Happy 100th Birthday, Ron

Whatever else history may say about me when I’m gone, I hope it will record that I appealed to your best hopes, not your worst fears; to your confidence rather than your doubts. My dream is that you will travel the road ahead with liberty’s lamp guiding your steps and opportunity’s arm steadying your way.

Ronald Wilson Reagan, Republican National Convention, 1992 ((H/T Gay Patriot)

When Reagan took the helm in 1981, we were a nation in decline. Under the second most incompetent president of the past century, Jimmy Carter, stagflation - the combined totals of inflation (13.5%) and unemployment (7.2%) - topped 20%. America was being humiliated by Iran's Khomeini who was holding our embassy officials hostage. And the communist empire of the Soviet Union, then led by Leonid Brezhnev, posed the greatest threat to the West. On the day President Reagan left office eight years later, our economy was booming, the hostage crisis was a distant memory, and the Soviet Union was fatally hemmoraging. Communism was in retreat throughout its sattelites, and in particular in Poland. His was a most successful presidency.




Fred Thompson: What Set Reagan Apart

As we celebrate his centennial and observe politicians of all stripes trying to align themselves with Reagan’s legacy, we should remember what made Ronald Reagan such a compelling leader. When given a moment on the international stage, Reagan unfailingly proclaimed America as the beacon of hope for those who yearn for freedom.

John Heubusch @ PJM - Reagan's Foreign Policy Legacy

Few presidents have altered the trajectory of world affairs as dramatically as Ronald Reagan, whose Centennial America we celebrate on Feb. 6.

The year-long Centennial celebration is an opportunity to examine the legacy and lessons of our 40th president, who not only reversed the “malaise” mentality at home and revived American optimism, but also stared down totalitarians abroad and won the Cold War.

Hot Air - Happy Birthday, Mr. President

How many people today remember what it was like to live in a world of a divided Europe, a divided Germany, and a divided Berlin — where guards with guns shot people who wanted to get out rather than get in? “We come to Berlin,” Reagan told the crowd at Brandenburg Gate, “because it is our duty to speak at this place of freedom.” And it’s largely because of Ronald Wilson Reagan, along with Margaret Thatcher, Pope John Paul II, and Lech Walesa that the Iron Curtain world died quietly in its sleep 21 years ago. Reagan and those stalwarts gave us a world where freedom and liberty triumphed over an “evil empire,” and the first step towards that victory was Reagan speaking plainly about its very nature rather than indulging in the pablum of moral relevancy that Reagan’s political opponents demanded.

Weekly Standard - Natan Sharansky Remembers Ronald Reagan

I have to laugh. People who take freedom for granted, Ronald Reagan for granted, always ask such questions. Of course! It was the great brilliant moment when we learned that Ronald Reagan had proclaimed the Soviet Union an Evil Empire before the entire world. There was a long list of all the Western leaders who had lined up to condemn the evil Reagan for daring to call the great Soviet Union an evil empire right next to the front-page story about this dangerous, terrible man who wanted to take the world back to the dark days of the Cold War. This was the moment. It was the brightest, most glorious day. Finally a spade had been called a spade. Finally, Orwell's Newspeak was dead. President Reagan had from that moment made it impossible for anyone in the West to continue closing their eyes to the real nature of the Soviet Union. . . .

Dr. Sanity - How Can You Not Love A Guy Like That

I vividly recall the day I met President Reagan almost exactly 20 years ago. It was one of the saddest days of my life. I was at the Johnson Space Center memorial service for the Challenger astronauts on the Friday after the Challenger accident. The President had come to JSC to honor the fallen crew and to heal the nation. . . .

Happy Birthday, Ron.

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Reagan's Warnings Against Socialism & Socialized Medicine

His words ring ever more true today.



(H/T Irate Nation)

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The Opposite Of Straight Talk

There is a special place reserved in the American pantheon for those people who "say what they mean and mean what they say." Obana represents the opposite. Not but two years ago, as he campaigned for the Presidency, he spoke about a single payor health care system before the SEIU. He could not have been more explicit in stating that he envisioned that a "public plan" health care option, put in place today, would crowd out private insurance and result in full government control of healthcare in about two decades.

And in the wake of his push for a public option, the main criticism of a "public option" has been on precisely that ground - that a public option would result, if not tomorrow, then in the foreseeable future, in a complete government take over of health care. Obama now claims that it would do no such thing. Who are we to believe, Obama or . . . well . . . Obama.

The White House has come out obfuscating furiously. They have laughably opined that the Obama-SEIU video was "taken out of context" and utterly false. They do not show any of the video. The White House instead just shows Obama's very recent statements claiming otherwise. Compare and contrast:





There is no objective reality when it come to Obama. This truly is Orwellian. How much would anyone like to bet that no one in the press will follow up on this with anything other than a softball question at best.

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Random Thoughts & Links

ABC News is preparing to do an hourlong infomercial from the Whitehouse for Obama's socialized medicine plan. Moreover, ABC has refused air time to opponents of this massive boondogle. This is unprecedented. Forget the wall between church and state, we need a wall between media and state.

The only thing resembling news from the big three comes from ABC's Jake "Huevos Grande " Tapper.

The CBO is putting the cost of the socialized healthcare at 1.6 trillion over ten years, though that includes the start-up years when costs are low. If you look at the ten year stretch once socialized healthcare is fully in force, that price tag is topping 2 trillion. And all of that is only expected to take care of 1/3 of those currently uninsured. How's that for a deal.

The left is getting holier than thou because Sen John Ensign has admitted that, during the time he was separated from his wife, he had an affair with a married woman. Firedoglake points out that Ensign called for Clinton's ouster after the Lewinsky affair. Two problems - Ensign has never lied about his affair and, of far greater importance, he didn't commit perjury by lying about it under oath.

Does the left think that it is doing itself any favors by protecting its ethically challenged members? 2010 is coming soon, and the Dems protecting Chris "friend of Angelo" Dodd are just adding more water to the swamp they were supposed to drain.

Dodd may not be going to jail - yet - but it seems that John Conyer's wife is.

A Drudge headline reads "Carter escapes assassination attempt in Gaza." How many questions does that whole scenario raise?

Doug Ross has a pictorial on "Our Vanishing Rednecks." It's hilarious.

Calvin Cline has gone past the line of even a patina of acceptability with their latest gang bang billboard ad.

Richard over at Belmont Club tells some of the truths about Iran and accurately hits a nail on the head when he takes Obama to task for continuing his indications that he will go forward with unconditional talks with Iran. Little he could do at the moment would be more counterproductive.

Jose Padilla was part of an al Qaeda plot to create and detonate a dirty bomb in America. Now he wants to sue the attorneys who approved of harsh interrogation techniques in the Bush Administration. It would be hard to imagine a clearer case where qualified immunity should apply - not to mention the precedent set by the recent SCT case on much the same topic - but a SF judge has allowed the case to continue. There need to be term limits for federal judges and a yearly review of their decisions. Things like this are ridiculous.

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Ramming Speed!!!

. . . Democrats are trying to rush the largest entitlement expansion since LBJ into law with a truncated debate and as little public scrutiny as possible. At this point all they've released are the vaguest "policy options," not concrete specifics. Yet the Senate plans to begin marking up legislation next week, maybe hold a hearing or two, then have something to the floor by the end of the month, votes by the August recess and a bill to the Oval Office by Thanksgiving. On the seventh day, they will rest.

WSJ, Why the Health Care Rush?, 3 June 2009

Health care accounts for a huge chunk - 18% - of our economy. How to reign in health care costs and how best to allocate resources have been contentious topics for years. Obama and the far left want to implement socialized medicine - something that comes with a massive "13 figure" price tag at a time when we are running the largest defecit in history times four and our economy is in the tank. Indeed, the already outrageous level of spending threatens us with inflation on a scale that will make the Jimmy Carter economy look good.

Yet come what may, Obama is bound and determined to force socialized medicine down our throat. Republicans have been completely shut out of the writing of this bill. It is being written in secret by the far left of the Democratic Party. They are seeking to circumvent the normal democratic procedures for passing legislation.

That process is designed to insure that all Americans, as well as our legislators, have a chance to fully understand what it is that is being proposed and to engage in full and free debate. What does it say of Obama that he is attempting to subvert this system. Apparently the same thing this tells us. Obama, having taken power on what clearly were a series of false promises, is now determined to push his real agenda through without regard for democracy. It appears that Obama would have us go from the concept of one person, one vote, to one person, one vote, one time.

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Math, Not Ideology

Much as I admire President Obama, I believe with something approaching certainty that his spending will bring this country to its knees. “Sustainability” is all the rage as a buzzword, but a $3.6 trillion budget is not “sustainable.” Doubling the national debt is not “sustainable.” Inaction in the face of $77 trillion in unfunded liabilities (Social Security, Medicare, entitlements) is not “sustainable.” This is math, not ideology.

- Author Christopher Buckley, writing at The Daily Beast

Mr. Buckley's assessment of our economic posture could not be more accurate when looking only at Obama's first 100 days. But Mr. Buckley's assessment hardly presents the full picture of the danger presented to our economy by the Obama drive to socialism. The numbers mentioned by Mr. Buckley are the tip of the Obama iceberg. Still on the horizon are Obama's plans to take over medical insurance and the student loan sector, both of which will add heavilly to our debt. And then there are the massive costs Obama seeks to impose on our economy using the canard that carbon dixoide is a pollutant. Obama's purpose there is to force us off oil and coal and into a utopian world of "green energy" No, Mr. Buckley's assessment, though accurate, doesn't even begin to contemplate the totality of spending and taxation planned by Obama.

And as an aside, you don't see many new oil wells going up, do you? Or what about offshore oil exploration? Coal fired plants? Nuclear power? Weren't these part of the centrist Obama campaign promises? But as should be obvious to all - even the most partisan of Obama supporters - Obama's campaign promises were not worth the paper upon which they were printed. Indeed, while Obama did and still does speak as a centrist, he governs from the far left.

As to energy, note that the global conditions that gave rise to $4 a gallon gas in the U.S. a year ago have not gone away. They are, like a cancer, merely in remission. India and China will recover and their thirst for oil will resume. Obama is only weakening our ability to withstand those inevitable costs as he steers us towards "green energy" that is wildly cost ineffective. In good times, we can subsidize those "green energy" boondogles and the population, looking at their energy bill, is none the wiser. But that will all come to a crashing halt when oil passes by the $300 a barrel mark on a trajectory ever upwards. God help us when that scenario hits, as it inevitably will.

We are rushing headlong into massive inflation at a minimum. You cannot print tons of money to without devaluing your currency. Little could be more well proven. And indeed, even China is no longer willing to buy Treasury securities. If what I heard on the news is accurate, than Obama plans to address this by having other U.S. government bodies buy the treasury securities, thus giving us the werewithall to fund spending through an accounting gambit in what can only be described as a government run fraud scheme. Such schemes inevitably fail, and catastrophically so. That coupled with the anti-business, pro-tax policies of the Obama administration hang like a sword of Damoclese over our economy.

I am daily amazed at the examples I see of the post modern left in action, claiming as reality whatever it is they want it to be. But math is not subject to such fantasy. Unfortunately for all us, two plus two always equals four.

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The Socialist Steamroller Cometh

As Charles Krauthammer pointed out in his column on Friday, it is clearly Obama's goal to use the economic crisis we are currently experiencing to turn us into a socialist state along the EU model. It can be seen in every act the administration takes, including the drive to socialized medicine with the recently proposed Obamacare health care bill. That bill would, if passed, create a public health insurance plan to compete in the private marketplace. As Krauthammer points out, it is a move that makes the march to full scale socialized medicine inevitable.

Of course, you will not hear that from Obama and most of the left. According to them, this is merely a step to reduce health care costs ostensibly needed because of the economic crisis. But some are a bit more honest, such as this, recorded in the People's Weekly World (guess their politics) several days ago:

Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) and co-sponsor of HR-676 answered criticisms from single-payer advocates. She said the public option is not a compromise, but a strategic step toward the single-payer system and the elimination of the private insurance industry . . .

The public option is simply the opening salvo against the private sector, Schakowsky and other speakers said.

Both Schakowsky and McNary stressed the need for solidarity among health care reform activists, in order to build mass support and momentum toward the goal of a single-payer system.

(H/T Verum Serum)

Obama is determined to have the Obamacare bill passed, and he is not going to let anything such as the democratic process get in the way. Indeed, he is so determined that he has enlisted key Democrats in the Senate to agree go bring his massive health bill up as part of a "budget reconciliation" in order to severely limit debate and eliminate Republican's right to fillibuster. John Sununu explains how obscene an approach this is in today's Wall St. J.:

Late last week President Barack Obama and Democratic congressional leaders agreed to use "budget reconciliation" if necessary to jam a massive health-care bill through Congress.

Most Americans probably greeted this news with the glazed eyes and yawns that should rightfully accompany any discussion of "the federal budget process" longer than 30 seconds. But this decision is a deeply troublesome attempt to circumvent the normal and customary workings of American democracy.

It's a radical departure from congressional precedent, in which budget rules have been designed and used to reduce deficits, not expand the size of government. And it promises bitter divisiveness under an administration that has made repeated promises to reach across the partisan divide.

Reconciliation was established in 1974 as a procedure to make modest adjustments to mandatory spending such as farm programs, student loans and Medicare that were already well established in law. Over the past 35 years, it has been used only 22 times -- and three of those bills were vetoed. There are good reasons it has been used so rarely. . . .

The power of a reconciliation bill is this: Senate rules allow only 20 hours of debate and then passage with a simple majority of 51 votes. This represents a lightning strike in the normal deliberative time-frame of the Senate. The historic precedent of open debate, and the requirement of 60 votes to close debate, are completely short-circuited.

Read the entire article.

How about that bi-partisanship. It was crystal clear from Obama's voting record at the State and Federal level that he was a doctrinaire socialist who never reached across the aisle. There should be no surprise now that his actions are in keeping with his history - and in total contravention of his campaign claims.

We really are not going to recognize this country by 2012. Undoing the damage the far left is doing to our economy and defense may prove impossible. Indeed, we are still paying for Jimmy Carter's horrendous presidency over three decades on, and Obama is, if anything, Carter on steroids.

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