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Timothy
14 years ago
Obama-Joker poster is blooming in LA…..pass it on !!!!
In case anyone is interested, this is a pic of the volcano, Anak Krakatoa, on the Sunda Strait, between Java and Sumatra. It’s a reawakening of it’s former self which carries the dubious fame of being responsible for the largest amount of deaths ever from a volcano in recorded history…. 36,000 in 1883. Some deaths from the eruption, and more from the tsunami in it’s wake.
Hard Right
14 years ago
Yowza. Mata, when I saw the name Krakatoa in your post I immediately thought of the disaster associated with that name while wondering if it was the same volcano. Thanks for the info.
That is one nast piece of work.
You’re welcome, HR. History can be both fascinating, and humbling, eh?
Catherine
14 years ago
MartaHarley
Love the picture
Think that one was bad should ck out the one in Iceland that sent sulfur around the Globe I believe the Brithish called it the dirty summer.
Of course all these happened when there were low sunspot count.
Just back have to catch up
But I love the picture.
Catherine
The French have reported the Chechens are bulldozing terrorist familys houses and killing the terrorist
and the Europeans are a little upset by what Biden said on his trip?
As are the Russians
But looks like the US press has been all about a beer party?
“Cash for Clunkers”
Okay well the 1 billion was the # 250 thousand cars were to be sold or Nov. 1 which ever came first?
Well last time I cked it was only 22,500 cars [250,000 looks like more zeros to me] that were sold most not Gm and other government car companies BUT wait a min. where did all the rest of the money go we still did not spend the whole 1 billion looks like the math is not adding up?
So where is the money?
Prairie
14 years ago
Hot stuff! Abstract in a way that makes it interesting trying to figure out what it is you are looking at.
Oh, its those durned Kurds again. Right? The ones that Welcomed US Forces (173rd ABN BDE) that jumped into Iraq and were offered tea, sweets and were given valued intel on where the bad guys were hiding. The ones that lived in the Northern “No Fly Zone'” and Operation “Provide Comfort” made huge Friends of the Kurds that Saddam gassed and murdered in numbers. Men, Women and Children. Saddam wanted them dead and their Turk neighbors, Our NATO Allies wanted the same and denied US access during the Invasion of Iraq.
Nope. Guess again. It is the same ruthless crew that murdered protesters, shot Ms. Neda Soltan dead in cold blood in the street. Can You say Basiji?. Can you say Militia?
*Loyalty to Ayatollah Khomeini and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, A Thug that took part of the seizure of the US Embassy in November of 1974. The Kenyan Pretender in Chief wants to have tea & cookies with Asshol*Jad with No Pre Conditions.*
The three were last heard from after they contacted a friend saying they had entered Iran by mistake and troops had surrounded them, a Kurdish security official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to release the information.
I’m sure that the State Department could care less and Obama could care less. He is busy eating sewer sludge fertilized veggies from MO’s toxic garden. HAH! I’m sure that his 3AM Phone calls go to an answering service staffed by Axlerod punks.
Caught 8 trout for dinner and they are simmering in butter. 66F outside and clear blue sky.
Yep, Texas Fred, the Proctologists won but I am not convinced that it is the way it should be.
Buffalobob
14 years ago
Catherine #6
Well last time I cked it was only 22,500 cars [250,000 looks like more zeros to me] that were sold most not Gm and other government car companies BUT wait a min. where did all the rest of the money go we still did not spend the whole 1 billion looks like the math is not adding up?
So where is the money?
Answer:
It’s a government run program.
It’s about what the GOP needs to do if it wants to remain relevant.
Rallying the base (e.g. this blog) only gets you so far. When you try to take stuff like Flopping Aces rhetoric mainstream, you only play into the hands of the Democrats.
\”This is what the Lord has said: See I am against the keepers of the flock, and I will make search and see what they have done with my sheep, and will let them be keepers of my sheep no longer; and the keepers will no longer get food for themselves; I will take my sheep out of their mouths so that they may not be food for them.\” (Ezekiel, 34, 10)…
liam09
14 years ago
Great, all that work in cap and trade is for nothing. Global warming is back and it is going to kill us all. Thanks a lot volcano.
bill-tb
14 years ago
This should scare the crap out of you — government access to your personal finances and the ability to directly draw down your account by EFT.
Referring to the House bill:
Pg 58 HC Bill – Government will have real-time access to individual’s finances and a National ID Healthcard will be issued!
Pg 59 HC Bill lines 21-24 Government will have direct access to your bank accts for election funds transfer
Actually, Larry, O’Reilly has been a buffoon and become a warped caricature of himself for years now. Bernie Goldman was the one who actually convinced him just days ago that this is an Alinsky took he prefers to keep around. I pointed this out on the birther thread.
Fact is, it isn’t the conservatives that are the birthers, but the fringe… just as you have your Trig Truthers, 911 Truthers, etc. However O’reilly, patsy drone that he is, falls right into the trap and paints the conservatives with a broad brush as birthers.
I suggest that the barrage of mysterious phone calls to Hawaii in the past few weeks were an orchestrated movement to allow the birthers to bubble to the surface in order to discredit conservative gains on health care. For you see, why would the dedicated birthers up and decide to… yet again… call Hawaii and ask for the certificate when they’ve done this before. Did they expect a different result?
No one in Hawaii qualifies the person making the request. When a rash of phone calls regurgitates the issue, it gets blamed on the birthers and bang…. news story that distracts.
Alinsky Perfection just keeps getting better and better. Trouble is now I recognize the tactics.
BTW, I see you studiously avoiding my health care posts, and only responding to Mike’s. Now why would that be? Well, I have another big one coming that’s a companion piece to the one about seniors/boomers forced into Medicare or forfeit their SS checks. Another puzzle piece that is glaring proof that Obama’s quest for single payer (which you say you don’t want) is the goal.
My question to you is, how can such an intelligent man be so blind to the elephant in the room?
Well, HR, Larry is on record *many* times saying he opposes a single payer system. Where we get into it is Larry seems incapable of seeing the path constructed by HR 3200 (the dominate plan that is the foundation of the final) is designed to do just that…. when you place the rest of the puzzle pieces together.
As I said, trying to battle O’healthcare issue by issue, event by event, YouTube by YouTube, requires “the willing suspension of disbelief” by the O’faithful. It’s not until the big picture is presented that it becomes transparent.
Larry is the perfect example of an intelligent man who, per his own words, doesn’t want single payer. If his eyes can be opened by examining the legislation and accompanying regulations, so can others.
pdill
14 years ago
Well, speaking of volcanos, Yellowstone, the mother of all volcanos, erupts every 600,000 years. Last erruption, 600,000 years ago!
I recently read that when Super Yellowstone erupts, it will cover at least half of the country. Now THAT will make for a bad day.
In their eagerness to trash the “Cash for Clunkers” program, FOX pundits try to advance the case that junking old vehicles has an environmental cost which cancels out the fuel savings.
Taking advantage of Cash for Clunkers, I junked a 1990 car with a bad catalytic converter and an EPA combined mileage rating of 16, in favor of a new compact car with a combined mileage rating of 27. This is close to the national average, by the way. The car I junked had 193,000 miles. Had it not been junked, it probably would have been driven another 5 years or even 10 years, but doubtfully beyond that. At whatever time it was finally junked, there would still be the environmental impact from the car disposal — only there would have been another 10 years of high gasoline consumption and high pollution.
– Larry Weisenthal/Huntington Beach, CA
Aqua
14 years ago
Thought I’d post this here for anyone that believes the VA the blueprint for any healthcare reform.
I read this at Pajamas Media and posting it as a link. A great read.
@ Aye
I saw it last night on Special Report with Brett Baier. It seems there is a renewed interest in the Senate for the Wyden-Bennett Plan. Neither of these guys are on the committees that are currently looking at healthcare. But, according to Special Report, it has a huge bipartisan group of supporters in the Senate.
In their eagerness to trash the “Cash for Clunkers” program, FOX pundits try to advance the case that junking old vehicles has an environmental cost which cancels out the fuel savings.
In a failed effort to try and demonize Fox News, Larry overlooked the fact that a wide variety of environmental experts agree that the clunkers program is a boondoggle.
“Cash for clunkers” could have the same effect on global warming pollution as shutting down the entire country — every automobile, every factory, every power plant — for an hour per year. That could rise to three hours if the program is extended by Congress and remains as popular as it is now.
Climate experts aren’t impressed.
:: snip ::
“As a carbon dioxide policy, this is a terribly wasteful thing to do,” said Henry Jacoby, a professor of management and co-director of the Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change at MIT. “The amount of carbon you are saving per federal expenditure is very, very small.”
@Aye:
Your characterization is misleading. I was specifically addressing the Fox News charge that the overall pollution would go up, owing to pollution created during recycling. With regard to this point, here’s what is stated in the very article Aye quotes:
“There’s 260 million vehicles on the road and you’re talking a quarter-million vehicles. It’s not even close. It’s just a drop in the bucket,” said Bruce Belzowski, a scientist at the University of Michigan’s Transportation Research Institute. “It’s really small numbers. But if you don’t start somewhere, where are you going to start? It heads the country in the right direction.”
Now, the environmental criticisms, such as they are, are not that the Cash for Clunkers progam actually increases pollution, as argued by Fox News, the criticisms are that “Cash for Clunkers” is not nearly as effective as, for example, Cap and Trade. But the environmental benefits of “Cash for Clunkers” are in addition to its economic benefits. You might not like that fact that the government is attempting to help the auto companies, but this is the policy and the auto companies are saying that this is a terrific program You might not like the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, but Cash for Clunkers is far and away the most effective/successful component of the ARRA yet introduced.
@Mata: I never “studiously avoid” anything on this blog, outside of personal vituperation. I’m not really all that different from Curt in my approach to this blog. From time to time, I’m motivated to write something; so I write it and then move on. From time to time (such as last Friday evening and night), I have the time and interest to stay on the blog for hours, going back and forth. Last Friday, I went back and forth with you for some time, and then you probably went to bed, and Aye logged on at about 1:30 AM PDT and I stayed up for another hour or so, arguing with him. But then I went to bed and I didn’t log back on for several days, when I had another comment I wanted to make, on another topic. I didn’t have the time to go back and read everything which had been written in the interim.
If you’ll give me a link to the most relevant post you’ve made on this topic, I’ll read it and reply, when I can.
With regard to your comment about birthers and conservatives:
Fact is, it isn’t the conservatives that are the birthers, but the fringe… just as you have your Trig Truthers, 911 Truthers, etc. However O’reilly, patsy drone that he is, falls right into the trap and paints the conservatives with a broad brush as birthers.
In the article I quoted, about the White House wanting to tar conservatives with the birther brush, the article also mentioned such things as the raucous disruption of the health care town meetings and also the “Joker/Socialist” images. The later is crazy stuff; and it’s crazy stuff which appears on this blog, and it plays right into the hands of the Democrats. That was O’Reilly’s point, and I think that he’s right.
At this particular point in time, I think that the GOP has made a lot of serious political mistakes. The biggest mistake has been to make darn sure that Obama “owns” the economy and to make it perfectly clear that the GOP is opposed to everything Obama has done with regard to “fixing” the economy. This is a good strategy if the economy stays in the toilet, only it’s not staying there. So Obama will get all the credit and the GOP will end up with egg on its face.
Fiscal deficits are very serious; I hate them, and I agree with you with regard to piling up debt. But tax cuts piles up debt, just as much as spending piles up debt. Reagan came close to doubling the debt/GDP ratio, which is a much better metric than debt, per se. Obama is unlikely to increase debt/GDP as much as Reagan did, and Obama inherited the greater fiscal mess.
But here’s the thing: the average voter doesn’t really care about debt. It’s an abstraction. It’s never had much traction. What’s important to voters is the Dow Jones and their 401Ks and the price of their house and paying for college and whether they are in danger of losing their job. If all that gets better, then Obama will be untouchable.
Look forward to reading Mata’s health care stuff. Just point me in the right direction and give me a few days.
I’m not really all that different from Curt in my approach to this blog.
Please. I don’t write from time to time….I write everyday. I also follow every comment on this blog. You will also notice that I become quite involved in comments about things I know quite a bit about, that being law enforcement. But I have definitely noticed how you do drive-by comments on the one subject you should know a lot about, that being health care. When it comes to that subject you choose to just pop in, make your case, and disappear.
Well, Curt, I simply meant that, most of the time, you introduce a thread — on a wide variety of topics — and then leave others to hash it out. It’s your blog and, of course, I’d expect you to monitor it closely. I’m merely your guest here.
I am very happy to argue health care. I “popped in” for a good 5 hours last Friday night, trading arguments with Mata until she went to bed and then exchanging a few with Aye, until I went to bed, at, if memory serves, close to 3 AM.
I think that 5 hours of commentary on health care on someone else’s blog is a non-trivial expenditure of time. I do have a life outside of Flopping Aces and I think doing 5 hours worth of work — trying to argue issues with some (mostly respectful) thoughtfulness on your blog is not deserving of dismissive reproach.
Mata invited me to continue a dialogue with her on health care. I’ve already accepted her offer.
But I can’t monitor your blog, 24/7, and I only have so much energy to take on all of you at once, as I am usually forced to do.
– Larry Weisenthal/Huntington Beach, CA
Old Trooper
14 years ago
Cash for “Clunkers” did a lot for the Auto Industry…Four of Top ‘Clunkers’ Model Purchases Are Foreign
“Aug. 4 (Bloomberg) — Four of the top five models sold so far under the U.S. “cash for clunkers” program, aimed at boosting the auto industry, are made by foreign automakers, according to Transportation Department data.”
@ Larry
Dude, I have got to get me some of those glasses you wear. Seriously!
The later is crazy stuff; and it’s crazy stuff which appears on this blog, and it plays right into the hands of the Democrats. That was O’Reilly’s point, and I think that he’s right.
This is a good strategy if the economy stays in the toilet, only it’s not staying there. So Obama will get all the credit and the GOP will end up with egg on its face.
Are you serious? You say:
But tax cuts piles up debt, just as much as spending piles up debt. Reagan came close to doubling the debt/GDP ratio, which is a much better metric than debt, per se.
Obama is unlikely to increase debt/GDP as much as Reagan did, and Obama inherited the greater fiscal mess.
Wrong and wrong. On his current track, Obama is surely going to at least double the current debt/GDP. And Reagan inherited an equally big, yet dissimilar mess. When Reagan took office in 1981, the unemployment rate was 7% and climbing fast — much like today. Consumer prices had soared a stunning 12.5% the year before, and interest rates in the high teens were crippling residential real estate and business investment.
You want to know one big difference between Reagan’s mess and Obama’s mess Larry? Go out on the web and try to find one speech where Reagan blamed Carter for the mess he inherited. Not a speech when he was campaigning for President, but a speech where he blames Carter after he took office. The answer is no. He just went to work and fixed it.
Larry: In the article I quoted, about the White House wanting to tar conservatives with the birther brush, the article also mentioned such things as the raucous disruption of the health care town meetings and also the “Joker/Socialist” images. The later is crazy stuff; and it’s crazy stuff which appears on this blog, and it plays right into the hands of the Democrats. That was O’Reilly’s point, and I think that he’s right.
I agree about the joker/socialist images. I personally don’t consider this “news”, so I generally give wide berth to such nonsense. And I also agree that focusing on such inconsequential events is damaging.
But I have to say that “damage” should first be inflicted on the media, who fans the flames of the inconsequential to begin with, Larry. This is a blog, and none of us here are investigative reporters, breaking news stories. We all – authors and commenters alike – provide opinions and perspectives on stories and issues we choose to highlight. But we don’t make up what made the news to begin with.
In that sense, rather odd for the media – predominately left leaning – to bring this BS up, and then lay that albatross on the shoulders of the conservatives or GOP in general, don’t you think?
Nor is this blog one person and one voice. Curt is our “founding father”, but he has expanded this to be a community of diverse conservative voices and styles as authors (as well as reader posts), and our participants are also composed of a cross section of political beliefs. Frankly, when I read the one liner zinger comments on other blogs, I’m proud of the more substantive discussions that take place here. And I do welcome your perspectives and spunk, dispite our disagreements.
I will take up your offer to shoot you an email on particular posts that I would like your comments added to the mix. I also remember you mentioned starting your own blog. I’ve lost that link and very much like to you let us know where you are residing with your medical technology perspectives so I can also read what advances you are involved with. Tho I know most will be way over my head.
Last is a question to you… when you get time. You’ve opted out of Medicare participation with your “concierge” services. From what I understand, any provider must wait two years before they take on a private paying, Medicare qualified patient. Will you comment on that? Also, the advances you make… is Medicare refusing to pay for those treatments? In which case, don’t you find it a disadvantage for Medicare/quasi govt run health plans to deny the latest treatments to the elderly?
I’ll be doing a one hour talk radio show this Sunday, beginning at 8 AM Pacific (11 AM Eastern) on WCBM (AM) in Baltimore. Typical talk radio, with listener call ins. Post-show, it will be available via podcast. They stream live (URL below). I’ve currently got their stream of the Limbaugh show on as background chatter.
I’ll be talking about cancer in general and our lab tests in particular. I’m fairly outspoken about “cancer in general,” and it should generate a little bit of heat, which is the mother’s milk of talk radio.
@Mata
I’ll get to all the above questions later on, and I’ll diligently address all your health care-related posts of which I’m apprised and on which I’m invited to comment.
Reagan/Bush/Bush nearly doubled Debt:GDP, from about 0.32 to over 0.6. Even if Obama increases it from 0.6 to 0.8, it will be much less of an incremental debt load.
Debt/GDP was up near 1.0 after WWII and we still managed the Marshall Plan, the GI Bill, Medicare, the Great Society, and Vietnam, all the while paying down the debt:GDP down to close to 0.3 (end of Carter years). Now it’s back up, but Paul Krugman says that it still has a good bit of what he calls “running room” before it causes problems for us.
Our biggest problem is our aversion to taxes. We prefer to borrow money to finance tax cuts, as opposed to cutting spending (Reagan/Bush), and we prefer to borrow money to finance spending increments (Obama).
The economy grew during the Eisenhower years, despite a marginal tax rate of 90%. And the debt/GDP improved. And the economy grew through the 70s, with a 70% marginal tax rate. And confiscatory estate taxes. And debt/GDP came down. It was only with Reagan’s illusory “Laffer Curve” tax cuts that the debt/GDP ratio started to go back up.
The economy will survive an increase of marginal tax rate from 36% to 39%, which the hysterics on this blog decry as “socialism.” Tell that to Eisenhower. To Nixon. To Ford. To Reagan.
P.S. Aye’s chart is misleading, as it only purports to show raw debt and not debt:GDP, which is what is meaningful. If I have a million dollars of debt and assets of $100,000, I’m in trouble. If I have assets of $10,000,000, I’m not in trouble. Aye’s graph doesn’t show growth in GDP. Which is why Reagan’s increased debt load was actually more severe than even the increases currently being projected for Obama.
According to data floating around Capitol Hill, the top five cars being purchased under the program are: 1. Ford Focus, 2. Toyota Corolla, 3. Honda Civic, 4. Toyota Prius and 5. Toyota Camry. Some folks are noting sourly that four of the top five models are made by Japanese companies.
The reality is not so simple. True, every Focus sold in America is made at Ford’s Wayne, Mich., assembly plant. Of the Honda Civics sold here, 95% are built in Indiana or Ontario, Canada, and all of the engines are made in the U.S.
All of the Corollas sold in the U.S. are assembled by Toyota in either California or Ontario, while “almost all” of the Camrys sold here are assembled at plants in Kentucky and Indiana, according to Toyota. Only the Prius is built exclusively in Japan. (Toyota planned to start making the Prius at a converted SUV plant in Mississippi, but put those plans on hold after hybrid sales collapsed last year along with gas prices and the U.S. economy.)
– Larry Weisenthal/Huntington Beach
ditto
14 years ago
@Larry
“…the article also mentioned such things as the raucous disruption of the health care town meetings and also the “Joker/Socialist” images. The later is crazy stuff; and it’s crazy stuff which appears on this blog…. “
So, you’re upset that some Conservatives and Republicans are using the same tactics that the Democrats and Far-left activists have used for decades? Interesting.
Aqua
14 years ago
@ Larry
I don’t think you can compare the tax code of the 1950’s to the one we have today. Back then, everyone with more than $100k had at least one tax shelter and you could deduct cotton balls. But I understand your point. You say Americans have an aversion to higher taxes. That’s just one quarter of the story. Why should we want to give more money to a government that doesn’t know how to handle it. And this is both sides. Millions of dollars to the NEA for depravity they want to call art. $300k outhouses at rest areas. Millions for a bridge to nowhere, millions for the mating habits of the zebra winged Mongolian butterfly, (made that one up), but you get the point. Many in congress, on the left and right, say this is just a drop in the bucket. Well, you keep putting drops in a bucket and pretty soon you have a full bucket. We could eliminate hundreds and hundreds of billions of dollars by removing the waste in government. So no, I don’t want to send any more money than I have to, to Washington until they can show they know how to spend it wisely.
Who is paying for all of Obama’s Czars and how did that money get appropriated? Why should I be paying the salary of a person whose job should be done by an existing department head?
I won’t even go into social programs. Even if we left those alone, except for rooting out the waste and fraud, the government wouldn’t need to raise taxes and we’d have a surplus.
And as for Aye’s chart, you can’t presume to know what the GDP is going to be for Obama by 2010, much less 2012. The book is still open on that.
pdill
14 years ago
I’m totally with you Aqua. I don’t mind a bit paying taxes to help the elderly, the poor, the sick who have fallen on hard times, or needed reasonable community services. However, I vehemently mind paying taxes for pork and waste.
As one who is self-employed (and happy to be), I have to pay DOUBLE (almost 16%) of my first $100,000 on social security and Medicare (good luck seeing any of that in future benefits). Even if I were employed and only paying half of that, it still would matter. Don’t we taxpayers have a right to know that our money isn’t wasted?
Sure they give lip service to fighting Medicare fraud, but somehow, unlike the folks at MasterCard and Visa, they never seem to get below the 60 BILLION LOST EACH YEAR TO FRAUD. Let me assure you, if we are losing 60 billion a year to Medicare fraud, you don’t want to know how many billions will be lost in a government run single payer health care system.
But then, that’s part of the plan, I’m convinced. Anyone with a half of a brain knows that Obamacare is anything but “health and care” and everything about power, control, and a “remake/transformation of the America “both Barack and Michelle promised us.
I suspect when we finally have our total financial collapse, that’s when the commie czars will step in. By the way, they make an average of $170,000 a year, combined with staff, cost about a half million each. Speaking of staff, Michelle Obama has 22 on her staff; Laura Bush had ONE.
I don’t care what side of the fence anyone is on, to not speak out against the avarice, arrogance, theft, and entitlement of this administration is at this point, to be an accomplice.
Obama-Joker poster is blooming in LA…..pass it on !!!!
http://tammybruce.com/2009/07/you-know-b-hussein-is-in-trouble-when.html
kind of cool, though no doubt the PC crowd will scream “THAT’S RACIST”
Need Preparation H?
In case anyone is interested, this is a pic of the volcano, Anak Krakatoa, on the Sunda Strait, between Java and Sumatra. It’s a reawakening of it’s former self which carries the dubious fame of being responsible for the largest amount of deaths ever from a volcano in recorded history…. 36,000 in 1883. Some deaths from the eruption, and more from the tsunami in it’s wake.
Yowza. Mata, when I saw the name Krakatoa in your post I immediately thought of the disaster associated with that name while wondering if it was the same volcano. Thanks for the info.
That is one nast piece of work.
You’re welcome, HR. History can be both fascinating, and humbling, eh?
MartaHarley
Love the picture
Think that one was bad should ck out the one in Iceland that sent sulfur around the Globe I believe the Brithish called it the dirty summer.
Of course all these happened when there were low sunspot count.
Just back have to catch up
But I love the picture.
Catherine
The French have reported the Chechens are bulldozing terrorist familys houses and killing the terrorist
and the Europeans are a little upset by what Biden said on his trip?
As are the Russians
But looks like the US press has been all about a beer party?
“Cash for Clunkers”
Okay well the 1 billion was the # 250 thousand cars were to be sold or Nov. 1 which ever came first?
Well last time I cked it was only 22,500 cars [250,000 looks like more zeros to me] that were sold most not Gm and other government car companies BUT wait a min. where did all the rest of the money go we still did not spend the whole 1 billion looks like the math is not adding up?
So where is the money?
Hot stuff! Abstract in a way that makes it interesting trying to figure out what it is you are looking at.
Carbon credits in action. Cool pic. though.
This picture is just cool!
Obama’s poll numbers are in the toilet. Can Biden pull him up? He’ll certainly try, http://stopthepresses2.blogspot.com/search/label/Plunger
Mata, when it comes to nature we are merely insects caught in it’s power. That picture reminds me of that fact.
I agree, that’s an excellent pic.
Let’s see if this other photo is big enough.
If not, check out the other Anak Krakatoa photos at the article on it in UK’s Daily Mail.
Here is what some of our folks in the medical field think of ObamaCare.
Medical Stimulus Package:
Apparently the American Medical Association has weighed in on the new economic stimulus package….
The Allergists voted to scratch it, but the Dermatologists advised not to make any rash moves.
The Gastroenterologists had sort of a gut feeling about it, but the Neurologists thought the Administration had a lot of nerve.
The Obstetricians felt they were all laboring under a misconception.
The Ophthalmologists considered the idea shortsighted.
Pathologists yelled, “Over my dead body!” while the Pediatricians said, ‘Oh, Grow up!’
The Psychiatrists thought the whole idea was madness, while the Radiologists could see right through it.
Surgeons decided to wash their hands of the whole thing.
The Internists thought it was a bitter pill to swallow, and the Plastic Surgeons said, “This puts a whole new face on the matter.”
The Podiatrists thought it was a step forward, but the Urologists were pissed off at the whole idea.
The Anesthesiologists thought the whole idea was a gas, and the Cardiologists didn’t have the heart to say no.
In the end, the Proctologists won out, leaving the entire decision up to the assholes in Washington.
TexasFred, You got it tagged up properly. A Snappy Salute to you!
Iran state TV confirms arrest of 3 Americans
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090801/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_iraq_missing_americans
Oh, its those durned Kurds again. Right? The ones that Welcomed US Forces (173rd ABN BDE) that jumped into Iraq and were offered tea, sweets and were given valued intel on where the bad guys were hiding. The ones that lived in the Northern “No Fly Zone'” and Operation “Provide Comfort” made huge Friends of the Kurds that Saddam gassed and murdered in numbers. Men, Women and Children. Saddam wanted them dead and their Turk neighbors, Our NATO Allies wanted the same and denied US access during the Invasion of Iraq.
Nope. Guess again. It is the same ruthless crew that murdered protesters, shot Ms. Neda Soltan dead in cold blood in the street. Can You say Basiji?. Can you say Militia?
*Loyalty to Ayatollah Khomeini and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, A Thug that took part of the seizure of the US Embassy in November of 1974. The Kenyan Pretender in Chief wants to have tea & cookies with Asshol*Jad with No Pre Conditions.*
The three were last heard from after they contacted a friend saying they had entered Iran by mistake and troops had surrounded them, a Kurdish security official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to release the information.
I’m sure that the State Department could care less and Obama could care less. He is busy eating sewer sludge fertilized veggies from MO’s toxic garden. HAH! I’m sure that his 3AM Phone calls go to an answering service staffed by Axlerod punks.
Caught 8 trout for dinner and they are simmering in butter. 66F outside and clear blue sky.
Yep, Texas Fred, the Proctologists won but I am not convinced that it is the way it should be.
Catherine #6
Well last time I cked it was only 22,500 cars [250,000 looks like more zeros to me] that were sold most not Gm and other government car companies BUT wait a min. where did all the rest of the money go we still did not spend the whole 1 billion looks like the math is not adding up?
So where is the money?
Answer:
It’s a government run program.
and now for a little fun:
@ Texas Fred
LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL, copyright and syndicate that!
Hey folks….did Sarah Palin just Pawned the Alaskan bloggers?????
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2009/08/did_sarah_palin_just_pwn_the_m.html
Impressive volcano….
Looks like that’s the place to get rid of the Ring of Sauron.
Fred
Liked it
But look up the video of an Italian implosion today instead of falling in place it rolled twice good thing it was square.
Catherine
With the accusation’s of Sarah and Todd having affairs, I smell libel and slander lawsuits.
I seldom agree with Bill O’Reilly, but his column today was spot on.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,536720,00.html
It’s about what the GOP needs to do if it wants to remain relevant.
Rallying the base (e.g. this blog) only gets you so far. When you try to take stuff like Flopping Aces rhetoric mainstream, you only play into the hands of the Democrats.
http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/08/white_house_strategy_for_containing_the_recess_meeting_mess.php
– Larry Weisenthal/Huntington Beach, CA
\”This is what the Lord has said: See I am against the keepers of the flock, and I will make search and see what they have done with my sheep, and will let them be keepers of my sheep no longer; and the keepers will no longer get food for themselves; I will take my sheep out of their mouths so that they may not be food for them.\” (Ezekiel, 34, 10)…
Great, all that work in cap and trade is for nothing. Global warming is back and it is going to kill us all. Thanks a lot volcano.
This should scare the crap out of you — government access to your personal finances and the ability to directly draw down your account by EFT.
Referring to the House bill:
You think this is good for what?
Actually, Larry, O’Reilly has been a buffoon and become a warped caricature of himself for years now. Bernie Goldman was the one who actually convinced him just days ago that this is an Alinsky took he prefers to keep around. I pointed this out on the birther thread.
Fact is, it isn’t the conservatives that are the birthers, but the fringe… just as you have your Trig Truthers, 911 Truthers, etc. However O’reilly, patsy drone that he is, falls right into the trap and paints the conservatives with a broad brush as birthers.
I suggest that the barrage of mysterious phone calls to Hawaii in the past few weeks were an orchestrated movement to allow the birthers to bubble to the surface in order to discredit conservative gains on health care. For you see, why would the dedicated birthers up and decide to… yet again… call Hawaii and ask for the certificate when they’ve done this before. Did they expect a different result?
No one in Hawaii qualifies the person making the request. When a rash of phone calls regurgitates the issue, it gets blamed on the birthers and bang…. news story that distracts.
Alinsky Perfection just keeps getting better and better. Trouble is now I recognize the tactics.
BTW, I see you studiously avoiding my health care posts, and only responding to Mike’s. Now why would that be? Well, I have another big one coming that’s a companion piece to the one about seniors/boomers forced into Medicare or forfeit their SS checks. Another puzzle piece that is glaring proof that Obama’s quest for single payer (which you say you don’t want) is the goal.
My question to you is, how can such an intelligent man be so blind to the elephant in the room?
Because he wants to be Mata.
Well, HR, Larry is on record *many* times saying he opposes a single payer system. Where we get into it is Larry seems incapable of seeing the path constructed by HR 3200 (the dominate plan that is the foundation of the final) is designed to do just that…. when you place the rest of the puzzle pieces together.
As I said, trying to battle O’healthcare issue by issue, event by event, YouTube by YouTube, requires “the willing suspension of disbelief” by the O’faithful. It’s not until the big picture is presented that it becomes transparent.
Larry is the perfect example of an intelligent man who, per his own words, doesn’t want single payer. If his eyes can be opened by examining the legislation and accompanying regulations, so can others.
Well, speaking of volcanos, Yellowstone, the mother of all volcanos, erupts every 600,000 years. Last erruption, 600,000 years ago!
I recently read that when Super Yellowstone erupts, it will cover at least half of the country. Now THAT will make for a bad day.
Here’s a link to a video I found on You Tube:
http://vodpod.com/watch/1260157-yellowstone-volcano-due-to-erupt
In their eagerness to trash the “Cash for Clunkers” program, FOX pundits try to advance the case that junking old vehicles has an environmental cost which cancels out the fuel savings.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/08/04/clunkers-programs-environmental-impact-debate/
But it’s a case of pay me now or pay me later.
Taking advantage of Cash for Clunkers, I junked a 1990 car with a bad catalytic converter and an EPA combined mileage rating of 16, in favor of a new compact car with a combined mileage rating of 27. This is close to the national average, by the way. The car I junked had 193,000 miles. Had it not been junked, it probably would have been driven another 5 years or even 10 years, but doubtfully beyond that. At whatever time it was finally junked, there would still be the environmental impact from the car disposal — only there would have been another 10 years of high gasoline consumption and high pollution.
– Larry Weisenthal/Huntington Beach, CA
Thought I’d post this here for anyone that believes the VA the blueprint for any healthcare reform.
I read this at Pajamas Media and posting it as a link. A great read.
How the VA – Obamacare for Vets – Almost Killed Me
And…The Wyden – Bennett Plan is being looked at by a lot of Senators on both sides of the aisle. I like the fact that it is no longer employer based.
@Aqua:
The Wyden-Bennett Plan article that you cited was from Feb 2008.
Is that plan still alive?Everything I am finding indicates that it went away last year.Edited….
I found some updated information.
@ Aye
I saw it last night on Special Report with Brett Baier. It seems there is a renewed interest in the Senate for the Wyden-Bennett Plan. Neither of these guys are on the committees that are currently looking at healthcare. But, according to Special Report, it has a huge bipartisan group of supporters in the Senate.
In a failed effort to try and demonize Fox News, Larry overlooked the fact that a wide variety of environmental experts agree that the clunkers program is a boondoggle.
@Aye:
Your characterization is misleading. I was specifically addressing the Fox News charge that the overall pollution would go up, owing to pollution created during recycling. With regard to this point, here’s what is stated in the very article Aye quotes:
http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_12991440?source=rss
Now, the environmental criticisms, such as they are, are not that the Cash for Clunkers progam actually increases pollution, as argued by Fox News, the criticisms are that “Cash for Clunkers” is not nearly as effective as, for example, Cap and Trade. But the environmental benefits of “Cash for Clunkers” are in addition to its economic benefits. You might not like that fact that the government is attempting to help the auto companies, but this is the policy and the auto companies are saying that this is a terrific program You might not like the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, but Cash for Clunkers is far and away the most effective/successful component of the ARRA yet introduced.
@Mata: I never “studiously avoid” anything on this blog, outside of personal vituperation. I’m not really all that different from Curt in my approach to this blog. From time to time, I’m motivated to write something; so I write it and then move on. From time to time (such as last Friday evening and night), I have the time and interest to stay on the blog for hours, going back and forth. Last Friday, I went back and forth with you for some time, and then you probably went to bed, and Aye logged on at about 1:30 AM PDT and I stayed up for another hour or so, arguing with him. But then I went to bed and I didn’t log back on for several days, when I had another comment I wanted to make, on another topic. I didn’t have the time to go back and read everything which had been written in the interim.
If you’ll give me a link to the most relevant post you’ve made on this topic, I’ll read it and reply, when I can.
With regard to your comment about birthers and conservatives:
In the article I quoted, about the White House wanting to tar conservatives with the birther brush, the article also mentioned such things as the raucous disruption of the health care town meetings and also the “Joker/Socialist” images. The later is crazy stuff; and it’s crazy stuff which appears on this blog, and it plays right into the hands of the Democrats. That was O’Reilly’s point, and I think that he’s right.
At this particular point in time, I think that the GOP has made a lot of serious political mistakes. The biggest mistake has been to make darn sure that Obama “owns” the economy and to make it perfectly clear that the GOP is opposed to everything Obama has done with regard to “fixing” the economy. This is a good strategy if the economy stays in the toilet, only it’s not staying there. So Obama will get all the credit and the GOP will end up with egg on its face.
Fiscal deficits are very serious; I hate them, and I agree with you with regard to piling up debt. But tax cuts piles up debt, just as much as spending piles up debt. Reagan came close to doubling the debt/GDP ratio, which is a much better metric than debt, per se. Obama is unlikely to increase debt/GDP as much as Reagan did, and Obama inherited the greater fiscal mess.
But here’s the thing: the average voter doesn’t really care about debt. It’s an abstraction. It’s never had much traction. What’s important to voters is the Dow Jones and their 401Ks and the price of their house and paying for college and whether they are in danger of losing their job. If all that gets better, then Obama will be untouchable.
Look forward to reading Mata’s health care stuff. Just point me in the right direction and give me a few days.
– Larry Weisenthal/Huntington Beach, CA
Please. I don’t write from time to time….I write everyday. I also follow every comment on this blog. You will also notice that I become quite involved in comments about things I know quite a bit about, that being law enforcement. But I have definitely noticed how you do drive-by comments on the one subject you should know a lot about, that being health care. When it comes to that subject you choose to just pop in, make your case, and disappear.
Well, Curt, I simply meant that, most of the time, you introduce a thread — on a wide variety of topics — and then leave others to hash it out. It’s your blog and, of course, I’d expect you to monitor it closely. I’m merely your guest here.
I am very happy to argue health care. I “popped in” for a good 5 hours last Friday night, trading arguments with Mata until she went to bed and then exchanging a few with Aye, until I went to bed, at, if memory serves, close to 3 AM.
I think that 5 hours of commentary on health care on someone else’s blog is a non-trivial expenditure of time. I do have a life outside of Flopping Aces and I think doing 5 hours worth of work — trying to argue issues with some (mostly respectful) thoughtfulness on your blog is not deserving of dismissive reproach.
Mata invited me to continue a dialogue with her on health care. I’ve already accepted her offer.
But I can’t monitor your blog, 24/7, and I only have so much energy to take on all of you at once, as I am usually forced to do.
– Larry Weisenthal/Huntington Beach, CA
Cash for “Clunkers” did a lot for the Auto Industry…Four of Top ‘Clunkers’ Model Purchases Are Foreign
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=am1mj6R6tAcg
“Aug. 4 (Bloomberg) — Four of the top five models sold so far under the U.S. “cash for clunkers” program, aimed at boosting the auto industry, are made by foreign automakers, according to Transportation Department data.”
@Old Trooper:
Cash for Clunkers May Cost Up to $45,354 Per Vehicle
Sounds like a great program to me.
/ sarc
@ Larry
Dude, I have got to get me some of those glasses you wear. Seriously!
First, O’Reilly is a populist, much like Lou Dobbs. Second:
Vanity Fair, Bush Portrayed as Joker
Bush Portrayed as Hitler
Bush Portrayed as a Chimp
Did this play right into the republicans hands? Or is it just ok as long as it isn’t your president?
Are you serious? You say:
Is that only for Reagan and other republicans. Here’s a little taste of reality for ya. This is from the liberal leaning PolitiFact: Obama’s Budget to take National Debt to 80% of GDP
Wrong and wrong. On his current track, Obama is surely going to at least double the current debt/GDP. And Reagan inherited an equally big, yet dissimilar mess.
When Reagan took office in 1981, the unemployment rate was 7% and climbing fast — much like today. Consumer prices had soared a stunning 12.5% the year before, and interest rates in the high teens were crippling residential real estate and business investment.
You want to know one big difference between Reagan’s mess and Obama’s mess Larry? Go out on the web and try to find one speech where Reagan blamed Carter for the mess he inherited. Not a speech when he was campaigning for President, but a speech where he blames Carter after he took office. The answer is no. He just went to work and fixed it.
@Aqua:
Larry lives in fantasy land.
He really does.
I agree about the joker/socialist images. I personally don’t consider this “news”, so I generally give wide berth to such nonsense. And I also agree that focusing on such inconsequential events is damaging.
But I have to say that “damage” should first be inflicted on the media, who fans the flames of the inconsequential to begin with, Larry. This is a blog, and none of us here are investigative reporters, breaking news stories. We all – authors and commenters alike – provide opinions and perspectives on stories and issues we choose to highlight. But we don’t make up what made the news to begin with.
In that sense, rather odd for the media – predominately left leaning – to bring this BS up, and then lay that albatross on the shoulders of the conservatives or GOP in general, don’t you think?
Nor is this blog one person and one voice. Curt is our “founding father”, but he has expanded this to be a community of diverse conservative voices and styles as authors (as well as reader posts), and our participants are also composed of a cross section of political beliefs. Frankly, when I read the one liner zinger comments on other blogs, I’m proud of the more substantive discussions that take place here. And I do welcome your perspectives and spunk, dispite our disagreements.
I will take up your offer to shoot you an email on particular posts that I would like your comments added to the mix. I also remember you mentioned starting your own blog. I’ve lost that link and very much like to you let us know where you are residing with your medical technology perspectives so I can also read what advances you are involved with. Tho I know most will be way over my head.
Last is a question to you… when you get time. You’ve opted out of Medicare participation with your “concierge” services. From what I understand, any provider must wait two years before they take on a private paying, Medicare qualified patient. Will you comment on that? Also, the advances you make… is Medicare refusing to pay for those treatments? In which case, don’t you find it a disadvantage for Medicare/quasi govt run health plans to deny the latest treatments to the elderly?
I’ll be doing a one hour talk radio show this Sunday, beginning at 8 AM Pacific (11 AM Eastern) on WCBM (AM) in Baltimore. Typical talk radio, with listener call ins. Post-show, it will be available via podcast. They stream live (URL below). I’ve currently got their stream of the Limbaugh show on as background chatter.
http://www.wcbm.com/
I’ll be talking about cancer in general and our lab tests in particular. I’m fairly outspoken about “cancer in general,” and it should generate a little bit of heat, which is the mother’s milk of talk radio.
@Mata
I’ll get to all the above questions later on, and I’ll diligently address all your health care-related posts of which I’m apprised and on which I’m invited to comment.
– Larry Weisenthal/Huntington Beach, CA
@Aqua and Aye:
Reagan/Bush/Bush nearly doubled Debt:GDP, from about 0.32 to over 0.6. Even if Obama increases it from 0.6 to 0.8, it will be much less of an incremental debt load.
Debt/GDP was up near 1.0 after WWII and we still managed the Marshall Plan, the GI Bill, Medicare, the Great Society, and Vietnam, all the while paying down the debt:GDP down to close to 0.3 (end of Carter years). Now it’s back up, but Paul Krugman says that it still has a good bit of what he calls “running room” before it causes problems for us.
Our biggest problem is our aversion to taxes. We prefer to borrow money to finance tax cuts, as opposed to cutting spending (Reagan/Bush), and we prefer to borrow money to finance spending increments (Obama).
The economy grew during the Eisenhower years, despite a marginal tax rate of 90%. And the debt/GDP improved. And the economy grew through the 70s, with a 70% marginal tax rate. And confiscatory estate taxes. And debt/GDP came down. It was only with Reagan’s illusory “Laffer Curve” tax cuts that the debt/GDP ratio started to go back up.
The economy will survive an increase of marginal tax rate from 36% to 39%, which the hysterics on this blog decry as “socialism.” Tell that to Eisenhower. To Nixon. To Ford. To Reagan.
P.S. Aye’s chart is misleading, as it only purports to show raw debt and not debt:GDP, which is what is meaningful. If I have a million dollars of debt and assets of $100,000, I’m in trouble. If I have assets of $10,000,000, I’m not in trouble. Aye’s graph doesn’t show growth in GDP. Which is why Reagan’s increased debt load was actually more severe than even the increases currently being projected for Obama.
– Larry Weisenthal/Huntington Beach, CA
@old trooper:
you said:
But, wait…
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/uptospeed/2009/08/clunkers.html
– Larry Weisenthal/Huntington Beach
@Larry
So, you’re upset that some Conservatives and Republicans are using the same tactics that the Democrats and Far-left activists have used for decades? Interesting.
@ Larry
I don’t think you can compare the tax code of the 1950’s to the one we have today. Back then, everyone with more than $100k had at least one tax shelter and you could deduct cotton balls. But I understand your point. You say Americans have an aversion to higher taxes. That’s just one quarter of the story. Why should we want to give more money to a government that doesn’t know how to handle it. And this is both sides. Millions of dollars to the NEA for depravity they want to call art. $300k outhouses at rest areas. Millions for a bridge to nowhere, millions for the mating habits of the zebra winged Mongolian butterfly, (made that one up), but you get the point. Many in congress, on the left and right, say this is just a drop in the bucket. Well, you keep putting drops in a bucket and pretty soon you have a full bucket. We could eliminate hundreds and hundreds of billions of dollars by removing the waste in government. So no, I don’t want to send any more money than I have to, to Washington until they can show they know how to spend it wisely.
Who is paying for all of Obama’s Czars and how did that money get appropriated? Why should I be paying the salary of a person whose job should be done by an existing department head?
I won’t even go into social programs. Even if we left those alone, except for rooting out the waste and fraud, the government wouldn’t need to raise taxes and we’d have a surplus.
And as for Aye’s chart, you can’t presume to know what the GDP is going to be for Obama by 2010, much less 2012. The book is still open on that.
I’m totally with you Aqua. I don’t mind a bit paying taxes to help the elderly, the poor, the sick who have fallen on hard times, or needed reasonable community services. However, I vehemently mind paying taxes for pork and waste.
As one who is self-employed (and happy to be), I have to pay DOUBLE (almost 16%) of my first $100,000 on social security and Medicare (good luck seeing any of that in future benefits). Even if I were employed and only paying half of that, it still would matter. Don’t we taxpayers have a right to know that our money isn’t wasted?
Sure they give lip service to fighting Medicare fraud, but somehow, unlike the folks at MasterCard and Visa, they never seem to get below the 60 BILLION LOST EACH YEAR TO FRAUD. Let me assure you, if we are losing 60 billion a year to Medicare fraud, you don’t want to know how many billions will be lost in a government run single payer health care system.
But then, that’s part of the plan, I’m convinced. Anyone with a half of a brain knows that Obamacare is anything but “health and care” and everything about power, control, and a “remake/transformation of the America “both Barack and Michelle promised us.
I suspect when we finally have our total financial collapse, that’s when the commie czars will step in. By the way, they make an average of $170,000 a year, combined with staff, cost about a half million each. Speaking of staff, Michelle Obama has 22 on her staff; Laura Bush had ONE.
I don’t care what side of the fence anyone is on, to not speak out against the avarice, arrogance, theft, and entitlement of this administration is at this point, to be an accomplice.