August 13, 2009

So who's Astroturfing now?

Posted by Rick Henderson at 5:32 PM

A Colorado blogger shares an e-mail circulated by the Service Employees International Union in preparation for town hall meetings held by GOP Rep. Mike Coffman.

My favorite recommendation (other than urging people to wear green rather than purple -- so they won't be ID'd as SEIU plants?):

If you plan on staying outside the building (or have to because the venue becomes full), please make and bring a sign. The anti-reform signs are homemade and look like they are real constituents (some of them are constituents, but some are paid to be there). 

Linkable Entry

Still killing people 85 years after his death

Posted by Dr. Michael Sanera at 3:32 PM

This report in from Minsk, Belerus.

Associated  Press

Mon Aug 10, 12:43 pm ET

MINSK, Belarus – Belarusian officials says that a massive statue of Soviet founder Vladimir Lenin collapsed on a man who was hanging from it, killing him on the spot.

The Emergency Situations ministry said Monday that the 21-year-old man was drunk when he climbed onto the five-meter (16-feet)-high plaster monument early Monday and hung from its arm. It then broke into pieces and he was crushed.

The statue in the southeastern Belarus town of Uvarovichi was built in 1939.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko is a staunch admirer of the Soviet Union, and the nation still has numerous Soviet-era monuments to the revolutionary leader.

Thanks to John Moser at the Ashbrook Center blog No Left Turns

Linkable Entry

Woodstock revisionism — Finally!

Posted by Jon Ham at 3:20 PM

I never understood the exalted place Woodstock holds in the mind of the mainstream media. Unaccountably, this massive mud-wrestling event accompanied by a concert has acquired mythic proportions over the past four decades. Finally, though, some discouraging words are being heard.

In Mark Hosenball's article at newsweek.com ("I was at Woodstock. And I hated it") a less hagiographic view emerges:

As an authentic Woodstock attendee (or should I say victim?), I hate to rain on the procession of warm memories and good vibrations, but I will say this: wake up, folks. For some—maybe quite a few of us—who made the journey, Woodstock was, if not a nightmare, then a massive, teeming, squalid mess. 

He is joined by Mike Conklin of beachwoodreporter.com:

The social importance of Woodstock is a myth propagated by entertainment and media industries that continue to make money off a legacy they created. The concert rates high on the list of seminal events simply because it occurred near New York City. This meant the country's most powerful TV mediums had great footage for the evening news.  ...

In the 60s, I held my share of placards, did a little marching, and worked for Gene McCarthy, but I have yet to meet one person - some of whom were there - who thought Woodstock was important; fun, but certainly not some great symbol of a changing America.

The real significance of Woodstock and the barrage of retrospectives emanating from it, to me, is this: It serves as prime evidence how starved editors and producers are for ideas. Quite possibly it has become the No. 1 example for shallow, reflex-action coverage meant to appeal to baby boomers.

Funny how many problems come back to the same cause: Shallow editors and reporters.

Linkable Entry

American College of Surgeons debunks "uninformed public comments" ... by Obama

Posted by Rick Henderson at 12:46 AM

Among the statements made by the president that are "incorrect or not based in fact" highlighted in this press release are these remarks:

He stated [at Tuesday's New Hampshire town hall] that a surgeon gets paid $50,000 for a leg amputation when, in fact, Medicare pays a surgeon between $740 and $1,140 for a leg amputation. This payment also includes the evaluation of the patient on the day of the operation plus patient follow-up care that is provided for 90 days after the operation. Private insurers pay some variation of the Medicare reimbursement for this service.

Three weeks ago, the President suggested that a surgeon’s decision to remove a child’s tonsils is based on the desire to make a lot of money. That remark was ill-informed and dangerous, and we were dismayed by this characterization of the work surgeons do. Surgeons make decisions about recommending operations based on what’s right for the patient.

Sounds like somebody at the White House needs to fact check this guy.

(Hat tip: Jonah at The Corner.)

Linkable Entry

Big Pharma, the moneybags behind Obamacare

Posted by Dr. Roy Cordato at 12:25 AM

As I noted in a previous Locker Room post, progressives arrive at all their conclusions about conservatives through introspection, i.e., "that's how and why we do it so that must be what explains their behavior." For several week now the claim of progressives have been that the rancor over government run health care coming from American citizens is being orchestrated and funded by big insurance companies--oddly enough, without pointing to any actual evidence. Well, now we know why. It turns out that the pharmaceutical industry is putting over $150 million into an add campaign supporting Obama's government takeover of the healthcare industry. According to an editorial in today's WSJ:



...the drug makers say they are still planning to spend some $150 million through autumn on a TV-ad drive supporting Obamacare. That's more than John McCain spent on advertising in his entire campaign. And this new cash comes on top of the bundle Big Pharma has already spent with liberal pressure groups such as Families USA—on ads produced by White House consigliere David Axelrod's former media firm AKPD.



So there it is, progressivist thinking at work; "If our movement is being funded by big pharma then all those demonstrators on the other side must be being funded by some other big business interest. Now who could that be? Oh yeah, it must be big insurance."

Linkable Entry

HUD doesn't want grandma reading the Bible

Posted by David N. Bass at 11:49 AM

Freedom is never free. And neither is accepting a government hand out.

The High Point Enterprise has a scoop illustrating that truism.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has swooped down and told grandma that she can’t participate in religious services in the commons areas of her apartment building.

The reason? The retirement community in question, Elm Towers in High Point, receives HUD funds. And HUD bans residents from publicly participating in “inherently religious activities” in facilities that it subsidizes.

From the Enterprise story:

Elm Towers residents had been gathering for years on Sunday mornings and sometimes Wednesday evenings for Christian worship services led by a local minister in a common room on the first floor of the high-rise apartment building on S. Elm Street, according to tenants.

The housing authority learned of the services after other Elm Towers residents complained last month. The agency then put a stop to the services.

"To me, it's stepping on our constitutional rights. You're supposed to be able to worship like you want," said Howard Embler, an Elm Towers resident who sometimes attended the services. "We've got a lot of elderly people here who can't get out on their own to church."

...

"We're not telling residents they cannot have religious activities in their homes, but they cannot hold things in common areas. We understand they would like to do this, but we have to go by regulations," said Rachael Matthews, a spokeswoman for the authority. "We're not saying churches can't come and pick them up and take them to worship or religious services. We don't want to restrict them."

It boggles the mind that residents can’t meet in a public area to discuss the Bible or pray together without eliciting HUD’s wrath. Just goes to show that federal money or “freebies” never come without strings attached. A good lesson to remember in the health care debate, too.

Linkable Entry

Health statistics in US, Canada, and Britain

Posted by George Leef at 11:37 AM

The US looks excellent compared with the paragons of universal, government-provided health care. Read this column by Deroy Murdock for the details.

What the Obama zealots want people to believe is that American health care will stay just as good after adopting a plan that will spread the existing resources over far more people and give everyone a blank check. Not plausible.

Linkable Entry

Congressman Sestak, missing the point on competition

Posted by Dr. Roy Cordato at 11:02 AM

It is amazing how leftists can turn any problem, even those caused by government, into an excuse for more government. There is nowhere that this is more evident than in the lefts view of healthcare and health insurance. The American left has taken an industry that is totally dominated by government spending and government regulation, points to problems caused by this spending and regulation, and then calls for more spending and regulation as a solution. A perfect example of this was Congressman Joe Sestak, Dem. of Pennsylvania and primary challenger to Arlen Spector in Democratic primary for Spector's senate seat. Sestak, in appearance on Fox News' Fox and Friends, said that the reason he favors a government health insurance plan is because in Pennsylvania the insurance industry had a monopoly. According to Sestak there are only two plans available to health insurance costumes in PA. But why would that be? If you search health insurance on the web you find scores of companies. The problem is that a national market in health insurance is prohibited by regulations; hence people in PA, or any other state, cannot cross state lines to get the insurance services they need. Of course the easy thing to do would be to tear down those walls that create the monopolies Sestak, and others, complain about. Instead we get the usual socialist answer to a monopoly problem, which is simply to substitute a government owned monopoly for privately owned monopolies created by the government.

Linkable Entry

A quick snapshot of the world economy

Posted by John Hood at 10:49 AM

I recently updated some economic stats I keep handy, and thought Locker Room readers might enjoy a quick snapshot of the components of the world economy.

I should say right off the bat that the relative percentages haven’t changed much from the mid-2000s through the current recession.

Three regions — the United States, the continental European Union, and East Asia — each account for about one-fifth of the world’s economic output. The US and EU are self-explanatory. For this purpose, East Asia comprises China, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, and Hong Kong.

Add in the Anglosphere — the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand — and you’ve accounted for two-thirds of the world’s economy.

Here are the remaining economic regions and their shares of global production:

8 percent — Brazil, Mexico and non-OPEC Latin America
6 percent — India and the rest of South Asia
4 percent — Russia and its satellites
4 percent — Indonesia and the rest of Southeast Asia
4 percent — OPEC
7 percent — Everywhere else

Linkable Entry

The inevitable comparison: Oceania in 1984 and the Obama regime in 2009

Posted by George Leef at 10:14 AM

Victor Davis Hanson makes the comparison here.

Linkable Entry

Liberal Obama supporter has the guts to say that Obamacare is bad

Posted by George Leef at 09:14 AM

A tip of the hat to Professor Camille Paglia for breaking free of the tribal war dance and writing that this is bad legislation, being pushed with needless haste.

Obviously another lying Limbaugh dupe.

Linkable Entry

Re: You know you're a progressive...

Posted by George Leef at 09:11 AM

My sister had a letter to the editor published in last Sunday's Milwaukee Journal, calmly explaining why she opposed the Obamacare legislation. Subsequently, she received an anonymous, handwritten letter from someone calling her a liar and a Limbaugh dupe.

Progressives understand that the way to convince people they're mistaken is to call them names.

Linkable Entry

Congress is listening...really!

Posted by David N. Bass at 09:10 AM

Texas Democratic Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee put a concerned citizen "on hold" at a public form on health care to take a call on her cell phone.

HT: AmSpecBlog

Linkable Entry

Obama's "post office" defense for his plan

Posted by George Leef at 09:01 AM

At another of his Town Hall sales pitches for his miracle elixir, Obama defended his plan against criticism that it will wreck private competitors in the health insurance market by saying that the post office faces competition from Fed Ex and other delivery companies, but they haven't been driven out of business.

This is another of those "tonsillectomy" moments where the Beloved Leader thinks he's made a good argument but has just said something foolish. Lew Rockwell nails him on the post office comparison here.

Linkable Entry

Catching Up with the CIA in Perquimans County

Posted by Jeff A. Taylor at 07:15 AM

Fairly recent eyeball of the CIA-run counter-terrorism training base known by the clumsy name the Harvey Point Defense Testing Activity facility. See, it is not a base at all.

The site south of Hertford dates to a WWII naval base which was cobbled together from land seized from local landowners. Sometime after 2002 an additional 240 acres was purchased to expand the base, eh, facility.

Boom.

Linkable Entry

US should follow Ausie's lead

Posted by Dr. Roy Cordato at 07:15 AM

Thanks to a coalition of eco radicals, for whom CO2 reductions that don't promise to plunge society back to the horse and buggy age, and conservatives, the Austrailian Senate has defeated that country's version of the CO2 cap and trade scheme that recently passed the US House of Representatives. Hopefully the US Senate will follow in the footsteps of its Austrailian counterpart.

Linkable Entry

Today's Carolina Journal Online features

Posted by Mitch Kokai at 06:17 AM

Today's Carolina Journal Online exclusive features Sarah Okeson's report on the impact of the slumping economy on North Carolina's state employee pension fund. 

John Hood's Daily Journal discusses new legislation to set up a pilot health-insurance pool through Asheville's Chamber of Commerce.

Linkable Entry

<< Last Entry