David Forsmark

In the continuing discussion begun with Keith Olbermann’s latest Meltdown over government health care, commenter “Peachy” has been providing excellent commentary.

Probably the most enduring one-line dismissal of government health care is P.J. O’Rourke’s classic– “If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it’s free.”

Yesterday, Peachy, a veteran nurse, scored a similar hit on Obamacare’s notion that government should re-order 1/5 of the U.S economy to solve several small problems like insuring those with low incomes or pre-existing conditions:

“Only a fool burns down the entire house just to change out the lightbulbs”

That’s worth repeating.  Pass it on.  Are you paying attention Republicans?

Lori Ziganto’s post, Feminists Mute on Slut TV, Yet We Have Them to Thank For It, is still generating lots of attention; but last night, prime time television’s big event was even worse than the shows she mentions in her post.

ABC’s The Bachelor (and The Bachelorette) are Slut TV gone mainstream, and possibly worse than Keeping Up With The Kardashians, Rock of Love, The Bad Girls Club and The Real World.

Why?  Because the above cable shows wear the “slut” badge proudly, as though the tramp stamp were tattooed on their foreheads.  They are trashy and proud—but mostly just trashy. read more…

Frequently excellent NewsReal commenter “Peachy” today took on Keith Olbermann’s latest meltdown, this time over the issue of end of life counseling in the Democrat health bill.

Doctors have that conversation on a regular basis NOW, and as one doctor scornfully told me, “There is no billing code for that, and there never should be.”

This, of course, became an issue because Democrats wanted to budget for it in their health bill, meaning that social workers or government workers would become involved in the process.  This led to the famous “Death Panel” Facebook entry from Sarah Palin– and Democrat retreat on the issue.

“Peachy,” a veteran nurse weighed in on my post on the issue:

PEACHY: As a nurse for the past 36 years I listened to the content of Olbermann’s rant and still could not reconcile his frank disconnect between the legal responsibilities between patient, family and physician. The fact that he states that his father is in the ICU and receiving multiple therapies to combat post-operative infections along with the attending organ failure seen in many elderly patients is inconsequential to his Medicare and any supplement insurance that he may have. Decisions regarding care, the choices to advance or reduce levels of care, move from agressive to palliative (comfort measures) care are decisions made both in the past and now by patients, families and physicians everyday in every hospital here. read more…

I understand Ryan Mauro’s inclination to tweak the ACLU and other members of the Coalition of the Unwilling to Defend America and Freedom Network, but it’s hard to tell if his post today is satire, or if he really believes there is no difference between the 2 parties on National Security.

It sure seems like the comment section took him seriously, and started up with self-defeating 3^rd Party talk.  So, in 5 minutes, here are a few I came up with.  Feel free to add your own.

1. Not even rhetorical support for the protesters in the streets of Iran
2. Acknowledgment of the legitimacy of Iran’s “elected” government  (if you don’t think such rhetorical flourishes matter, ask Lech Walesa) read more…

David Swindle pegged both Katrina vanden Heuvel and Van Jones correctly by calling them “neo-communist.”  However, the mainstream-ification of Hurricane Katrina by the lamestream media has been a joke.

Vanden Heuvel, heiress and editor of one of the oldest Marxist rags in America, The Nation, is treated like she’s a “liberal” or my personal favorite, “left leaning” (Michael Moore gets that tag from wimpy editors and writers as well).  Never mentioned are the worlds “radical,” or “Marxist,” much less “communist.”  If “Left” is brought up, the prefix “ultra” is never attached.

She sits on the panel of ABC’s This Week, as though she is merely the counter to the mainstream conservatism of George Will, just another voice of liberal opinion.  It really is a farce.

Imagine the wrinkled noses if Glenn Beck were added to the ABC panel…

In responding to my post Democrat Plan to Jail Interrogators for Being Mean to Terrorists Stopped by Hoekstra, sometime blogger and frequent commenter F. Swemson made the following statement:

“Considering how brazenly dishonest this sociopath is, I’m actually beginning to believe that there might actually be some truth to all those Islamic Manchurian Candidate rumors that we heard prior to his election.”

Of course, after the fast and furious reaction to the insane notion that a CIA interrogator could get 15 years in prison for doiing something “blasphemous” or playing on a prisoner’s “phobias,” the White House is denying all knowledge of the offending McDermott Amendment.

People who believe that, probably believe the “stimulus” has created 2 million jobs.  And, as the few nutbags in the House still willing to back this craziness point out, Obama has already instituted most of the regulations– without the criminal penalties– by Executive Order.

So, back to Swemson’s point.  The question is, if everything the conspiracy theorists said WERE true– How would Barack Obama act any differently?  How could he cause any more damage to the ability to protect and defend the United States? read more…

Apparently, the AP’s penchant for exaggerating terrorist success was not merely an anti-Bush reflex.  Today, this was the lede paragraph in the AP story about Taliban suicide attacks in Kabul:

KABUL (AP) — Insurgents struck Friday at hotels in the heart of Kabul with suicide attackers and a car bomb, killing at least 16 people — half of them foreigners — in an assault that showed the militants remain a potent force despite setbacks on the battlefield and the arrest of more than a dozen key leaders.

Really?  The fact that it takes a coordinated attack with multiple bombs and a car bomb to kill a mere 16 people shows the Taliban is still a “potent force?”  Is Baghdad Bob writing under the pseudonym of Amir Shah and Deb Riechmann?

There are plenty of problems with the war in Afghanistan, including overly restrictive rules of engagement– and NATO forces who are too reluctant to engage at all.  The Taliban may still be a “potent force” as the authors claim– but this is NOT proof of it.

I agree with our blogger John L. Work with every problem he points out in Iraq and Afghanistan; but am not as convinced as he is that the flaws are fatal.

It’s hard to imagine a time or place where terrorists with a plan cannot kill 16 people.  What is the AP’s standard?  Until there are no more attacks, the Taliban is a successful organization?

This kind of coverage encourages more attacks.

And unfortunately, with budget cuts, on the weekend even the Washington Times is dependent on this crap.

For a barometer of how resistant the combat forces of the United States military are to Obama’s push for openly gay members in the ranks; check out the comments of Army Chief of Staff General George Casey to the Senate Armed Services Committee:

CASEY: “I do have serious concerns about the impact of a repeal of the law [Don't Ask Don't Tell] on a force that is fully engaged in two wars and has been at war for eight-and-a-half years.  We just don’t know the impacts on readiness and military effectiveness.”

This might not sound like much, but this is not Douglas MacArthur we’re talking about here.  George Casey is known for public statements that conform with what the Commander-in-Chief wants to hear—or at least what he thinks the CINC wants to hear. read more…