December 6th, 2010
I haven’t been covering the Wikileaks story much because, well, there’s just too much to cover. Obviously, many people in charge of government data security need to be fired.
Dr. Alieta Eck of Association of American Physicians and Surgeons points out that the same people who couldn’t keep secret diplomatic cables private are asking you to trust them with their medical information:
In ObamaCare, the federal government is offering every physician $44,000 in taxpayer dollars to set up a new electronic medical record system. And if this is not enough of an incentive, Medicare is threatening to cut doctors’ pay in the next few years if they do not sell out their patients’ privacy. One of the specifications will be that these records be accessible online to “authorized users,” most notably the government. We are promised very strict privacy measures so that the records can never fall into the wrong hands. Oh, really?
(snip)
So why does the government want to see your medical records? Might it be planning to limit your care once you reach a certain age or develop a certain level of mental deficiency? Knowledge of recent history suggests that governments can use such information to blackmail and smear those considered troublemakers or enemies of the state. Now it is offering to pay for access, but later the government could make your doctor’s license to practice medicine dependent on complying with the EMR mandate. History tells us it is not a good thing when a government has total control of physicians.
(snip)
Do not depend on the government to protect your medical records. Under ObamaCare, the government seeks the right to mine your most private information just as it wants to peer under your clothing in the airport. This is another important reason why ObamaCare must be repealed.
Just think, thanks to ObamaCare, your private medical records will soon be treated with the absolute sanctity afforded the tax records of the Koch Brothers or Joe the Plumber.
Tags: Alieta Eck, Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, Joe the Plumber, Koch Brothers, ObamaCare, Wikileaks
Posted in ObamaCare | 1 Comment »
December 3rd, 2010
This is an interesting piece by Glen Bolger on why Republicans will enjoy a house majority for at least the next four years. There are several statistical reasons:
- Presidents who win re-election have small coattails, at best.
- Republicans picked up 9 House seats the year Bush 43 won reelection, but Democrats lost 35 seats when Carter got creamed by Reagan.
- State legislative gains have given Republicans extensive control over redistricting. In 1981, Republicans only controlled redistricting for 55 House seats, while Democrats controlled it for 225 seats. By contrast, next year Republicans will control redistricting for 193 House seats, while Democrats will only control it for 44 seats.
Read the whole thing (it’s short).
(Hat Tip: Jim Geraghty at NRO’s Campaign Spot.)
Tags: Democrats, Elections, Jim Geraghty, Redistricting, Republicans
Posted in Democrats, Elections, Republicans | No Comments »
December 3rd, 2010
John Lott has more information on Andrew Traver, Obama’s anti-gun nominee to head the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE):
The fact that Mr. Traver uses the same misleading claims as groups such as the Brady Campaign shouldn’t make it too surprising that gun-control groups are applauding his nomination. Nor is Traver’s nomination very surprising after President Obama appointed two strong anti-self-defense members to the Supreme Court. But Mr. Traver’s nomination is dangerous. Making up claims about guns to demonize them is beyond what is acceptable for someone who wants a position in which he will be regulating American gun ownership.
Tags: Assault Weapon, BATFE, Guns, Obama, Sarah Brady
Posted in Guns | 2 Comments »
December 2nd, 2010
I hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving. Now back to a less happy task: rounding up jihad-related news over the last week:
(Hat tip: The usual suspects under “Jihad” on your right.)
As a side note, I would be interested to hear if anyone actually finds these weekly roundups useful. I put these up and get very little feedback on them…
Tags: Bluetooth, Iran, Jihad, Kenya, Muslim, nuclear weapons, Pakistan, rape, Saudi Arabia, This Week in Jihad, UK, Wahhabism
Posted in Foreign Policy, Jihad | 4 Comments »
December 2nd, 2010
No really, he did.
You may scoff, but when you think about it, Obama exhibits a lot of behaviors we’ve come to associate with Blue Dog Democrats:
- He campaigned on fiscal responsibility only to add trillions to the deficit once in office.
- He claimed to be a moderate, but has overwhelmingly supported items on the liberal agenda.
- He continues to support Nancy Pelosi, no matter how far to the left she goes.
- Support for him has all but disappeared across rural and suburban America.
- He’ll lose his next election to a Republican.
(Hat tip: Instapundit.)
Tags: Blue Dog Democrats, Democrats, Nancy Pelosi, Obama
Posted in Democrats, Elections | 1 Comment »
November 30th, 2010
The race between Democratic incumbent Timothy Bishop and Republican challenger Randy Altschuler for New York’s 1st first congressional district is the last undecided House race of 2010.
Bishop is ahead by some 200-odd votes, but Altschuler has been gaining due to absentee and military ballots (despite New York sending troops ballots later than required by law). There are also appears to have been some voting fraud in the race.
I expect this race to see quite a few court days before all is said and done…
Tags: Democrats, Elections, New York, Randy Altschuler, Republicans, Timothy Bishop, voting fraud
Posted in Democrats, Elections, Republicans | No Comments »
November 29th, 2010
Like everyone else, I’m a little slow getting back into the post-Thanksgiving swing of things, so here’s a collection of links:
- Good to see Harry Reid spending all his time
focusing on the economy trying to force right to work states to unionize policemen and firefighters. Because those of us in red states suffer so terribly from a lack of strikes…
- Son of Kyoto is effectively dead, mainly because there’s no way in hell the Senate will approve the U.S. doling out tens of billions of dollars in subsidies for the likes of Iran, Cuba, and North Korea.
- One contributing factor may be than many view the media as hopelessly biased on environmental issues.
- Contrary to popular belief that Arizona’s immigration law would alienate Hispanic voters from the Republican Party, Republicans candidates actually did better among Hispanic voters in 2010, garnering 38% of the vote compared to 29% in 2008 and 30% in 2006. “Many Hispanics indeed voted for the very Republican candidates most identified as having a pro-enforcement or anti-amnesty stance. And these Republicans generally did as well as, or better than, the Republicans running for the same positions in the previous election.”
- I knew about Fredric Wertham’s campaign against “immoral” comic books in the 1950s, but until I read this George Will piece about the current moral panic over video games, I never knew he was a left-winger who named a clinic after Karl Marx’s son-in-law and testified on behalf of Ethel Rosenberg.
- Charles Murray on the new elite. Not sure if I linked to it before, but Murray is always worth a second read.
Tags: Border Controls, Charles Murray, Communism, environmentalism, Ethel Rosenberg, Fredric Wertham, George Will, Global Warming, LinkSwarm, moral panics
Posted in Border Control, Communism, Foreign Policy, Global Warming, Republicans | No Comments »
November 27th, 2010
Judge Lynn Hughes has blocked Houston from taking down their red light cameras, pending litigation from vendor American Traffic Solutions. This is after voters voted to have them taken down.
I previously covered Houston’s decision to take down red light cameras here.
Tags: American Traffic Solutions, Houston, red light cameras
Posted in Texas | No Comments »
November 25th, 2010
For those who haven’t heard of him, Joe R. Lansdale is a friend, a mentor, and a hell of a writer. He’s also not a conservative (don’t get him started on Bush 43). But I thought you might appreciate his defense of Walmart from the perspective of someone who grew up in a small east Texas town:
If you’re poor and barely making it, or even if your income is middle-of-the-road, it’s good to get what you need at slashed prices, anytime of the day, seven days a week, in a big, ugly, over-lit store that closes only on Christmas and half a day on Christmas Eve. If you forgot to get a gift card and a six pack of tall boys, you have to think, “To hell with downtown.” What we got now in our downtown are specialty stores that provide things we can’t get at Walmart, like maybe a stuffed deer head for that special place over the mantle. The stuff we really need, hell, it’s at Walmart.
Here’s something else. With Walmart in town, lots of people can be put to work, far more than downtown ever employed. Someone has to run a 24-hour store, check people out, sack groceries, push carts, place stock, work at the McDonald’s sequestered in the back. The workers have all skin colors, not something I saw a lot of downtown, except for immigrants unloading trucks.
Tags: Joe R. Lansdale, Texas, Walmart
Posted in Economics, Texas | No Comments »
November 24th, 2010
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
Sadly, Jihad doesn’t wait for American holidays, so here’s a roundup of related news:
- 13-year old Pakistani girl gang-raped by members of the ruling party for her brother’s involvement in helping another woman get married to the man she loved (rather than an arranged marriage).
- Not wild about the Ground Zero Mosque? You might be paying for it.
- Even The New York Times notices Britain’s jihad schools. All it took was a program on the BBC. Maybe the Beeb could do a piece on how higher taxes and bigger government are actually unpopular among Americans…
- New “anti-bullying” law may just be another way to restrict politically incorrect speech on campus…including criticism of the Religion of Peace.
- Oppressive Middle Eastern regime with ties to terrorist groups stonewalling International Atomic Energy Agency about their nuclear program. Hmmm, for some reason that scenario sounds strangely familiar…
- Hezbollah threatens to take over Lebanon.
- It’s not a surprise when Pakistani officials defend the Taliban, since they were essentially created by the Pakistani ISI. However, it’s a bit more surprising when it comes from the Minister of Tourism.
- Of course, The Pakistani ISI are not to be confused with the Islamic State of Iraq terrorist group, which is currently railing against…Microsoft? (You have to be an MEMRI subscriber to see the full report. I may have to sign up…)
- This week’s winner in Irrational Fatwa Bingo is…blood donations.
- Finally, less a link than a question. Yesterday, in the course of fisking the latest WaPo gun control article, Dwight at Whipped Cream Difficulties linked to this table of law enforcement deaths over the last decade. The odd thing is that it shows 5 police deaths by terrorism in 2007, and despite racking my brain, I can’t think of any terrorist incidents that involved police officers that year. Can anyone figure out how and where those five deaths occured?
Tags: Free Speech, Ground Zero Mosque, honor killing, Jihad, MEMRI, Microsoft, nuclear weapons, Pakistan, Pakistani ISI, rape, Syria, This Week in Jihad, WMD
Posted in Crime, Foreign Policy, Jihad, Media Watch | 2 Comments »