Watching President Obama feign outrage over the AIG bonuses that his own legislation authorized, I am amazed afresh at the man's contempt for (1) the truth and (2) the American people. Quite obviously, our President believes that we, the citizens of this blessed land, are a bunch of mouth-breathing dumbasses who will unquestioningly swallow whatever he tells us, however transparently false. Now it's true of course that there are plenty of dumbasses in America…but it looks to me as though most of them are working for the Obama Administration.

Posted by tmg110 at 8:45 PM EDT

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Among his countless campaign promises, Barack Obama assured us that he would provide this country’s wounded and injured military veterans with better care than they ever got during the reign of the wicked Bush.

And here’s how the President plans to make good on that promise: “he intends to force private insurance companies to pay for the treatment of military veterans with service-connected disabilities.”

Not surprisingly, David Rehbein, the head of the American Legion, was outraged when he received this news from Barack Obama personally during a meeting on Monday. As he so aptly observes in an opinion piece for the Wall Street Journal, “According to the U.S. Constitution, it is the president and Congress who send troops in harm's way, not the CEO of Blue Cross Blue Shield.” The care of veterans with service-connected disabilities is a sacred national responsibilty that the American people are more than willing to accept. This attempt to bully private insurers into paying the bill is a cheap political stunt, unworthy of a great nation. But perhaps it accurately reflects the mind-set of the Obama Administration.

Incidentally, this proposal is also extremely bad politics. Did the President really not understand how the story would come across? When I first heard about it, I assumed that it was the brain-dead notion of some obscure bureaucrat. I was amazed—simply amazed—to discover that President Obama himself was pitching the idea to the head of the American Legion. What the hell is wrong with this guy?

Posted by tmg110 at 9:08 AM EDT

Updated: Wednesday, 18 March 2009 9:29 AM EDT

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Not only do the gods punish hubris, they do it with a snide sense of humor. How else to account for the Obama Administration’s latest pratfall?

There was President Obama, whipping himself into a fine populist fury over bonuses that were paid to executives of troubled insurance giant AIG, a recipient of many billions of bailout dollars, courtesy of the American taxpayer. Shock! Outrage! This will not stand! Except…except…the bonuses in question were perfectly legal and aboveboard—authorized, in fact, by an amendment to the President’s recently passed “stimulus” bill. This amendment was inserted at the instigation of the ever-helpful Sen. Chris Dodd, Democrat of Connecticut.

There is always the excuse that congressional Democrats (and a few foolish Republicans) didn’t know what they were voting for, and that the President didn’t know what he was signing. Somehow, though, I doubt that the American people would find an excuse along these lines to be particularly reassuring. So probably the President and his claque will continue to fulminate, counting on their pals in the mainstream media to throw sawdust on this pile of political manure.

Posted by tmg110 at 8:48 AM EDT

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The global warming mob now finds itself in the awkward position of believing in something that is contradicted by the latest scientific evidence, e.g. data showing that there has been no atmospheric warming for the past 15 years. It’ll be interesting to see how the mob reacts. I predict that the evidence will be totally ignored—even when a cold wind smacks it in the faces of the mob, as happened during the great global warming protest march in Washington, DC, on March 2. (The capital received six inches of snow.)

Posted by tmg110 at 9:01 AM EDT

Updated: Tuesday, 17 March 2009 9:10 AM EDT

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On Sunday morning in the parking lot of my parish church, you can usually find three or four vehicles sporting Obama ’08 bumper stickers. How faithful Catholics could possibly have supported the pro-abortion Democratic candidate was, and remains, a good question. People do have a remarkable ability to compartmentalize their thinking. And I suppose that Obama’s implied promise to federalize compassion possessed a certain appeal. We’re all very busy nowadays. Why take the time and trouble to suffer with the wretched of the earth when you can outsource your charitable obligations to some faceless bureaucracy? No one thinks that God is dead, exactly. In the Age of Obama, He’s merely awaiting Senate confirmation.

It’s one of the sad signs of our time that people—good, compassionate people especially—look to government for the fulfillment of Christ’s social teaching. Almost every Sunday, we pray during Mass that “political leaders” will show us the way to a “just society.” Talk about the triumph of faith over experience! Better we should pray simply that our "political leaders" do no harm.

Posted by tmg110 at 8:36 AM EDT

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Here’s something that doesn’t really surprise me. Despite the fact that not one single member has so much as a smidgen of auto industry experience, the White House auto task force feels that it now has its arms around Detroit’s problems. As the Detroit News puts it: “After a three-week crash course filled with meetings and presentations from executives, suppliers, consultants, dealers, analysts, prospective merger partners and politicians—sometimes at the rate of six or seven a day—task force members appear to have a solid grasp of the extent and complexity of the industry's difficulties.”

Well, I’m sure that they appear to have a “solid grasp” on the auto industry’s problems, but the probability that they actually possess a clue hovers somewhere around zero. But when this task force finally transforms the industry into a limping, taxpayer-supported ward of the state, there will no doubt be high fives all around.

Posted by tmg110 at 6:38 AM EDT

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This is becoming ridiculous:

Democratic sources say that H. Rodgin Cohen, a partner in the New York law firm Sullivan & Cromwell LLP, and the leading candidate for Deputy Treasury Secretary, has withdrawn from consideration.

It's the third withdrawal of a top Treasury Department staff pick in less than a week.

Seems that Mr. Cohen may have had a tax problem. So here we are, with the financial industry in a funk and the economy in the dumpster—and The Greatest President Who Absolutely Ever Was can't even manage to find qualified candidates to run the Treasury Department! The incompetence is stunning. It's simply stunning. Imagine what Democrats would be saying in response to such a bumbling, stumbling, absolutely embarrasing performance by a Republican administration. But when the Messiah messes up, all they can do is clear their throats and shuffle their feet…

Posted by tmg110 at 7:44 PM EDT

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Writing in the Wall Street Journal, Karl Rove comments on the vapidity of the Obama Administration's recent assault on Rush Limbaugh:

Was it smart politics and good policy? No. For one thing, it gave the lie to Barack Obama's talk about ending "the political strategy that's been all about division" and "the score-keeping and the name-calling." The West Wing looked populated by petulant teenagers intent on taking down a popular rival. Such talk also shortens the president's honeymoon by making him look like a street-fighting Chicago pol instead of an inspirational, unifying figure. The upward spike in ratings for Rush and other conservative radio commentators shows how the White House's attempt at a smackdown instead energized the opposition.

Well, yes, but I would add that Operation Hush Rush was yet another example of outright lying by Team Obama. After all, the claim that Limbaugh is "the leader of the Republican Party" was presented as a statement of fact. But all my attempts to verify this statement have come to naught. Despite making the most diligent inquiries, I've found no evidence that Limbaugh was elected party leader by the Republican National Committee, or that he was recognized as such by the GOP congressional caucus, or that polls of Republicans have shown him to be the party's acknowledged leader. On the other hand, I've uncovered a great deal of evidence to the effect that Limbaugh has over the years been a severe critic of the GOP—when he thought that the GOP was doing wrong.

It's no surprise to me that Obama and the people around him are such blatant and shameless liars. During the 2008 campaign they were conditioned by a fawning media to believe that they could always get away with it. But now, little by little, people are beginning to notice that the Messiah's halo has a distinct tendency to flicker.

Posted by tmg110 at 8:58 AM EDT

Updated: Thursday, 12 March 2009 7:44 PM EDT

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A serving soldier of my acquaintance comments on President Obama's promise to close Gitmo even though he has no idea what to do with the 250-odd Islamofascist mass murderers who currently reside there: "Retarded."

Perhaps I could have said it better, but I don't really think so.

Posted by tmg110 at 7:55 PM EDT

Updated: Wednesday, 11 March 2009 8:03 PM EDT

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One of the chief distinguishing characteristics of contemporary progressivism is its inability to connect the dots. The instant some pet project lands on the progressive agenda, reason and logic go out the window.

A prime example of this reluctance to face reality is progressivism's attitude toward wind and solar power. Having convinced themselves that such power sources are both clean and free, progressives simply ignore all the obvious environmental and economic objections to wind and solar, e.g that they require enormous stretches of land, and that the power they generate is many times more expensive than power from coal, oil or nuclear sources.

The Austin (Texas) City Council just approved a $250 million solar power project requiring 300 acres of land for 177,000 solar panels that are expected to generate about 30 megawatts of power—on days when the sun is shining brightly, anyhow. Estimated cost of this power: 16.5¢ per kilowatt hour, versus 9.5¢ per kilowatt hour for power from conventional generating plants. Obviously, the Austin City Council is not controlled by conservative Republicans.

Posted by tmg110 at 8:48 AM EDT

Updated: Tuesday, 10 March 2009 6:42 PM EDT

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