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The End of the Internet
January 18, 2008
Making Healthcare Work
Judicial watch has begun releasing the archive notes of Hillary's first attempt at health care obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.
They are notable for the tactics. A sampling:
• A “Confidential” May 26, 1993 Memorandum from Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) to Hillary Clinton entitled, “Health Care Reform Communications,” which criticizes the Task Force as a “secret cabal of Washington policy ‘wonks’” that has engaged in “choking off information” from the public regarding health care reform. The memorandum suggests that Hillary Clinton “use classic opposition research” to attack those who were excluded by the Clinton Administration from Task Force deliberations and to “expose lifestyles, tactics and motives of lobbyists” in order to deflect criticism. Senator Rockefeller also suggested news organizations “are anxious and willing to receive guidance [from the Clinton Administration] on how to time and shape their [news] coverage.”
The database would also track personal information about interest group leaders, such as their home phone numbers, addresses, “biographies, analysis of credibility in the media, and known relationships with Congresspeople.”
Gee, but make sure you don't wiretap the terrorists. No wonder Mrs. Clinton would not voluntarily release this stuff. It is notable that these notes came early in 1993, just a few weeks after Clinton took office. Apparently Hillary was ready on Day 1!
Captain Ed has more.
Is anyone following
what's been going on in Canada?
What I find mindblowing often escapes the radar of the rest of the free world - and based on what is happening up north, I use the word "free" sparingly.
Good Advice
Roger Simon has as good advice as anyone on picking a candidate this year:While watching the endless pundit blather on TV tonight after the Republican Michigan Primary and Democratic Nevada Debate and reading the various opinion meisters commentaries online, I had one of those rare zen moments of simplicity. It all comes down to a simple question:
Who would you like to be in the White House if Pakistan fell to al Qaeda and the Islamists gained control of its nuclear arsenal?
An Alternative to the Election
This morning a conservative friend of mine announced she is voting for Obama in the primary. She has decided that the country needs to be united and he can do it. I suggested that perhaps Fred or Rudy or Mitt could also unite the country. Her response: Democrats will never unite behind a Republican.
She may be right.
I call it the spoiled brat syndrome. Democrats have been stomping their feet since 2000, an eight year tantrum because they didn't get their way in the 2000 election. They have made sure the country doesn't come together. It makes no difference what
the issue is. They were against the Electoral College system when Bush won in 2000.
They were against reforming social security because it Bush announced it as a goal in the State of the Union. They were against Justice Roberts and Alito two phenomenally qualified Judges. They were against Congressional investigations until they took Congress conducted them endlessly in 2007. They were against the war. They were against the surge. Now they are against post -war military bases in Iraq.
If my friend is an indication, many republicans are getting bored with fighting. It might just be easier to let the democrats run the show. It might not be so bad. I can retire early and stick my hand out and demand the government take care of me. I can stop paying for my health care. I can leave the war on terror to them. I'll hope that the next terrorist attack isn't where I live. And since I live in a small town, my chances are pretty good. Once in retirement I can ramp up my credit card spending since I won't??t be held responsible for paying it back. I can stop paying my mortgage and blame the bank for lending me the money in the first place. I too can start living outside my means, like the people Don Surber talks about here. If anyone complains I'll call them sexist, file suit and retire rich.
January 16, 2008
What Happens In Vegas...
I live-blogged the Nevada Democrat debate last night, just as I have live-blogged every debate this election cycle. Since I have a co-liveblogger, Elliott, who types better and is a lot more serious about it than I, my live-blog is now pretty much a snark-blog. Lest you think I'm playing sides, I do snark on both sides of the aisle.
The recap: The first hour of the debate was (I swear) about "feelings". That's right - feeeellllll -ings.
Once Hillary declared that they were all black tonite the debate (and they all agreed) the conversation morphed into the theme of the month - Ch-ch-ch-ch- changes. The whole first hour was so lacking in substance you could have watched McCain and Huckabee's concession speeches and Romney's victory speeches and not missed a thing.
Did you know John Edwards' father worked in a mill? Did you know that his biggest weakness is that he cares too much, particularly about mill-workers? Did you know that Hillary has 35 years of experience doing, well, doing something. Last night it was working with children. She learned it in her church. (See - snark)
I did learn a few things: Hillary will dismember the banks, - despite the fact that they donate more money to her campaign than to all other democrats and republicans. Edwards would dismantle the nuclear power program (what program?) and all coal technology, as well as all the bad corporations. All three of them will stimulate the economy by making bankruptcy easier (even tho Hillary and Edwards voted for the bill to make it harder) and by giving away money, for mortgages, for college, for medicine, and pretty much anything else. And education from the womb is a priority, because it takes a village.
In two hours packed with irony perhaps my favorite part was when Hillary accused the President of "fear mongering" about terror, and then went on to warn that we are going to be attacked immediately after the election, and only she knows how to run the bureaucracy when under attack.
It just doesn't get any better than this...