE LEFT AND THE UN AND EU ALWAYS MAKE ISRAEL'S WARS AGAINST JIHAD CENTER STAGE?

ANTISEMITISM.

AND COWARDICE.

ALSO: OBAMA IS AN ANTI-SEMITE AND AN ANTI-ZIONIST WHO IS THE SON OF A MUSLIM WHO PROBABLY SIDES WITH THE MUSLIMS OF SUDAN.

OBAMA & CO: INCOMPETENT: THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS SCOOPS MARK TAPSCOTT & HOT AIR, AGAIN


TAPSCOTT AND HOT AIR TODAY:

Mark Tapscott picks up the thread of yesterday’s Obamateurism and follows it back through the first seven months of the Barack Obama presidency. The failure to check with school districts on start dates before scheduling a national address to “schoochildren” is not an isolated fumble by the administration headed by the novice executive. It’s becoming a pattern of incompetence, which can be seen at all levels:

Now, the school speech was poorly thought out, both in concept and execution. The same can be said of Obama’s recurring unsuccessful attempts over the summer to “reframe the health care reform debate,” and the multiple mis-steps in responding to his Town Hall critics, beginning with the spectacularly inept branding of them as an “angry mob.”…

The lesson here is that the political ear that warns of potential mis-steps in a campaign is not the same one that works once you are elected and have to make the thousand decisions that come with daily governance of a central government that long ago become far too big and expansive to be effectively managed. This is why administration officials approach projects like the school speech without anticipating the explosion of negative public reaction.

So expect in coming months a growing theme in the media questioning the competence of those around the president. For liberals in Congress and the media, such a theme will provide a handy way of diverting blame from Obama’s shoulders for the succession of blunders, misteps and embarrassments that is surely coming.

How has this theme surfaced? It would be impossible to count them all, but we can get them into broad themes:

  • Personnel - Barack Obama’s appointments have been a continuing source of embarrassment. His Treasury Secretary blamed Turbo-Tax for his tax evasion, but several more appointments also had tax problems. Obama nominated Bill Richardson to Commerce knowing full well of the pay-for-play probe in New Mexico that forced Richardson to withdraw his name a few weeks later. Van Jones, the Green Jobs Czar, is just the latest example of fumbled vetting that has plagued this White House since the transition.
  • Economics - Remember when Obama told the nation that a $787 billion stimulus package would keep unemployment from getting above 8%? Remember when Obama told the nation that his administration had shaved $2 trillion off of the projected ten-year deficit? Remember when Obama promised that he would speed up stimulus spending this summer? None of those came to pass, which is why Obama hopes you’ve forgotten all of that.
  • Politics - One might have thought Obama would have learned from the debacle of the stimulus package that he needed to lead, rather than follow Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid. Instead, he passed the buck on health-care reform and wound up losing control of the health-care debate. Indeed, Obama made it worse by cheering on Pelosi and Reid, demanding that Congress bend to their wills and vote on an overhaul of 1/6th of the American economy with just a handful of days for debate. This week, seven months after his inauguration, Obama’s press flacks announced with great fanfare that Obama would finally draft a proposal himself — as if he were President, or something!

Who could have warned us that a man who served seven years in the state legislature and three years in the Senate would not have been prepared for the toughest executive position in the Free World? We did. Repeatedly. So did John McCain, and for that matter, so did Hillary Clinton.

THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS YESTERDAY:

OBAMA, AXELROD, AND RAHM: INCOMPETENT
THESE THREE LEFTIST JERKS SUCK AT THE BASICS: THEY DON'T KNOW HOW TO VET.

THEY DIDN'T PROPERLY VET DASCHLE, OR RICHARDSON OR GEITHNER OR VAN JONES.

THEY DIDN'T VET THE STIMULUS BILL AND THEY DIDN'T VET OBAMACARE.

THEY HAVE DONE NOTHING RIGHT.

ALL THEIR TROUBLES ARE OF THEIR OWN MAKING.
WE POSTED THE SAME THING IN MARCH, IN FEBRUARY.

REULAR READERS KNOW WE SCOOP THE BIGGIES ALL THE TIME WITH LINKS AND THE HARDEST-HITTING TERSE ANALYSIS AND COMMENTARY.

SPREAD THE WORD, BLOGROLL US, BOOKMARK US.


NYC LEFTIST RUNNING FOR D.A. APPARENTLY RUNNING AGAINST CHENEY - WHO'S A CRIMINAL!?

I live in the People's Republic of Manhattan.

We've had the same DA for a gazillion years: Morganthau

Until now: the old geezer is finally retiring and a buch of left-wing lawyers are competeing to see who get to run the feifdom.

One is Dick Aborn and I rcently got some JUNK mail from him.

I think it is OUTRAGEOUS and disgusting.

Take a look:


CHENEY A CRIMINAL NEW YORKERS SHOULD WORRY ABOUT HAVING A GUN!?

And then I got this:


WHAT THE FRUCK IF HE TALKING ABOUT?!

IN THE LAST 30 YEARS EXACTLY TWO ABORTION DOCTORS HAVE BEEN KILLED - AND NOT IN NYC.

The NRA and Pro-Lifers are hardly political foes in NYC, I mean SHIT: even Rudy was a pro-CHOICE pro-"gun control" lib!

IT'S LEFTIST DEMAGOGUERY - PURE & SIMPLE!

I guess Aborn just felt the need to be OUTRAGEOUS to get some attention!?

And I was kinda surprised there has been no hullabaloo about the Cheney image, but then I guess nearly every frickin' person who got this mailer from Aborn is a NYC-lib - which means commie in most of the world.

I got it cuz I am still a registered Dem - have been since 1974.

But I am to the right of Lieberman and RFK and JFK now.

Van Jones: Suburban White Kids Are Mass Murderers; Black Kids Are Ignored and Neglected

Why? Because he wants your children so he can indoctrinate them. He implicitly wants Hitler Youth Brigades. The solution to these fabricated problems? More racist legislation giving preference to people based on skin color.


What a wackjob. What does this have to do with green jobs, anyway? How come I never saw any mass murders when I was growing up in the suburbs? I never even saw a fight. Black kids may be largely ignored and neglected, but that's because of government intervention and social engineering by liberals in the inner cities, all aimed to brainwash kids so that that they never realize their potential, keep them on Uncle Sam's Plantation, and replace the family with statism. Government destroyed the black family and Jones' solution is to destroy it even more.

H/T: Indy Post-Partisan Examiner

Conclusion first, money second, facts last

Excerpt:

Today's lesson in "Fleecing The Taxpayer" comes to us from the state of New York, where the legislature recently awarded a grant to study the racial impact of legislation.

The award of $10,000 will go to the Center for NuLeadership on Urban Solutions, which is part of the City University of New York's Medgar Evers College. CNUS, according to its Web site, is the "first and only public policy, research, training, advocacy and academic center....designed and developed by formerly incarcerated professionals."

I'm sure Washington Examiner readers are astute enough to translate the phrase "formerly incarcerated professionals" into the simpler, more common and much more linguistically efficient word "jailbirds."

But I don't really have a problem with that. I'm all for ex-convicts repenting, redeeming themselves and re-integrating themselves into society's mainstream. What I do have a problem with is those folks who want to use taxpayers' money to fund studies about which they've already reached conclusions.

And I have the sneaking suspicion that the CNUS faculty has already concluded that New York's laws have a disparate impact on racial minorities, in general, and black folks, in particular.

More HERE

Posted by John Ray. For a daily critique of Leftist activities, see DISSECTING LEFTISM. To keep up with attacks on free speech see TONGUE-TIED. Also, don't forget your daily roundup of pro-environment but anti-Greenie news and commentary at GREENIE WATCH . Email me (John Ray) here

Friday, September 04, 2009

UNBEFREAKIN'LIEVABLE: VAN JONES'S IMMEDIATE SUPERVISOR WAS ENERGY ADVISOR TO FORMER CALIFORNIA GUV GRAY DAVIS

WEEKLY STANDARD:
Former White House staffers I’ve spoken with say they would bet the FBI uncovered much of Jones’s past--especially if Jones truthfully answered their questions. What would then happen is this: the background report would go to the Counsel’s office (run by Greg Craig), who would then raise the question of whether what the FBI found was disqualifying with the the potential employee’s boss. Jones was hired by Council on Environmental Quality Chair Nancy Sutley, but he presumably (and ultimately) reports to the chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel. Emanuel must have decided that nothing in Jones’s background was alarming enough to prevent his appointment.

So even if Jones is thrown overboard this weekend, it’s worth asking: Did Rahm sign off on Jones’s appointment despite what the FBI must have discovered about his background. And, incidentally--did Jones tell the truth to the FBI?
SO WHO IS NANCY SUTLEY? HERE - NYTIMES:

Is linked to Mr. Obama by: Carol M. Browner, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency under President Bill Clinton and now a senior adviser to the Obama transition team on environmental and energy matters; Ms. Sutley served as her special assistant at the E.P.A. ...


ASIDE: BROWNER IS A SOCIALIST IN GOOD STANDING...

MORE:

Used to work as: A member of the California State Water Resources Control Board and as the top energy adviser to former Gov. Gray Davis.
THAT WOULD THE RE-CALLED GOVERNOR GRAY DAVIS WHO WAS RE-CALLED DUE TO THE CALIFORNIA ENERGY DEBACLE!

SO WHY WAS SHE PICKED? SHE'S A SOCIALIST AND:

... a member of the Southern California lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender steering committee for Mrs. Clinton.

... she supported a requirement that Los Angeles produce 20 percent of its power from renewable sources.
OBAMA PICKED NUTLEY AND JONES AND BROWNER NOT BECAUSE THEY ARE GREENS, BUT BECAUSE THEY ARE REDS.

YOUTUBE STAR OF THE MONTH - CATHERINE BRAGG: SHE'S OBAMACARE'S "JOE THE PLUMBER"

SHE HAS DISTILLED THE PROBLEM AND I PREDICT THIS VIDEO'S GONNA GALVANIZE THE OPPOSITION THE WAY JOE THE PLUMBER'S DID IN THE CAMPAIGN:






VIA HOT AIR.

OBAMA'S INNER CIRCLE: A GALLERY OF ROGUES, REDS AND RADICALS

THESE ARE THE LONG TIME FRIENDS,
MENTORS,
WHITE HOUSE ADVISORS
AND CONFIDANTS OF BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA.

THEY TELL US WHO HE REALLY IS.

AND WHY OBAMA IS A GRAVE THREAT TO THE REPUBLIC.



RASHID KHALIDI:
PAID PROPAGANDIST FOR THE PLO; HEIR OF EDWARD SAID,
BABY-SITTER TO OBAMA'S DAUGHTERS


JEREMIAH WRIGHT:
CONVERTED OBAMA TO "BLACK LIBERATION THEOLOGY"
AND MENTORED HIM FOR 20 YEARS;
MARRIED HIM TOP MICHELLE;
BAPTIZED HIS DAUGHTERS


CASS SUNSTEIN:
OBAMA'S SPECIAL ADVISOR ON GOVERNMENT;
ADVOCATED AUTOMATIC & PREEMPTIVE GOVERNMENT CONTROL
OF THE ORGANS AND BODY PARTS OF THE DECEASED



MARK LLOYD:
OBAMA'S NEW "DIVERSITY CZAR" AT THE FCC






GEORGE SOROS: ADMITTED AND UNREPENTANT NAZI COLLABORATOR;
WHO HELPED ELECT OBAMA
AND FINANCES
THE SHADOW GOVERNMENT WEB OF LEFTIST THINK TANKS (MORE HERE AND HERE)


VAN JONES:
ADVOCATE OF COP-KILLER MUMIA;
"TRUTHER" WHO FEELS BUSH PLANNED 9/11;
COMMUNIST


BARACK HUSSIEN OBAMA:
ALINKSYITE;
"COMMUNITY ORGANIZER",

AND ACCOMPLISHED LIAR -
WHO LIED ABOUT HOW HE'D FINANCE HIS CAMPAIGN;

WHO LIED ABOUT HIS ASSOCIATION WITH ACORN;

AND SO MUCH ELSE...



THESE ARE THE LONG TIME FRIENDS,
MENTORS,
ADVISORS AND CONFIDANTS
OF BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA.


THEY TELL US WHO HE REALLY IS.

AND WHY OBAMA IS A GRAVE THREAT TO THE REPUBLIC.

SOME PERSPECTIVE ON THE NYTIMES' GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE

FOR POSTMODERN LEFTISTS - LIKE THOSE WHO RUN THE NYTIMES - THERE IS NO TRUTH, MERELY COMPETING NARRATIVES:


The New York Times

Friday, September 4, 2009 Last Update: 6:55 PM ET

Try the new Global Edition. International news from a global perspective.


THIS PARTLY EXPLAINS WHY THE NYTIMES AND THE MSM IS FAILING: PEOPLE WANT THE NEWS - THE WHO WHAT WHERE WHEN & HOW - AND THEY DON'T GET IT FROM THE MSM; THEY GET A "PERSPECTIVE" WHICH IS ALWAYS LEFTIST.

THE PEOPLE WHO RUN THE MSM ARE AN INSULATED ELITE WHO THINK THEY KNOW EVERYTHING AND EVERYONE OF IMPORT, BUT THEY'RE REALLY JUST A BUNCH OF NARROW-MINDED LEFTISTS WHO NEVER GET OUTSIDE THE LEFTIST COCOON.

AND WHEN THEY SAY "GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE" THEY MEAN ANTI-AMERICAN.

EFF 'EM.

ANOTHER U.S. SUPREME COURT JUSTICE TO RETIRE?

From this article in the Washington Post on September 3, 2009:
Justice John Paul Stevens has hired only one clerk for the Supreme Court term that begins in October 2010, and in the tea-leaf-reading world of the court, that is being taken as a sign he is considering retirement.

Active justices generally have four clerks, and Stevens, 89, has hired that many for the court's new term, which begins next month. Stevens usually hires all of his clerks at the same time, and well in advance of the term in which they will work.

So his decision to make one hire thus far for the 2010-2011 term -- retired justices are entitled to one clerk -- seems significant....
Wiki has some information on his judicial philosophy. He is mostly on the liberal side of the court and wrote SCOTUS decisions less conservative than those written when he served on the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals.

Reminder: the Presidential power of appointments to the United States Supreme Court extends that President's power well beyond the term limits in the Oval Office.

UPDATED: IF OBAMA WAS REALLY A CRYPTO-MUSLIM AND A CLOSET COMMIE, WOULD HE ACT ANY DIFFERENTLY? OBAMA ATTACKS LONG-TIME ALLIES HONDURAS AND ISRAEL

By attacking Israel's settlement growth and cutting off Honduras from all aid non-humanitarian, Obama has allied himself to the Arabs and Chavez and signalled he has no use for our long-term democratic (small d) allies.

White House slams plan for construction followed by freeze

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's plan to approve hundreds of new housing units in West Bank settlements before considering a temporary freeze in construction, drew harsh criticism from Washington on Friday, which has called for a total halt.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs reacted strongly, with a bluntly worded statement condemning the move.

"We regret the reports of Israel's plans to approve additional settlement construction," it said. "As the president has said before, the United States does not accept the legitimacy of continued settlement expansion and we urge that it stop."

The plan "is inconsistent with Israel's commitment under the road map" outlining a path to Israeli-Palestinian peace, Gibbs said.

NYTIMES: White House Rebukes Israel Over Settlement Plan

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel will approve the construction of hundreds of new housing units in Israeli settlements in the West Bank in the coming days as a prelude to a building freeze of six to nine months aimed at restarting peace talks with the Palestinians, senior Israeli officials said Friday.

The plan — meant to meet the contradictory demands of Mr. Netanyahu’s own Likud Party and those of Palestinians, the Arab world and the West — immediately drew protests from the Obama administration and the Palestinian Authority.

“As the president has said before,” the White House said in a statement, “the United States does not accept the legitimacy of continued settlement expansion, and we urge that it stop. We are working to create a climate in which negotiations can take place, and such actions make it harder to create such a climate.”

The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, meeting in Paris with President Nicolas Sarkozy of France, said the plan was “not acceptable.”


This is a sad sad shameful day for the USA.

OBAMA: SIDING WITH THE ARABS AGAINST ISRAEL AND WITH CHAVEZ AGAINST HONDURAS.

THIS MUST NOT STAND.

Something’s Wrong With ObamaCare, But Man Can’t Put Finger On It After Incident or...

Something is wrong with ObamaCare, but William Rice can no longer put his finger — specifically, his right pinky finger — on exactly what it is. Why? Because he had it bitten off by a supporter of President Barack Obama’s so-called “health care reform” measure during a rally Wednesday in Thousand Oaks, Calif. Rice was part of a group staging a rally — with a permit, I might add — in opposition to the president’s nationalized-medicine measure.

To watch a segment about the story that aired on Neil Cavuto’s show on Fox News Channel,
click here.

P.S. Did you like the alternate headline shown in the graphic above? Let me know.

Radio Free Rush

If Mark Lloyd has his way, Rush Limbaugh, Tom Marr and Ron Smith may have to broadcast from an offshore Island. Mark Lloyd is the newly appointed Chief Diversity Officer for the Federal Communications Commission. His writings make it clear that he wants to tax and regulate “right wing” radio out of existence.

Liberals understand that talk radio is the major source of conservative grassroots networking and information sharing. It encourages and empowers individuals to have a voice and to use it. When the Congressional switchboards light up it is often because talk radio has admonished their listeners to “call your member of Congress and tell them how you feel”.

With virtually all of the major network and print media parroting the same liberal message, talk radio remains the only powerful obstacle to the passage of the leftist agenda. Case in point, the effort to jam a dismantling of the U.S. health delivery system through, unread and undiscussed. The strategy has foundered because Rush, Hannity, and a litany of local hosts have revealed on a daily basis new outrageous provisions found buried in the House health care bill. They were equally vocal about Cap and Trade and the budget busting deficits. Vermont’s Socialist Senator Bernie Sanders has complained that talk radio is drowning out their message.

The left knows that a frontal assault on talk radio, re-implementing the Fairness Doctrine would set off a firestorm in the United States. So while there are some members of Congress who are calling for it to be revived, the President said during his campaign that he is not in favor of bringing back the Fairness Doctrine. But there is more than one way to skin a cat. The Administration has created a diversity officer position that has never before existed at the FCC and appointed Mark Lloyd, whose stated goals would tax and regulate conservative and Christian radio into bankruptcy and give the proceeds to public radio.

As a senior fellow of the Soros funded Center for American Progress, Lloyd co-authored a report titled “The structural imbalance of political talk radio”. The conclusion is that there is too much conservative programming and not enough liberal talk. It matters not to the authors that radio station owners air Rush and Hannity and Mark Levin because that’s what the public supports and want to listen to, or that Air America could not attract enough listeners to succeed in the marketplace. The report suggests remedies to fix the “imbalance” that would put local and national caps on commercial radio station ownership and ensure greater “accountability” over radio licensing.

Most astonishingly, Mark Lloyd is calling for each private radio station every year to pay a fee (tax) for their broadcast license, equal to their gross operating budget, with the monies going to the liberal public stations, with whom they compete for listeners. This is a clear formula for driving private radio out of business. And just in case any survived, Lloyd would regulate much of the programming on these stations to make sure they focused on “diverse views” and government activities....

People equal policy. In appointing a radical “Diversity Czar”, the Obama administration has placed a leftist into a position to promote policy that will squelch conservative speech.

More HERE

Posted by John Ray. For a daily critique of Leftist activities, see DISSECTING LEFTISM. To keep up with attacks on free speech see TONGUE-TIED. Also, don't forget your daily roundup of pro-environment but anti-Greenie news and commentary at GREENIE WATCH . Email me (John Ray) here

OBAMA, AXELROD, AND RAHM: INCOMPETENT

THESE THREE LEFTIST JERKS SUCK AT THE BASICS: THEY DON'T KNOW HOW TO VET.

THEY DIDN'T PROPERLY VET DASCHLE, OR RICHARDSON OR GEITHNER OR VAN JONES.

THEY DIDN'T VET THE STIMULUS BILL AND THEY DIDN'T VET OBAMACARE.

THEY HAVE DONE NOTHING RIGHT.

ALL THEIR TROUBLES ARE OF THEIR OWN MAKING.

AND ANOTHER THING: WHEN IS OBAMA GONNA DEMAND RANGEL STEP DOWN?!?

OR DOES OBAMA THINK WHAT RANGEL'S FLOUTING OF OUR NATION'S LAWS IS OKAY!?

ISRAEL'S HIGH COURT ASKS A CHALLENGING QUESTION FOR A CHANGE

I'm really surprised at this, considering that they are run by leftists, that they'd wonder why illegally built Arab homes are allowed, but not Jewish ones:
High Court Justice Edna Arbel, in a response to a petition charging the government with bias against Jews, expressed amazement that the Defense Ministry has issued orders to destroy only three of 50 illegal Arab homes in one village in Judea and Samaria.

The petition by the Regevim organization complained that the government discriminates against Jews in Judea and Samaria, where Defense Minister Ehud Barak has authorized the destruction of hundreds of Jewish homes. Several of the demolitions have taken place in the middle of the night.

The three demolition orders against illegal Arab construction, which is rampant most places in Judea and Samaria and without supervision or planning, were issued since 1996. “Fourteen years? I think that everyone would say that is a bit too much” to understand, Justice Arbel told government attorneys.
I assume that maybe she's come to her senses, perhaps due to disillusionment with Ehud Barak? Well there was a poll taken some time ago showing that Labor might get even less next election than it has this last one. Maybe some leftists are becoming tired of them after all.

Even more on the WWF ad

It's confirmed: the WWF absolutely knew about the ad.

Business Insider reports:

Ad Age is reporting "Sergio Valente, president of DDB Brasil, said the ad was presented to the WWF in Brazil in December 2008 and approved; it then ran once in a small local paper." Once he saw it, he was disturbed enough to pull the ad.

Since then it's been picked up on the web and is causing quite a stir. Ad Age reports that Keith Olbermann put DDB his worst person in the world segment.

There's also a video version of the ad, which is creepy as all get out. DDB says it didn't produce it, despite it having a title card with its name at the start. As Mediaite writes, "That’s an awful lot of trouble to go through to frame a company for producing a video ad that it admits to doing a print version of."

Yeah, I'll say. Also, what's up with Olberman suddenly taking issue with mocking 9/11? He's offended by commemorating it too. Does he just want it to go down the memory hole?



Bring back the pain? For whom did it ever go away? Olberman is the worst person on TV except for maybe that Ed Schultz douche.

I also replaced the video and I am backing it up right now.

H/T: Barenakedislam

Thursday, September 03, 2009

RIFQA BARY WILL STILL REMAIN IN FLORIDA; NEXT HEARING SEPTEMBER 29

Jihad Watch (via Heard His Call, Gotta Go) has been at the court hearing for custody of Rifqa Bary, and again, she's lucky that the judge has decided to grant her a longer stay in Florida. There will however be another hearing on September 29.

Here's more from Robert. There's supervised contact with the brother, which is good, because if he was violent to her as much as her father, then a sharp eye needs to be kept on him as well. The judge has issued a special gag order, which may be a good idea, since, as he argues, the more media attention she gets, the less safe she is. Given the hostile reception she's gotten from MSM like the Orlando Sentinel, this may be a good thing.

Update: and here's Pamela Geller's part of the story. The new lawyer for the parents, whose name is Shayan Elahi, was quite disgusting, if you consider that, not only did he try to get Rifqa's attorney, John Stemberger, replaced with a lawyer ad litum, he even tried, worse still, to stop visitation rights for her friends (she understandably began to cry when this happened). Whether it's the Lorenz's or even her own friends from Ohio, that is just plain nasty and foul to demand something like that. The man has clearly has no respect for the old saying, "a friend in need is a friend indeed." See also the videos here which involve a CAIR plant who hijacked the show. Robert Spencer took him on well in response.

Look What I Found In My Mailbox

Recently, two items — a book and a game — arrived in my mailbox, sent by people hoping I will mention their products in one of my posts. Click on the link below to see...

...What I Found In My Mailbox…

OBAMA HEADED INTO PERFECT STORM: THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS SCOOPS KARL ROVE, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL AND WEASEL ZIPPERS BY 2 1/2 MONTHS!

KARL ROVE/WSJ TODAY - VIA WEASEL ZIPPERS:

Presidents always encounter rough patches. What is unusual is how soon Mr. Obama has hit his. He has used up almost all his goodwill in less than nine months, with the hardest work still ahead. At the year's start, Democrats were cocky. At summer's end, concern is giving way to despair. A perfect political storm is amassing, and heading straight for Democrats.


THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS 2 1/2 MONTHS AGO:

Monday, June 15, 2009

OBAMA HEADED INTO A PERFECT STORM MANY PEOPLE WHO VOTED FOR OBAMA ARE WAKING UP BECAUSE OBAMA IS HEADING INTO A PERFECT STORM:
  • HE HAS A BIG DOMESTIC SCANDAL BREWING WITH WALPINGATE;
  • HIS TRILLION DOLLAR BOONDOGGLE AIN'T HELPING THE ECONOMY AND IT IS BECOMING EVERMORE APPARENT THAT IT'S RIDDLED WITH "DUBIOUS PROJECTS"AKA PORK;
I'M FEELING LIKE WE CAN DEFEAT THIS EGOMANIAC AND BRING HIM DOWN AND RETAKE THE CONGRESS - WHICH MEANS I'M FELLING GOOD.

REGULAR READERS KNOW THIS HAPPENS ALL THE TIME.

WE REGULARLY SCOOP ALL THE BIGGIES WITH HARD-HITTING BLUNT ANALYSIS.

SPREAD THE WORD. BOOKMARK US. BLOGROLL US.

FOX NEWS' "SPECIAL REPORT" PANEL: VAN JONES UNDER THE BUS BY MONDAY

DC INSIDERS SAY VAN JONES WILL BE GONE BY MONDAY.


VIDEO VIA HOT AIR.


THERE'S A PATTERN HERE:


ANYBODY WHO WEAKENS OBAMA'S CLOAKING POWERS - HIS ABILITY TO REMAIN A STEALTH LEFTIST - GETS THROWN UNDER THE BUS.



  • JEREMIAH WRIGHT.
  • BILL AYERS.
  • SOON, VAN JONES.
  • THE GOOD THING IS: FEWER AND FEWER PEOPLE ARE FOOLED BY THIS "REPETITIVE MOTION SYNDROME.".
  • OBAMA REALLY IS WHO HE'S ALWAYS BEEN - AND WHO THE RIGHT-WING ALWAYS KNEW HE WAS:

A DYED IN THE WOOL RED-DIAPER DOPER BABY WHO WANTS DISARMAMENT, APPEASEMENT, SOCIALIZED HEALTH CARE, HIGHER TAXES ON THE RICH, AND CARBON TAXES ON ENERGY.

OBAMA'S TRUSTED ADVISOR - VAN JONES - IS TO THE LEFT OF ALGER HISS, HECK : HE'S TO THE LEFT OF CHAVEZ AND CASTRO!

A PRESIDENT WHO WHO TRUST THE ADVICE OF A MAN WITH THE VIEWS OF VAN JONES IS UNIFT FOR THE OFFICE AND A TRAITOR TO THE NATION.

YES: I MEAN OBAMA IS UNFIT FOR THE OFFICE.









TEXTBOOK CHANGES IN THE UK

Changes being made to reflect the "Muslim heritage."

From the Jerusalem Post, with a hat tip to A New Dark Age Is Dawning:
An educational foundation in the UK has announced plans to distribute to high schools a free book that highlights the scientific and cultural legacies of Muslim civilization.

1001 Inventions: Muslim Heritage in Our World is the creation of the Foundation for Science Technology and Civilization (FSTC), a Manchester-based organization set up to raise awareness of the contributions of the Muslim world to modern civilization.

FSTC said the contribution that Muslim and other civilizations have made to the modern world has been widely overlooked and that its team of academics has focused on debunking the myth of the so-called "Dark Ages of Civilization."

"The period between the 7th and 17th centuries - which has been erroneously labeled 'the Dark Ages' - was in fact a time of exceptional scientific and cultural advancement in China, India and the Arab world," Prof. Salim Al-Hassani, chief editor of the book, said.

"This is the period in history that gave us the first manned flight, huge advances in engineering, the development of robotics and the foundations of modern mathematics, chemistry and physics."

The foundation said it hoped to distribute 3,000 copies of the book to UK schools by October and is seeking public support for the campaign through a sponsorship scheme.

Last month, British evolutionary biologist, popular science author and outspoken atheist Richard Dawkins announced plans to distribute free DVDs to high schools across the UK....
Of course, similar drivel is already in many of the textbooks being used right now in the United States. Bad as those books are now, they could be propagandized even more. And at the rate the dhimmitude is proceeding amongst the elite leftists here in the States, we will see a similar development here - as a supplement to use in the classrooms.

Also note the echoes of similarity in the words of BHO at the White House dinner celebrating Ramadan:
President Barack Obama highlighted the contributions made by Muslims to American culture and the “dynamism and diversity” of the Islamic community.

“Islam, as we know, is part of America,” Obama said at a White House dinner celebrating the Islamic holy month of Ramadan....
The White House dinner celebrating Ramadan was held on the fifth anniversary of the barbarous attack on the school in Beslan. Talk about a disgusting irony!

OMG! Obamacare Thug Bit the Finger off a Senior Citizen

And he's on the run now. Seriously. It was probably worse than it sounded because the only eyewitness account came from a Moveon.org protester.

H/T: Daley Gator (and thanks for linking to me earlier).

EUROPE'S SLIDE INTO ANTI-SEMITISM CONTINUES

Last week, Sweden's largest paper published an article which essentially perpetrated a Blood Libel against Israel.

Now there' all of this ...
Norway's global pension fund drops Elbit

Norway finance minister says Israeli company dropped from state's pension fund over "ethical concerns."

'Russia confirms MiG-29M sale to Syria'

Head of Russian aircraft corporation says advanced fighter jets are being supplied to Damascus.

Spanish paper: Irving 'expert' on WWII'

El Monde' article with convicted Holocaust denier will appear a day after interview with Yad Vashem chair.


Anti-Semitism is a barometer of insanity.

If the European media continues to ratchet things up in this way, we are headed for big trouble. And, when I say we, I do not mean "Jews". I am not a Jew. I mean we, as in the whole world.


A society which is so insane as to believe such lies is a society which is living in a chaos of the mind. That chaos of the mind will eventually become manifest.


We all know what happened the last time Europe succumbed to such insane ideas.

People have become too comfortable with government

When average everyday American citizens come home from work, they almost invariably drive on a congested highway owned and maintained by the government, often on the way to an overcrowded government school to pick up their children. And before they pull into the garage, they check on their mail from the government-run bankrupt post office.

Simply put: American citizens cannot avoid the pernicious intrusion of government into virtually every facet of their lives. It is pervasive. And it is invasive. Yet, very few people fully understand the long-term consequences of constant government intervention. It is clear that the side effects of ubiquitous government control often causes people to make what many free market advocates might consider irrational decisions about current government programs.

For example, when one economist asked MIT Nobel laureate Robert Solow why he was opposed to school choice he said, “It isn’t for any economic reason; all the economic reasons favor school vouchers. It is because what made me an American is the United States Army and the public school system.” That economist was Dr. Daniel Klein and Solow’s reaction is what he calls “The People’s Romance.”

“The People’s Romance” is a phenomenon that draws people to government in a way that allows government to do things to which most people would object were they to step back and take a closer look at the deleterious effects of government usurpation. Through a myriad of common government-owned “focal points” (i.e. roads, postal service, schools), government solidifies its power, which Klein calls “encompassing sentiment coordination.”

Once government gains the passive acceptance of a large portion of the population under “The People’s Romance,” it can do almost anything it wants. One common historical example was Josef Stalin’s reign over the Soviet Union. It is clear that he had the subjugated people under one of the strongest “People Romances” in recorded history.

Obviously, “The People’s Romance” is very dangerous for a functioning free society and is at the heart of authoritarian thinking. Karl Marx believed that workers were alienated through capitalism and the division of labor, and that they should be brought together as a “union into one single productive body.” That meant that every individual was now working towards a communal end.

And it is now clear that “The People’s Romance” is becoming an established fixture in the United States. For example, most Americans cannot even fathom the elimination of the Department of Education – even though the quality of education has plummeted since the establishment of that union-controlled monolithic bureaucracy. And rarely will one ever hear a Washington politician or mainstream media pundit discuss a true free-market solution to the nation’s health care problems – even though it would cut costs and improve quality just as it has in almost every other industry.

Unfortunately, because of “The People’s Romance” indoctrination, the words privatization or deregulation are now considered taboo. And all of the while the nation goes bankrupt as government continues grabbing up and running down one sector of the economy after another.

So now, sadly, the solutions to many of the current problems facing the United States are being ignored simply due to people’s blind trust in the powers that be. And patched-over roads with massive traffic jams leading to costly government schools where children’s heads are filled with mush have become an acceptable norm, along with the inefficiencies of an government monopolized postal system.

In short, they are all part and parcel of a once less obtrusive, arms-length relationship the American people once had with their government that has long-since devolved into an oppressive “People’s Romance” gone horribly awry.

SOURCE

Posted by John Ray. For a daily critique of Leftist activities, see DISSECTING LEFTISM. To keep up with attacks on free speech see TONGUE-TIED. Also, don't forget your daily roundup of pro-environment but anti-Greenie news and commentary at GREENIE WATCH . Email me (John Ray) here

Breaking: Hizballah had stockpiled WMD - chem weapons

NEWS FROM KUWAIT VIA HAARETZ:
Hezbollah was keeping chemical weapons in the arms stockpile which exploded more than a month ago in southern Lebanon, the Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Siyasa reported on Thursday.

European sources quoted in the article also said that three out of the eight Hezbollah operatives who were killed in the blast died after coming in contact with the chemicals.
HIZBALLAH SHOULD BE FORCIBLY DISBANDED AND DESTROYED, AND ITS LEADERS ARRESTED/JAILED/TRIED/EXECUTED.

SCOTUS CO2 DECISION IS THE DRED SCOTT DECISION FOR INDUSTRY

DRED SCOTT : LIBERTY OF SLAVES :: SCOTUS ANTI-CO2 DECISION : INDUSTRY/ENERGY/ECONOMY.

JUST SAYING.

SOMEONE OUGHT TO STAGE A COMPLETE READING OF THE STIMULUS BILL AND OBAMACARE

IT WOULD BE AMAZING AND "EYE-OPENING" FOR PEOPLE TO HEAR HOW AWFUL THESE LONG BILLS ARE!

SOMEONE SHOULD DO IT AND POST IT ON YOUTUBE...

More on the WWF ad

Pasto ran this post yesterday about the WWF's 9/11/tsunami ad, in which the WWF said that a third-party ad agency had just up and released the ad without WWF's approval. This hardly seems feasible now that a video by the same agency has surfaced which is basically just the print ad with scary sound effects and a lot more CGI. Apparently, this video has some pretty pricey production values. This was not a mistake. They spent absurd sums of money on this after focus-grouping it at length, and somehow came to the conclusion that it would go over well.

Watch the video and decide if this could have been an accident.

H/T: Ace

THE NHS WILL CUT SERVICES SOONER OR LATER

BBC:
The government says it has rejected advice from management consultants to cut the NHS workforce in England by 10% over the next five years.

The plans to close 137,000 clinical and admin posts were proposed by McKinsey and Company to save £20bn by 2014.

The consultants also said a recruitment freeze and early retirement programme should be established, the Health Service Journal reported.

But the Department of Health said many services needed more staff not less.

The health service budget is due to rise by more than 5% each year until 2011.

But after that many predict it will see a cut in real terms.

MORE PROOF THAT A POLITICIAN-DESIGNED, BUREAUCRAT-RUN, THIRD-PARTY PAY, TAXPAYER-FINANCED SYSTEM HAS NEVER AND CAN NEVER WORK.

NO WONDER THEY ARE STARTING TO EUTHANIZE PATIENTS - IT SAVES THE GOVERNMENT A LOT OF MONEY: MEDICAL EXPENSES AND PENSIONS!