Mike Pence: Tax Cuts Kill Jobs

You know that a Republican Congressman has Obama derangement syndrome BAD when you hear him criticize cutting taxes for small businesses during an economic downturn

Yet this is what Rep Mike Pence (R-IN) has done:

Pence called a White House plan to offer tax credits to small businesses the “Jimmy Carter tax credit,” arguing that it could provide incentives for employers to lay off employees.

He was for tax cuts before he was against them.

Sneaky Neocon Signaling Retreat?

An interesting Op Ed can be found at the WaPo written by crafty Neocon, Robert Kagan. Kagan, it should be noted, was a prime candidate to serve as McCain’s Brain (who would have needed one), in a McCain-Palin Administration. So what he has to say can be influential to denizens of the DC fever swamps. And what he has to say is a walk back of the Attack Iran Line:

It would be similarly tragic if Israel damaged the likelihood of political change by carrying out an airstrike against Iran's nuclear facilities in the coming year. That would provide a huge boost to the Tehran regime just when it is on the ropes -- and for what? The uncertain prospect of setting back the nuclear program for a couple of years?

Regime change in Tehran is the best nonproliferation policy. Even if the next Iranian government refused to give up the weapons program, its need for Western economic assistance and its desire for reintegration into the global economy and international order would at least cause it to slow today's mad rush to completion and be much more open to diplomatic discussion.

Regime change via the pocketbook it is then, I take it.

One the frequent criticism of the President, other than he gives too many speeches, is that he does not give enough speeches. Look for a Neocon inspired speech campaign on Iran, sanctions and regime change in the coming months.

Orrin Hatch Threatens Jihad Once Again

And the beat goes on. This time it is a Health Insurance Reform inspired Jihad.

Sen. Orrin Hatch threatened an all-out political "war" and promised a new high in partisan tensions if Democrats employ a rarely used Senate rule to win approval of their health reform bill.

All out war over Health Insurance Reform? Apparently so. Orrin claims passing Reform would be

"one of the worst grabs for power in the history of the country" that would permanently impact relations between the two parties.

"It is going to be outright war and it should be, because it would be such an abuse of the reconciliation rules," Hatch said. "If they abuse those rules it is going to lead to even more heated animosities between not just the two parties, but even between individual senators."

Uh, Orrin you are way toooooo old to Duel. Just saying. With that being said what would an Orrin Hatch lead Jihad entail? Perhaps it would include wingnut sucide bombers blowing up hospitals to prevent the currently uninsured from getting medical care.

Have to ask Orrin what he has in mind.

Judge Alito’s behavior worse than Congressman Joe “You Lie” Wilson?

Some think this to be the case:

I thought the condemnations of Rep. Joe Wilson's heckling of Barack Obama during his September health care speech were histrionic and excessive. Wilson and Obama are both political actors, it occurred in the middle of a political speech about a highly political dispute, and while the outburst was indecorous and impolite, Obama is not entitled to be treated as royalty. That was all much ado about nothing. By contrast, the behavior of Justice Alito at last night's State of the Union address -- visibly shaking his head and mouthing the words "not true" when Obama warned of the dangers of the Court's Citizens United ruling -- was a serious and substantive breach of protocol that reflects very poorly on Alito and only further undermines the credibility of the Court. It has nothing to do with etiquette and everything to do with the Court's ability to adhere to its intended function.

Interesting.

Surely Judge Alito knows that the role of a Supreme Court Justice is to apply the LAW to the FACTS. That is all.

• A Judge does not make LAW.
• A Judge should never set POLICY.

Perhaps if he has other ambitions, he could resign and run for Congress.

With that being said, I don't think Judge Alito passes "You Lie" guy in poor decorum. The President basically let everyone know that Alito f'd up on national TV. Alito disagreed and shook his head. It was probably an embarrassing way for the nation to find out about his screw up.

Alito may be confused about the proper role of a Judge as his recent bit of Judicial Activism over ruling 100 years of precedent suggests but he did not go into a red faced rant like Wilson.

Nevertheless, perhaps he should consider a resignation from the Court if making Policy and Law is what he desires to do.

Tea Partiers on Parade in Alabama

A State Sovereignty Rally in Alabama last week.

Isn't Alabama one of those states that receives more funding from the Federal Government than it pays in Taxes?

You bet it is.

Riding the Wolf – Tea Party Movement to BAG the Rich Next?

Some speculation:

Yesterday, the citizens of Oregon ratified a large tax increase on corporations and the wealthy. The top personal income tax rate will rise by two percentage points and the minimum tax on corporations will also rise, including a new tax even on those with no profits to report, according to a Wall Street Journal report. According to Tax Foundation data, this would make the top rate in Oregon 13 percent

This vote is considered a bellwether because the state has previously been supportive of tax limitation measures. Also, it appears that populist anger, which has previously been channeled toward the anti-tax tea party movement, may have the potential to swing in the other direction when people are faced with cuts in programs with wide support.

I can easily see many tea party goers becoming rabid tax-the-rich folks if the alternative is higher taxes on them. Let us not forget that just about a year ago many of the House of Representatives' most conservative members voted to impose a 90 percent tax rate on bank bonuses. As I noted at the time, those supporting this confiscatory tax measure included [Republican Congressmen] Eric Canter, Peter Hoekstra and Paul Ryan.

I don’t know – who is to tell

The problem is that if you you’ve got the Wolf by the ears and are riding the crazy train express – i.e., right wing populism, as the GOP is wont to do, there is always the fear that the Wolf may turn on you. It is a wolf after all.

“You Lie” Guy to attend the State of the Union Address

Apparently, GOP Congressional leadership will allow Joe Wilson (R-SC) to attend tonight’s state of the Union Address. Wilson, who was previously known only for his support of the Confederate Flag, gained fame throughout the wingnut-O-sphere after heckling the President of the United States during his annual address last year.

Tonight the “You Lie” guy promises to behave:

"I am a gentleman. My natural inclination is to be on my best behavior," he said. "I have the highest respect for the president, and I certainly look forward to the speech."

I am not so sure. Wilson completely lost it last year in his Red Face moment. What is to say he will be able to control his behavior this year?

McCain to be Teabagged, Cntd? - THE DOUBLE CROSS

The Tea Partiers thought they had Juan McShamnesty John McCain pinned down, and ready for a thorough dose of Teabag Justice courtesy of J.D. Hayworth, and now this happens:

"She has now chosen to align herself with several bad actors [McCain]. What should this be called, the Rinoization of Sarah Palin. At the time of the election, perhaps Sarah Palin could have been forgiven for her ideas on immigration (and lack of knowledge) because she was governor of Alaska, not Arizona. But in the intervening months, she has done little but promote herself as a celebrity, known because her brief time on the national stage. She is certainly entitled to write a book and make money for her and her family, but other than what has she has done to support Republican and patriotic candidates," [em-mine]

~ Paul Streitz, a founder of the 2012 Draft Sarah Committee, on Palin's decision to back McCain's Senate reelection.

Good lord, Sarah Palin is now a RINO in name only … what’s the world coming to?

Looks like them T‘baggers done been duped! That is now that the High Princess of Teabaggery has turned her back on her followers by putting Party ahead of her people and supporting Juan McShamnesty’s John McCain’s re-election bid. Lord have mercy.

Them teabaggers must feel betrayed… just when they had the pro-amnesty Juan John were they wanted him, she does what the GOP big wigs way back east want her to do and pulls the old switcheroo! Who woulda thunk that?

Note to Arizona Teabaggers: Spanish lessons (courtesy of the Neocons from the Weekly Standard) at the local community college can be fun! Enjoy.

UPDATE: ACORN STRIKES BACK! - Or was it just KARMA?

I vote KARMA but you never know about the zanier regions of the internets.

Remember that conservative Borat guy who conducted the ACORN Pimp and Ho Video Sting a few month ago? He video taped numerous visits to ACORN offices nationwide while posing as Pimp. After he mashed up the video Borat style, leaving only a compilation of ACORN’s most embarrassing moments behind, this crazy Borat impersonator, whose real name is O’Keefe, became a wingnut-O-spheric supah star.

In fact his fame was so great that Senator Mike Johanns (R-NE), who “has become the national leader in looking into the abuses of ACORN,” went so far as to praise O’Keefe as “unbelievably courageous” for standing up to the dastardly and nearly omnipotent ACORN. Johanns’s ACORN infatuation is probably justified since everybody knows (not really) that ACORN practically runs Nebraska. Thank God, Johann is on the beat protecting America from this grave threat (not really) posed by ACORN to the fabric of our democracy.

Anyway, back to O’Keefe. He is back in the news again and it ain’t good news this time. Word is out that he’s been busted by the FEDERALES in Louisiana.

Apparently, O’Keefe was apprehended as a result of a scheme to infiltrate the offices of Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA) and tamper with the Good Senator’s phone system. According to the Feds:

2) On January 25,2010, individuals entered and attempted to gain entrance to the office and telephone system of United States Senator Mary Landrieu, located in the Hale Boggs Federal Building, Room 1005,500 Poydras Street, New Orleans, Louisiana 70130 for the purpose of interfering with the office's telephone system. The individuals did so by falsely and fraudulently representing that the were employees of a telephone company. Witnesses in and around the office identified the individuals as JOSEPH BASEL and ROBERT FLANAGAN. Subsequent investigation determined that JAMES O'KEEFE and STAN DAI aided and abetted FLANAGAN and BASEL in the execution of the plan.

[…]

4) On or about January 25,2010, at approximately 11:00 a.m., FLANAGAN and BASEL entered the Hale Boggs Federal Building, each dressed in blue denim pants, a blue workshirt, a light fluorescent green vest, a tool belt, and carrying white, construction-style hard hat. BASEL and FLANAGAN went to the tenth floor of the building and entered the office of Untied States Senator Mary Landrieu. According to WITNESS 1, a member of Senator Landrieu's staff who was working in her New Orleans office at the time of the incident, JAMES O'KEEFE was already present in the office. O'KEEFE informed WITNESS I that he was waiting for someone to arrive.

I’ll go out on a limb here and say that any stunt involving tapping phone lines and accessing Federal Buildings by hook and crook is probably not a good idea for our wingnutty friend.

So far the wingnut-O-sphere has maintained silence on this shocking and sordid tale. But a defense of the “unbelievably courageous” O’Keefe and his band of crusaders can’t be far off. I suspect that there may be suspicions that something sinister may be at play, after all ACORN practically runs (not really) Louisiana. So wouldn’t it not be unlikely that ACORN was not an innocent bystander here?

Hmmm.

And if one cannot prove that ACORN was not somehow uninvolved at least some level, isn’t it also not unreasonable to assume that discrediting the Courageous O’Keefe is not unreasonable motive to attribute to ACORN? Correct.

And if nobody can disprove ACORN’s non-involvement, given its motive, would it not be unreasonable to assume ACORN had some connection to O’Keefe downfall? Surely.

So how long will it be before ACORN is blamed for O’Keefe’s fall from Hero to (un)lovable LOSER, given ACORN’s vested interest in his downfall?

This is how the Wingnuttery Works My Friends. This is how it works.

Let’s just hope O’Keefe was not foolish enough to jabber anything about Al Qaeda or “the terrorists” during this episode. I hear the ocean breezes at Guantanamo are gentle and relaxing.

UPDATE: The Wingnutty Defense of O'Keefe, aka, THE TeaBugger:

This Breitbart guy has lost it. This is what the wingnuttery and the wingnut welfare system does to you if you get to close, it destroys one's soul.

Seriously. He is Barking Mad.

If I had a Brother in Jail and another Brother in Georgia, I’d have to bust the one out of Georgia First:

Quote of the Day: Neo-Hooverite Tom Price (R-GA) on the proposed freeze on new government spending:

“It’s a faux freeze,” “It’s not a freeze. They bucked this up 85%, and then say, ‘Oh, now we’re going to get fiscally responsible.’ That’s a joke.”

Later Price backtracked:

“I’m pleased, frankly, though, to see that the president can say the words ‘spending freeze.’”

Price appears to be riffing on a meme out in the wingnut-O-sphere that non-defense spending has gone up 85% since 2007. Of course, Bush was president in 2007, but Price is not going to let this simple fact get in his way of scoring cheap point. Included in this 85% figure, presumably, is the TARP – initiated by Bush and backed by both McCain and Palin and the Stimulus Bill which Conservative Economists credit with stabilizing the Economy.

Presumably, on some days, Price must be a Neo-Hooverite criticizing efforts to save capitalism and a then on other days, a critic of a little budget tightening for the sake of austerity.

Since Price is casting stones, let’s take a look at some other things Price is against.

• Price voted no on HR3548 to extend unemployment benefits during the worst recession in 65 years.

With rising unemployment, Price found himself without much company [joining Price were Paul Broun (R-GA) and John Linder (R-GA)], as the Bill passed 403-12. To show that his callousness wasn’t limited to the unemployed:

• Price also voted against Equal pay for Women in the Workplace; and
• Price voted against pay raises for our brave Troops.

What a guy.

The Top Conservative Books of all Time?

What are the Top Conservative Novels since the 1950 written by American Authors? Drum roll. The NRO has this awesome list.

1. Advise and Consent, by Allen Drury

2. Midcentury, by John Dos Passos

3. Mr. Sammler's Planet, by Saul Bellow

4. The Time It Never Rained, by Elmer Kelton

5. The Thanatos Syndrome, by Walker Percy

6. The Bonfire of the Vanities, by Tom Wolfe

7. Shelley's Heart, by Charles McCarry

8. Gilead, by Marilynne Robinson

9. Freddy and Fredericka, by Mark Helprin

10. No Country for Old Men, by Cormac McCarthy

No Vonnegut?

Admission: I have not read any of these books. I have watched No Country for Old Men, if the movie is a fair representation of the book, I’d say the torture style executions depicted on screen must earn it a spot on the list. Conservatives dig that. Other than that, I can’t really comment on why these works of fiction count as the greatest conservative books of an age.

I have read good reviews of Gilead.

High Teabaggery in Florida

The Vapid Marco Rubio pulls ahead of Gov Charlie Crist (R-FL) in one poll for the Florida GOP Senate Primary:

47-44,

causing Internet Chatter From Known Nutters to heat up.

Rubio is a Hard Core Wingnut who has drunk the tea. He’s so hard core, that Rubio favors protecting greedy Wall Street bankers from any sort of windfall tax because, as a free market fundamentalist, he opposes all Taxes as a matter of faith.

The GOP to ride the “white surge” of “forgotten Americans” to VICTORY in 2012?

After the Senate victory of Scott Brown in Massachusetts, Pat Buchanan maps out the path to further GOP Victories. Guess what, the angry white guy is back according to Buchanan…...at least for an election or two more. And his elixir for GOP revival is to ride the “white surge” of “forgotten Americans” to victory. I take it he means Teabaggers and the so-called Values Voters.

This approach, of course, is not a new strategy – the GOP’s Southern Strategy hinged on winning elections by running up white super-majorities at the polls. Here is how Buchanan, who was in on the corrupt bargain during the days of Tricky Dick Nixon, updates the Southern Strategy for the 21^st century:

Crafting a federal takeover of health care with a vast plan that provides coverage for the uninsured — most of whom are minorities — while sticking it to Medicare recipients, 80 percent to 90 percent of whom are white.

Immigrants are 21 percent of the uninsured, but only 7 percent of the population. This means white folks on Medicare or headed there will see benefits curtailed, while new arrivals from the Third World, whence almost all immigrants come, get taxpayer-subsidized health insurance. Any wonder why all those Tea Party and town-hall protests seem to be made up of angry white folks?

What the McDonnell, Christie and Brown victories teach is that the GOP should stop listening to the Wall Street Journal and start listening to these forgotten Americans.

An end to affirmative action and ethnic preferences, an end to bailouts of Wall Street bankers, a moratorium on immigration until unemployment falls to 6 percent, an industrial policy that creates jobs here and stops shipping them to China appear a winning hand in 2012.

While Buchanan is pushing the GOP to ride the “white surge” of “forgotten Americans” to victory there is also some risk. And Buchanan has given us forewarning that days of pumping up a White Super Majority are numbered:

Obama raised the national share of the black vote to 13 percent, then swept it 95 percent to 4 percent. The GOP share of the Hispanic vote, now 9 percent of the electorate, fell from George W. Bush’s 40 percent against John Kerry to 32 percent. Young voters ages 18 to 29 went for Obama 66 percent to 31 percent. And Obama ran stronger among white voters with a college education than did either Al Gore or Kerry.

Put starkly, the voting groups growing in numbers — Hispanics, Asians, African-Americans, folks with college degrees, the young — are all trending Democratic, while the voters most loyal to the GOP — white folks and religious conservatives — are declining as a share of the U.S. electorate. And demography is destiny.

So here is where the rubber meets the road. For the Southern Strategy to work much longer in the 21^st Century with a far more diverse body politic, the GOP will have to unite two-thirds and more of the white vote Nationwide (not just in Mississippi) to win elections. How do you do this (immigrant bashing, race baiting, welfare Queens, etc) without pissing off large portions of the public? If the GOP bashes immigrants – it has to write-off the Latino vote. If the GOP goes race-baiting it has to write off the African American Vote. Bash the Gays and the GOP pisses off Young Voters. And Etc and Etc….

With the demographics at play, Buchanan knows this is ultimately a doomed strategy but he just can’t resist the urge to teabag the GOP’s way to victory in 2012.

McCain to be Teabagged?

Word on the street has it that hard core wingnut, J.D. Hayworth (yes – he is as dumb as he looks) will primary Sen John McCain for his Arizona Senate seat.

Some in Arizona welcome Hayworth’s announcement:

“I think it’s way overdue,” Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio said. “He’d make a great U.S. senator.”

Hayworth frequently lauded Arpaio on his radio show for the sheriff’s willingness to enforce state and federal illegal immigration laws.

Arpaio has a history of clashing with McCain. In 2008, Arpaio endorsed GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney instead of his senator. In 2000, he backed George W. Bush over McCain. In December, Arpaio hosted a fundraiser to benefit Hayworth’s legal defense fund.

State Sen. Russell Pearce, a Mesa Republican and outspoken critic of McCain’s stance on illegal immigration, called Hayworth a “good-spirited patriot” and applauded his decision to enter the race.

McCain, Pearce said, has “strayed from the basic principles (Republicans) believe in.”

This could get interesting as Side Show Sarah has already announced that she’ll defy calls from the teabag fringe and campaign for McCain. Get ready some hardcore wingnut on wingnut action in AZ. May the craziest mofo win.

Supreme Court turns American Elections into an Experiment in Radical Transnationalism, continuing

Yesterday, in light of the Supreme Courts stunning reversal of decades of established precedent, I put out a call to known defenders of America and the American Way of Life from Judicial Activism at The Nation Reviews Bench Memos. The Big Fear, was not just the Judicial Activism, which is not new from this Supreme Court, but of the RADICAL TRANSNATIONALISM at play in the Supreme Court’s 5 to 4 decision to allow foreign, i.e., TRANSNATIONAL corporations buy into American elections.

I was concerned over this threat to America – what about the Mad Mullahs of Iran, the Effete Blue Helmets of the UN, and the Chi-coms participating in our elections. I am not alone.

I’m losing sleep over the millions — or billions — of dollars that could flood into our elections from ARAMCO, the Saudi Oil corporation’s U.S. unit; or from the maker of “New Order” fashions, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army. Or from Bin Laden Construction corporation. Or Bin Laden Destruction Corporation.

Right now, corporations can give loads of loot through PACs. While this money stinks (Barack Obama took none of it), anyone can go through a PAC’s federal disclosure filing and see the name of every individual who put money into it. And every contributor must be a citizen of the USA. But under today’s Supreme Court ruling that corporations can support candidates without limit, there is nothing that stops, say, a Delaware-incorporated handmaiden of the Burmese junta from picking a Congressman or two with a cache of loot masked by a corporate alias.

[…]

Under the Court's new rules, progressive list serves won't stand a chance against the resources of new "citizens" such as CNOOC, the China National Offshore Oil Corporation. Maybe UBS (United Bank of Switzerland), which faces U.S. criminal prosecution and a billion-dollar fine for fraud, might be tempted to invest in a few Senate seats. As would XYZ Corporation, whose owners remain hidden by "street names."

It sounds like all unfriendly foreigners have to do is to incorporate and funnel cash through corporations. This doesn’t sound very American to me. Palast continues:

But hedge fund billionaires, for example, who typically operate through dozens of corporate vessels, may now give unlimited sums through each of these "unnatural" creatures.

And once the Taliban incorporates in Delaware, they could ante up for the best democracy money can buy.

In July, the Chinese government, in preparation for President Obama's visit, held diplomatic discussions in which they skirted issues of human rights and Tibet. Notably, the Chinese, who hold a $2 trillion mortgage on our Treasury, raised concerns about the cost of Obama's health care reform bill. Would our nervous Chinese landlords have an interest in buying the White House for an opponent of government spending such as Gov. Palin? Ya betcha!

The potential for foreign infiltration of what remains of our democracy is an adjunct of the fact that the source and control money from corporate treasuries (unlike registered PACs), is necessarily hidden. Who the heck are the real stockholders? Or as Butch asked Sundance, "Who are these guys?"

We'll never know.

We already have GOP congressmen calling for investigation of super secret Muslim Spies in Congress. What is going to happen when the Mad Mullahs start trying to buy their own congressman on the Open Market?

So far my call has been met not with Silence but not with a roar either. Predictably, some of the Wingners at the NRO are enthusiastic with this latest Judicial Activism. However Big Ed Whelan is somewhat restrained; he is an Ardent Foe of the forces of Radical Transnationalism, having written near 3 dozen posts warning us of its dangers.

As such I am issuing a new call for action - THIS COURT DECISION PUTS THE USA ONE STEP CLOSER TO LOSS OF SOVEREIGNTY, TO THE DESCTRUCTION OF AMERICAN LAW AND TO THE RADICAL TRANSNATIONALIZATION OF THE AMERICAN POLITY.

Maybe the Radical Transnationlists will rename Reagan Airport. If they do, it'll probably be after some commie or a Frenchman. I wonder how you type “National Review” in French.

On Waterboarding and Wingnuttery

Yesterday Marc Thiessen, NRO Contributor and Waterboarding Enthusiast, stated on CNN (transcript) that the absence of terrorist attacks on the United States proves that Waterboarding is an invaluable practice in fighting “the terrorists.” This is the response from Philippe Sands, International Lawyer:

"Let me test the proposition a different -- let me test your proposition a different way. You argue that because these techniques were used in the United States, there were no further attacks on the mainland. How, then, do you explain the fact that, in the United Kingdom, which doesn't use these techniques, there have been no further attacks in the last five years?

The argument is a fallacious argument. It's a naive argument. It's straight out of -- frankly, Marc, it's straight out of Monty Python."

You have to give Thiessen some credit, because he openly states his belief that Waterboarding (Guantanamo-style) is not torture. Other wingers don’t have the cojones make that call. Thiessen is passionate about Waterboarding and open about his passion and belief in waterboarding. However, despite how passionate Thiessen's beliefs are about Waterboarding, it is still hard to follow his logic (and presumably other wingners). What follows is my attempt to interpret Thiessen’s Wingnutspeak into English. Here goes.

Presumably Thiessen believes that the Government has the requisite expertise to administer the Waterboarding in a SAFE non-lethal manner. While Waterboarding is torture when committed by some (the goddamned commies for instance), it ain’t when we do it, some believe. Presumably this belief is based upon the superior expertise, procedures, and institutional knowledge of the US Government.

Accordingly, to waterboard somebody SAFELY, one would have to believe in the existence of a “Waterboarding Program.” Waterboarding on an ad hoc basis would not cut it. Such a “Waterboarding Program would have to consist of at least the following:

• A long and detailed written procedure describing the steps and “safeguards” involved during the waterboarding, i.e., a “Waterboarding Manual.”
• Extensive training on “proper” waterboarding techniques contained in the “Waterboarding Manual.”
• Independent quality reviews of the “Waterboarding Manual” and waterboarding in practice to ensure the written procedures in the “Waterboarding Manual” are being followed and do in fact work as designed.
• Medical Monitoring in place during the Waterboarding to monitor the victim’s pulse and all vital signs to prevent heart attack or other stress induced conditions and be able to stabilize the Victim’s condition instantaneously.
• Doctors on hand during the Waterboarding in case something goes wrong because you don't want too many people to die.

Further the Thiessen's of the world must also believe that the Government can all these things and still figure out how to effectively interrogate the victim so that he does not say whatever it is that he thinks he needs to say to stop the Waterboarding. And before the government waterboarded anyone, you must also believe that it has:

• Stone Cold Intelligence that the alleged terrorist is in fact a dangerous terrorist with actionable information.

As to this last element of the Waterboarding program, one must believe that only dangerous known terrorists with actionable intelligence would be waterboarded. However, unfortunately prominent nutters have been calling for a much more intensive use of waterboarding – extending the “Waterboarding Program” to suspected “terrorists” and known low-level terrorists without ticking time bomb intelligence. In this instance the “Waterboarding Program” would need to include:

• A method to compensate those who were incorrectly suspected of terrorism and Waterboarded anyway.

It would seem that a believer in waterboarding must maintain a great deal of faith in all the elements of the "Waterboarding Program" to safeguard the terrorist (or suspected terrorist) while avoiding the Constitution's prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment and complying with international conventions against torture.

This faith in Government's ability to Waterboard People SAFELY is truly remarkable when you think about it. More so when you realize, Thiessen's fellow nutters have absolutely no faith in the Government to merely administer the Clean Air Act much less implement Health Insurance Reform in this country without trampling of the Property Rights (to pollute or a mandate to buy health insurance) of the people. Thiessen (and other Waterboarding enthusiasts), however must have absolute faith in the Government and the Bureaucrats that make it function (in this situation) to pull this one off because we are talking about the most sacrosanct right – of liberty of self.

Anyway, when you hear a Winger state that Waterboarding isn’t torture if we do it – this is probably why.

Coming Wingnut Panic on Health Insurance Reform?

A winger at the NRO sounds the alarm:

Dems will now turn to a limited version of health-care legislation designed and labeled as "insurance reform" — that is, sharp limitations on underwriting combined with guaranteed-issue and no-cancellation regulations. In other words, no denial of coverage based on medical condition.

This would yield a massive adverse-selection problem: No one would sign up for coverage until they developed expensive medical conditions. Even accident victims would be invited to sign up for "insurance" — shifting their known costs onto others — as they were wheeled into the emergency rooms. This, of course, would destroy the private-insurance sector, leaving only government to fill the void. Voila! Single-payer by stealth. [em-mine]

Uh-Oh! A single Payer System!?!?!?!?! Eric Cantor may not understand this fact, but our unCanny Corner Correspondent does get it.

Insurers aren’t going to sell you a homeowners policy when your house is on fire. If they had to do this they will end up paying out claims but not collecting much in premiums and they’ll go broke. Likewise why pay for health insurance when you are healthy when you can just wait until you are sick and be guaranteed coverage then?

On the other hand, if everyone in town buys a homeowners policy, the premiums collected city wide could pay for the claim if a house does burn down during the year. Likewise, this is the case with health insurance. If everyone has it, there will be enough $ when it is time to pay out claims.

Our Corner Correspondent continues:

Public-opinion polls show overwhelming support for such regulations, and Republicans in Congress would be hard-pressed to oppose them. But oppose them they must, for this path would lead inexorably to the nirvana of health-care socialism that the Left has been dreaming about for decades. It is our responsibility to provide congressional Republicans with the requisite education. [em-mine]

Socialist Health-care Nirvana! Where do these wingnut welfare operations come up with these clowns. Anyway, I can see how this propaganda campaign educational outreach will go:

• In America if the Obama Recession takes your job, you lose your health insurance.
• Without health insurance you are one illness away from losing your house, your retirement, your children’s education and your future.
• If Pre-Existing Condition reform is passed, there will always be insurance coverage for hard working Americans that are willing to pay their fare share for it.
• This is Wrong.
• VOTE NO on Pre-Existing Condition Reform.

WINNER!