Following immense criticism of the government's lackluster and counterproductive response to the Gulf oil spill, the Obama administration has finally authorized the use of...a blimp.
This is not a blimp that can cap the gushing well, nor is it a blimp which can skim oil. Neither does it warn wildlife away from blighted areas, nor redirect the unceasing flow of contamination.
It is, instead, a slow-moving balloon which will chug-chug-chug along over the ocean and send occasional radio messages to the oil-skimming boats below saying: "Hey, you missed a spot."
Not exactly rocket science but, in fairness, even NASA doesn't engage in rocket science under the Obama administration.
We will also note, because people are frequently confused by the distinction, that it is blimps which are held aloft by helium...and it is Washington which rises above us all solely by hot air.
During the debate over Obamacare, liberals mocked the idea that it would lead to government "Death Panels" which decide who receives life-saving medical care...and who doesn't.
Which is why Barack Obama just used his "recess appointment" power to hire the man who will institute those panels without needing to answer any troublesome confirmation questions.
Dr. Donald Berwick is the new Administrator over Medicare and Medicaid...and he's made it very clear that his goals for those vast programs are based on two main principles: rationing of healthcare and redistribution of wealth.
Berwick is practically orgasmic when describing Britain's National Health Service, which routinely tells patients to go home and die if life-saving treatment is considered too costly. "I am a romantic about the National Health Service," he says. "I love it." He then went on to call the denial-of-care service "such a seductress," which makes us wonder if the good doctor has been tapping into the Viagra samples.
But on a more serious note - in fact, a deadly serious note - Berwick says "The decision is not whether or not we will ration care—the decision is whether we will ration with our eyes open." In other words, the government will be making the decisions about who lives and who dies. Not based on who you are, who you love and who loves you, what you've accomplished or hope to accomplish, or even whether or not you've earned enough to pay for care if it were available.
Instead, care will be given to those who are most cost-effective to heal. And if your longterm prospects aren't good (because you're already old, for instance) you're a bad investment. You will receive, in Obama's words "painkillers instead of pacemakers."
Berwick is equally clear that he dislikes the free market system, and sees "wealth redistribution" as an integral and even desirable component of the Obamacare system.
Let's be clear: Obamacare is driving up the costs of medical procedures...driving up the costs of insurance...and, with the appointment of Berwick, reducing or eliminating healthcare for many who currently have it.
This being the case, the goal of Obamacare is not, and never has been, about either cost control or medical care. It is, in its entirety, a policy solely created for the radical redistribution of wealth.
Dr. Marx will see you now. Leave your valuables on the table.
Attorney General Eric Holder, at the direction of alleged president Barack Obama, has now officially filed a lawsuit against Arizona for attempting to enforce federal immigration laws.
Presumably, the lawsuit will allow the current administration to keep the southern border wide open...even though a recent study shows that illegal immigrants are costing American taxpayers $113 billion each and every year.
Holder's lawsuit argues that Arizona is violating the Constitution (which Holder hasn't actually read, but has heard about on TV) by enforcing federal laws... which should be done only by federal officers.
Oh?
This being the case, all 50 states will now need to instruct their police departments to quickly back away from assisting in the apprehension of people who commit federal crimes, including those who violate the Violence Against Women Act, the Victims of Trafficking Act, or the Matthew Shephard/James Byrd Jr Hate Crimes Prevention Act.
In fact, the crux of the government's case against Arizona is that police officers are committing a breach of law by simply trying to ascertain whether a suspect might be guilty of a federal crime... meaning that state and local cops, just to be safe, should turn their backs on any act of violence that even might rise to a federal level.
In other words, the police can stop your car if you have a burned out tail light...but can't ask why you also have the body of a black man (or woman, or gay) being dragged from your rear bumper.
Most experts expect the case against Arizona to drag on and on... and eventually be lost by the Obama administration. These same experts - conservative and liberal - agree that the entire exercise amounts to pure political posturing from democrats to gain Hispanic votes at any cost.
And in the meanwhile, the president who paints himself as a modern-day Lincoln continues to foment ethnic and racial division and has officially fired the first shot in the New War Between the States.
Once again demonstrating their puckish sense of humor, House democrats have - for the first time ever - decided not to create, propose, or vote on a national budget. Rather, they simply "deemed" that a non-existent budget bill for $1.12 trillion dollars had passed by magic, allowing them to continue their economy-busting spending spree. Whee!
Which got us thinking...if the democrats can simply deem that the untrue is true, why should it stop with budgets?
Why not deem the BP oil leak capped, and the Gulf coastline clean as a whistle? Why not deem full employment and a soaring stock market? Why not deem a cure for cancer, cars that run on distilled water, and pigs that fly?
The reason, of course, is that "deeming" doesn't make anything happen in the real, non-political world.
So $1.12 trillion dollars didn't magically appear when the democrats waved their "deeming" wand...it was simply stolen from taxpayers' pockets, and the pockets of their children and grandchildren.
And that's a trick we've seen before.
NASA Administrator Charles Bolden has revealed that the "foremost" mission Barack Hussein Obama wants him to accomplish is to improve relations with the Muslim world.
Speaking to Al Jazeera on the one year anniversary of the president's trip to Cairo to praise Islam, Bolden said that the president charged him with several tasks...the foremost of which was "he wanted me to find a way to reach out to the Muslim world and engage much more with dominantly Muslim nations to help them feel good about their historic contribution to science and math and engineering."
The president seems to be forgetting that the culture's last historic contribution to aviation science was the discovery of how to fly to New York using only boxcutters.
But aside from that, what kind of madness is going on in the Whitehouse? Why would the president even mention esteem-building for Muslims to NASA's Administrator...let alone make it his top priority?!
This strikes us as being "one small step" too far. Much too far.
It's okay. They're using Moon Rocks.
Not everything presented as "good news" turns out to be good after all. For instance, the government announced that the unemployment rate last month dropped slightly from 9.7% to 9.5%, which Barack Obama cited as proof that his policies are "on the right track!"
The only little flaw in the president's claim is the fact that the drop in unemployment didn't come from people getting jobs, but because another 652,000 people gave up all hope of ever finding a job and stopped looking.
Put another way, the president of "Hope and Change" is now measuring his success in terms of how many people are driven into hopelessness by his anti-business, anti-job policies.
And in further support of the democrats' drive to encourage people to give up, House speaker Nancy Pelosi announced that she believes the best way to create jobs is to extend unemployment benefits. Logic, apparently, is not the same on her planet as it is here on Earth.
But while more and more Americans seem to be giving up on "Hope," an ever-growing number are dedicating themselves to "Change" in November.Now that will be good news.
