Saturday, April 5, 2008

Calling Ellsworth Touhey...

In Massachusetts, Universal Coverage Strains Care

In pockets of the United States, rural and urban, a confluence of market and medical forces has been widening the gap between the supply of primary care physicians and the demand for their services. Modest pay, medical school debt, an aging population and the prevalence of chronic disease have each played a role.

Now in Massachusetts, in an unintended consequence of universal coverage, the imbalance is being exacerbated by the state’s new law requiring residents to have health insurance.

Certainly, even my deceased grandmother could have made this prediction. Political remedies for individual problems always have the same results; and now the geniuses in Massachusetts's legislature are going to "fix" the resulting problem with yet another attempt to make things right. Don't worry, though, the Presidential candidates have it all worked out....

Well said...

ACLU: The Best Friend of America's Enemies

Read the post (from Little Green Footballs); and then wonder what a schmuck Janet Reno must be....

Mickey Kaus wonders - and so should you

Clintons' Tax Returns: The press is focused on where all that money ($109 million) came from. Fair enough. But where did it all go? This seems like a genuine mystery. It's not as if the Clinton's live especially lavishly, or own huge estates. It's not like Bill has to pay for all his hotels and travel. The Clintons only gave about $44 million to the IRS and to charities (including their own). Where's the rest of it? If it's all invested, what is it invested in? Green companies pursuing sustainable growth and living wages? Or hedge funds seeking the highest returns? And assuming it's invested, what are they going to do with it later?...

Friday, April 4, 2008

Hello Dr. Frankenstein


Antibiotics for breakfast?
The drugs are supposed to kill bacteria, not feed them. Yet Harvard researchers have discovered hundreds of germs in soil that literally gobble up antibiotics, able to thrive with the potent drugs as their sole source of nutrition.

Kiss my Koran....

Blasphemers, Unite!
The important question here isn’t whether Fitna or Persepolis is offensive. "Offensive" movies will always be with us--they're a sign of human creativity, a spur to debate. I just hope the United Nations doesn't get involved. At the same time international campaigns were launched to shut down these movies, the United Nations Human Rights Council – in true Orwellian fashion – passed a resolution against “the defamation of religion” and suggests governments pass laws to stop to it. If freedom of expression – which includes the right to blaspheme the Gods – isn’t a human right, then human rights do not exist. Lives are at risk here, as are good movies and bad. It ought to go without saying that the United Nations Human Rights Council ought to concern itself with reducing threats to human rights rather than join the extremists and make threatening noises of its own.

It's not baseball....

Pirates storm French yacht off Somalia

Imagine if that had happened here

Palestinians Slaughter Endangered Animal:

"What does it take to get Reuters to defend the brutal slaughter of a rare endangered animal for superstitious reasons?

Simple: the killers just need to be Palestinians."

So hard to predict....

Daniel Drezner
Ten weeks ago I predicted all of Paul Krugman s op-ed essays for 2008 by using the following simple formula:

We’re heading into a recession....

The Republicans are blinkered.

Everything is Alan Greenspan’s fault.

I luuuuuv John Edwards.

Barack Obama is not a real progressive."
Read the whole thing. It's not just me.... Krugman really has become little more than a crank.

We are becoming idiots...

Zero Tolernace, Take II

Eight-year-old boy suspended for sniffing a Sharpie. Sad little quote from the boy:

“It smelled good,” Harris said. “They told me that’s wrong.”

Worth noting....

April 4, 1975: Bill Gates, Paul Allen Form a Little Partnership:
"1975: Bill Gates and Paul Allen create a partnership called Micro-soft. It will grow into one of the largest U.S. corporations and place them among the world's richest people."

Even the bad guys are wishing for the Sixties.....

Instapundit:

There seem to be efforts to try and create a "Terrorist Tet" to influence U.S. politics. So far, they haven't worked tremendously well.

Thursday, April 3, 2008

There is no threat....

New Details About 2006 Transatlantic Terror Plot

You do need a sense of humor...


Diebold Accidentally Leaks Results Of 2008 Election Early

Learn something new every day...

April 3, 1973: Motorola Calls AT&T ... by Cell:
"1973: Martin Cooper of Motorola uses the first portable handset ... to make the first cellphone call ... to his rival at Bell Labs. Rub it in."

I wonder if she used the "C" word....

Jane Fonda Endorses Obama

Can't wait...

Oliver Stone Rushing to Finish Bush-Hating Movie

Oliver Stone is rushing to finish his new film in time for the Presidential election, a film that asks the question, “How did Bush go from being an alcoholic bum to the most powerful figure in the world?

It’s a light-hearted fantasy. A real feel-good movie. Capra-esque, but with a touch of Cindy Sheehan.

But that does not alleviate our guilt...

The sting of poverty
"'It's Econ 101 that's to blame,' Karelis says. 'It's created this tired, phony debate about what causes poverty.'"

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Ted Turner has become a deranged old man.

A certain degree of nausea has overcome me....

Yo, Hillary!

The silver lining, or just plain elitism?

Some Good News on Food Prices
WHILE grocery shoppers agonize over paying 25 percent more for eggs and 17 percent more for milk, Michael Pollan, the author and de facto leader of the food intellectuals, happily dreams of small, expensive bottles of Coca-Cola.

Yes! and No!!!

Does Anyone Believe In The Free Market Any More?

A quick case of cramps....

Inside Lower Education
If you read this, you may decide that college is not the place for your kids.

Religious Bigotry..

Jonah Goldberg
It’s not that secular progressives support Muslim religious fanatics, it’s that they reserve their passion and scorn for religious Christians who are neither fanatical nor violent.

The Darwin fish ostensibly symbolizes the superiority of progressive-minded science over backward-looking faith. I think this is a false juxtaposition, but I would have a lot more respect for the folks who believe it if they aimed their brave contempt for religion at those who might behead them for it.

How unusual...

Shifting

Are politicians allowed to change their minds to deal with circumstances, or are they just two-faced liars? Sounds like people to me.....

Worth reading....

The World War II Memorial

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Just like we invented the AIDS virus....

CAIR Seeks To Define Away Threat Posed by Radical Islamists:
"Jihad? Fatwa? Wahhabism? Islamist terrorism? All terms distorted or created by the U.S. government and media to stigmatize the Muslim religion and scare the public — or so CAIR officials would have you believe."

Absolutely, positively....

THE REAL BUSH INTELLIGENCE FAILURE:

"What we can say with assurance is that even as George W. Bush has overseen the single most far-reaching reorganization of the U.S. intelligence community (IC) since the CIA was created in 1947, his single greatest failure as a president might well be that American intelligence remains mired in bureaucratic mediocrity."

We have spent the last 30+ years emasculating our intelligence services; and this assessment is as valid as anything I have seen. If the "chickens came home to roost" on 9/11, it was not because we had done the Arabs wrong; but because we turned the CIA and sister organizations over to lawyers and (forgive me) liberals who were hell-bent on apologizing to the rest of the world for some previous misdeeds. Basically, you can thank Ted Kennedy, Jimmy Carter and John Kerry for this mess - the ones who are blaming everyone else the most.


Happy Birthday....

Apple turns 32 today

As I've said before, my first computer was an Apple II that I bought in 1978, specifically for the purpose of learning what in the world all the fuss was about. It was "the only kid on the block" at that time (except for the S-100 bus stuff, but that was way too esoteric and expensive); and besides giving me a good foundation in basic computing, it, also, got me into reading BYTE Magazine and a host of other material that led me in other directions.

The rest, for me, is history.... and prologue.

I found a soul mate....

Please desecrate the original theme:
"The first and only time I ever visited the Magic Kingdom was when my wife-to-be took me there in my mid-twenties. The very first ride we went on was 'It's a Small World.' By the end of the ride I was so freaked out that I was convinced the dolls were whispering, 'you must kill Mommy and Daddy' to the children. Maybe this is because I remain a Warner Brothers kid when it came to cartoons, but there it is."
Question to readers: has anyone else had a bad Magic Kingdom experience, or does my reaction indicate the absence of a soul?

Oh dear!! The end of Earlybird....

A Deli Destination, Now a Pastrami-Scented Memory

Jason Starkman knew. He and his family were the culprits, the rascals some might say, who decided that after 54 years, Rascal House had to close. And like a patient rabbi, he listened to Mrs. Rothman quietly, nodding, smiling, familiar with her complaints. After owning the restaurant for 11 years, he knew that all the kibitzing was just a form of saying goodbye.

“We love it ourselves,” he said. “We waited until the last possible moment.”

And we are surprised by this because...?

CBS 2 Chicago: 2007 Video of Obama and Wright Signing Books Together
It is curious why the CBS 2 video showing a beaming Barack and Wright has not been more widely played by the media, but it does prove that Barack only recently, in the middle of scrutiny and only in the last month, has found himself trying to claim he disagrees with the racist Rev. After all, he was still quite friendly with the ranting Rev. Wright in the CBS video of but a year ago.

Monday, March 31, 2008

A slight understatement?

In Gaza, Hamas’s Fiery Insults to Jews Complicate Peace Effort

Read this and wonder about the ability of the so-called Palestinians to become a civilized people. But, of course, it is the Israelis' fault..... just ask the UN.

Pretty much takes the NY Times for what it is...

All The News That Fits:
"This is Seinfeld reporting—“news” about nothing.

As for the New York Times, one wonders why they didn’t embed a reporter with the Iraqi forces streaming south. Like Dr. Zaius, were they afraid of what they might find?"
Hard to believe - NOT. If you have ever wondered about the integrity of the Times, you can now stop.

Very useful....

The 101 most useful websites
Yup....they're all full of it.

Enjoy...



I had said at the very start of this mess 2 years ago that I really didn't know who I could vote for; but that I did know who I wouldn't vote for - the first one of them who I see with his/her arm around the pig Sharpton.

Case closed.....

The game is being rigged....

New UN 'Human Rights' Envoy is 9/11 Troofer
Princeton prof Richard Falk, newly-appointed by the UN Human Rights Council as its "Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967," is also a devoted supporter of the crackpot "9/11 Truth" movement, which denies that Al-Qaeda attacked the U.S. on September 11, 2001.

Via Instapundit

MAKE WAY FOR A FRESH CROP OF DAILYKOS DIARISTS: "The staff of Newsweek will shrink dramatically, after 111 staffers on its news and business sides accepted a buyout last week."
He always has a way with getting to the point....

God, I hope I don't miss it....

Kathie Lee Signs On To ‘Today"

Good.....

LiveLeak Restores 'Fitna'
On the 28th of March LiveLeak.com was left with no other choice but to remove the film “fitna” from our servers following serious threats to our staff and their families. Since that time we have worked constantly on upgrading all security measures thus offering better protection for our staff and families. With these measures in place we have decided to once more make this video live on our site. We will not be pressured into censoring material which is legal and within our rules. We apologise for the removal and the delay in getting it back, but when you run a website you don’t consider that some people would be insecure enough to threaten our lives simply because they do not like the content of a video we neither produced nor endorsed but merely hosted.

Must be the Israelis' fault......

Hamas Kid Puppet Kills Bush with Sword, Turns White House Into Mosque
Sick and evil beyond belief, Hamas TV broadcasts a puppet show in which a young Palestinian boy murders a puppet version of President Bush with a sword, and turns the White House into a mosque. (Aired March 30, 2008, on Al Aqsa TV.

He wasn't there that year....

The right questions about Rev. Wright
But Pete Wehner shows that there is much more digging to be done. The fact is that Senator Obama was a member of Trinity for two decades. About the theology of the the church there is zero appropriate inquiries, but its political advocacy --and there was a lot of political advocacy-- illuminates Senator Obama's core beliefs. Wehner points to the weekly church bulletins, and he is right to do so. In one from June 10, 2007, an article titled "Open Letter To Oprah" accuses Israel of developing a bomb that would kill only Arabs. This sort of extreme anti-Israel rhetoric should be put before Senator Obama and he should be obliged to rebut it in detail.

Read it....

The Fitna Firestorm

The ACLU strikes again....

"Who is Mazin Qumsiyeh?
Two George Mason Law School student organizations, the ACLU and the International Law Society, are sponsoring a lecture tomorrow by one Mazin Qumsiyeh, entitled, Terrorism, the US, and the Centrality of the Israel/Palestine Question: Can Peace be Based on Human Rights and International Law?"

Sunday, March 30, 2008

Surprised he didn't sue...

Teen makes mistake of trying to rob former U.S. Marine

SANTA ROSA - A boy in his mid-teens learned Wednesday afternoon that it is not a good idea to try to rob a former U.S. Marine at knifepoint, even if the former Marine is 84 years old, police said today.

Santa Rosa police Sgt. Steve Bair said that's what happened around 2 p.m. in the 1600 block of Fourth Street. The elderly man was walking with a grocery bag in each arm when the boy approached him with a large knife, Bair said.

The boy said, "Old man, give me your wallet or I'll cut you," Bair said. The man told the boy he was a former Marine who fought in three wars and had been threatened with knives and bayonets, Bair said.

The man then put his bags on the ground and told the boy that if he stepped closer he would be sorry. When the boy stepped closer, the man kicked him in the groin, knocking him to the sidewalk, Bair said. The ex-Marine picked up his grocery bags and walked home, leaving the boy doubled over, Bair said.

The man reported the attempted robbery to police 45 minutes later.

Bair said the teen is described only as 15 or 16 years old. Anyone with information is asked to call the Police Department.

Ah! The government strikes again...

Freedom Fighter Called “Terrorist” by INS
Saman Kareem Ahmad is an Iraqi Kurd who worked as a translator with the Marines in Iraq’s Anbar Province. He was one of the few selected translators who was granted asylum in the U.S. because he and his family were singled out for destruction by insurgents for “collaboration.” He wants to return to Iraq as an American citizen and a Marine, and has already been awarded the Navy-Marine Corps Achievement Medal and the War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal. Secretary of the Navy Donald C. Winter and General David Petraeus wrote notes for his file and recommended he be given a Green Card, but the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) declined his application and called him a “terrorist.”

Fond memories...

Shea in ’64: The Planes Above, the Mets Below
"It’s a dump,” said Gary Cohen, the Mets’ play-by-play announcer on SNY, who grew up in Parkway Village, Queens. “But it’s our dump."

I was there for that first game in 1964; I was there when the Jets won the AFL title in 1968 to make it the famed 1969 Super Bowl; and I was just there last year (for the first time in 20 years) for a Mets - Phillies game - Cohen is oh-so right!!!!