Live Blogging the Senate Debate

And here we go, live-blogging the debate in the Senate today about whether to debate. Yes, this all-day rare Saturday session is for the vote tonight at 8 on whether or not to bring Obamacare up for formal debate.

Senator Cantewell is up now, taking Landrieu's spot. Landrieu is up soon, supposedly.

Stay tuned.

Update 11:40: Senator Cantwell seems to think that since Medicare and Medicaid are going broke, we should make it even worse by adding more people to it. She says we spend too much money on unnecessary tests. Yeah, we're seeing that week how that's going to work - fewer mammograms and cervical cancer screenings. NOT a good plan.

Update 11:45: Landrieu is up. She begins with praise for Harry Reid, Cantwell, and Blanche Lincoln. Blather.

"I have been in meetings with economists" and constituents for two days, she says. She says this bill is "the best work of the Senate to date" on the subject. She's voting to "move forward" with the vote. She says "it should not be construed as to how I might vote as this debate comes to an end. It is a debate to move forward...with the important work underway." She says she has conducted a thorough review of the bill, concluded that we should move forward, but that much more work needs to be done.

Landrieu says "Doing nothing is not an option. Nor is waiting any longer for this debate to come to an end."

Nobody is suggesting doing nothing - someone should tell her that.

Phillip Klein's write up of Landrieu's remarks are here.

Update 11:50: Still with Landrieu. She says "I'm going to stay focused like a laser" on bringing down costs. She expresses concern for small business owners. Does she know that small business doesn't support this bill?

Addressing what encouraged her to move forward, she says this bill prevents insurance companies from raising rates on people that get sick. She doesn't mention the $100 million payoff and how that encouraged her to move forward.

Update 12:00: Advocates a trigger option if private market reforms fail to work. Keyword there - FAIL.

Update 12:05: Addressing "very partisan Republican bloggers" now. She's addressing the payoff. She says in 2005 Louisiana experienced two of the worst national disasters in recent memory. Says Louisiana's per capita income was permanently inflated as a result of aid received and "as a result it made us seem as if we were CT" and not LA. It made Louisiana seem as if we had become rich overnight; "our state is still as poor as it ever was." Landrieu says she is not going to be defensive about asking for help in this matter and, for the record, it's not a $100 million fix, it's a $300 million fix. She says and "I'm proud of asking for it and for receiving it. It's not why I'm moving forward to debate."

Unicorns for everyone.

Update 1:10: I took a break after Landrieu to make the roux for my gumbo. And now it's Al Franken? Oh dear god. I'm going back to the hot oil for a few minutes. I'll be back when he's gone.

Update 1:20: Blanche Lincoln is now on the floor. Says America can achieve unprecedented health care reform. You got that right.

She says small businesses and working families are reaching the breaking point because of rising health care costs. Taxpayers are already bearing the cost of treatment for the uninsured, she says. She says only one insurance company in her state of Arkansas controls over half the insurance market. Wouldn't that make the case for selling insurance across state lines?

Update 1:26: Lincoln says she's not worried about re-election. It's a good thing. 64% of Arkansans are against the bill. She says she doesn't support the public plan and that it could lead to future bailouts. She supports reform that "changes the rules" of the private insurance system. Insurance companies should not be able to "cherry-pick" healthy patients. She wants to limit subsidies to insurance companies. Insurance executives should not receive excess tax breaks or personal windfalls.

In other words, profits are bad.

She's voting yes.

Update 1:35: Lincoln says she won't vote for a final bill with a public option. She also points to the huge growth of government "since the year 2000." How about since January 2009?"

Update 1:45: Taking a short "lacuna" to run do the daily check on mom. NRO's The Corner is keeping up with the Senate - check there, but come back here in about an hour! Gumbo for all.

Update 4:00: I think every Dem must have been given instructions to get up and tell a sad story from your district about someone with a terrible health condition who loses his job and can't get coverage. Bonus points if you mention "donut hole," "AARP," or "Ted Kennedy."

The "yes" vote of Blanche Lincoln seems to seal the yes vote for later. It's worth continuing to listen to see what blather they continue to spew, however. Lincoln was pretty adamant about the public option and so it seems this bill may go through some small changes between now and the actual vote which should occur sometime after the Thanksgiving recess.

I'm all for chasing these Senators down during the recess in their districts and letting them know how you feel. Don't let up.

Update 4:25: John McCain calls the bill a monstrosity and outlines more reasonable approaches such as portability across state lines, tort reform, health care savings accounts and wellness incentives. "Why can't we do that?" he asks. Good question.

Update 4:36: Sen. Hatch has numbers: 70 new programs in this bill. 1,697 times the HHS is given decision making powers. Number of times tort reform is mentioned? Zero. Number of provisions prohibiting rationing? Zero. Number of government run programs which are financially sound over time? Zero. $465 billion dollars in cuts to Medicare. $2.5 trillion is the cost of this bill over ten years. $12 trillion is our total national debt.

Update 4:45: McCain again. He slams the reward to Louisiana. Again slams the issue of no malpractice reform in the bill. Lamar Alexander supports the case for tort reform. Says they should "re-earn the trust of the American people" by working on tort reform. McCain then goes back to the mammogram recommendations; Sen. Barrasso says his wife would have died without a mammogram in her 40s. "It was a screening mammogram that saved her life...she is a survivor, six years later."

Barasso points to page 1150 which talks about the "preventive task force" which makes the recommendations. Page 1189-1190 talks about the preventative task force, says Senator Kyl. The task force makes the recommendations and the secretary of HHS can deny payment based on that. The Secretary of HHS may "modify coverage" based on the reccomendations of the task force, and they may also provide that "no payment may be made for preventative service performed" that has not been approved. That's rationing, says Kyl.

Update 4:55: Sen. Risch: "Americans are frightened, and they should be, that health care rationing is coming to America if this bill is passed."

Update 5:35: I took another "lacuna" to eat some gumbo and watch LSU try to give the game away. Now Chuck Grassley is on the floor who says this bill "is worse than doing nothing." It imposes half a trillion dollars in new fees and taxes, he says, which is worse than doing nothing. It will hurt small business and destroy job creation; in addition, it breaks Obama's campaign promise to not raise taxes on those making less than $250,000 a year.

Update 5:55: Sen. Enzi: "America is facing the worst crisis since the Great Depression..."...cites jobless and unemployment numbers and wonders why under this situation we're dealing with heath care, now. He says "this bill introduces a massive government intrusion into the health care of every American." He says "This bill gets it wrong." The majority leader, without Republican support and without the support of the majority of the American people, is trying to "jam through" a partisan bill.

Update 6:20: Enzi wraps up and Max Baucus comes up. *sighs*. Time for an Octoberfest. Anybody still here? The vote is coming up before long. No real suspense there,but you never know.

Update 6:30: Senator McConnell now. Very somber. "This bill costs 2.5 trillion dollars that America does not have and cannot afford. It imposes punishing taxes on almost everyone. It raises health insurance premiums on the 85%of Americans who already have health insurance. ...A vote in favor of proceeding with this bill is a vote in favor of adding to the tax burden of the American people in the midst of huge unemployment...it is a vote in favor of deep cuts to Medicare for tens of millions of seniors who depend on it...it is a vote to continue the out of control spending binge Congress has been on all year. "

"If there was one Democrat, just one...who would say no tonight, none of this would happen. The voices of the American people would be heard. We've all seen the surveys; we know how they feel."

"Then we could start over with a common sense, step by step approach..."

Update 6:40: Still with McConnell. "We've heard some Senators come to the floor today and say they oppose this bill but they don't want to stop the debate...nobody is suggesting we stop the debate...but if we don't stop this bill tonight the only debate we'll be having is about higher premiums, not saving for the American people, higher taxes...cuts to Medicare...that's what the debate will be about."

"What we want to do is change the debate. Not end it. Change it. Because once we get on this bill the basic dimensions will not change."

"Why should we consider a bill we already know the American people oppose?"

Update 6:45: McConnell: "After tonight's vote we'll all go home and face our constituents. We'll have to tell them how we voted on raising their premiums, raising their taxes, and cutting their Medicare. For some of us that won't be a very easy conversation. But it doesn't have to be that way....we can work together step by step and create the common sense reforms that the American people have been asking for all along."

The American people "are hoping we say NO to this bill."

"All it would take...is just one member from the other side of the aisle to give us an opportunity, not to end the debate, but to change the debate in the direction the American people want us to go."

and now Harry Reid who gets up and calls McConnell a liar. Scum.

Update 6:47: Oh bless me. I can't take Harry Reid. Smarmy is the word that comes to mind. Is that a real word? It should be. Okay so King Harry says this bill will afford every American the opportunity to live a healthy life. Thank goodness because we've never done that before without Congress telling us to.

Harry invites you to join "the right side of history."

And via Twitter - Senator Byrd has just arrived at the Capitol.

Update 6:50: Harry points out that tonight's vote is not the end of the debate but just the beginning. It's not the final bill "as any high school civics textbook will tell you."

Reid wraps up ... "Our country deserves this debate. Our country needs this debate."

Update 6:54: Reid, "I would ask that we start the vote five minutes early and act as if it started at 8:00. " Clerk reporting motion for cloture. The vote will begin.

Final Update: And ... we are one step closer to socialized medicine, heath care rationing, and crippling taxes and job loss. 60 to 39.

Don't give up. Don't quit fighting.

(More at Memeorandum)

Highland Jazz & Blues Festival Needs Your Help, Shreveport!

From my inbox, a message from Kenny Koonce of The Highland Jazz and Blues Festival:

For the 6th year, the annual Highland Jazz and Blues Festival brought a unique experience to this hills of Columbia Park. One that is found no where else in our region of Louisiana. One that is more than just great music. But one that supports local artists and restaurants, and to promote the historic Highland neighborhood.

This year, though, could be the popular festival’s last! The festival has been made possible by the generous support of the City of Shreveport’s Neighborhood Improvement Project (NIP) grants and grants from Shreveport Regional Arts Council. In 2009 those grants were cut, so festival organizers made the decision to implement internal cost-cutting and use money from savings to put on this much-loved event. The festival’s savings, though, will be depleted after the 2009 event.

Past efforts to encourage festival goers to become event members to help raise money for the festival have met with limited success, says Kenney Koonce, Highland Jazz and Blues Festival Chairman. “We have always been a free event,” says Koonce, “and we believe that people just assume they can come and enjoy it and that we will always be here. The message we want to get out is that without the help of those people who love this festival we won’t be back next year.”

“It would be such a huge loss to Highland and Shreveport if this great event had to go away,” says Festival Organizer Amy Loe. “People really enjoy the festival and I think given the opportunity, will want to save it.”

“People have suggested we charge an admission fee, but fencing off the park and hiring enough security to enforce it would be amazingly expensive and almost impossible to accomplish. Plus, we are committed to keeping this an event that is accessible to all.”

“We are trying to get the word out about the festival’s situation. If it is important to people, we know they will come forward with help and donations,” says Koonce. “If we are not successful in fundraising, we will understand that it has been a great 6-year run and will move on to other things.” You can help save this popular event. Simply visit www.highlandjazzandblues.org to make your tax deductible contribution now. The organization also offers corporate sponsorship opportunities. For more information, please contact us at info@highlandjazzandblues.org

Sure wish Katrina Mary would get $100 million to support that! Lacking that, I've made my donation. Come on Shreveport, step up and help out!

Full Metal Jacket Saturday: The Senate Shenanigans Edition

I don't even know why I'm going to watch the Senate shenanigans today because in my heart I feel like it's already a done deal, as they say, but I'm going to watch anyway. Once again I find myself embarrassed to be from Louisiana. Joseph Cao I could almost take; when he was the lone Republican in the House to vote for Obamacare, I told myself, "Well, that sucks, but he IS at least trying to represent the needs of his constituents and he does come from a democratic district. He's trying to stick to his principles." It didn't help much, but it was a small rationalization. Additionally, the measure would have passed with or without his vote.

But with Katrina-Mary Landrieu, as she is affectionately known around here, her sellout, her bribe - call it what it is - just disgusts me. She's a Democrat and is going to vote that way. That part doesn't shock me. What sickens me is first of all that she is selling her vote for $100 million. You will tell me, "Oh they all do that all the time anyway! They all make deals and sell their votes!" I know this. But then she has the temerity to tell us as late as last night that she still hasn't decided? Really? You've already crawled into bed with the devil but you haven't decided yet? We're supposed to believe that?

Word circulated a few weeks back that Katrina-Mary won't run for re-election. I wonder what sort of White House Czar job she has lined up? Because that $100 million won't go very far and eventually Louisiana, and every other state, is going to be on the hook trying to fund that huge new entitlement Congress is about to ran down our throats. There must be something else in it for her.

Disgusting. On to the happy links:

Ann Althouse has the story of a bookstore that won't even stock "Going Rogue" because their readers are "thinking people" and don't read drivel. Oh what snobs. Good lord. Donald Douglas also covers the story.

Bride of Rove has some comments about the new recommendations on pap smears and mammograms. Best takeout line? "Moral to that story is – don’t email me unless you are suicidal and need that extra shove." She cracks me up! Seriously!

New Conservative Generation notes TurboTax Tim Geithner's troubles.

Carol at No Sheeples Here does the best FMJRound Up. Ever.

It's odd how you can loathe someone you've never met, but that's how I feel about Levi Johnston. If I saw him enter the room, I'd look for an exit. Ruby Slippers has more.

I thoroughly enjoyed Stacy McCain's takedown of lizard trolls this week. I've dealt with a couple, but never so well as this.

Left Coast Rebel has a nifty depiction of the unemployment situation.

Did you know that special needs children will have their own special tax in Obamacare? Read Gateway Pundit.

Another Black Conservative points to Senator Leahy's ignorant conclusion that we "don't need to interrogate" bin Laden should he be captured. Incredible. Jimmie Bise was also watching that hearing, and has comments on Eric Holder's Very Bad Day.

Carolyn Tackett isn't losing any sleep over how the world feels about us.

There's a new blog on the block: What Would the Founding Fathers Do? Check it out!

Doug Ross is teasing me. Promises, promises.

The Daley Gator (and Michelle Malkin) are keeping up with the Democratic bribe list. Number One? Our own Katrina-Mary Landrieu.

Reaganite Republican has Saracuda on Dennis Miller. Cool!

Of course Professor Jacobson knows the real reason King Harry Reid wants a Saturday debate...

Pundette has a preview of the Senate Shenanigans today.

Honesty in Motion is ranting!

Monique Stuart weighs in on illegals, Rahn, and free health care.

Okay, I know I've left off some folks and I'll catch you later today or tomorrow. I've got a date with some Senators right now and need to scat.

Shreveport Protests Landrieu's Sellout to Obamacare

Update: Thanks to The Dead Pelican for the link and to @MichelleMalkin for the Twitter shout!

Yesterday afternoon I went to one of the statewide protests outside Mary Landrieu's offices. In Shreveport, under drizzling skies, about sixty people showed up in front of the Federal building where Landrieu's office is. Additionally, there were counter protesters, in support of Obamacare, also there; I'd say there were at most about 15 of them.

There were not tense moments, no drama, that I ever saw. Two or three policemen kept watch from the periphery and the occasional passing car would honk and wave at one side or the other. A couple of times a friendly shouting match broke out: "Kill the Bill" vs. "Health Care Now!" But no drama. Everyone was respectful and did their part.

A couple of folks from our side, the Kill the Bill side, went up to Landrieu's office to register an opinion. One lady, Janet, was told, "Well, you know Senator Landrieu is a huge supporter of small business!" and Janet replied, "Then I KNOW she's going to vote against this bill because this bill is going to just KILL small business." Again, everything respectful and polite.

The Red River Tea Party had collected letters and faxes from people who were unable to attend the short-notice protest yesterday and delivered them to Senator Landrieu's office.

I had heard reports through the day from email and blog comments that the Senate phone lines had crashed, that the lines in Landrieu's offices were continuously busy, and even one story of a constituent, frustrated at not being able to call in, went to Landrieu's office and was ushered out by security and told that "Senator Landrieu is not in the office." The one person working in that office had gone to lunch and would not be back for an hour and a half.

The big vote is tonight; I'll live-blog most of the events today as I did with the House debate. Check back in and don't stop trying to call. The Capitol switchboard is (202) 224-3121 and here is the complete list of email and fax numbers.

Here is the local media story of the protest yesterday:

97.6% of All Bills Are Approved When Lawmakers First Vote to Begin Debate

Erick Eriskson at Red State has a must read post this morning. I'm going to copy more of it than I usually like to do because I want to be sure everyone knows how important Saturday's vote on HarryCare is:

"This is important — a vote in favor of cloture on the motion to proceed (a parliamentary issue) is, in effect, a vote for the health care legislation. Why? Because Harry Reid has enough votes to pass the health care legislation by a simple majority, but he does not have the 60 votes necessary to proceed to debate, any Senator voting for cloture is voting for the health care plan."

And then this statistic, based on this report:

In fact, “since 1999 the Senate has approved 97.6 percent of all bills when lawmakers first voted to begin debate.”

We can NOT let this happen:

Some Senators, like Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas, want the health care legislation to pass, but know politically she would lose if she voted for it. So unless pressure is brought to bear on her and others, she may vote “yes” on cloture for the motion to proceed and then try to hide behind a no vote later.

I second Erickson's call to action and urge everyone to call their Senator today. Tomorrow is too late - their offices will be closed. Go to their local offices, call, fax, protest, email, and voice your opinion.

One of our local Tea Party organizations is protesting Landrieu's Shreveport office today on Fannin Street at 4:00.

Call your Senator! In fact, call all of 'em! Find their contact information here.

Everyone should call Mary Landrieu:

Washington: (202)224-5824
New Orleans: (504) 589-2427
Baton Rouge: (225) 389-0395
Shreveport: (318) 676-3085
Lake Charles: (337) 436-6650

Melt the phones!

$100 Million is Mary's Going Price

Via The Dead Pelican, this is probably Mary's payoff. Harry Reid needs her vote to proceed on his ridiculous health care bill and this might be what tips her scales:

On page 432 of the Reid bill, there is a section increasing federal Medicaid subsidies for “certain states recovering from a major disaster.” The section spends two pages defining which “states” would qualify, saying, among other things, that it would be states that “during the preceding 7 fiscal years” have been declared a “major disaster area.”

I am told the section applies to exactly one state: Louisiana, the home of moderate Democrat Mary Landrieu, who has been playing hard to get on the health care bill.

You might remember this post from Landrieu's town hall last month in Lafayette in which she said she would vote for cloture and it appears she will get her chance on Saturday.

Her going price? $100 million.

I would suggest that everyone, EVERYONE, call her office and register your opinion. Even if you don't live in Louisiana, you still live in America. Her contact numbers are:

Washington: (202)224-5824
New Orleans: (504) 589-2427
Baton Rouge: (225) 389-0395
Shreveport: (318) 676-3085
Lake Charles: (337) 436-6650

All contact information is here.
Email is here.

"An Air Space in the Cellular Tissue of Plants"

Sort of like Andrew Sullivan, but not really, I'm taking a short "lacuna." Am I digging through Going Rogue in search of Trig stories? Am I digging through Sarah Palin's memoir for more salacious gossip on the wardrobe scandal?

No, no, nothing so worldly and important as that! I'll leave that stuff to the professionals like Andrew Sullivan!

I'm digging through Harry Reid's big baby.

Want to help?

Actually, besides "hiatus", lacuna in Botany means an air space in the cellular tissue of plants. Could that also refer to Sully's brain?

Eric Holder Defends His Decision to Bring KSM to New York City

According to the AP, Eric Holder is defending his decision to hold KSM's trial in New York City, saying "I'm not scared of what (Mohammed) will have to say at trial — and no one else needs to be either."

I've already done the rant, so I won't go into that again, but I will suggest that this comment by Holder is just dumb. He misses the point entirely. Or at least, he pretends to.

First of all, nobody actually believes that this was his decision and that he made it without first getting approval from his boss. We're not that naive.

Second, it's not that we're "afraid" of what KSM will say, although nobody is looking forward to his bile and vitriol, but that we're concerned about KSM and his lawyers having unfettered access to hundreds of classified documents regarding intelligence gathering, methods, and evidence. Much of our intelligence operations will now be compromised. Certainly Holder hasn't missed that point.

Third, with regard to this administration's adopting a pre-9/11 approach to terrorism, Holder says "We are at war, and we will use every instrument of national power — civilian, military, law enforcement, intelligence, diplomatic and others — to win." Blather. You've now nullified the intelligence option, Mr. Holder. What you really want to do here is to put the Bush administration on trial. Period.

KSM and all the others should be tried in a military commission; Holder's excuse that the Twin Towers was a "civilian target" is worse than lame; he insultingly omits the Pentagon attack. Definitely NOT a civilian target.

To politicize the terror, fears, trauma, and loss of the loved ones in those attacks on 9/11 is simply despicable.

Meanwhile, Holder's boss seems to have the inside dope on the outcome of the trial. He told NBC's Chuck Todd, “I don't think it will be offensive at all when he's convicted and when the death penalty is applied to him.” Are you offering guarantees on that, Mr. Obama? No? I didn't think so. Good thing you weren't handicapping the Moussaoui trial.

(H/T: Memeorandum)

Charlie Crist Trying to Heat Things Up in Florida

The Crist/Rubio match up in Florida is heating up with the arrival of new campaign manager Eric Eikenberg in the Crist camp.

Via Memeorandum, the National Journal's On Call reports that the Crist campaign is going on the offensive, challenging Rubio's "failure to advance some conservative causes while leading the state House, for spending excessively while in the Speaker's office and for dragging his feet on immigration legislation that many Republicans favored."

Eikenberg said, ""Over the last five to six months, the governor has been focused on governing and our opponent's been running around the state because he doesn't have an office," Eikenberg said. Meanwhile, Rubio "has had five to six months of the ability to go around and say whatever he'd like, and that's now changing."

The Rubio campaign responded by requesting debates between Rubio and Crist with the first suggested date of December 17. In a letter to Eikenberg yesterday, Rubio adviser Pat Shortridge pointed out that Rubio had challenged Crist to a series of debates earlier this year, saying "At that time, Marco acknowledged the differences that exist between him and Governor Crist on issues like wasteful stimulus spending that has failed to create jobs, cap-and-trade, property tax reform, judicial appointments, property insurance and a struggling Florida economy that has seen unemployment rise to a 34-year high. Marco expressed his belief that several debates would help bring these and other differences to light. Unfortunately, Governor Crist has shown no interest in debating Marco thus far."

Rubio has closed the gap to just a 15 point lead in the latest Qunnipiac poll, down from an earlier 29 point lead. Rubio continues to pound Crist in straw polls all over the state, the most recent by the Republican Club of South Sarasota County in which Rubio tops Crist 70.2% to 16.5%.

Eikenberg formerly served for four years as chief of staff to former Republican Congressman Clay Shaw of Fort Lauderdale and has recently served as Crist's gubernatorial chief of staff. Eikenberg speaks of “Charlie Crist’s brand of common-sense conservatism," but I don't think that's the kind of conservatism we need in the Senate. I don't think Florida really thinks so, either. If common-sense conservatism means supporting Obama's Stimulus plan, for one thing, well, no thanks. Charlie's support of cap and trade is "common sense"? Nope, again.

According to The Buzz, Rubio isn't worried about the addition of Eikenberg to the Crist team. Rubio supporters point to his work on the campaigns for both Clay Shaw and George LeMieux. They both lost.

(Cross posted at Not One Red Cent!)

On The Reading Shelf

Last night I took a look at my bedside table which is where I stack books waiting to be read. I counted twelve. That's not counting the one I had in my hand. In fact, my space for books was all maxed out so I have three more on my desk. If you're keeping count, that's sixteen so far. Add two for the ones currently en route from Amazon and we're up to 18.

What are they? Well, I'm currently reading two. I was getting into A Peace to End All Peace by David Fromkin when my copy of Ayn Rand and the World She Made by Anne Heller arrived. I picked up the Fromkin book because someone told me it was a great resource on the Middle East which I've been wanting to study more. The Heller book attracted me because, while I don't totally agree with Ayn Rand's philosphy, I find her to be fascinating and I loved Atlas Shrugged. To be honest, it's been so long since I've read The Fountainhead or We The Living that I don't remember that much about them, so those are in my bedside stack as well.

On the desk, which somehow seems to be less urgent, I have some light fiction: Sara Paretsky, Patricia Cornwell, and John Grisham's Ford County. Stephen King's Under the Dome will be there as soon as I get down to Barnes and Noble to pick it up.

En route from Amazon right now is, of course, Going Rogue; you know I've got to read it. And Empire of Liberty, which I wrote about here, is also en route.

I'm a book junkie. It's a sickness. And you know what's even worse? I have bookshelves all over my house, I have books squirreled away on window sills and on mantles and on table tops...and I often pick one up and think, "Oh! I need to re-read this!"

There is something about winter that makes it even worse. That's not really true. I do this in summer, too. Summer reading! School's out! But there is something about winter - a hibernation sort of instinct - that makes me want to hunker down under an afghan with a dog at my feet and get lost in a book. I have dozens of hard covered spiral note pads in every room and pencils on every end table just in case I need to take notes from something. This is a habit I developed when I figured out that I read so fast that I fail to retain things very well. I try to force myself to slow down but I get absorbed and involved in the book and I forget.

So now, scanning NRO's The Corner today, I see they're talking about books - books by conservative authors, history books, the best all-time non-fiction. Oh my. The untapped depth of it all! Scanning this list, I've read the shockingly paltry number of FOUR of them. FOUR! Of course, I don't think I want to read them all. But some look interesting. I'd like to maybe read the one about the Russian Revolution (#97) because as I was reading that part of Ayn Rand's life in the Heller book, I realized that I really don't know enough about it. And I should.

Back to The Corner, John J. Miller suggests David McCullough's books, and thankfully, I've read both Truman and John Adams. Both were superb. I filled my copy of John Adams with sticky notes on nearly every page (that's before I began keeping those spiral note pads.)

Stephen Ambrose was also suggested and I do have several of his works around here. Steve brought them over; he read Band of Brothers and he really liked Citizen Soldiers. I haven't read them all. Kathryn Jean Lopez suggested a two-volume work by Bill Bennett on U.S. history which she says is "very accessible" and since I loved the American Patriot's Almanac which he co-authored, I'd probably like it.

John J. Miller also offers D-Day: The Battle for Normandy by Anthony Beevor, even though he doesn't know Beevor and hasn't read the book, because he says, "I suspect that this book is a well-written and fundamentally reliable guide to one of the great events of the 20th century. Left-wing historians just don't write books on this topic, at least not books that sell enough copies to make the best-seller list." Good enough for me.

He also mentions Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin which is on my shelf.

Rick Brookhiser points to historian Joseph Ellis as a favorite and also recommends Clinton Rossiter's 1787: The Grand Convention, Carl Van Doren's Benjamin Frankin, Henry Adams's History of the United States in the Administration of Thomas Jefferson and of James Madison, his John Randolph of Roanoke.

Jonah Goldberg offered the following list of historians that he likes: "I have some favorite historians (or authors on historical questions) and some of them are conservative or non-liberal. A few off the top of my head: John Lukacs, Paul Johnson, Hayward, Pryce-Jones, Nash, David Pietrusza, Vincent Cannato, Gertrude Himmelfarb, Paul Hollander, James Pierson, Robert Conquest and others. But, I should confess that I am not a huge reader of biographies (as much as I wish it were otherwise). I tend to read intellectual history more than military or biographical history. " He also pointed to several historians at NRO such as Brookhiser and Victor Davis Hanson.

So you see my dilemma. For a book junkie, these recommendations are just overwhelming! Again, I'm sure some of that stuff is so academic and dry that I couldn't read it if I had to. But there are lots of times when I wish I had a broader knowledge base with regard to history, or even the amazing recall that Steve has. He reads something and never ever forgets it and can quote it back to you at any given time.

So what's on your reading shelf (trust me, I REALLY want to know!), and what authors do you turn to most? Goldberg says he's not a huge reader of biographies or of military or biographical history. He prefers "intellectual history." Maybe that's my problem. I'm reading the wrong stuff.

What category would Going Rogue fit into?

And you know what another thing is that interferes with my reading? This blog! I can't read and talk to you people at the same time!

I'll check you guys later. My books, my afghan, and my dog are beckoning.

Republicans Who Voted to Confirm Holder

A reminder:

Alexander (Tennessee)

Bennett (Utah)

Bond (Missouri)

Chambliss (Georgia)

Collins (Maine)

Corker (Tennessee)

Graham (South Carolina)

Grassley (Iowa)

Gregg (New Hampshire)

Hatch (Utah)

Isakson (Georgia)

Kyl (Arizona)

Lugar (Indiana)

McCain (Arizona)

Mukowski (Arkansas)

Sessions (Alabama)

Snowe (Maine)

Voinovich (Ohio)

Crowder Goes to Gitmo

Via Hot Air, Stephen Crowder goes to Gitmo. Full disclosure - I'm not big fan of Crowder's style of delivery. It's too kitschy for me. The Waynes World wig and all. But, he makes some good points here, especially toward the end.

Can We Stage an Intervention for Andrew Sullivan?

He's live-blogging Sarah Palin on Oprah. No, I'm not kidding.

Empire of Liberty

I just ordered this book; the review in the print issue of NRO talked me into it!

Here's a great audio interview with the author, if you're interested, and a print interview is here.

If you want a copy, there's a link over there, to the right, in the sidebar!

"It is a presidential decision—one about the hard, ever-present trade-off between civil liberties and national security."

Update: Memeorandum has a great thread going on this topic.

In the trade-off between civil liberties and national security, Obama chooses civil liberties - for terrorists. National security be damned.

I wrote yesterday on the debacle that having the KSM trial in New York would be. Today, in the Wall Street Journal, former Justice Department official John Yoo has an excellent piece on the intelligence bonanza the trial will be for al Qaeda. His main point: "The treatment of the 9/11 attacks as a criminal matter rather than as an act of war will cripple American efforts to fight terrorism."

This decision takes us back to a pre-9/11 mindset; you'll hear that phrase over and over, and it will probably lose its meaning as things do when you hear them too often. But stop and think about this one. We're treating an act of war as a criminal matter now.

As I said yesterday, KSM and his attorneys will be entitled to know what information the government has on him and how we got it. Yoo points out that "During the 1993 World Trade Center bombing trial of Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman (aka the "blind Sheikh"), standard criminal trial rules required the government to turn over to the defendants a list of 200 possible co-conspirators. In essence, this list was a sketch of American intelligence on al Qaeda. According to Mr. McCarthy, who tried the case, it was delivered to bin Laden in Sudan on a silver platter within days of its production as a court exhibit."

There will be no way around this. It will happen again. This will compromise all of our intelligence efforts to date on al Qaeda.

Yoo also adds: "For a preview of the KSM trial, look at what happened in the case of Zacarias Moussaoui, the so-called 20th hijacker who was arrested in the U.S. just before 9/11. His trial never made it to a jury. Moussaoui's lawyers tied the court up in knots."

To those that say that the American justice system can handle such a trial and that we've done it before, I say you're missing the point. The point is that you simply cannot treat an act of terrorism on Americans as a criminal matter. It was an act of war and must be treated as such. To drag KSM and all of the evidence into a courtroom is the most an incredibly dangerous thing to Americans that Obama could do.

This decision has simply got to be political suicide for Obama. I can not figure out why he would make such a hugely unpopular choice and one that he knows full well puts America right back in al Qaeda's crosshairs.

Many of us have been questioning his love for America from day one; this just reinforces that opinion in my mind. He should take every effort possible to keep America safe from another terrorist attack. He has not done so in this case.

The 2009 Weblog Awards

Huge thanks to Ruby Slippers who nominated this blog in the 2009 Weblog Awards! I honestly do not understand Technorati's method for ranking authority anymore. But, I'm humbled by the nomination and I thank you!

As the Gitmo Saga Continues, All Eyes on Thomson, Illinois

In the ongoing saga of what to do with the Gitmo detainees, since Obama insists the "model prison" at Guantanamo be shuttered, the latest target is the small town of Thomson, Illinois.

Thomson Correctional Center was completed in 2001 at a cost of $145 million, and sits about 150 miles west of Chicago, right on the Illinois border. It is a primarily maximum security prison that has remained largely unoccupied with the exception of the 200 bed minimum security unit. The town of Thomson has mixed feelings about the potential of housing Gitmo prisoners.

The Chicago Tribune went to The Sunrise Restaurant and a local pizza joint and took the pulse of several regulars there to gauge the town's reaction to the news. The general consensus seems to be that people just want the prison to be used and consider it a waste of government money for it to just sit empty. Small businesses and restaurants opened in Thomson in anticipation of the prison operating at full capacity and many of those have already given up the ghost and moved on.

Thomson Village President Jerry Hebeler displays an alarming naivete in speaking about the terrorists soon to be his neighbors when he says, "A murderer is a murderer no matter where he's from. That's the way I look at it." That is, I think, the crux of the misunderstanding about this whole business. You can't treat terrorists like common criminals because they aren't.

In fact, if this photo is of the maximum security cell at Thomson, a great deal of retrofitting will need to be done, because as they discovered at Gitmo, there are at least 15 potential weapons in this picture.

It would seem that many in Thomson are willing to exchange national security for a local economic impact.

Illinois Republicans aren't so enthusiastic about the idea. Representative Mark Kirk, a five-term congressman, says in a letter to the Illinois congressional delegation that "our state and the Chicago metropolitan area will become ground zero for Jihadist terrorist plots, recruitment and radicalization."

Republican Representative Donald Manzullo opposes the move, saying "The issue is: 'Are you going to exchange the promise of jobs for national security?' National security trumps everything."

Today, on Fox News Sunday, Mitch McConnell said, "I can't imagine the people of Illinois would like to have these prisoners incarcerated in their state. There may be some local officials who are going to support it, but I expect it will be a huge issue up in Illinois, probably in the U.S. Senate race up there next year."

There is also the question of legality. Can the prisoners legally be brought to U.S. soil, the very country they vowed to destroy. Currently, federal law prohibits bringing them here simply for detention. These would have to be prisoners that the administration intends to prosecute, unless legislation is changed.

The Thomson site is not a "done deal" as they say. Obama officials are planning to tour the prison this week and are also looking at other sites. Standish Max in Michigan has been mentioned, again, with mixed reactions from the community.

It still seems a bonehead idea to me, to close a "well run professional facility" simply because it has become a "black eye" for America, as Susan Estrich called it today. This administration is too concerned with what the world thinks about is, what with Obama going about bowing to emperors and kings, and apologizing for America from one end of the globe to the other. He cares little to none about what Americans think, or apparently, for national security.

Ignoring the advice of experts such as Michael Mukasey, who railed against the decision to bring Khalid Sheik Mohammed to the United States for trial, the administration continues to march toward the cliff's edge.

Mukasey said, "The plan seems to be to abandon the view that we are at war." Indeed, this administration seems to think sticking their collective heads in the sand is the way to victory. Ignore all expert advice (and the advice of your generals on the ground, for that matter) and full steam ahead.

National security be damned.

"A Mind-Numbingly Misguided Decision"

Jennifer Rubin calls the Obama move to bring Khalid Sheik Mohammed to New York for trial a "mind-numbingly misguided decision."

Listening to the chatter about this decision on the Sunday talk shows, it's clear that discussion on this decision revolves around several fronts: the circus-like atmosphere it will create, the increased potential for a terrorist attack to New York, and the bounty of classified information that such a trial will afford the terrorist community.

First consider the circus that the KSM trial will be. It will make the O. J. Simpson trial of fourteen years ago look mild by comparison. If you just consider the O.J. trial as an example, you can assume that with KSM, the drama will begin from the moment he is moved from Guantanamo. In an equivalent showing to the O.J. slow-speed car chase, will we have to watch the transport of KSM as they drive him through the streets of New York to his new federal cell? When Bernie Madoff was driven to the courtroom, the television cameras were right there for every stoplight and every left turn.

It will only get worse from there. The O.J. trial dominated television for eight months. the KSM trial will certainly do the same. Will the there be television cameras in the courtroom? The prosecutors and defense attorneys will all become celebrities, books will follow. The judge will become a household name. And what of the risks to all of their families? Any attempt to keep identities secret would be short lived.

Remember the O.J. t-shirt vendors? The people holding posters and signs? The satellite trucks and media talking heads at every turn?

Multiply that by 2,819 and you'll get an idea what the KSM circus will be.

By my estimation, this will all begin to unfurl as the 2010 elections heat up; what a bounty for Republican candidates to use in their campaigns.

Mayor Bloomberg says that New York can handle such a trial. Via Politico:

“I support the Obama Administration’s decision to prosecute 9/11 terrorists here,” Bloomberg said. “It is fitting that 9/11 suspects face justice near the World Trade Center site where so many New Yorkers were murdered. We have hosted terrorism trials before, including the trial of Omar Abdel-Rahman, the mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.”

Bloomberg expressed no concerned that the trial will make the city a bigger target for terrorists.

“I have great confidence that the NYPD, with federal authorities, will handle security expertly. The NYPD is the best police department in the world and it has experience dealing with high-profile terrorism suspects and any logistical issues that may come up during the trials,” Bloomberg said.

Bloomberg is concerned, and rightly so, with the security issue. While it's true that New York has been increasing their terrorist detection threats over the past eight years, why on earth should the citizens of New York have to deal with such a threat at all? Haven't they been through enough? The city was outraged at the insensitivity of the Air Force One flyover for a photo op in April of this year. What in the world will come out of Pandora's box with KSM in town?

With regard to the issue of classified information, KSM will certainly request and be entitled to receive documents and information about the government's case against him. He and his attorneys will have access to hundreds of classified documents which will be a bonanza to the jihadists waiting in the wings. To assume that the information won't get leaked or transmitted is naive.

Jennifer Rubin is correct. This is an incredibly mind-numbing decision. Poor taste, poor leadership, and poor management. KSM should be left to the military commissions and there is no good reason why he shouldn't be. This decision seems to indicate that military commissions are incapable, which in itself is an insult.

The final insult that Attorney General heaps upon us with this news is that he made this decision on his own. Are we to believe for one millisecond that Obama wasn't involved in this? That Holder unilaterally made a decision that means political suicide for his boss? If so, expect Holder to go under the bus soon.

I'm betting you won't see that.

The 2009 Highland Jazz and Blues Festival

The 2009 Highland Jazz and Blues Festival is in the books! Liz Swain reports that the crowd count this year was 10,000 and with the perfect weather we had today it is not a surprise.

Steve and I got there early, about half an hour before kickoff, and we secured a nice sunny spot on a hill in front of the main pavilion. The first band on that stage was Robin and the Bluebirds. Most locals are familiar with The Bluebirds; they're longtime favorites around here, and Robin, Jerry Beach's daughter, is a nice addition. As they played, the park started to fill in with folks and by the end of the day it was packed.

I think there were almost as many dogs as there were people. I took some pictures of dogs as you will see here. Steve and I are both dog lovers and trust me, we saw everything from tiny teacup chihuahuas to Mastiffs and Great Danes, and everything in between. Here is The Shreveport Times Photo Gallery.

There were dogs, little kids, old people, young people, middle aged people, aging hippies, people in wheelchairs, on walkers, and Junior Leaguers. There was also a parrot. It was a huge block party.

One of the things I love about this event is people watching. I took a picture of this couple because I thought they looked right out of the 60s. They were cute and having a grand time!

Steve and I spent most of the day parked in our spot, Steve in a lawn chair and me on my LSU blanket, but from time to time we'd get up and walk to the other end of the park to the gazebo stage where there was always another band playing. A. J. Haynes and the Monkey Business was great - this girl had a voice to die for! Professor Porkchop was also at the gazebo stage earlier in the day and I'm a fan of Chris McCaa from way back. Louisiana funk.

Another wonderful thing about this event is that you always run into somebody you know but haven't seen for years. And there were, as usual, food vendors and artists again this year and it seems that each year it grows. I hit the beer booth a few times and we sampled some bacon cheese fries. I also hit the Aidan's Place booth - greatest homemade granola EVAH and I don't even like granola. This is seriously good stuff.

The main event of the day was The Rebirth Brass Band from New Orleans. I think that's what a lot of folks came out to see, but in truth, the entire lineup was so great, who could tell. I can tell you that Rebirth electrified the place! By that time, the gazebo stage wrapped up and so everyone at that end of the park came down to the pavilion end. And most of them were in front of the stage dancing!

The Highland Jazz and Blues Festival is, I think, representative of Shreveport in that Shreveport has a huge musical heritage. Shreveport has produced an incredible list of musical talent through the years, from the Louisiana Hayride and one of Elvis Presley's first appearances to Jimmy Burton, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Hank Williams, Jr., Van Cliburn, Huddie Ledbetter, Kix Brooks, just to name a few. Not to mention lots of locally famous folks like Buddy Flett, Hassell Teekell, Michael Grady, Dennis Zimmerman, Mikki Honeycutt, among others.

The Highland Jazz and Blues Festival needs help to keep going, though. Budget cuts have put the future of the festival in jeopardy. They have relied on grants from SRAC and NIP, in the past, to help fund the event, but this year those grants weren't there. So the organizers had to dip into savings to fund the event and now the savings is gone. Throughout the festivities today, Liz Swain called for donations and the crowd responded, but if the event is going to happen again next year, we all need to dig into our pockets and contribute.

As Mayor Glover said today, after writing his own $500 personal check, it's not just for the Highland area, it's for Shreveport.

So all you locals that are reading, dig in and send them some cash! Even if you aren't local and just want to support the arts, here is the link. And I'm pledging that for the next thirty days, anything that lands in my tip jar will go directly to the Highland Jazz and Blues Festival.

All in all it was a grand time and I hate you missed it! Here's a video I shot of Rebirth, so you can see what you missed:



Update: Here is the link to The Shreveport Times write up.
Here is the link to my Flickr photos.

Jammin To Rebirth

Full Metal Jacket Saturday: The Highland Jazz and Blues Festival Edition

I can't linger long this morning folks; I've got to get ready to go lay in the sun in the park and listen to some funky music which will be a much needed break from the insane, and I do mean insane, news cycle this week.

If you live anywhere around here, come on down to Columbia Park and enjoy the sixth annual Highland Jazz and Blues Festival today where the fantastic New Orleans Rebirth Live Brass Band will be perform. There will be two stages (which is not always good if you want to hear both acts), including Robin & the Bluebirds, Professor Porkchop & the Dirty Dishes, A.J. Cascio & the Two-Tone Blues Band and Total Choice.

Lots of vendors will be on scene as well; everything from arts and crafts to food and beer. You can eat taco soup, chicken spaghetti, funnel cakes, turkey legs, onion rings, gumbo, sample Jamaican fare from The Burning Spear cafe, Indian food, or Italian food from The Market Street Bistro.

So, I've got to gather my blanket, a couple of lawn chairs, some cash, my camera and Steve, and get on over to the park. While I'm gone, check out some great linkage:

Start out with Jules Crittenden today who marks the forty-fourth anniversary of the first major engagement between the U.S. and North Vietnamese. An excerpt:

Two good friends, Larry Gwin and John Eade, were there with 2/7 Cav, choppered in to reinforce 1/7 Cav at LZ X-ray and then marched five miles to LZ Albany. Another friend, Joe Galloway, was a war correspodent who had attached himself to a unit he correctly anticipated would see action. Gwin (Silver Star, Purple Heart) wrote about it in Baptism: A Vietnam Memoir. He is now writing a sequel about the long, difficult process of recovering his life in the aftermath of horrific combat.

Read the whole thing.

Carolyn Tackett went to the Tea Party Express event in Orlando where she had a great time, posted lots of pictures, and found Stacy McCain. Stacy has posted video from the event.

Doug Ross has a powerful post in which the punchline is: "No President -- not Lincoln, not Wilson, not Roosevelt, not Kennedy -- no President has ever granted POWs and enemy combatants the rights of U.S. citizens and the comforts of the federal criminal justice system." Amen to that.

Reaganite Republican has a great post on the the insurance mandate and whether or not it's constitutional.

Red invites you to Support The Bravest. And you should.

Professor Jacobson nearly ruined my dinner when I read this post last night. NEVER check your Google reader right after a ribeye dinner.

Pundette has the video of Rudy Giuliani going nuclear over the 9/11 terrorists coming to America. I'm right with him. Jimmie Bise has some thoughts on the subject as well. Political suicide comes to mind.

No Sheeples Here posts on Obama cleaning Republicans out of their civil service administration jobs.

Ruby Slippers has a Southpark parody of Glenn Beck.

Donald Douglas covers the Carrie Prejean sex tape story.

Greg Craig is getting a new tattoo! Grandpa John has the scoop.

Wyblog writes about 12,000,000 new American citizens. All Democrats to be sure. Another Black Conservative makes note of the same story. Americans revolt!

Kiss My Gumbo has a great Armistice Day video from the events at the WWII museum in New Orleans this week.

The Daley Gator has a great round-up when you're done with mine!

Generation Patriot joins those of us who had to rant this week. So is Honesty in Motion. It's becoming a common thread and I think people have had enough. 2010 better hurry up.

Left Coast Rebel has had enough of Oba Mao.

And here's what I'm listening to today - meet Professor Porkchop:



Hutch: This one is for you:

Kickin' Back Now

I just can't stand to watch the news anymore today. Steve knows it too, so he's rescuing me from myself and we're headed out for some cocktails on the deck at the club on base. Watch a few leaves fall. Have something to drink. Kick back.

Tomorrow is the Highland Jazz and Blues fest and I CAN'T WAIT! So fun! The weather is supposed to be gorgeous.

We've also got a great Veteran's Celebration going on tomorrow at Fair Grounds Field where the Red River Tea Party and friends are hosting a great celebration and lots of live music. I wish I could be two places at once.

I'm committed to the Highland gig so that's where I'll be. Here's the link to the Times write up today. Can't WAIT to see the Rebirth Brass Band! Woot!

Coming to America

Are you kidding me?! Who in the hell is running this country?

Khalid Sheik Mohammed -- the self-proclaimed mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks -- and four co-defendants will be tried in federal court in New York instead of a military commission, a federal official said Friday morning.

This is a very bad, very dangerous decision. Stop for a moment and imagine the circus that this will be. How long before KSM lawyers up, with some of the best New York lawyers no doubt, and half the evidence is tossed out. As soon as he gets here he'll be the grateful recipient of a host of Constitutional rights.

For the record, the 9/11 families are against this and believe that these guys should be tried in military courts. They have appealed, fruitlessly it would seem, to Obama not to bring them to the United States or provide them United States Constitutional rights, "a social compact of which they are not a part, do not recognize, and which they seek to destroy."

Like I said last night, every day it's a new ambush by this administration. Your world just became a whole lot less safe today.

A Mild Rant

What kind of world did I wake up in? I'm just dumbfounded on a daily basis about what is going on in this country.

I think this Fort Hood massacre has pushed my last button. As more and more information comes out about it I have to wonder what idiot was asleep at the wheel and decided this guy was not only okay to be in the military but also decided he was a competent mental health professional?

He killed thirteen people, fourteen if you aren't so politically correct that you can count the unborn child, yet we can't call this terrorism. He's got "Soldier of Allah" on his damn business card, for crying out loud! He may have been wiring part of his $90,000 salary to Pakistan. He tried to contact al Qaeda and the FBI knew about it. There's more, but the more I read about this, the more I want to explode! How could people have ignored this? How could they have been so wrapped up in not wanting to offend the Muslim community that this guy got a pass?

And Obama's response? He tells us not to "jump to conclusions." How many more facts does he need before he draws the most obvious conclusion? Let's see: if I, a normal citizen, had tried to contact al Qaeda, wired money to Pakistan, and had Soldier of Allah on my business card, do you think my principal might have looked at me with a critical eye? Or the FBI would have? Would that have raised any red flags? I'm a teacher. How long before folks would have been writing letters to the editor about me trying to corrupt the young minds of my students?

I don't understand our world anymore. Obama's mechanical response following the Fort Hood shootings was just embarrassing. He appeared at a previously scheduled function, gave a shout out at a tribal leaders conference, then mechanically announces the news of the shooting. He did not go to Fort Hood that day. Or the next. Or the next. In fact, it was five days before he and Michelle went, which is when he gave a speech that sent Obamabots into a new leg-tingling frenzy.

In contrast you have George W. Bush, who I admit, I had disagreements with, but compared to Obama, he's a class act. George and Laura quietly went to Fort Hood to grieve with and console those who were affected. No press. No media event. Caroline Glick said it best here. GWB, you must admit, love him or hate him, he has a love and compassion for our brethren in uniform.

But it's not just Fort Hood that has sent me over the brink. The entire health care debate has sent me into apoplexy and it was cap and trade before that, and the election in general before that. It was the apology tours, and the indifference by our administration to the Iranians protesting for freedom. It's Guantanamo and Afghanistan and a million other things. Snubbing Britain. Embracing our enemies. Arrogance. Smugness. Indifference.

What baffles me most is that there are still so many people that idolize this Obama person and either have no clue what he's doing to this country, or they do and they are of the same school that he is and they, too, believe that America is guilty of a multitude of international and historical sins and have taken it upon themselves to rewrite the mission of this country from a federalist, strong emphasis on the individual, capitalistic society to an entitlement and government-dependent zone.

The day after the House passes the job-killing, crushing-mandate-entitlement package that is Pelosicare, the one that is going to increase everybody's taxes to oblivion, the bill that will single handedly do more to destroy this country than almost any other in recent history, if EVER, there are still people saying, "I love my President!" as if he's just done something great. It's not great, people. Nothing about this health care bill is great. NOTHING! That's not my partisan mouth speaking - it's the TRUTH. Read the bill!

And you know what Queen Nancy said today about her bill? That she thinks it's entirely fair if you go to jail because you don't want to buy into her plan. You no longer have the right to decide that you don't want to buy a product.

Okay so say you don't mind paying 60% of your income in taxes to support this man's socialist agenda. Oh wait. Can't say "socialism" anymore because that word turns the liberals off. They don't like it. It has become ineffective. But say you don't mind carrying a tax burden so that the downtrodden can have inferior health care just like all the rest of us will have. I say inferior because there's no way this plan can't lead to rationing. Doesn't the fact that Congress won't make it mandatory for themselves tell you anything?

Do you actually believe Obama when he tells you that you'll get to keep your coverage? Are you that naive?

Do you actually believe that the world will like us better and the Islamofascists will quit trying to kill us if we close Guantanamo? What will be gain by doing that? What will we gain by bringing Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to a United States Federal Prison? Have you thought about what we will lose?

I realize I am rambling incoherently here. That's the way my brain feels right now - like a bunch of live-wires short-circuiting, waving about and spitting sparks all over the place. I wasn't really a babbling idiot until I read Andrew Sullivan this afternoon. Big mistake. Sullivan praises Obama for dithering on Afghanistan. Against my better judgment, I quote:

What strikes me about this is the enormous self-confidence this reveals. Here is a young president, prepared to allow himself to be portrayed as "weak" or "dithering" in the slow and meticulous arrival at public policy. He is trusting the reality to help expose what we need to do. He is allowing the debate - however messy and confusing and emotional - to take its time and reveal the real choices in front of us.

Har! "Reveal the real choices in front of us" like the Magic-freakin' 8-Ball. Get a Ouija board, Barack. This corner "yes," that corner "no." Oh yes, Mr. Sullivan, Obama is making such a sacrifice, right? Allowing "himself to be portrayed as 'weak' or 'dithering'" Never mind that he IS weak and dithering and all our enemies know it.

Sullivan misses the whole point. This decision isn't really about "politics." It's not about Obama or his poll numbers. It's about war. About lives. About our soldiers, sons, brothers, fathers, mothers, sisters, in Afghanistan waiting for reinforcements, which they requested months ago, from a man who is currently on a 9 day trip to Asia, thank you. Will get back to you later.

Back to my long ago original point...it just strikes me every now and then that I'm in a whole new world. Before November 4, I didn't worry about losing my health coverage. I didn't worry a great deal about our national security, at least, not the way I do now. I didn't wonder why our Attorney General is going to speak to CAIR. Or why we're going to close a model prison just because it upsets some people that want to kill us. I didn't worry about a Cap and Trade system that's going to make my energy bills skyrocket while doing no real good for the environment.

It's like every single day I have to wake up and check the news for the next new ambush. How is he going to embarrass us, endanger us, or break us today? And you write about it, you blog, you talk to people, and then I get some pissant who tells me I don't ever say anything nice about "Our President" or how I should "give him a chance." A chance to do WHAT exactly? Dither longer? Endanger us more? Humiliate us more?

I can't keep silent about what I'm seeing because if we just sit back silently and watch, we'll be smothered. We'll lose our country. YES, it's that dire!

If you're still here, thanks for sticking around. Every once in a while, I gotta let it out (I know that wasn't proper English - so sue me.)

I'll try to remember what Scarlett said. "Tomorrow is another day."

2010 is coming, and 2012 soon after that.

A Rant is Simmering

I'm fighting the urge for a huge rant. It's simmering beneath the surface and I've been squashing it for a few days. It started a few days ago when a commenter accused me of never saying anything nice about the president. That's a rant in itself, but it's all mushing into one, now.

Then Fort Hood happened.

And now Obama is saying that he doesn't like any of the suggestions offered to him so far on Afghanistan. Like the king sending food back to the kitchen: "Bring me another!"

Since there is no war on terrorism anymore, and since nobody is calling the actions at Fort Hood an act of terrorism (which it was), here is Victor Davis Hanson who has the guts to say what it is:

Every few months either an Islamic-inspired terrorist plot will be foiled, or a young Muslim male will shoot, run down, or stab someone while invoking anger at non-Muslims. In other words, the attack on Fort Hood happened on schedule. It was the rule, not the exception. And something like it will occur again — soon.

His point is, of course, that we've gone back to a pre-9/11 mindset. I'm having deja vu from the Clinton years.