No Runny Eggs

The repository of one hard-boiled egg from the south suburbs of Milwaukee, Wisconsin (and the occassional guest-blogger). The ramblings within may or may not offend, shock and awe you, but they are what I (or my guest-bloggers) think.

Archive for July 24th, 2009

Bring It On!

by @ 13:51. Filed under Health Care Reform, Politics - National.

Feeling his oats from the passage of Cap and Tax, Henry Waxman is now threatening to bypass the Blue Dogs on his committee and go straight to a house floor vote for “The Final Solution”:

However, Waxman has threatened to force a floor vote to break the impasse within Democratic ranks on President Barack Obama’s top domestic priority.

With all of the negatives on “The Final Solution” and now on Obama’s handling of nearly every issue, I say “Bring it on baby!”

If “The Final Solution”, in it’s current form goes to the House floor one of two things will happen.  Either the Blue Dogs will revolt and Pelosi along with The Won will be dealt a serious jot of mortality or the Democrats will pass this bill without any Republican support.  In either event if this bill gets a vote before the recess, anyone who votes for it will want to avoid any of those troublesome town hall type of meetings.  Congressional folks who vote for this bill will wish they had gotten as nice a reception as some of those I documented earlier this week.

Come on Nancy, what are you waiting for?  Make our day!

Franking censorship

by @ 13:24. Filed under Health Care Reform, Politics - National.

(H/T – Jazz Shaw)

Propagandists the world over have learned that controlling the language of the debate is essential to controlling the outcome of the debate. Traditionally, members of Congress have been allowed to use whatever verbiage they choose in official communications with their consitutents. However, a pair of decisions from the Franking Commission, which oversees said communications, has sent a chilling effect into the debate:

  • First, they prevented Republican members from including the following chart produced by the Republicans on the Joint Economic Committee that shows the 31 new federal programs, agencies, commissions and mandates that are part of the House health care “reform” plan:


    (Click for the full-sized version)

  • Now, they told Rep. John Carter (R-TX) that the phrases “government-run health care” and “House Democrats” can no longer be used in official mailings or recordings for telephone town-halls, with the only allowable description of the plan being “public option health care plan” and the only allowable description of the House Democrats “House majority”.

Jazz points out that, while Republicans ran the House, he received official mailings from his Congressman that used the phrase, “The Invasion and Occupation of Iraq,” with no attempt by the Republicans to stop the use of that. I can imagine the outrage had the Republicans decided that the only allowable verbiage was the official “Operation Iraqi Freedom”.

What’s next? The Franking Commission, or another entity, telling candidates what they can and cannot say?

Red-on-red health care opposition

by @ 12:58. Filed under Health Care Reform, Politics - National.

My friends at the American Issues Project are spotlighting the House Democrats who have come out against ObamaCare. So far, they’ve got:

  • Rep. Jason Altmire (D-PA), who realizes that tax increases on small businesses won’t help those small businesses to offer health care they can’t afford to offer now.
  • Rep. Mike Arcuri (D-NY), who wants more time to get his constituents involved.
  • Rep. John Boccieri (D-OH) who recognizes that his constituents don’t like a government-run plan, especially one that includes a tax increase.

They’ll continue to feature Democrats who see that light of ObamaCare as an onrushing train rather than the end of the tunnel.

Eau de Cadillac

by @ 11:30. Tags:
Filed under Business, Politics - National.

The editorial writers at Investor’s Business Daily slice and dice the first significant post-bankruptcy move by Government Motors – “Cadillac, the new fragrance for men”. That’s right – if you can’t afford a new car, at least you can smell like one (or more likely, just plain smell).

Seriously, there are two GMs – the one that saw a 22% drop in sales for the first 6 months in the US, and the one that saw serious growth nearly everywhere else on the globe. GM sales in China grew by 38%, and sales in several Latin American countries set records. I do discount the market-share growth in Europe, as GM has shed or is about to shed its two major European brands, Opel and Saab.

The money quote from IBD – “We hope GM can survive in the U.S. But we rather doubt it can with a management that thinks that perfume will cover up the stink of political meddling and the lingering bad odor of its ruinous retirement and health care costs.”

Those who loathe victory and country…

by @ 11:09. Filed under Politics - National.

Warner Todd Huston has a tour de force on Barack Obama’s assertation that “victory” isn’t his goal in Afghanistan:

It is telling that when Barack Obama pictures “victory” he doesn’t see in his head that famous photo of the U.S. Sailor kissing the pretty girl in Times Square on Victory Day. Instead, what is immediately conjured up in Obama’s mind is the bedraggled figure of a beaten Japanese Emperor groveling at the feet of U.S. military might.

Obama’s sympathy is with the Emperor that governed a nation that tried to viciously take over the entire Pacific Rim and enslave many millions of Asian peoples. Obama’s first thought when the word “victory” is broached is of our enemy, his sympathies with them, not us. In fact, he seemed to even find disdain for our own military hero that took that surrender.

But that isn’t even the worst of it. Once again we see another example of Obama’s ignorance of history, even American history. In fact, Emperor Hirohito didn’t even sign the document that finalized the surrender of Japan to General MacArthur. That duty was performed by Japan’s Foreign Minister, Shigemitsu, and one of its generals, Umezu.

In fact, we didn’t destroy Japan’s Emperor and allowed him to continue on in a ceremonial role to allow the Japanese to feel as if they hadn’t been entirely crushed and that some of their traditions might live on.

This is doubly-disturbing, because Michael Yon reports that the Japanese, who have been one of America’s closest allies since the end of World War II, have been doing some of the heaviest reconstructive lifting in Afghanistan.

If those who forget history are doomed to repeat it, what is in store for those who loathe it and country?

Oh Noooooooo!

by @ 8:23. Filed under Health Care Reform, Obama worship, Politics - National.

siren_animatedThe clay-mation President has some problems.  Drudge is reporting that today’s Rasmussen approval rating will show President Obama under 50% approval.  Notably, this is the first poll taken since Obama had his prime time presser trying to sell his health plan.

I think we have a problem Houston!

Revisions/extensions (8:39 am 7/24/2009 – steveegg) – And the news is all negative for The Won. 51% of those in the three-day rolling-average Presidential Tracking Poll disapprove of Obama’s job performance, with 49% approving. The Presidential Approval Index (those strongly approving less those strongly disapproving) is at -8. Independents only give Obama a 37% approval.

Rasmussen further notes that 2/3rds of the results are from before the Epic FAIL of a press conference on Wednesday. I can’t wait until Sunday, when we get a fully-post-presser view.

No more Bees

by @ 7:09. Filed under Sports.

DeWalt will not be back on the #17 Roush Fenway Ford driven by Matt Kenseth next year. That ends a 10-year relationship with Roush/Roush Fenway, and an 11-year relationship with Kenseth.

Roush Fenway needs to lose a team after this season to get down to the Hendrick-standard 4 teams. Kenseth does have a multi-year deal with Roush Fenway, along with Greg Biffle (whose sponsor, 3M, is not signed beyond 2009) and Carl Edwards (whose sponsor, Aflac, is signed through 2011). David Ragan and Jamie McMurray are currently signed only through 2009, though Ragan’s sponsor, UPS, does have a multi-year deal with Roush Fenway. Let the speculation begin.

Post-partisan starting to lose bipartisan support

by @ 6:00. Filed under Politics - National.

(H/T – Sammy)

Fox News released their latest Opinion Dynamics poll, and there’s some rather interesting numbers buried within it:

  • Despite independents still giving President Obama a positive job approval rating (54% approve/36% disapprove, with the overall at 54% approve/38% disapprove) and a positive personal favorable rating (64% favorable/28% unfavorable), they don’t like the way he’s gone about health care reform (38% approve/41% disapprove) or the economy (46% approve/46% disapprove).
  • The Democrat-led Congress barely has a plurality of Democrats approving of their job performance (47% approve/42% disapprove), with 66% of independents and 76% of Republicans disapproving.
  • Independents don’t have a favorable view of either party, with the Democratic Party earning a 44% unfavorable (for a plurality) and the Republican Party earning a 55% unfavorable.
  • No group thinks Congress has a clear plan for fixing the economy, with 58% of Democrats, 80% of independents, and 86% of Republicans saying no.
  • Over 90% of each of the three groups believes that Congress should read the bills they consider, even if they’re thousands of pages long.
  • Vast majorities of each of the three groups (76% of Democrats, 83% of independents, and 87% of Republicans) want Congress and the President to be in the same government-run health-insurance plan that may be passed as everybody else.

That tracks with a Rasmussen poll Shoebox found that found 69% of Republicans and 58% of independents believe Obama is governing in a partisan rather than a bipartisan manner. The odd thing is that 36% of Democrats agree.

Revisions/extensions (8:59 am 7/24/2009) – I should know better than to write late at night; had to correct a rather embarrassing typographical error in the last paragraph.

First Star on the Right, Straight on ’til Morning!

by @ 5:23. Filed under Health Care Reform.

Yesterday, President Obama, the boy who wouldn’t grow up, told reporters that the “stars are aligned” for passing health care reform.  Of course, that was before the President had yet another presser where he blamed everyone but himself for a growing list of failures.

Obama’s confidence seemed to into reality today as Harry Reid said that the Senate would have no vote before the August recess.  Additionally, Nancy Pelosi’s assertion that she has the votes seems to have some real question.  Pelosi had what was described as “the most contentious whip meeting” yet as she tried to find a way to get a bill to the floor for a vote.

On the public front Obama is also losing steam.  First, Obama’s fourth prime time presser had the lowest public participation yet. Last night’s presser didn’t manage to gain even 1/2 of the folks who watched the Obama’s first presser. Second, Rasmussen Reports now says that 53% of Americans are against health care reform.  More importantly, as more information is coming out on the various proposals, that number is rising quickly as it rose 8% in less than a month.  Also, the number of people strongly opposed to the plans out numbers those who strongly favor the plan by more than 50%! If that isn’t bad enough, the veneer is now off Obama as 53% of Americans now believe that he is governing as a partisan!

All of these things leave me asking; if this is Obama’s view of the “stars aligning”, will he end up looking like Nostradamus or the Prince of Neverland?

Obama pan

Revisions/extensions (5:23 am 7/24/2009, or at least that’s the time stamp I’m giving it – steveegg) – Sammy found some rather interesting numbers in the current Fox News Opinion Dynamics poll that show the same thing:

  • A plurality of independents (41%) and majority of Republicans (60%) think Congress is moving too quickly on health care.
  • An effective majority of independents (50%) and a supermajority of Republicans (78%) would rather see Congress do nothing on health care than pass major reforms this year.
  • A plurality of independents (43%; skewed by the fact that 24% didn’t know what they thought) and a supermajority of Republicans (80%) oppose the plans before Congress.
  • The reason why I say that the mere plurality of opposition to the plan under consideration is skewed by ignorance is 51% of independents oppose creation of a government-run insurance option that competes with private insurance, an effective majority of 50% of independents say that it is not the role of federal government to provide universal health care, and 59% of independents would rather be in the current privately-run health care system rather than a government-run one.

I guess the only star that The Won is looking at is the clock, and it’s looking like that’s running out.

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