This Olympics ad made me cry

The first time anyway. It caught me unawares with one of my favorite songs of old. High school musicals come to mind, but life has added to the impact: P.S. Somewhere, somehow, Baba Yaga is smiling through her tears too:)

Canada Gets Their Hockey Gold

Well done. A great game by the men, in overtime.

USA, you made us proud.

P.S. Twitpic Chicago Blackhawks gold medalists:)

Scott Brown, Steady Hand

His debut on the cover of the NY Times Magazine. The new Republican Senator from Massachusetts takes over Teddy Kennedy's spacious office. (He's already made a shrewd vote establishing his independence in that still pretty Blue state.) Caution--the NY Times recycles a few smears. Rebuttal to that once again. And they dig up a story about pink leather shorts.

Nice try, Frank Bruni. But there's a grudging admiration as well:

By all accounts, Brown is prouder of his long marriage and strong-willed daughters than of anything else. “Honestly, he is the best father you could ask for,” Arianna says. “He’s always said, ‘When I was younger, I made a vow that I would never let my kids down.’ And he’s maintained that vow.” Of the scores of home basketball games that Ayla has played so far during her three-and-a-half-year college career, he has missed only three, she says. And Arianna says that to make sure that she isn’t shortchanged by his and Ayla’s special sports bond, he carves out movie nights just for her.

And there's this bit from Brown's swing through the state after his election, where he promised to stay and shake every hand:

But more striking than the crowd’s ardor was the way Brown handled it. Once near him, almost every person held up a digital camera and paused, perplexed by the challenge of simultaneously taking a picture and being in it. Brown, a lefty, used that hand to grab the camera and, without letting go of the Sharpie also in his clutch, extended his left arm, pulled the person close with his right arm, leaned back and snapped the shot of the two of them. He did this ad nauseam and never bobbled the camera, a feat that struck me as superhuman until Maggie Trichon explained that Brown worked extensively as a hand model. He had to become expert at using his flawlessly maintained fingers to hold an electronic device or other object for as long as an hour.

Working for a living. Scott Brown, steady hand.

P.S. Good thing Sen. Brown didn't let Bruni drive his truck. Oops, it was that other NY Times reporter who had trouble with vehicular control. (Maybe that's why they didn't send him even though he hails from suburban Boston.)

Alexi Lousy Front Page

Chicago Tribune: As Senate campaign heats up, Giannoulias family races to avoid collapse of its bank

Donate now Democrats!!! You can bail out Alexi's bank and his failing campaign. A two-fer! Help keep our President Barack Obama's old Senate seat!

But where's Alexi?

And then there's all that other smelly baggage...

At least his former customer's (convicted felon Tony Rezko) house is off the market:

In better days, the 30-room, 8,596-square-foot residence was the site of a fund-raiser for President Barack Obama, before he became a United States senator, and for Mr. Blagojevich, before he was impeached.

Maybe a basketball fund-raiser...

Butterflies in Winter

Where you can find them. Chicago Tribune Travel. Love this photo.

...and it's the Norskis vs. the Canucks for the curling gold:) Love the drama.

More. The Canadian men win gold. An emotional win. The crowd quietly started singing Oh Canada as they neared their final shot.

Ustream from Hilo

Here. Hilo the first to feel it. Tweets here. [#hitsunami tweets here] Nothing major yet. (Tsunami running late according to officials.) Not to be flippant.

Hopefully no one gets caught and it is a safe spectator event.

thebluey RT @sorrab: There is NO WATER in Hilo Bay. This is going to be bad. Hang on everybody. #hitsunami

3:45 central:

LisaHorne RT @KamaainaInOC: RT @bostonrandy: RT @TexasRV: Buoys Observe 27 Foot Waves Just Southeast Of Hawaii: http://is.gd/9l8Uk #hitsunami

kasmcrae RT @roritravel: RT @AircrewBuzz: RT @HawaiiRealty: Whales have disappeared from Kawaihae Harbor. They know something is up. #hitsunami

3:45 central: (authorities say it may be a slow build--but maybe not so bad--being cautious)

Twitter_Tips RT @fmaidment: Report @FoxNews: 1st wave in Hilo was just 3 feet. 2nd wave coming in. #whew #tsunami #hitsunami

4:18 pm central: (so building)

@BreakingNews: 5.6-foot #tsunami wave recorded at Hilo Bay of Hawaii, Pacific Tsunami Warning Center tells NBC News http://bit.ly/dq67oM

P.S. Kind of amusing. The scientists at the official tsunami center wearing Hawaiian shirts. Us mainlanders usually associate this with party time. A geophysicist latest.

According to officials, looks like it's not too bad. Third wave, 4:32 p.m. Still on alert for another hour, in case of a rogue wave. They say fortunately tsunami waves not in harmony with normal wave action, which intensified the crests in the 60's.

...Attention on the networks shifting back to earthquake aftereffects in Chile.

More. 4:43 pm central. Boats that were out to sea to ride it out are heading back in.

More. 4:55 pm central. With the relief comes the humor:

SissyWillis

RT @irishspy: RT @ExJon: UPDATE: No tsunami impact here in Arizona - YET. Monitoring area pools closely.

No Kids or Grandkids to Stick it To

Mark Steyn lays it out in stark terms:

What’s happening in the developed world today isn’t so very hard to understand: The 20th-century Bismarckian welfare state has run out of people to stick it to. In America, the feckless, insatiable boobs in Washington, Sacramento, Albany, and elsewhere are screwing over our kids and grandkids. In Europe, they’ve reached the next stage in social-democratic evolution: There are no kids or grandkids to screw over.

Add to that Springfield, Illinois.

It's no wonder the Sun Times had a front page image of Lincoln crying this week. It's no wonder Barack Obama is clueless, he springs from this dysfunctional state. He's lived in liberal lalaland all his life.

...A society too selfish or hopeless to have kids is a dead society. And then there's the other authoritarian nightmare. Life is cheap. Throw it in a stream.

...Maybe that's what they'll do to the old ones in Europe. Oh wait...

On that Obama Illinois Car Insurance Story

Tom Maguire. HT The Corner: Would You Buy a Car-Insurance Story From This Man?

It doesn't compete with the Dead Sister's Teeth story, but it comes close.

Have Democrats Become the Party of Cruelty?

HillBuzz with video and comments. Palin is again the focus of Dem hate. And HillBuzz themselves:

We’ve told you already what we’ve faced in the last two years, really three years now, since we started opposing “The Lightbringer”, Dr. Utopia. In those three years, Leftists have done more harm to us and shown us more evil than Republicans ever did in our first 30 years of life. Some Republicans might not like that we are gay, and might not like that we support the Clintons, but no Republican has ever threatened our lives, libeled us, thrown rocks through our windows, punched us in the face, or sought to deprive us of employment opportunities and ruin our good names. Leftists did all of those things, because we do not support “The One”, oh He of the Hope and the Change.

Previous posts: The Normal is Abnormal for the MSM, Let's rape your child too, Stand up for HillBuzz

GOP Weekly Address: Dr. Tom Coburn

Video here.

OMajesty

Chris Muir. Axelrod--we are The One. (bleep you, America)

...weekend reading: Defend American Exceptionalism from The One.

Bean Hitting the Jewel

Give her a piece of your mind tomorrow.

Not Dominick's?

Melissa on the move. Doesn't want any pesky questions.

A Hidden Cost

Jonah Goldberg gives SNL a heads up.

...waiting to watch the Canadian hockey game. (US in for the gold finals, beating the Finns) In other news: Flight Attendants Fist Fight on Atlanta-Bound Flight

More Friday Funnies

Joe Biden: A Man and a Train. Nick Gillespie, Reason.

...now we know what Joe actually does--he's the ambassador to Amtrak.

...in his spare time.

More. Joe Biden. Not unemployed yet.

Around the Corner

We're talking Billions, not Millions

WSJ takes a look at Gov. Quinn and Illinois.

Related: Infantilized Illinois

More. In contrast, Gov. Mitch Daniels of Indiana

Rebels on the Right

The GOP establishment feels the heat. Fred Barnes in TWS. Fred, you ought to read the blog:)

We've got the tea party spirit around here.

And we had a big tax referendum on the ballot. That went down.

HT conservativeBrand

Previous post: RINO Coulson Losing in 10th

A Winter Walk

At the Chicago Botanic Garden.

Desiree is OUT

Your Friday news dump by the Obama administration. Via Sweet:

Rogers is departing after achieving a major goal of President Obama and First Lady Michelle — opening up the White House to make it the “peoples house.”

“As we turn the corner on the first year,” Rogers told me, “this is a good time for me to explore opportunities in the corporate world.”

Maybe Goldman would be interested.

P.S. “We have the best brand on earth: the Obama brand,” Rogers says. “Our possibilities are endless.”

More. No Sheeples Here. And Memeorandum with links.

Previous posts: Parody Time, Mayor Rahmbo? Desiree Bites Dust?, Chatty Desiree Downs Veuve at Bar, Shuns Congress, The Mind Boggles, The (One's) Trouble with Desiree, NY Times Dumps on Desiree, Sweet Puff Piece on Desiree: Not for Chicago Consumption, Desiree Laughingly Allowed Crashers Before, Robert Gibbs, Patronizing Jerk, Unprecedented!, Desiree the Overachieving Perfectionist, Did Desiree Do Her Job?, Some Saturday Style, West Wing's Wealthy Chicagoans

Undercover Orchestra

Video. Ravel at the Mall.

...do I hear a flugelhorn in there?:)

A step up from the Evanston 4th of July Weber drummers and kazoo players.

Infantilized Illinois

Former Illinois GOP candidate for governor Dan Proft. Audio from his commentary on WLS' Don and Roma show this morning, and he'll be on WLS tomorrow as well:

I'll be guest hosting on The Big 89 (WLS-AM 890, wlsam.com) tomorrow (Saturday, February 27) from 12noon-2pm. We'll solve health care reform, the state's fiscal crisis, decide the 2010 elections, and probably have enough time left to talk about my newfound affinity for the Olympic sport of curling. And we'll take your calls at (312) 591-8900.

Well worthwhile.

Alexi in the Hot Seat

The slimy Dem candidate for the Illinois Senate is getting attention from the national press on his stonewalling. Illinois GOP:

Illinois Senate Candidate Dodges Questions on Family Bank Woes as National Attention Grows

After 29 days of dodging reporters’ questions about his role in the near-collapse of Broadway Bank, national speculation on Giannoulias’ candidacy widens

Bloomberg: “Obama Friend’s Bid for Senate Seat Threatened by Bank’s Losses”

The fate of the $1.2 billion-asset Broadway Bank, whose wealth helped finance Giannoulias’s successful 2006 state treasurer bid, is playing a growing role in a contest for a seat the Democrats have unexpectedly found themselves defending and that may help determine whether Obama’s party can keep its Senate majority…

“The last thing that Alexi Giannoulias needs right now is another round of bad news stories and stories raising questions about the family’s business,” said Stu Rothenberg, editor of the non-partisan Rothenberg Political Report. “The one thing you don’t want to spend in a campaign is a lot of time defending yourself.”

…Rothenberg said he sees a slight advantage for Kirk because of the bank controversy and this summer’s corruption trial of former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, a Democrat.

“The timing seems right for Kirk,” he said.

Chicago Tribune: “Time for that talk”

Voters want to know about his role in his family's struggling Broadway Bank, and Giannoulias promised he'd provide those details after the Feb. 2 primary election. "If I'm fortunate enough to make it out of the primary, we can have that conversation," he said. His plan now seems to be to stonewall until November…

…Giannoulias says voters "saw through" those "guilt-by-association attacks." More likely they gave him a pass. In 2006, Broadway was the most profitable bank in Illinois, having doubled its assets in four years, and the fifth most profitable community bank in the nation. At 29, candidate Giannoulias looked like a wunderkind.

The picture that comes to mind now is more "Look Ma, no hands!" In the four years Giannoulias worked for the bank, it came to rely heavily on relatively risky construction and development loans funded by volatile brokered deposits. It was an aggressive, high-growth strategy, and it was enormously successful — until the real estate market tanked, sending the banking industry into a tailspin.

New York Times: “As Lender, Senate Candidate Impacted Bank Woes”

Alexi Giannoulias would be nothing in Illinois politics if not for Broadway Bank. Now the near-failure of that family-owned bank is threatening to make him a political non-entity again.

Broadway Bank is the source of the wealth that has made him a viable candidate. It also provides his main claim to professional expertise, the ability to write loans and tally a balance sheet. But now the precipitous implosion of the bank’s finances — punctuated last week by an agreement with regulators that the bank must raise more capital or else — is a potentially serious blow to Mr. Giannoulias’s viability in the race for the United States Senate seat once held by President Obama.

…Mr. Giannoulias told reporters that a time would come when he could answer questions about what happened at his family’s bank. Here is hoping there is plenty of time, because questions keep mounting faster than the troubles at Broadway Bank.

Who is really responsible for the rate rise?

Study: Illinois med-mal ruling to up insurers' costs 18%

Real Women Celebrate Gold:)

Canada's Women's Hockey team celebrate with beer, cigars; IOC gets huffy

Who says Canadians are stuffy?

Well, not about hockey anyway. Congratulations, ladies.

P.S. It was after hours. Ratted out by an AP reporter.

Marines Around the Campfire at Marjah

Resting after restoring Afghan governance to Marjah. Grilled chicken.

Lakota Group in the News Again

We saw their name mentioned in regard to development in Wilmette, now a question of ethics on a project in Winnetka.

We're Proud of You

Standing on principle. For the American people.

Dr. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin. Peter Roskam of Illinois. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee.

More. John Boehner on the Obama bill allowing taxpayer funding of abortion.

P.S. My Wisconsin blogger buddy The TrogloPundit with remarks:)

Cartoon by Michael Ramirez, Investors Business Daily.

Do you feel safer with these Democrats?

While You Are Distracted by the Summit, Obama Democrats Are Targeting the CIA

According to Andrew McCarthy the provision is impossibly vague:

That means any interrogation tactic that a prosecutor subjectively believes is “degrading” (e.g., subjecting a Muslim detainee to interrogation by a female CIA officer) could be the basis for indicting a CIA interrogator.

I saw radical feminist Illinois Rep. Jan Schakowsky on the House floor yesterday foaming at the mouth in favor of this bill.

It just shows you how rabidly political Democrats are on national security. You can't trust them.

UPDATE: Bill is blocked. For now.

Barack Obama: All Politics All the Time

This was the header on the NY Times Midwest edition: Health Meeting Fails to Bridge Partisan Rift. (The online version is different.) What the photo perhaps inadvertently illustrates is that the rift is among Democrats.

Our President Barack Obama may make smug and cheap cracks at the expense of Sen. John McCain, gloating over his own election victory, but with a majority in both houses of Congress he and his party failed to achieve agreement on healthcare reform. (And he failed to address the point Sen. McCain raised about the reaction of Americans to the porky special deal people in Florida or other favored states got.) So what now? As the WSJ notes:

A bipartisan health-care consensus will remain elusive after yesterday's marathon summit, as expected, though viewers who stuck out the full seven-plus hours could be forgiven for wondering what happened to all the liberals. General anesthesia? To listen to President Obama and his closest Democratic allies, you'd think John McCain had won the election and their bill had been drafted by Paul Ryan, Tom Coburn and the scholars at the American Enterprise Institute. Yet the reality is that there is a vast philosophical and policy gulf on health care in Washington. Everyone agrees there are severe problems in the health-care markets. The disagreement is over solutions.

The President had no answer to Rep. Paul Ryan's laying out the case against one-size-fits-all healthcare--that the answers don't lie in Washington, and his (RCP video) expose of the fraudulent assumptions the Dems have used to hide the bill's real, staggering pricetag.Barack Obama is all politics all the time--and he hasn't even persuaded his fellow Dems to fall in line with his brand of it. We can quote Honest Abe too, Mr. President.

Perhaps they will ram this thing through after all. But most Americans will see it as a nakedly political power grab--on a matter of life or death for them. The lack of consensus is a bright light indicator that there is a lack of confidence in this president's solutions--or lack of them. And all the dead sister's teeth stories in the world won't change that.

More. Dr. Tom Coburn rebuttal to the president.

Acting OUT!!! Letters to the President!!!

Glenn Beck & Pat Gray act out letters that Obama reads every night (I have tears in my eyes) You too can write a letter to our President Barack Obama!!! (Even if you can't write)

Related posts: Dead Sister's Teeth, Dr. Dear Leader President Obama: The Sequel, Dr. Dear Leader President Obama

That Swiss Navy to the Shores of Tripoli

Muammar Gaddafi calls for jihad on Swiss after ban on building minarets:

Muammar Gaddafi has appealed for jihad against Switzerland, long regarded as one of the most peaceful nations in the world.

The Libyan leader’s call for a holy war was, he said, a response to a Swiss referendum in November to ban the construction of minarets on mosques.

It is the low point in a relationship that has been deteriorating since 2008 when Colonel Gaddafi’s son Hannibal was briefly detained in Geneva after allegedly beating his servants.

Well, maybe the Swiss will move out of the neutral zone now. But Gaddafi may have a little trouble zoning in:

It was not clear how he wanted Muslims to target Switzerland. “The masses of Muslims must go to all airports in the Islamic world and prevent any Swiss plane landing, to all harbours and prevent any Swiss ships docking,” he said, apparently unaware that Switzerland does not have a merchant navy, or coast.

He is apparently trying to demonstrate he is not heading a rogue state:

He has been attempting to demonstrate to the West that he is not at the helm of a rogue state, that it has no nuclear ambitions or contacts with terrorism. He criticised al-Qaeda during his address, calling it a “a psychological disease”. He added: “There is a big difference between terrorism and jihad.”

Well that's a relief. Obviously Muammar is a man of peace. Turn that Navy around. No need for Heidi at the helm.

As for Hannibal--keep the brutal behavior, jihadists, peaceful or otherwise...and elephants at home.

Who Targets Toyota, Hmm?

But going after the Big Three, or at least two of them, isn’t what it used to be. During the last half of the decade, the financial viability of each was often in serious question. Now that the government has effective control of GM and Chrysler, any trial lawyer trying to go after either now knows that he or she will be facing a defendant backed by potentially unlimited resources and with lots of potential dirty tricks up its sleeve — tricks that it didn’t hesitate to use during the two companies’ respective encounters with bankruptcy.

Thus, that Toyota would eventually become a target of choice is not surprising

...also Marathon Pundit on the subject.

The Obama thugocracy, rooted in Chicago, raises its ugly head once again.

Previous post: Ray LaHood, Government Motors

Joe the Biden is Obviously

Joking. Yeah, that's it.

"It's easy being vice president — you don't have to do anything."

...but remember, he's prepared. Just a joke.

British Tea Party Launches!

Can we call it reverse colonialism? We're remembering in Chicago a year later--thank you Rick Santelli. Now our neighbors across the pond are joining us in the spirit: British Tea Party Movement to launch on Saturday (Note: they will be serving actual tea.)

(With a boost from Daniel Hannan.) Remember--he inspired us too! P.S. And the Financial Times reports the warning of one of our statesmen--Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH): US senator warns of ‘financial meltdown’ risk

HT Lansing, Michigan Tea Party.

The Normal is Abnormal for the MSM

Hollywood Stand Up Guy of the Month: Patrick Warburton Criticizes ‘Family Guy’

Related post: Let's rape your child too.

Roskam: Etch a Sketchy Bill

LA Times quotes Rep. Peter Roskam (R-IL), who has a gift for a descriptive turn of phrase.

P.S. Rep. John Shadegg--the president's current bill does NOT allow for true interstate competition--we need it across all 50 states. Also here.

P.S. As you have noticed, this is a great blog on healthcare, by the way. And a recap on the stellar Paul Ryan: Ducking and Dodging. The Democrats can’t explain away the gimmicks in their health bill:

Neither Obama nor Becerra — nor any other Democrat — addressed the issue of double-counting. And the only response to Ryan’s point about the Doc Fix was a rather oblique statement by Obama that “if what you’re saying is that we can’t make hard decisions on entitlements, then we’re in big trouble.” In fact, that’s exactly what conservatives have been saying: Not only can’t the political class make hard decisions on entitlements, the Democrats are trying to create a new entitlement and hide its cost. And if they succeed, we are in very big trouble.

Cantor Responds to Obama

Via NRO, Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA):

I was taken aback by the President's angry reaction toward the marked up bill I brought to our meeting. The White House said that the Senate bill was the basis for his plan, so we wanted to have it as a reference — that’s what people who are prepared do. But if the President is tired of looking at the 2700 page Reid/Pelosi bill, I can understand that and assure him that the American people are too. That's why he should stop trying to force it through Congress and focus on a more incremental approach that lowers costs.

Gee, what happened to No Drama Obama? How come he interprets even as mundane a matter as bringing an actual bill to a discussion as a partisan maneuver?

Quick! Reporting!

Photo Emerges Of Murderous Killer Whale At Tea Party Rally

Obama Death Stare

Does he look presidential? Open thread at RedState.

Zinger at the end--his plan all along--ram it through.

Pence Tweets

RepMikePence

RT @GOPLeader: Boehner to President Obama: Your Health Care Bill is Unconstitutional http://bit.ly/c3EFk5 #hcr

RepMikePence

RT @gopconference: Fact Check: Dem Asks If There Is “Something Wrong” With Circumventing Senate Rules http://bit.ly/crdVrt

RepMikePence

RT @RepDaveCamp: This doc clearly shows how Dems’ bill slashes Medicare benefits by half a trillion dollars http://bit.ly/9CXC37 #hcrsummit

Dead Sister's Teeth

Well, this one wins the prize. RCP video. Dem. Rep At Health Summit: My Constituent Had To Wear “Her Dead Sister’s Teeth”

Look. Everyone has compassion. The question is, how can we afford to pay for this? What good are programs if we have to essentially ration services because we don’t have the funding? What good are the tort lawyers if they raise the cost of healthcare for everyone with their skimming off the lion’s share of exorbitant damages for pain and suffering–and in the end major areas of the country are left without doctors, including obstetricians, because they can’t afford to practice there.

It’s not a competition for who has the bigger sob story. (Well, the Dems think it is.) But think about that in itself.

Remember Portia–justice has to be blind and impartial. You can’t take a pound of flesh out of the rest of us to pay for your healthcare nirvana.

More. Yuval Levin, NRO gives a summary of the debate this morning–the GOP is winning.

Related post: Dr. Dear Leader President Obama: The Sequel

Another Paul Ryan Challenge

RCP Video. Rep. Ryan: Health Care Funding A "Ponzi Scheme"

Quoting Dem Sen. Max Baucus:) Well done.

More.

gopconference

RT @RepDaveCamp: This doc clearly shows how Dems’ bill slashes Medicare benefits by half a trillion dollars http://bit.ly/9CXC37 #hcrsummit

GOP Fact Check

What the American people think:

Polling Consistently Shows Large Majorities Opposing The Democrats’ Health Care Bill

VICE PRESIDENT BIDEN: “I am always reluctant after being here 37 years to tell people what the American people think. I think it requires a little bit of humility to be able to know what the American people think. And I don’t.” (Vice President Biden, Health Care Summit, 2/25/10)

WHAT BIDEN SHOULD KNOW: THE AMERICAN PEOPLE OPPOSE OBAMA’S HEALTH CARE PLAN

QUINNIPIAC: “American Voters Still Disapprove 54 - 35 Percent Of Obama's Health Care Reform Plan, but they say 52 - 44 percent they want Congress and the President to keep trying on health care reform rather than giving up and moving on to other matters.” (“U.S. Voters Split On Obama, Down On Everyone Else, Quinnipiac University National Poll Finds,” Quinnipiac, 2/11/10)

RASMUSSEN: “Forty-One Percent (41% ) Of Voters Favor The Proposed Health Care Plan, While 56% Oppose It.” (“51% Fear Government More Than Private Health Insurers,” Rasmussen, 2/24/10)

PPP: “50% Of Voters Say They’re Opposed To Barack Obama’s Health Care Plan With 39% In Support.” (“Major Divides On Health Care, DADT,” Public Policy Polling, 2/17/10)

PEW: “More Americans Continue To Generally Oppose (50%) Than Generally Favor (38%) The Health Care Bills Being Discussed In Congress.” (“Obama’s Ratings Are Flat, Wall Street’s Are Abysmal,” Pew, 2/12/10)

More. Trouble:

VP Says “We’re In Trouble” If We Don’t Reduce Health Care Costs, But Administration’s Own Actuary Says The Senate Bill Does Not Reduce Health Care Costs

VICE PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: "Unless We Bend That Cost Curve, We're In Trouble." (Vice President Joe Biden, Health Care Summit, 2/25/10)

CMS On Senate Bill: “This Bill Would Increase [Health Expenditures] By An Estimated Total Of $222 Billion”

CMS: “…We Estimate That Overall National Health Expenditures Under This Bill Would Increase By An Estimated Total Of $222 Billion (0.6 Percent) During Calendar Years 2010-2019…” (“Estimated Financial Effects Of The ‘Patient Protection And Affordable Care Act,’ As Passed By The Senate On December 24, 2009,” Centers For Medicare & Medicaid Services, P.4, 1/8/10)

…

“Current Law Baseline, Total National Health Expenditures (NHE)… Total, CY 2010-2019… $35,253.3 [Billion Dollars].” (“Estimated Financial Effects Of The ‘Patient Protection And Affordable Care Act,’ As Passed By The Senate On December 24, 2009,” Centers For Medicare & Medicaid Services, P.36, 1/8/10)

“Proposed-PPACA, Total National Health Expenditures (NHE)… Total, CY 2010-2019… $35,475.6 [Billion Dollars].” (“Estimated Financial Effects Of The ‘Patient Protection And Affordable Care Act,’ As Passed By The Senate On December 24, 2009,” Centers For Medicare & Medicaid Services, P.36, 1/8/10)

“Impact Of PPACA, Total National Health Expenditures (NHE)… Total, CY 2010-2019… $222.3 [Billion Dollars].” (“Estimated Financial Effects Of The ‘Patient Protection And Affordable Care Act,’ As Passed By The Senate On December 24, 2009,” Centers For Medicare & Medicaid Services, P.37, 1/8/10)

CBO On Senate Bill: BILL STILL INCREASES COSTS

CBO: “Under The Legislation, Federal Outlays For Health Care Would Increase During The 2010–2019 Period, As Would The Federal Budgetary Commitment To Health Care. The net increase in that commitment would be about $200 billion over that 10-year period, driven primarily by the gross cost of the coverage expansions (including increases in both outlays and tax credits).” (CBO Director Doug Elmendorf, Letter To Sen. Harry Reid, 12/19/09, P. 18)

We don't think the answers lie in Washington

I've been out and about, listening on radio, this stands out: Ryan sums up the GOP approach. Video and media reaction. HotAir. You will note straight up the president wouldn't rule out jamming this through with Reconciliation, in response to a direct question. Initially from Sen. Lamar Alexander, just now from Sen. John McCain.

More. Now that rotter Sen. Durbin is bloviating on behalf of trial lawyers. Illinois courts just gutted our malpractice reform law which limited excessive rewards for pain and suffering. Doctors are going to start fleeing the state again.

He's suggesting people die because of medical malpractice. Well, gee, how many people are going to suffer because there's no neurosurgeon within hours, or they have to drive to the next state to have a baby.

Democrats always tell these sob stories but skimming big bucks off to trial lawyers doesn't help poor people. And raising the cost of liability insurance massively raises the costs of healthcare for everyone else by doctors having to practice defensive medicine.

Finally, think about this--who are you going to sue when the government is in charge of all healthcare--where's your recourse? Where's your choice?

Look at Britain. A nightmare in the making.

More. RCP Video. Obama doesn't count his time because he's the president (and we're not--gee when does this guy ever listen?) Obama to McCain: The election's over. Video. You know, I think the president should refer to Sens. and Rep. by their titles. They are respectfully calling him Mr. President. I think he should show them the same respect.

More highlights. Or lowlights. Obama scolds Rep. Cantor for bringing in a copy of the Senate bill. The Dems hog the time 2-1. NRO Recap so far, Yuval Levin starts out this way:

Things could surely change this afternoon, but so far it is hard to see how the Democrats are doing themselves anything but harm with the health-care summit.

Scrap the bill. Start over.

More. If you can stand it you can watch it live here. Lots of networks cutting away. A column from this morning. Rep. Peter Roskam of Illinois, The Politico. Roskam worked on successful legislation when they both served in the state Senate together, and made a plea before the summit:

We achieved reform without either of us sacrificing our core principles. Today's health care debate has taken a wholly different tack. Democratic leadership has had zero willingness to negotiate. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's definition of bipartisanship seems to mean that Republicans abandon their principles and vote for a damaging bill. That's not how Obama operated before he came to Washington.

The President knows that Democrats and Republicans could work together to pass substantive incremental reforms today. He said, in his address on Sept. 9, that we agree on about 80 percent of what needs to be done. He was right.

Based on the president's performance today, it looks like the president is sticking with the Pelosi definition.

More. Potluck following, with comments.

Routine Neglect, Unimaginable Suffering

British Health System Nightmare: Hospital 'caused unimaginable suffering'...
Patients left 'unwashed in their own filth for month'...
Wards were left bloody, discarded needles; Sick drink water from flower vases...

The Blame Game

Here's the real story: According to the most recent Fortune 500 rankings, health insurers' profits are just 2.2 percent of revenues. Medical facilities have higher profits (2.4 percent). Profits from medical products and equipment (16.3 percent) and from pharmaceuticals (19.3 percent) are seven-to-eight times as high. The combined annual profits of health insurers who cracked the Fortune 1000 list are less than $9 billion, or less than one half of one percent of the $2.5 trillion that America spends each year on health care. So President Obama could eliminate insurers' profits altogether (a possible goal), and more than 99.5 percent of our health costs would remain.

Live Muzak, Soviet Style:)

Video: A real side-splitter to watch hockey by. (Wow, they really had to work to get this one past the censors in the 70's.) At least if this Russian team loses ignominiously to the Canadians they don't have to go home again. They can stay on their NHL teams.

Dems (Hypocrisy) Unbound

Breitbart Video, Naked Emperor News. MUST Watch.

The Nuclear Option--that was then. Now we call it Reconciliation.

Not a Radical Surprise

Not this time, anyway. The whole country knows, or should know by now this guy is a radical. Via Ruby Slippers, Politico:

The themes for Obama’s campaign are not yet chosen, but a top adviser said not to expect a radical surprise: “He knows who he is."

But does he really?

His best friend Valerie Jarrett thinks he's "self-critical". Really? Other observers beg to differ. Did the voters in Massachusetts give our President Barack Obama a B-plus? Have the American people on ObamaCare? Even his fellow Dems are not giving him a vote of confidence, most spectacularly moderate leftie Dem Sen. Evan Bayh of Indiana, who decamped before the "bipartisan" farce of a healthcare summit. At least one other prominent Dem Senator is bailing on Reconciliation to shove this through (formerly known as the "unconstitutional" (video)?!!! nuclear option, which actually wasn't exercised last time round)

You can't just re-label reality, Barack.

That's what radical ideologues do.

Michael Gerson questions his judgment.

John Yoo in the WSJ, more prescient and gracious than the president or his team.

Not a surprise.

More, via RCP. Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA) slams the plan. Republican whip Eric Cantor says Dems don't have the votes and the GOP has a plan to bring down costs. Good news, GOP's Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, the architect of a roadmap for America's future, will be there. HT Pundit and Pundette. Also attending is Republican Rep. Peter Roskam of Illinois, who served in the state Senate with Barack Obama.

Catholic Yoga?

At the parish center of Holy Name Cathedral, Chicago's most prominent Catholic church. It's already attracting the attention of the PC police. CBS2:

CBS 2 also talked to a religious studies professor at Loyola University who is an expert in Hinduism. She says for many Indian Hindus, yoga cannot be anything but religious, and to detach it from its religious roots can be offensive.

How can this possibly be controversial? Already yoga is routinely stripped of any religious meaning in public schools and gyms all over the country. Yet when spiritual meaning is respectfully added back in a private setting this is a problem?

Will the ACLU sue to take yoga out of the public schools?

On Wisconsin

Dem Governor Jim Doyle of Wisconsin, a former trial lawyer, was a surrogate for Barack Obama on the air more than once during that campaign. The One won Wisconsin's primary and the general election.

Now his friend Doyle's numbers are in the tank, he's not running for reelection, and the GOP challengers lead in the polls over the Dem heir apparent, the mayor of Milwaukee. Rasmussen.

Can Dem Sen. Russ Feingold's numbers be far behind?

On Wisconsin!

Pollak on Iran

From Illinois 9th Congressional District Republican candidate Joel Pollak:

SPEAKING UP FOR A COHERENT U.S. STRATEGY OPPOSING A NUCLEAR IRAN

“We won the Cold War with a similar strategy. We can win — we must win — again."
—Joel Pollak

Joel was an Op-Ed Contributor in today's Jerusalem Post:
"At the moment of greatest danger, American policy on Iran is incoherent. The Obama administration has wasted a year on fruitless gestures of appeasement. Meanwhile, Iran has built thousands of nuclear centrifuges and tested medium-range missiles capable of targeting Europe and Israel. The regime has also crushed protests and consolidated its power while the White House continues to dither.

The Neda doctrine recognizes the link between stopping Iran's nuclear program and helping Iran's dissidents. It provides clarity to US policy on Iran by targeting both the power and the legitimacy of the regime. The Neda doctrine provides the best chance of achieving change from within, while retaining a military option."

Read More >

Let's Do Free Lunch!

President Obama's "Pro-Business" Policies Are Killing the Free Market:

What the President fails to understand is that there is no irony here. It is entirely consistent for big government policies that favor select and politically connected big corporations to hurt the economy as a whole. In fact, almost all well-intentioned government interventions in the market place do exactly that.

Barack Obama is used to the Chicago Way pay to play.

The last lunch that I had, I guess we had the CEOs of Xerox (XRX), AT&T (T), Honeywell (HON), and Coke (KO). We talked about the fact that, in the 1980s, when everybody was afraid Japan was going to eat our lunch...

He thinks a lunch with the connected will equate to mastering the universe. (Where do the chickens come from that go in every pot?)

Moat Diplomacy

Partly why it's so expensive is because it's in pricey London, but a moat? I guess you could interpret that as a historic approach to security--come on Brits, it's a nod to local sensibilities. You could say a moat is diplomatic.

But if need be we could employ boiling oil from the battlements, or maybe a little archery whistling past any protesters with catapults. More unhappiness:

It also does not include the 17.5 per cent VAT demanded by the Treasury on all buildings in Britain and which the US has refused to pay.

Louis Susman, the US Ambassador, said: “We intend to do what’s appropriate and we are working with the Treasury on that.” He acknowleged past difficulties, pledging to be “a good neighbour in our new home” and said that the ecofriendly building would generate enough power to contribute to the national grid.

Well. That should end any debate.

So if the IRS comes by and wants a vital chunk of us we'll just tell them we have a green home. It's diplomacy.

Maybe better get a moat, though, first.

...In other news, the Dems are contemplating using Reconciliation, formerly known as the Nuclear Option, to pass ObamaCare. It's (bipartisan) diplomacy! (I'm confused, is this our Iranian policy)

Awk!!!

We are having some fun over at Potluck.

The schedule of the summit!!! The theatre of it all!!!

What does it all mean???!!!

UPDATE: Ramirez, via Powerline.

If not Elba, perhaps here.

Previous post: ObamaCare 2.0: What's wrong with this picture

Alexi Family Embroiled with Ayers, Crossroads

The brother of Illinois Dem Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias served on the board of the Crossroads Fund, which has given grants to ACORN and also radical Palestinian groups. American Thinker.

Did Alexi attend a fundraising dinner? Not known, but apparently his brother Demetrus joined the board at the time of Alexi's run for Illinois treasurer--so it appears to be a political connection he condoned.

HT Steve Bartin.

After Broadway Bank's loans to mobsters and Bright Start's losses, this is a third thorny issue for Alexi Giannoulias. Oh, let's not forget the Granny Grifter episode, and his supporters SEIU/ACORN. Oh, and banker to (Barack Obama) and Tony Rezko--Alexi, Illinois Shame.

The guy's a regular Pandora's Box.

Why do the same names keep coming up?

P.S. Obama and Ayers friend Rashid Khalidi also was involved with Electronic Intifada. I think we should see that tape, LA Times.

P.P.S. Round and round. Raving lunacy. The same names.

Previous posts: If Tiger Can Do It, Alexi Can Too, Giannoulias Poll Suspect

Mitch Daniels Opens the Door

The likeable, sensible Republican governor of Indiana may run in 2012.

HT DC Examiner.

Not an Olympic sport this time

BREAKING: Parma, Ohio man builds castle out of snow, proposes to girlfriend. She says yes.

Wasn't Bernardine Dohrn Available?

Whose idea was this? I know Northwestern often embarrasses, yes disgraces itself kowtowing to the Dems that have run our state into the ground, but our impeached governor? Does he still have clout? CBS2Chicago: Blagojevich To Speak At Northwestern University. Former Governor To Discuss Ethics With Faculty, Take Questions From Students. Good grief, College Democrats are sponsors. They think it's a cautionary tale:

Blagojevich will be given 15 minutes to plead his case to a panel of Northwestern faculty members, including a law professor, a political science professor and a journalism professor.

What an exercise in self-puffery. I am talking about all the participants. No word on whether Bernardine is on the panel.

Perhaps the College Democrats should invite her to make her case next time. How about really cleaning up the state. Cleanliness begins at home as they say.

P.S. Though in his defense, I guess Blago's I-PASS has saved us from potential road rage from toll collectors, as they have in New Jersey.

Multiculti Prison in Korea

If your "Korean Dream" doesn't work out you'll be treated well in stir. BBC. Who do they have there and who do they expect?

The prison offers Western food and satellite TV programmes in English, Chinese, Russian and Arabic.

I have to say, the only people I know going from here to there went to teach English. Hmm:

A number of the guards are fluent in English, Russian or Chinese.

Looks like there's an opportunity for some Arabic teachers.

But behave.

P.S. Following that dream:

The report also created a table ranking countries according to how frequent and how advanced their people newer technologies.

Sweden topped the list, followed by Luxembourg, South Korea, Denmark, Iceland and Switzerland.