WhatsAPundit

What everyone who says "the rest of the world has socialized medicine" forgets is that the rest of the world they admire was bombed into abject poverty during WW2. No one in it could afford anything for a generation, and governments stepped in. (Canada being the exception. I'll come back to that.)

We were the only non-communist (or soon-to-be communist) country left with an infrastructure. And when an infrastructure works the wise polis focuses on maintenance and not on plow-it-under-and-build-anew approaches.

Downside: wrecked economies get to build with state-of-the-art technologies, while those not-so-wrecked muddle through. (This is why Japan and France have bullet trains, and England and the U.S. do not. Of course, neither does the former USSR or did the pre-capitalist PRC. Some things simply can't be done unless people can actually make money doing it.)

But the United States HAS the state-of-the-art health care already. That's why top Canadian politicians come to the U.S. for heart surgery. (Canada having decided years ago that what was good for the Queen was good for her, I guess; now they pay the long-term cost.) And if you were really screwed before Obamacare, we had Medicaid, which is why visits to the emergency room have been so damned expensive.

The irony is of course that our current economy is so bad that fracking (translation: throwing 3000 pages of legislation at something) a sixth of it could really lead to a Great Depression scenario. But then again, one should never let a crisis go to waste, and if the political situation is dire, hell, one can always create a crisis.

Good luck, everyone. We'll need it.

From ABC News, via Sister Toldjah:

The president said he understands the sergeant who arrested Gates is an "outstanding police officer." But he added that with all that's going on in the country with health care and the economy and the wars abroad, "it doesn't make sense to arrest a guy in his own home if he's not causing a serious disturbance."

Continue reading "In what universe is this not a non sequiter?" »

... to "It's not my fault!"

In his inaugural address, President Obama proclaimed "an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn-out dogmas that for far too long have strangled our politics."

It hasn't taken long for the recriminations to return -- or for the Obama administration to begin talking about the unwelcome "inheritance" of its predecessor.

Over the past month, Obama has reminded the public at every turn that he is facing problems "inherited" from the Bush administration, using increasingly bracing language to describe the challenges his administration is up against. The "deepening economic crisis" that the president described six days after taking office became "a big mess" in remarks this month to graduating police cadets in Columbus, Ohio.

Hope. Change. Whatever.

No wonder professional Democrats never worry about raising taxes.

Apparently they believe only suckers pay them.

On January 20th, President-elect Barack Obama will take the oath of office using the same Bible upon which President Lincoln was sworn in at his first inauguration. The Bible is currently part of the collections of the Library of Congress. Though there is no constitutional requirement for the use of a Bible during the swearing-in, Presidents have traditionally used Bibles for the ceremony, choosing a volume with personal or historical significance. President-elect Obama will be the first President sworn in using the Lincoln Bible since its initial use in 1861.

My reading of Mr. York's commentary is that he's mocking Obama's hubris:

Obviously, I buried the lead. It should have been "Obama Joins Distinguished Predecessors Harding and Carter in Choosing Bible Used By A Previous President." (OK, Eisenhower too, but just half.)

Me, I think Obama is paying tribute to a man who did a pretty good job in handling the worst crisis this country has ever faced. The Emancipation Proclamation was a pretty big deal. York needs to lighten up.

Byron, if it helps, remember that Lincoln was the first Republican President, too.

Just as the draft produced a generation that was leery (at best) of the military, one can hope this will produce a generation that wants government to get the hell out of it's face.

Heather in a comment on a blog post by Jennifer Rubin said:

If those staffers are right and Palin was this bad, what does the vetting and selection of Palin say about McCain? Nothing good. If these McCain staffers are this vindictive and mean to a women they were support to help, What does it say about the McCain? Nothing good. I say this as a McCain voter, I’m glad Obama won.

In the comment before Heather's someone repeated a rumor that ex-Romney people were behind the smears of Palin. That's the first thing I've read that makes sense, although it wouldn't have to be Romney people; anyone with a dog (other than Palin) in the 2012 race might be motivated to bring the pretty pit bull down.

Which of course is why the Republican Party is in the mess that it's in; the establishment had gotten so comfy that it lost sight of some minor issues like doing what's best for the country first.

The creeps doing the back stabbing better have something to fall back on. First guess: most will take media jobs. "And here's our pet Republican, who will now parrot our party line."

Losers.

Barak Obama is my President.

He wasn't my guy in the race. As a matter of fact, my vote was much more "against" Obama than it was "for" McCain. And I don't expect to be soft on Obama during his Administration.

But my fellow citizens have chosen Obama, and the system of government that I hold in awe has once again produced a remarkable change in management without harming the fabric of society.

My countrymen. My country. My President. It's a package deal.

The best thing possible for this country would be for Obama to become a great President. So that's what I'm hoping for.

Good luck Barack. Do good and be well.

So, I took the twins for their first trip to the voting booth today.

Wow.

We went at 11:30. I figured that was safely in a quiet period, before a lunch rush but well after people would be at work.

The line was still 40 minutes long.

The kids handled it well. Hunter was in one of our umbrella strollers, and Aden was riding high in our new Kelty carrier. I think they did handle it well because the mood on the line was very upbeat. I heard a dad with a kid in a stroller behind me talking on his cell phone about it, and he said he was cautiously optimistic about Obama winning.

I hope he's typical, if Obama happens to lose. Otherwise, a lot of people are going to be extremely angry if we end up with another 2000 scenario, where Obama wins the popular vote and loses the Electoral College.

I hadn't really thought that possible until today. And I still think it's unlikely; I think McCain has to win Pennsylvania to have a shot, and if my neighborhood is typical of black urban turnout, then metro Philly is going to swamp the central and western part of the state.

But if McCain manages to win, I can see how a big Blue Coasts turnout could easily give Obama a comfortable popular vote margin.

That would be serious icksville.

As much as Obama worries me, if he wins the popular vote, I hope like hell he wins the Electoral College as well.

Evan Coyne Maloney:

“Big-L” (as in the party) Libertarians seem to attract an uncomfortable mixture of conspiracy theorists, isolationists and pacifists. The Libertarian Party is the political equivalent of a Star Trek convention

That's unfair. To Star Trek conventions.