FUNNY LINE

I just read an article about support gaining for taking on Bart Stupak's refusal to pass the health care bill as it's written. I bet there there are a bunch of dems out there who want to jump ship, but are afraid to. The "Gang of 11" as they're being called might give more of them courage.

Part of the article expressed Obama's baffling persistence in pushing through a bill that is not popular with the American people and is putting the democrats' chances of retaining their majority in Congress in jeopardy.

In comparing Clinton's ability to slow down on Hillary Care when he read the tea leaves, this writer says,

"You know, say what you want about Bill Clinton, but at least he knew when to take his foot off of the gas when he proposed ClintonCare. If Obama’s hitting the brakes, he must be in a Toyota, because he’s not stopping. If anything, he’s just picking up speed."

It made me chuckle, and I thought it might make you chuckle, too.

TAKE A READ

Since I wrote the previous post, Obama's double speak on the place of Reconciliation in the legislative process has received more attention. Ann Althouse has a good little piece on it.

Her blog reads:

"My understanding of the Senate is is that you need 60 votes to get something significant to happen..."
"... which means that Democrats and have to ask the question: Do we have the will to move an American agenda forward, not a Democratic or Republican agenda forward?"

That's Barack Obama in 2004.

And, here he is in 2006:
"Those big-ticket items, fixing our health care system. You know, one of the arguments that sometimes I get with, uhh, my fellow progressives and -- and some of these have -- have flashed up in the blog communities on occasion -- is this notion that we should function sort of like Karl Rove, where we -- we identify our core base, we throw 'em red meat, we get a 50-plus-one, uhhh, victory. See, Karl Rove doesn't need a broad consensus because he doesn't believe in government. If we want to transform the country, though, that requires a -- a sizeable majority."

And 2007:
"[Health care reform] is an area where we're going to have to have a 60% majority in the Senate and the House in order to actually get a bill to my desk. We're going to have to have a majority to get a bill to my desk that is not just a 50-plus-one majority...."

You gotta break out of what I call the sort of 50-plus-one pattern of presidential politics. Maybe you eke out a victory with 50-plus-one but you can't govern. You know, you get Air Force One and a lot of nice perks as president but you can't -- you can't deliver on health -- we're not going to pass universal health care with a -- with a 50-plus-one strategy."
We're not? Or were you lying?

AND: In 2005:
"Under the rules, the reconciliation process does not permit that debate. Reconciliation is therefore the wrong place for policy changes. In short, the reconciliation process appears to have lost its proper meaning: A vehicle designed for deficit reduction and fiscal responsibility has been hijacked."
Yes, it has.

TAKE A LOOK

Take a look at this. Here's more in written form.

You just can't make this stuff up.

HOPE FOR THE FUTURE

I just watched a PJTV interview, conducted by Dana Loesch, of the founders of Tea Party Youth, who were at CPAC.

I had never heard of them before, but took a look at their new up and running website.

It's exciting to see college-aged people seeking to understand the issues that are going to shape their future. Their tagline is

PURSING YOUTH AWARENESS TODAY, PRESERVING THE PRINCIPLES OF YESTERDAY, AND PROTECTING THE FREEDOMS OF TOMORROW

They started with the usual internet networks like facebooks and blogs, but are now really taking off. Getting this interview with PJTV will give them a lot of new exposure because PJTV has a lot of young viewers. Moreover, they met some high profile people at CPAC, including Carl Cameron from FOX News. We may see something on their newscast. Certainly, it is news when there is a youth movement that is gaining steam.

WELCOME BACK CARTER

From an Instapundit link,

CHANGE! To meet the Obama administration’s targets for cutting greenhouse gas emissions, some researchers say, Americans may have to experience a sobering reality: gas at $7 a gallon.

I was only a kid when Carter was president, but one thing I do remember is gas lines. I don't think that $7/gallon gas will produce lines, necessarily, but it will be something people remember about the Obama presidency. And, I suppose that an alternate way to make people drive less would be to limit the supply of gasoline, which would cause gas lines. Oh, but taxes would be so much nicer!

$7/gallon gas would be another job killer. People won't be able to justify traveling 45-60 minutes to a job when the cost of getting there triples. That is in addition to the doubling/tripling of gasoline in the past couple of years. The differential cost could be a utility bill for some, or going out to dinner every so often for another.

Severe inflation of any kind will have this crippling effect, but this rise in cost would be artificial with the intent of curbing green house gases. So, if they can't get Cap-and-Trade, I guess this is one possibility to achieve a similar purpose. I suppose that ideally there will be an equal increase in the ability to commute in less green-house emission ways that cost less. I'm sure the first will be true, but second will not. Even now, traveling by BART may be preferable on some levels (inconvenient in others), but it's not necessarily more economical - especially if you're traveling with more than one person.

OTOH, If he doesn't find a way to decrease fuel emissions by 14% from 2005-2020, another campaign promise will again be broken.

Of course, a failure to meet the EPA deadline by 2020 will fall in the next administration. Similarly, the fall out from health care reform, i.e., the realization of rationing, higher taxes, and decreased innovation won't happen until then, either. Deflecting blame to someone else is par for the course.

$7/gallon gas is a very bad solution. I bet there are less penalizing solutions, if they look for them. If they're set on spending billions of dollars on green energy, what about subsidizing green alternatives so that they're actually cheaper than the more pollution causing traditional sources. Wouldn't that solve it w/o destroying the economy (even more than now)? The scary part is contemplating that an option that doesn't include raising taxes defies their real purpose (as in Cap and Trade).

DID YOU HEAR ABOUT THIS?

Did you hear about the "Smut for Smut" campaign, sponsored by the Atheist Agenda?

Porn For Bibles At Texas College

When I first saw this on the news, I thought to myself, "What are they so threatened by?" Treating atheism like this is treating it like a religion unto itself. Is this their way of "evangelizing?" Do they have to offend and demean believers to make themselves feel better? It spurred me to investigate further to see what went on. I can only imagine the groups of Christians on campus praying through this display. I prayed that the Bibles turned in would get into some hands that would read it and their lives would be changed by it. I found a lot of comments about it here. The comments varied from jazzed to repulsed, but the one that grabbed me was the following.

It was an amazing event that had a huge crowd standing for and against the atheist agenda group. When I arrived at the event, there was one individual that was between the crowd and the atheist group yelling "Jesus" and quoting parts of the bible, but he was also being very threatening and even tore up paper signs from a small group of theist sitting in the middle who wanted peace between the groups. After about an hour or two, the groups became one big group with one main debate and many small groups that spontaneously broke out into peaceful debate over the bible, god, creation, and countless other subjects. Overall, it was amazing event that evoked a lot emotion and intelligent debate with some unintelligent yelling.

I love that something so sinister could end up yielding some positive conversations that may open up people's heart to who God is.

STRANGE

The tactics of the Democratic Congress and Obama Administration can, in my estimation, be one of three things:

1) Hubris
2) Suicide
3) Martyrdom

Or a bit of all of them. After all, "pride cometh before the fall". And, either their fall will come in the form of political suicide and severe repercussions in the November elections, or it will be a calculated suicide, justified as martyrdom to a cause greater than the will of the American people whom they represent.

Their bullheadedness about sticking to the existing bill for health care reform, along with other blatant expressions of hypocrisy, power grabbing, and partisan displays have surpassed the patience of even some of the formerly faithful to Obama's agenda.

Briefly, some recent examples just from today...

1) Pushing forward with reconciliation

2) Pushing for it, despite the parliamentarian's warning, and deciding that Biden, and not the parliamentarian gets to ultimately decide if reconciliation is appropriate.

3) Recent video showing Biden specifically chide Republicans for trying to take a power grab and saying in a morally superior way, something to the effect of "I hope that when the Democrats are in power, we wouldn't make such a blatant expression of power grabbing as the Republicans are doing today."

4) And unrelated to health care, but consistent with the hypocrisy displayed at every turn, Pelosi is letting Rangel's ethical misconduct slide when "Pelosi was among the loudest calling for resignations and prosecutions, and effectively used the scandals in her “culture of corruption” campaign in 2006."

5) And, in another split personality moment, Pelosi just aligned herself and her party with "some of the views of the Tea Partiers in terms of the role special interests play in Washington D.C."

One explanation, along the lines of martyrdom is that they realize they're in for trouble in November, so they might as well go for broke and get as much of their original desires for health care reform passed.

Good grief.