Obama, Biden, Pelosi, Reid and the MSM are about put on the full court press to pass a health care takeover that this country clearly does not want.
Is there a need for some fixes to the system? Absolutely.
Is ObamaCare the answer? Absolutely not. And Obama and company know it. That's why they will attempt to ram this huge program through via the parliamentary maneuver known as 'reconciliation'. No amendments can be offered, and minimal debate allowed.
In 2005, when the Republicans were in the majority, some judicial appointments were under consideration. The Republicans contemplated changing the Senate rules to allow approval by simple majority, which by the way is what the Constitution specifies.
The Democrats screamed bloody murder, warning darkly of the 'tyranny of the majority'. Sadly, the GOP leader Bill Frist relented. It was the beginning of the end, as conservative voters decided they had been sold out by both Bush and the GOP.
But, here for your viewing, the protestations of the Democrat Senators in 2005, decrying the very thing they now proclaim as the only way forward.
They may just succeed, but they will blow the country up. OS has come to the conclusion that they just don't care, that the will to power trumps any ethical restraint.
Friday, February 26, 2010
You Must Remember This...
...a kiss is still a kiss, a sigh is still a sigh;
The fundamental things apply, as time goes by.
It's a wonderful old song, made immortal by that scene in Casablanca.
And like most wonderful old songs, it is memorable because it conveys truth.
OS saw a few minutes of the Health Care Summit, brought to us by the Obama administration.
Millions of words have been spoken and written already, so no need to analyze more.
But OS hopes his readers 'remember this': Obama, Joe B, Miss Nancy and Mr. Harry would never have consented to sit in front of the cameras (as they so often dishonstly promised) and pretend to discuss health care, had the voters of Massachsuetts not elected Scott Brown. The Tea Parties and town meeting near-riots left a number of Democrat members in shock.
They were running for cover, pure and simple, as the plan is hatched to just pass Senate health care via 'reconciliation' is now quietly being put into place. They really think they can pass this turkey under cover, in the dead of night, without anyone taking notice! If they do, they will blow up the Senate, and the country with it. Obama will have a veritable tiger by the tail.
..it's sill the same old story, the fight for love and glory, a case of doe or die...
No matter what the future brings, as time goes by.
OS hopes this will lend encouragement to his friends in the UK, who have suffered so under their unelected Prime Minister.
The fundamental things apply, as time goes by.
It's a wonderful old song, made immortal by that scene in Casablanca.
And like most wonderful old songs, it is memorable because it conveys truth.
OS saw a few minutes of the Health Care Summit, brought to us by the Obama administration.
Millions of words have been spoken and written already, so no need to analyze more.
But OS hopes his readers 'remember this': Obama, Joe B, Miss Nancy and Mr. Harry would never have consented to sit in front of the cameras (as they so often dishonstly promised) and pretend to discuss health care, had the voters of Massachsuetts not elected Scott Brown. The Tea Parties and town meeting near-riots left a number of Democrat members in shock.
They were running for cover, pure and simple, as the plan is hatched to just pass Senate health care via 'reconciliation' is now quietly being put into place. They really think they can pass this turkey under cover, in the dead of night, without anyone taking notice! If they do, they will blow up the Senate, and the country with it. Obama will have a veritable tiger by the tail.
..it's sill the same old story, the fight for love and glory, a case of doe or die...
No matter what the future brings, as time goes by.
OS hopes this will lend encouragement to his friends in the UK, who have suffered so under their unelected Prime Minister.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
The Tea Party Movement Launches In England This Saturday
This comes to us from Daniel Hannan, who OS hopes to meet one fine day, and convince him to allow the US to lease him for a decade or so. Fond hope...
The Tea Party launches in the UK this weekend.
They're even serving tea, in the great British tradition.
Three cheers from your American cousins!
OS has to go earn his keep...moh' latuh'.
The Tea Party launches in the UK this weekend.
They're even serving tea, in the great British tradition.
Three cheers from your American cousins!
OS has to go earn his keep...moh' latuh'.
This Is How Wars Begin: The Falklands And Obama's Cluelessness
This just over the transom.
Going largely unnoticed here in the US, Argentina is rattling the saber over the Falkland Islands again.
And the Obama administration has decided to remain neutral!
This from the UK Telegraph:
The Obama administration’s decision to remain neutral in the dispute between Great Britain and Argentina over the Falkland Islands is a shameful decision that will go down very badly across the Atlantic. As The Times has just reported, Washington has point blank refused to support British sovereignty over the Falklands, and is adopting a strictly neutral approach.
In the words of a State Department spokesman:
“We are aware not only of the current situation but also of the history, but our position remains one of neutrality. The US recognises de facto UK administration of the islands but takes no position on the sovereignty claims of either party.”
The remarks had echoes of an earlier statement by a senior State Department protocol official who, when asked about the shoddy treatment of the British Prime Minister in March last year, responded:
“There’s nothing special about Britain. You’re just the same as the other 190 countries in the world. You shouldn’t expect special treatment.”
[end quote]
WHAT???!!!???
WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?
The silence of the Obama administration on this matter screams to the world about its amorality.
All that blather about 'self-determination' for this group and that around the world. The residents of the Falklands have made unmistakeably clear that they are British! And have zero desire to be joined to Argentina.
The UK has one destroyer in the port, and some troops on the island. They assumed they had an ally!
Obama's amorality will only embolden the hawks in a bankrupt Peronist Argentina, and strengthen Chavez's hand in South America. It's like 1937, all over again, only this time on the doorstep of North America. One timely visit by a US carrier group through the Gulf, and on down to the South Atlantic would save thousands upon thousands of lives.
Cowardice and amorality always pave the way to war. Always.
How did this country forget that?
Going largely unnoticed here in the US, Argentina is rattling the saber over the Falkland Islands again.
And the Obama administration has decided to remain neutral!
This from the UK Telegraph:
The Obama administration’s decision to remain neutral in the dispute between Great Britain and Argentina over the Falkland Islands is a shameful decision that will go down very badly across the Atlantic. As The Times has just reported, Washington has point blank refused to support British sovereignty over the Falklands, and is adopting a strictly neutral approach.
In the words of a State Department spokesman:
“We are aware not only of the current situation but also of the history, but our position remains one of neutrality. The US recognises de facto UK administration of the islands but takes no position on the sovereignty claims of either party.”
The remarks had echoes of an earlier statement by a senior State Department protocol official who, when asked about the shoddy treatment of the British Prime Minister in March last year, responded:
“There’s nothing special about Britain. You’re just the same as the other 190 countries in the world. You shouldn’t expect special treatment.”
[end quote]
WHAT???!!!???
WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?
The silence of the Obama administration on this matter screams to the world about its amorality.
All that blather about 'self-determination' for this group and that around the world. The residents of the Falklands have made unmistakeably clear that they are British! And have zero desire to be joined to Argentina.
The UK has one destroyer in the port, and some troops on the island. They assumed they had an ally!
Obama's amorality will only embolden the hawks in a bankrupt Peronist Argentina, and strengthen Chavez's hand in South America. It's like 1937, all over again, only this time on the doorstep of North America. One timely visit by a US carrier group through the Gulf, and on down to the South Atlantic would save thousands upon thousands of lives.
Cowardice and amorality always pave the way to war. Always.
How did this country forget that?
Mossad's Man Inside Hamas
OldSouth always wondered how the Israelis seem to know exactly where to find the terrorists they seek.
Well, now we know in part, to quote St. Paul.
The son of one of Hamas’s founding members was a spy in the service of Israel for more than a decade, helping to prevent dozens of Islamist suicide bombers from finding their targets, it emerged yesterday. Codenamed the “Green Prince” by Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security service, Mosab Hassan Yousef, the son of the Hamas co-founder Sheikh Hassan Yousef, supplied key intelligence almost daily from 1996. He tracked down suicide bombers and their handlers from his father’s organisation, the Haaretz newspaper said.
It's an inspiring read about moral courage in the most dangerous of circumstances.
Truly, a Green Shoots nominee.
Well, now we know in part, to quote St. Paul.
The son of one of Hamas’s founding members was a spy in the service of Israel for more than a decade, helping to prevent dozens of Islamist suicide bombers from finding their targets, it emerged yesterday. Codenamed the “Green Prince” by Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security service, Mosab Hassan Yousef, the son of the Hamas co-founder Sheikh Hassan Yousef, supplied key intelligence almost daily from 1996. He tracked down suicide bombers and their handlers from his father’s organisation, the Haaretz newspaper said.
It's an inspiring read about moral courage in the most dangerous of circumstances.
Truly, a Green Shoots nominee.
The Prisoner Who Broke Into Auschwitz
Denis Avey, one of the original Desert Rats of WWII, is an extraordinary man. After being wounded and captured, he was shipped to a POW camp near Auschwitz in Poland, and set to work in the Farben factory. There he befriended one of the Jewish prisoners. He determined to break into the camp, and document as much as he could for posterity.
His story is harrowing, a literal trip into Perdition.
As we passed beneath the Arbeit Macht Frei [work makes you free] sign, everyone stood up straight and tried to look as healthy as they could. There was an SS officer there, weeding out the weaklings for the gas. Overhead was a gallows, which had a corpse hanging from it, as a deterrent. An orchestra was playing Wagner to accompany our march. It was chilling.
And that was just the walk into the camp!
At 91, his story is finally being verified and told. It took two years for him to convalesce after he returned home from the war, and by 1947, no one in England wanted to hear the stories anymore.
So, he had to live with them by himself.
This blog, in general, is about the culture--what makes it healthy or poisonous, and how that eventually plays itself out in the economic and political life of the country. OldSouth sits in the 'Amen Pew' when someone like Muggeridge reminds us that the abandonment of Christendom and its virtues will lead to the return of a Dark Age. Tolkien and Lewis hammer the same theme, each in their own way.
It is easy to sit back and say 'Those nasty, nasty Nazis, weren't they just awful!' It is much more sobering to reflect that the same culture that brought us Luther, Gutenburg, Telemann, Mendelssohn, Goethe, Beethoven, Schubert, Schiller, and Brahms later brought us Adolf Hitler. He was enthusiastically embraced by a culture that had already decided that that inheritance just didn't matter that much anymore. They were looking for a leader would restore the nation's pride, its economy, and make the trains run on time. Ethical details didn't much matter anymore.
The old story of Esau selling his birthright for a 'mess of pottage', e.g. a bowl of lentil soup, comes chillingly to mind.
Luckily, in the 1940's, there still remained an England, America, Canada, Australia, and a few others.
But what if we allow it to happen here, in America?
Lech Walesa visited a few weeks ago to ask just that question, and was ignored. Muggeridge made it his life's work after the mid 60's. Solzhenitsyn warned us of it in the 1970's, and was ridiculed--'it could never happen here'.
Are we so sure?
His story is harrowing, a literal trip into Perdition.
As we passed beneath the Arbeit Macht Frei [work makes you free] sign, everyone stood up straight and tried to look as healthy as they could. There was an SS officer there, weeding out the weaklings for the gas. Overhead was a gallows, which had a corpse hanging from it, as a deterrent. An orchestra was playing Wagner to accompany our march. It was chilling.
And that was just the walk into the camp!
At 91, his story is finally being verified and told. It took two years for him to convalesce after he returned home from the war, and by 1947, no one in England wanted to hear the stories anymore.
So, he had to live with them by himself.
This blog, in general, is about the culture--what makes it healthy or poisonous, and how that eventually plays itself out in the economic and political life of the country. OldSouth sits in the 'Amen Pew' when someone like Muggeridge reminds us that the abandonment of Christendom and its virtues will lead to the return of a Dark Age. Tolkien and Lewis hammer the same theme, each in their own way.
It is easy to sit back and say 'Those nasty, nasty Nazis, weren't they just awful!' It is much more sobering to reflect that the same culture that brought us Luther, Gutenburg, Telemann, Mendelssohn, Goethe, Beethoven, Schubert, Schiller, and Brahms later brought us Adolf Hitler. He was enthusiastically embraced by a culture that had already decided that that inheritance just didn't matter that much anymore. They were looking for a leader would restore the nation's pride, its economy, and make the trains run on time. Ethical details didn't much matter anymore.
The old story of Esau selling his birthright for a 'mess of pottage', e.g. a bowl of lentil soup, comes chillingly to mind.
Luckily, in the 1940's, there still remained an England, America, Canada, Australia, and a few others.
But what if we allow it to happen here, in America?
Lech Walesa visited a few weeks ago to ask just that question, and was ignored. Muggeridge made it his life's work after the mid 60's. Solzhenitsyn warned us of it in the 1970's, and was ridiculed--'it could never happen here'.
Are we so sure?
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Good Tidings From Memphis
In addition to deciding to deciding to integrate into the life of the city, the Memphis Symphony has made an adventurous choice for music director.
She (that's right) hails from Taiwan.
The Memphis Symphony Orchestra, seeking a rising star as its new conductor, on Monday named Mei-Ann Chen to be its fourth music director.
Her three-year contract with the MSO starts with the 2010-11 season.
Members of the search committee said last year that they were looking for an "up-and-comer" to be the musical leader of the symphony. Chen's impressive résumé includes jobs in Portland, Ore., Atlanta and Baltimore.
Born in Taiwan, she has lived in the United States since 1989.
She holds a doctor of musical arts degree in conducting from the University of Michigan.
She was the first student in New England Conservatory's history to receive master's degrees simultaneously in violin and conducting.
In 2005, she became the first woman to win the Malko International Conductors Competition.
During her five-year tenure with the Portland (Ore.) Youth Philharmonic, she led its sold-out debut in Carnegie Hall and received an ASCAP award for innovative programming.
In other words, she has great American training, and long experience with making a symphony orchestra work in the context of a heartland American context. Unlike many conductors, she also knows what it means to be an accomplished performer at an orchestral instrument, and would have put in significant time in the orchestral trenches as a player at New England. She knows how to work with young people and parents, which may well be her greatest long-term asset.
Three cheers!
The right person, in the right place, at the right time, can have a huge impact for good on the culture, for a long, long time. Good wishes go her way, and here's hoping all hands pull together to create a success for that city.
An earlier post about Memphis Symphony can be found here.
She (that's right) hails from Taiwan.
The Memphis Symphony Orchestra, seeking a rising star as its new conductor, on Monday named Mei-Ann Chen to be its fourth music director.
Her three-year contract with the MSO starts with the 2010-11 season.
Members of the search committee said last year that they were looking for an "up-and-comer" to be the musical leader of the symphony. Chen's impressive résumé includes jobs in Portland, Ore., Atlanta and Baltimore.
Born in Taiwan, she has lived in the United States since 1989.
She holds a doctor of musical arts degree in conducting from the University of Michigan.
She was the first student in New England Conservatory's history to receive master's degrees simultaneously in violin and conducting.
In 2005, she became the first woman to win the Malko International Conductors Competition.
During her five-year tenure with the Portland (Ore.) Youth Philharmonic, she led its sold-out debut in Carnegie Hall and received an ASCAP award for innovative programming.
In other words, she has great American training, and long experience with making a symphony orchestra work in the context of a heartland American context. Unlike many conductors, she also knows what it means to be an accomplished performer at an orchestral instrument, and would have put in significant time in the orchestral trenches as a player at New England. She knows how to work with young people and parents, which may well be her greatest long-term asset.
Three cheers!
The right person, in the right place, at the right time, can have a huge impact for good on the culture, for a long, long time. Good wishes go her way, and here's hoping all hands pull together to create a success for that city.
An earlier post about Memphis Symphony can be found here.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Checking In With Jesse and JDA
OS is up to his keister in different pieces of paper that need to go in different directions, and everyone tells him that their piece of paper is the most crucial.
On top of that, one of his students has ended up in the ER, and the frantic mom is making the five-hour drive now. Send one up for J, if you would.
But, the day isn't complete without five minutes checking in with Jesse and JDA.
Something is seriously awry (actually a lot is seriously awry), and the ability of the Fed to continue to print and pump may be drawing to a close, finally. OS has stopped buying, and is willing to take his lumps on what he holds, 'cuz rain or shine, those firms will still be with us in five years or so.
This from Jesse:
The average person buys when they should sell, and sells when they should buy. Often they buy or sell when they should do nothing. The Wall Street insiders and their demimonde frequently help them to do this. That is how things are, and now moreseo than before because of the shrinking pools of exploitable non-banking capital and the lack of financial reforms.
And, for grins, this from JDA...
Too, too funny.
On top of that, one of his students has ended up in the ER, and the frantic mom is making the five-hour drive now. Send one up for J, if you would.
But, the day isn't complete without five minutes checking in with Jesse and JDA.
Something is seriously awry (actually a lot is seriously awry), and the ability of the Fed to continue to print and pump may be drawing to a close, finally. OS has stopped buying, and is willing to take his lumps on what he holds, 'cuz rain or shine, those firms will still be with us in five years or so.
This from Jesse:
The average person buys when they should sell, and sells when they should buy. Often they buy or sell when they should do nothing. The Wall Street insiders and their demimonde frequently help them to do this. That is how things are, and now moreseo than before because of the shrinking pools of exploitable non-banking capital and the lack of financial reforms.
And, for grins, this from JDA...
Too, too funny.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Memphis, Tennessee--A Whole Lotta Carry Permits Issued
For OldSouth's readership from across the globe, Memphis probably means Elvis, Johnny Cash, barbecue, Beale Street, Blue Suede Shoes and the duck parade at the Peabody Hotel. It's those things, to be sure, but the reality of Memphis is actually quite gritty. A lot of widespread poverty, a lot of concentrated wealth, a long tradition of corrupt machine politics, all situated on a 'choke-point' for all modes of shipping, north-south-east-west, in North America. Built on the nineteenth-century cotton trade(which was predicated on slavery), everything about the place is shot through with race. Locate the city in a brutally hot climate, next door to Arkansas and Mississippi, and stir gently. What could go wrong?
Well, they have always had a crime problem, a drug-and-despair fuelled crime problem, a completely-senseless-murder-and-mayhem-as-a-way-of-life problem.
So, from today's Commercial Appeal:
The simultaneous election of a leftist President and Congress, and a severe economic downturn, have led to a surge in handgun permits across the state, and especially in Memphis.
The number of Tennesseans licensed by the state to go armed increased by nearly 51,000 people last year — to 268,711, according to new state statistics. That's an increase of 23 percent over the 218,004 Tennesseans with handgun-carry permits on Jan. 1, 2009. By comparison, the 2008 increase was 14 percent, according to Tennessee Department of Safety figures.
In Shelby County, the number of residents with handgun-carry permits jumped by 5,205 in 2009 to 38,130, up 16 percent. The Shelby County increase in 2008 was 15 percent.
The new data indicate that about 6 percent of Tennessee residents old enough to have a handgun-carry permit -- those ages 21 and up -- had one at the start of this year.
The permit rate is a little lower among people with Memphis addresses. The 20,716 people in the city with gun permits account for about two out of every 50 Memphis residents 21 and up, or nearly 5 percent.
Knoxville has the highest concentration of permit-holders among the state's largest cities: More than 11 percent of its residents 21 and up are licensed to carry firearms.
That's two years of double-digit increases, year over year. The article notes a bit later that violent crime rates dropped dramatically as the rate of handgun ownership rose. Of course, the two facts were separated in the article, and no possible correlation between the two phenomena was mentioned.
It's probably impossible to validly correlate one with the other, but the coincidence is striking. If a person with intent to commit a crime knows he faces a real probability that his potential victim is packing, that is a true incentive to make better life decisions.
Tennessee is a 'right-to-carry' state, a 'must-issue' state. Ergo, any legal resident of the state with proof of citizenship, no criminal record, who passes the mandated course, completes the application, and pays his $115, will be issued a conceal-carry permit. Comply with the statute, and the State must comply as well. Easy-peasy.
OS predicts the trend will continue...
Well, they have always had a crime problem, a drug-and-despair fuelled crime problem, a completely-senseless-murder-and-mayhem-as-a-way-of-life problem.
So, from today's Commercial Appeal:
The simultaneous election of a leftist President and Congress, and a severe economic downturn, have led to a surge in handgun permits across the state, and especially in Memphis.
The number of Tennesseans licensed by the state to go armed increased by nearly 51,000 people last year — to 268,711, according to new state statistics. That's an increase of 23 percent over the 218,004 Tennesseans with handgun-carry permits on Jan. 1, 2009. By comparison, the 2008 increase was 14 percent, according to Tennessee Department of Safety figures.
In Shelby County, the number of residents with handgun-carry permits jumped by 5,205 in 2009 to 38,130, up 16 percent. The Shelby County increase in 2008 was 15 percent.
The new data indicate that about 6 percent of Tennessee residents old enough to have a handgun-carry permit -- those ages 21 and up -- had one at the start of this year.
The permit rate is a little lower among people with Memphis addresses. The 20,716 people in the city with gun permits account for about two out of every 50 Memphis residents 21 and up, or nearly 5 percent.
Knoxville has the highest concentration of permit-holders among the state's largest cities: More than 11 percent of its residents 21 and up are licensed to carry firearms.
That's two years of double-digit increases, year over year. The article notes a bit later that violent crime rates dropped dramatically as the rate of handgun ownership rose. Of course, the two facts were separated in the article, and no possible correlation between the two phenomena was mentioned.
It's probably impossible to validly correlate one with the other, but the coincidence is striking. If a person with intent to commit a crime knows he faces a real probability that his potential victim is packing, that is a true incentive to make better life decisions.
Tennessee is a 'right-to-carry' state, a 'must-issue' state. Ergo, any legal resident of the state with proof of citizenship, no criminal record, who passes the mandated course, completes the application, and pays his $115, will be issued a conceal-carry permit. Comply with the statute, and the State must comply as well. Easy-peasy.
OS predicts the trend will continue...
Oh, To Be Able To Turn This Good A Phrase One Day...
Jesse does it again. If he's not on your blog feed, you are missing a daily dose of wisdom.
The concluding paragraphs from his most recent offering:
Why doesn't 'greed is good' work? Because rather than work harder, a certain portion of the population, not necessarily the most productive and intelligent, will immediately seek rents and income obtained by unnatural advantages, by gaming the system, by cheating and coercion, by the subversion of the rule of law, which will sap the vitality of the greater portion of the population which does in fact work harder, until they can no longer sustain themselves.
What will take the place of these modern economic myths? Time will tell, and it will vary from nation to nation. But the wind of change is going to be blowing a hurricane.
The concluding paragraphs from his most recent offering:
Why doesn't 'greed is good' work? Because rather than work harder, a certain portion of the population, not necessarily the most productive and intelligent, will immediately seek rents and income obtained by unnatural advantages, by gaming the system, by cheating and coercion, by the subversion of the rule of law, which will sap the vitality of the greater portion of the population which does in fact work harder, until they can no longer sustain themselves.
What will take the place of these modern economic myths? Time will tell, and it will vary from nation to nation. But the wind of change is going to be blowing a hurricane.
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