Welcome, one and all to the most intense nightly read anywhere on the ‘sphere… BitsBlog’s Nightly Ramble
Disgusted, would be the word of the day. Grab your ankles, America, here it comes.
- Yestrday’s Obama speech [1]. What can one say about it? (Remembering this is supposedly a mainstream venue, which blows away whatI’d like to say about it at the off.) It was clearly a message to those of you who still hold onto the outdated,quaint and , yes, racist notions of common sense, and thereby haven’t gotten the message yet: Big government is back, and in a big way. We’re going to spend out way to prosperity… but we can only do that, if we spend as directed by government. Ignore the concept that spending as directed by government is exactly what landed us in this soup pot in the first place, when they tried to alter housing priaces by waving a governmental magic wand. The speech of course was, as is Obama’s wont, long on panic creation and short on specifics. He has no clue what he’s going to do, but he’s certainly convnced he’s going to need more of your money than government has ever managed to spend previously, to do it.
- Oh… and next on that path of waving a government wand over things, in the hopes of conrtoling prices? Government Healthcare. [2] Does anyone suppose that’s going to be any different than what happened with their efforts at “Housing for all?” Do you have the foggiest idea how screwed we are?
- Oh, just in case you weren’t feeling pressured enough, we now find Obama wants to talk to Hamas [3]. Does he really think giving these animals credibity is the way to go? Bruce doesn’t [4]. Nor do I. As Bruce says:
— contact with a terror organization, even at a low-level, only accomplishes one thing – it legitimizes them. And that legitimization will only harden their intransigence, not soften it.
History does indicate exactly that. That Obama can’t reckon with that fact, tells me all I need to know about his vaunted decision making ability.
- Personally, I’ve begun to think that this whole affair with Hamas, this time, is a diversion, designed to turn watchful eyes away from Iran, and it’s Nuclear ambitions. Daled Amos thinks so, as well. [5] Obama will of course claim he was blind-sided by Iran when they finally move. No question that we’re still going to hear from those claiming Hamas isn’t being both fed and driven by Iran, even after all that goes down.
- As for the honesty and ethics of those making such chocies for us, Fox News this morning asks what the bleep happened to the Rangel investigation [6]? I’d be interested in knowing where the investigatin is for the cause of Indy Bank failing, what the status on Jack Murtha is as regards his slander of our troops, what the status of the investigation, and arrest of William Jeffferson is, what the status on the investigation into links between Barack Obama and Rod Blagojovich, and Bill Richardson. Jesse Jackson Jr, and his funding sources and what he offered for that Senate Seat. Why Spitzer isn’t in jail. All that for openers.
- If there’s one thing all these scandals show, it’s the desperate need for limited government. To that point, a great article from Colleen Carroll Campbell [7]
The steady drumbeat of scandalous revelations since Election Day has been dispiriting, but it may be a blessing in disguise. For a nation gripped by economic anxiety and desperate to believe that a change in administrations will prove a panacea for our economic woes, these daily dispatches remind us that the men and women we entrust with our tax dollars do not deserve blank checks or blind loyalty. They are flawed, fallible and prone to overspending, overpromising and misusing their power for selfish gain. They are politicians, not demigods or Santa Claus.Given how poorly many of our national political leaders handle the perks and purse strings they already control, we should think twice before giving them free rein to exponentially expand government and manage even more of our money. At a time when a $1 trillion stimulus package barely raises eyebrows inside the Beltway, it’s worth remembering that no political party or leader is immune from the temptations that accompany absolute power. And no populace is as vulnerable to granting that absolute power as one racked by fear and seeking a savior.
Ask the Germans [8] about that. (BBCT:Billy) [9]And the Japanese too, for that matter. And the Cubans. And the Argentinians. Or, the folks in Zimbabwe. The comaprisons are quite apt, and frightening, if you’re paying attention at all. But limited government is exactly what we’re not going to get out of this crowd. Truth be known, what Obama calls his “American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan” is in reality a list of stuff he’d have been spending our money on anyway… it’s just that now he’s got less resistance to it because it’s under the guise of an emergency. He’s figured out he can spend more than he would have had the country not been panicked into letting him do it. Proving I’m not alone n this perception, Boortz points out [10]one facit of this, this morning:
Again, can someone please explain to me how switching all of America’s medical records to computers is going to provide an immediate stimulus to our economy? Anyone? I didn’t think so. It isn’t going to. But this was one of Obama’s great promises on the campaign trail. Which allows me to reinforce my point .. PEBO is going to capitalize on America’s economic crisis in order to enact his agenda. Pretty clever, huh? Anything that Obama proposes will, from here on out, be part of his efforts to “stimulate the economy.”
Exactly so. What happened to these other places I’ve mentioned, is happening to us, and right now.
- Those of you hoping for a bit of resistance to thee plans of Obama’s on the grounds of limited government, had best recalculate. Congress is complaining all right, but they’re doing so because taxes are being cut. [11] Oughta tell the tale all by itself, that should. But more, even the resistance to Obama’s Cabinet appointments that’s materialized is because they’re not leftist enough [12].
- I said Obama was going to govern from the extreme left, and I was taken to task for saying so. I’ll consider myself vindicated now, thank you. That Congress tilts even further left than Obama the moment they’re given the chance, alters the validity of my prediction not at all. Not that I’m all that happy about accurately predcting our country sliding into John Crapper’s elegant device, but there it is.
Do I thnk America can do better? That is, perhaps, the most frustrating part of all this; We can do better. No question. But that’s not going to happen…not with these power thirsty idiots at the helm. Think, now… Scandal, out of control spending, and a prolonged recession, if not a depression as a direct result of turning theur backs on the free market system. And they’re not even sworn in, yet.