Sojourn to the Heartland

Arising from the sea of anxiety about this country's future is an island of optimism. Its name is Tyler, Texas. I traveled there last Thursday, October 22nd, to speak to a feisty, up-and-coming new group called Grassroots America - We the People. The trip was arranged through TOGINET radio, whose CEO and President, John Martin, is revolutionizing internet talk with his lineup of solid conservative programming backed by cutting edge technology.

Things moved pretty fast as soon as I arrived. We drove from the airport straight to the Toginet studios, high atop Toginet Towers overlooking beautiful downtown Tyler. Right away we went into the studio to record a show with the Grassroots America folks. Another interview was scheduled for that evening on another Toginet show, Politically Correct, as well.

While between flights earlier that day, I had participated in a panel discussion by cell phone on Crusade Radio with Lord Christopher Monckton. Lord Monckton is a highly regarded scientist and was the science advisor to British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. He is traversing the United States raising the alarm bell over President Obama’s intention to sign a new global warming treaty at the Copenhagen UN Climate Change Conference in December. He was scheduled to speak to the U.S. Senate later that day, but we managed to get him scheduled for the show that evening. He was a great guest. Listen to the interview by going here and looking for his name under the “Recent Shows” heading on the right side of the page.

We the People

On Friday I spoke at a Grassroots America We the People “Call to Action” luncheon meeting. You can listen to the speech by going to Toginet’s GAWTP radio show, and look for the description of my speech under the “Recent Shows” heading.

Over the past year, the question I have been asked most frequently is, “What can we do?” People are frightened as never before. They are understandably anxious about the future, and as happens so frequently when the answer is not immediately apparent, despair that there may not be an answer.

My frequent response is that just because it is difficult to see the solution does not mean that there isn’t one. Despair never won any fight. Americans have repeatedly shown their ingenuity in the face of crisis throughout history. We may be late to stir, but once awoken are an amazingly resilient, dedicated and resourceful people. This is one of the many fruits of our freedom.

The left recognize this American spirit as a wildcard in the mix and are literally terrified of it. Joe Wilson’s spontaneous “You lie!” response to Barack Obama, and the left’s relentless campaign to discredit him afterward, despite Mr. Obama’s sweeping accusation of Republican lying mere minutes earlier, is one small example.

Grassroots America We the People is a big example of this great American spirit and goes a long way toward answering the question “What do we do?” Founder and President George Stephenson started the group on February 9th of this year as a weekly lunch meeting between himself and one other concerned activist. George had no experience in politics prior to the 2008 elections, when he was chosen as a precinct chairman.

This lunch meeting rapidly grew and attracted the attention of JoAnn Flemming, the formidable former Smith County Commissioner (and current GAWTP Board’s National Executive Director).
Eight months later the organization is 1,500 strong and growing every day. At least twelve other groups in surrounding counties have sprung up, inspired by GAWTP’s example.

GAWTP's strength lies in their focus on precinct level victories and they have created a simple cookie-cutter organizational model that can be replicated across the country. With the slogan, “Unite, Educate, Empower,” they call their strategy the County Model. It correctly recognizes that any successful effort to truly recapture America from the leftists must come from the ground up, and shows others how to do it.

Radical politicians at the national level get all the attention, and hence the focus of our outrage. But if every one were replaced tomorrow, there would still be a federal, state and local political and bureaucratic infrastructure in place dedicated to the same goals.

This destructive nest of termites has to be scoured completely out. They have insinuated themselves into our institutions at every level by stealth and duplicity. Honestly understood, they and their agenda could not survive, and GAWTP has developed the correct pest control formula.

The speech to the Friday GAWTP Call to Action meeting was well received. There was a brisk discussion following the speech and we used all of our allotted time.

Saturday I met with the group again to conduct a more informal, in depth seminar on the Manufactured Crisis Strategy. You can see the entire presentation on Reelsnap.com, here.

Again, the group was interested and animated, and we had an extensive question and answer period that used up all available time. I could have stayed all day talking with these good people.

Southern Hospitality

In addition to providing two days of very successful meetings, the folks in Tyler dished out southern hospitality in Texas-sized proportions. We dined on home-cooked southern dishes and saw the sights.

Our visit culminated with a trip to Gladewater, Texas’ famous Sacred Spur Ranch. Its storied history includes being home to the renowned Buzzard Breath barrel racing arena – the site of many competitions – and a barrel and reigning horse training facility with thirteen World Championships and twenty Reserve World Championships to its credit.

The ranch is also a night hotspot featuring popular country western acts and far and away the best ribs I have ever tasted.

Saturday night’s lineup featured the great Paula Nelson (Willie Nelson’s daughter and a star in her own right), who was at the Ranch to celebrate her birthday. Rudy Mata and the Ranch Hand Band, warmed things up, and Billy Joe Shaver, who Ranch owner Bob Miller called “My favorite songwriter and human being… the real deal… the original honky tonk hero,” closed the night with an unforgettable set.

Toginet Radio records the Saturday concerts held at the Sacred Spur, and this night was no exception. Unlike Blogtalk and other internet radio venues, Toginet (pronounced toh-gee-net) sounds as clear and sharp as FM. Listen to the whole concert! Go here and look for “Paula Nelson’s Birthday Party” under “Recent Shows.”

The show went from 7 pm to sometime past midnight. Present among the crowd was another Toginet celebrity, Eric Williams, the NFL defensive lineman who helped carry the Washington Redskins to Super Bowl history in 1991. Eric retired from football in 1993 and has relocated to Tyler. Now he co-hosts the Toginet radio show, Cowboys and Indians.

Walking among the crowd with his camera ever at the ready for a clandestine shot was the accomplished photographer, Dale Stenbroten. Dale is the owner of SR Studio.net, and has done portraits for such noted stars as Dennis Hopper, Jay Leno and Robert DeNiro. His photography is also featured in national magazines such as Oprah Winfrey’s “O,” Vanity Fair and many others.

With offices already in four locations around the country, Dale was impressed with his visit to Texas and is planning to open a studio in Houston. All photos in this article were provided courtesy of SR Studio.net.

Jim 'n Paula

It was a fantastic night of kick-ass country music and culminated in some entertaining antics. I had told my wife earlier that I was going to be “rubbing elbows” with the rich and famous, in the person of Paula Nelson, to which she replied: “Just make sure you keep it to the elbows.”

Paula is a really good sport and played up the gag to the hilt with this ad-libbed bit of theatre. The other folks in attendance were literally rolling on the ground laughing.

Fire & Brimstone

The morning after “rubbing elbows” with Paula, I felt a pressing need for redemption and hurried off to hear John C. Martin, Toginet.com President John Martin’s father, preach at his Community Presbyterian Church.

Pastor Martin preaches the old-fashioned way. He prepares. John reads and diligently translates the Bible from its original texts in Greek and Hebrew. He is a genuine Biblical scholar and has written numerous books on the subject. Read the description here about how he exhaustively prepares for each Sunday.

Pastor Martin’s sermon literally blew my socks off. Nothing like the mealy-mouthed pap you get at most churches these days, he teaches the Word unapologetically, with power born of knowledge and faith. This was followed by a question and answer session, which resolved doctrinal questions I had about Bible passages discussed in the sermon. Tyler is indeed blessed to have such a gifted preacher.

God may not forgive me for having such a great time. Just the same, I can honestly say I have rarely come away from a place feeling so revitalized, energized, and with a new sense of purpose.

Manufactured Crisis Speech

Jim Simpson gave a speech on the Manufactured Crisis Strategy last Friday, October 23, to Grassroots America We the People, in Tyler, Texas. To listen, go to the Grassroots America radio program and look to the right hand side, under the “Recent Shows” heading for the following description:

The Freedom Destroying Philosophy of Leaders in the White House Administration: James Simpson's Speech on Friday Oct 23 at Call To Action Lunch Meeting in Tyler, TX.

You can either click on the “Play” button under the description or double click on it and download the podcast.

Panel Discussion with Lord Monckton Thursday!

Tomorrow, Thursday, October 22, at noon eastern time, Jim Simpson will be on a radio discussion panel with Lord Christopher Monckton to talk about global warming and Lord Monckton's prophetic warning that we are about to give up our sovereignty to the UN.

Please go here for details.

Obama to surrender US sovereignty to UN at climate summit

Not content with his humiliation at Copenhagen, Denmark this past September, President Obama will be traveling there again in December to attend the UN COP15 Climate Change Conference. This agreement would commit the United States to punitive and expensive greenhouse gas regulations dictated by the United Nations without recourse.

COP stands for "Conference of the Parties" and the December Copenhagen conference will be the 15th under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), hence COP15. According to their website, it will be one of the largest conferences ever held outside the New York or Geneva headquarters, with an anticipated attendance of over 10,000 people, including governmental representatives from 189 countries, industry groups, and other non-governmental organizations.

The theme of the December 7 - 18 conference is "Hope," so perhaps Mr. Obama will have more luck this time. Instead of soliciting the International Olympic Committee with trite cliché and no payoffs, he will be doing something much easier: selling out our country. After all, ceding power, relinquishing billions in U.S. tax dollars and destroying U.S. economic competitiveness is a pretty easy sell to the countries that will benefit, and he has had a lot of practice doing the same thing here at home. He will have a hard time screwing this one up.

The Hope site optimistically pronounces:

On 7 December, leaders from 192 countries gather for UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen and decide the fate of our planet...

Decide the fate of our planet... Do these people have any idea how mindlessly grandiose they sound? Of course not. They are out to save the planet, just like Nancy Pelosi! It is hard for a normal person to imagine making such proclamations without embarrassment. But this is today's political class

This agreement will cede U.S. sovereignty permanently and irrevocably to the United Nations. So said British Lord Christopher Monckton at an event at Bethel University in St Paul, Minnesota this past Wednesday, October 14th.

Lord Monckton was former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's science advisor. He has lectured and written extensively on the issue, including an in-depth scientific critique to the 50,000 member American Physical Society, a serious side-by-side comparison slap-down of Al Gore's global warming assertions, and a recent summary of the global warming issue. In introducing his topic at Bethel University, he states unequivocally:

...and I am going to show you the latest science, which now doesn't leave the question unsettled any more, this is now settled science, it is now settled science that there is not a problem with our influence over the climate. The science is in, the truth is out, and the scare is over.

You can watch his entire 1 hour 35 minute presentation here - well worth the time if you can spare it. The slideshow he frequently points to in this presentation can be viewed along with the video, here. Lord Monckton presents a series of statistics, charts and studies making a compelling case that not only is global warming insignificant - if it exists at all - but is likely not manmade, and more importantly, that the global warming alarmists have repeatedly, blatantly, deliberately lied, suppressing the facts to promote the myth.

Despite his effective refutation of manmade global warming, his closing remarks about the Copenhagen treaty are chilling:

I read that treaty. And what it says is this, that a world government is going to be created. The word "government" actually appears as the first of three purposes of the new entity. The second purpose is the transfer of wealth from the countries of the West to third world countries, in satisfication of what is called, coyly, "climate debt" because we've been burning CO2 and they haven't. We've been screwing up the climate and they haven’t. And the third purpose of this new entity, this government, is enforcement.

So, thank you, America. You were the beacon of freedom to the world. It is a privilege merely to stand on this soil of freedom while it is still free. But, in the next few weeks, unless you stop it, your president will sign your freedom, your democracy, and your humanity away forever. And neither you nor any subsequent government you may elect will have any power whatsoever to take it back. That is how serious it is. I've read the treaty. I've seen this stuff about [world] government and climate debt and enforcement. They are going to do this to you whether you like it or not.

Watch him make his powerful concluding remarks in this Youtube video. (4 mins.)

You might call it a bit of rhetorical overkill, but given everthing else this administration and Congress have already done, only a bit. As Monckton later stated in a Q & A session, for such a treaty to be ratified requires a positive vote from a two-thirds majority in the U.S. Senate.

It seems difficult to imagine Democrats convincing seven Republicans to assist them in committing national suicide that way. Indeed, a recent Wall Street Journal article quoted Senate Republicans as saying that whatever deal Obama cut at Copenhagen would be dead on arrival:

Wisconsin Rep. James Sensenbrenner, the top Republican on the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, predicts "a repeat of Kyoto -- namely an environmentally ineffective agreement that cannot be ratified" by the Senate.

However, perhaps an easier option would be for Democrats to pass legislation enacting some or all of the proposals. The House has already passed the Waxman-Markey (Cap and Trade) bill. This onerous legislation calls for an 83 percent reduction in greenhouse gasses from 2005 levels by 2050. That means almost complete elimination of carbon based fuels, and parallels the goals identified in COP15, which asks participating countries to reduce global emmissions 50-85% by 2050.

Such reductions would essentially bring our economy to a screeching halt, as Lord Monckton states in his speech. Even the more modest goal for 2020 of a 17 percent reduction will force radical changes in how we do business and conduct our daily lives.

Senators John Kerry (D-MA) and the increasingly addled Lindsay Graham (R-SC), put out an Op-Ed in the New York Times last week, under the frighteningly Obamanoid title "Yes We Can," indicating that perhaps Senate Republicans shouldn't be so sanguine either. Their article concludes thusly (emphasis added):

We are confident that a legitimate bipartisan effort can put America back in the lead again and can empower our negotiators to sit down at the table in Copenhagen in December and insist that the rest of the world join us in producing a new international agreement on global warming.

So if Kerry and Graham get their way, not only is America going to agree to UN global warming regulations, we are going to lead the charge in getting them imposed!

And the UN panel is fully anticipating a more conciliatory approach from the US. Recognizing Kerry's efforts, as UNFCCC Executive Secretary Yvo de Boer, stated:

I think that a major shortcoming of Kyoto was that the official delegation came back with a treaty they knew was never going to make it through the Senate. And this time I have the feeling that the communication is much stronger, that the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, through John Kerry, is really expressing strongly what they feel needs to be done in Copenhagen.

Thank you John Kerry.

The UN website states the following about COP15 (emphasis added):

This [the 2009 Bangkok climate change talks] was the penultimate negotiating session before COP 15 in Copenhagen in December, at which an ambitious and effective international climate change deal is to be clinched.

Before COP15, there will be a final round of negotiations November 2-6 in Barcelona, Spain at the Barcelona Convention Center.

The most recent UNFCCC Working Group report (181 pages) can be accessed here in PDF format. Much of it references earlier documents, of which there are many. To fully assess the ramifications of this proposal would likely require referencing these earlier documents as well.

While the prospects for Senate ratification of this treaty are probably in doubt, it seems likely the US Congress may try to pass Waxman - Markey or some other hybrid legislation using the same underhanded tactics now in play on healthcare. All the more reason to redouble our efforts at getting them out in 2010.

Suffice it to say that if the carbon reduction targets already discussed are adapted by this country, nevermind whatever other onerous provisions are in this treaty, we might as well all buy a horse and buggy - sorry, rickshaw; horses create methane - because we will be headed back into the 18th century.

Additional Resources:

UNFCCC and Kyoto Protocol: Guide to Climate Change Negotiations (2008)

SourceWatch: UNFCCC summary, listing all participating parties, all COP meetings past and scheduled, and other useful information

Democrats Playing Shell Game with Health Proposals

So the Senate Finance Committee headed by Max Baucus (D-MT) passed its healthcare bill out of committee yesterday. It is an onerous proposal, as we detailed a few days ago.

One lone Republican, the feckless Olympia Snowe (R-ME) voted in favor of the bill. In endorsing it, she said:

Is this bill all that I would want? Far from it. Is it all that it can be? No. But when history calls, history calls...

History calls. Right. Baucus said something similar.

So let's make "history" by ruining one of the best healthcare systems in the world. Do any of these politicians understand logic? That was a rhetorical question. They don't. Doing something is not necessarily better than doing nothing. It can make things even worse, and in this case that is guaranteed.

All the politicians in favor of governmental action cite the unsustainable "rising costs" of healthcare. For Americans who pay for their own healthcare, whether directly or through private insurance, this is a legitimate concern. But every piece of legislation under consideration, including this one, forces these same people to pay much more.

But politicians really aren't concerned with the rising costs to us, even though they sell "reform" by pretending to be. When they speak of "rising costs" they are talking about the cost to government!

Meanwhile, the Baucus bill guarantees that quality and availability of healthcare will decline. This is explicitly outlined by inclusion of government appointed healthcare panels (yes, the Death Panels) and implicitly guaranteed by reductions in reimbursements to hospitals and doctors - at current rates already too low. Finally, it includes no effort at malpractice liability reform, which unnecessarily wastes hundreds of billions of dollars each year.

However, this bill is not as bad as it could be. Things will only go downhill from here.

The Senate passed another healthcare bill out of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee this past July. Remember Reagan's famous joke? "The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help.'"

Well, Godhelp us.

Treasonous Teddy Kennedy (D-MA) contributed to that bill before becoming too ill to do more damage. But the torch was picked up by fellow corrupt, dissolute leftist Christopher Dodd (D-CT) and HELP Chairman Tom Harkin (D-IA), another radical leftist.

What happens now is that Senate Majority leader Harry Reid (D-NE), and Senators Baucus, Harkin, Dodd and whatever other co-conspirators are part of the plot will gather in Reid's office. In a front page story yesterday, (As Panel Votes Today, Democrats Look Ahead, Tuesday October 13, 2009) the Washington Post painted a charming picture of the secret dealings to come:

In the Senate, negotiations are shifting from the public forum of the Finance Committee to a more cloistered setting: the seating area in front of the marble fireplace in the office of Majority Leader Harry M. Reid ... Baucus will retreat to Reid's office along with Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D- Conn.) and a handful of top White House officials to meld the finance panel's package with an alternative bill that Dodd shepherded through the Senate health committee in July.

"Cloistered setting..." Right.

Olympia Snowe has harped frequently on her cordial meetings with President Obama to discuss the healthcare issue. But now that she has managed to make this healthcare monstrosity "bi-partisan" do you think she'll be included in these fireside chats? Meanwhile, the folks back in Maine may finally be getting the message that she is betraying them (in addition to the rest of the country.)

But she has competition. Not to be outdone in witlessness, Snowe's fellow senator, Susan Collins has today indicated she is willing to support healthcare "reform" as well. What is the matter with the water in Maine? Has it been tainted by Canadian socialists, or what?

Do you see what the Democrats are doing? Now that the Senate has it's cherished but completely phony "estimate" from CBO claiming "deficit reduction of $81 billion over ten years," a bill excluding the dreaded "public option," and the "bi-partisan" stamp from the mindless senior senator from Maine, it will go about formulating the real bill. This will happen behind closed doors, with little if any opportunity for public review and the mass media will doubtless do their part to keep it quiet.

In the meantime, there are three more healthcare bills circulating in the House of Representatives, every one even more radical than the Baucus travesty. These will eventually be reconciled, in similar secret fashion, with whatever mess comes out of combining the two Senate bills.

Leftists in government created a crisis in healthcare to advance their agenda. The end goal is the complete takeover of the healthcare industry by the federal government. They will get what they really want, control, and we the people will suffer incalculably. Hospitals will close their doors, healtcare providers will go out of business, and future healthcare practitioners will seek other, more promising professions. We will pay more and face long lines for inferior service, or get no service at all, as every other nation that went this way has experienced.

Change only a socialist could dream about - soon to be reality for the United States. God save us!

Democrat Senators Exempt Home States from Health Bill

Senate Democrats, who think healthcare "reform" is so important that we shouldn't take time to read the legislation, are now scurrying to exempt their home states from its costly provisions. In a Wall Street Journal article last Thursday, Kimberly Stassel described the situation:

A central feature of the Baucus bill is the vast expansion of state Medicaid programs. This is necessary, we are told, to cover more of the nation's uninsured. The provision has angered governors, since the federal government will cover only part of the expansion and stick fiscally strapped states with an additional $37 billion in costs.

Majority Leader, Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) has cut a deal to exempt Nevada from these costs for the next five years. Generous Mr. Reid saw to it that Oregon, Rhode Island and Michigan got the same exclusion, using a formula known only to the Nevada Senator, because "they are suffering more than most."

Sure.

It has nothing to do with Reid's tough battle to retain his seat in the upcoming election cycle. Can't imagine what he got from those other states. Prime real estate? Or maybe just cover.

Other senators have raised the minimum tax threshold for high dollar health insurance plans because the thresholds provided in the Baucus bill turned out not to be so "high dollar" after all, hitting middle income folks in many states. 17 mostly blue states have gotten some version of this change.

Still more Democrats have made additional changes that benefit their respective states or lifted provisions that would otherwise hurt their constituents. Stassel concludes:

So, health-care "reform" is good, smart and necessary, so long as it isn't fully applied to the states of the senators who are pushing it. The Democrats' growing problem is that somebody is ultimately going to have to pay, and Mr. Reid's bad example has given every one the same idea. If Colorado has a fair claim on being treated the same way Nevada has been, of course we're going to ask to have that kind of treatment, promised Sen. Mark Udall, upon news of the Reid deal.

The naked self-serving, gall of these utterly corrupt Democrats defies belief. It is ironic that perhaps their corruption might possibly work in our favor for a change. Since Democrats seem intent on saving their own rear ends by exempting some of their constituents from the more costly provisions of this bill. Perhaps in their panic they will carve out so many loopholes that the whole thing falls apart.

It is a sad testimonial to the depths this country has sunk that we should have to rely on the self-serving impulses of Democrat senators to save us from some aspects of the legislation they are trying to saddle us with. But since "principled" Democrats are virtually impossible to find these days, it may well be the most we can hope for.

Finally, it seems impossible to concieve that these Democrat senators are unaware of the demoralizing impact their wantonly corrupt behavior has on the people of this country. More likely they are aware of it and see it as an added benefit. A demoralized population is much easier to manage.

That is why it is critically important to remain engaged. These people must be removed from office or we will lose our country.

Baucus Health Bill True Cost: $2 Trillion!

 

The Congressional Budget Office published its preliminary estimate Wednesday of the health overhaul bill crafted in secret by Montana Senator Max Baucus's Finance Committee. According to CBO, the Bill's $829 billion ten year cost would be offset by $910 billion in "savings," resulting in a net $81 billion reduction in the federal budget deficit by 2019.

Right. Take a deep breath.

Included in the "savings" estimates are about $507 billion, that is one-half a trillion dollars in new taxes and penalties and $404 billion in cost reductions. Most of the cost reductions would come on the backs of service providers, meaning service cuts to Medicare recipients, and a preliminary reading suggests a majority of the new taxes would come from higher income clients who pay for their service already. It includes a 40 percent excise tax on the more generous health-insurance plans, but due to inflation, over time this tax would cover lower cost plans as well.

It gets better.

The operating assumptions underlying cost estimates are usually heroically optimistic and peppered with backside-covering caveats. The assumptions used are also the place to spot future problems. Taken directly from the CBO report, the following should give any reasonable person pause:

These projections assume the proposals are enacted and remain unchanged throughout the next  two decades, which is often not the case for major legislation." (Emphasis mine.)

That is an understatement. When legislation like this passes it is almost always bare bones, a camel's nose under the tent. Once they have managed to sign the bill into law, legislators come out of the woodwork turning it into a Christmas tree for new proposals.

Every piece of similar legislation in the past, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, AFDC and any other entitlement you can name grew exponentially after it became law, not merely because the program attracted so many beneficiaries, but primarily because legislators added new provisions on an almost yearly basis.

That is what will happen with this bill. Although it will likely happen much faster, because complete socialization of medicine is the ultimate goal, and they have been working to achieve this for almost a century. Read on:

The projected savings for the proposal reflect the cumulative impact of a number of specifications that would constrain payment rates for providers of Medicare services. (Emphasis mine)

This will cause service cuts to Medicare. Expect to see doctors abandon ship en masse. Here are some more gems:

Payments to physicians would be lowered by constraining Medicare Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) increases.

While this amounts to price controls - a bad thing - it is a big part of the cost savings in this bill. Cato Institute claims that Congress routinely blocks such restraints and will do so again. If that happens, there goes $200 billion in "savings." Cato has found an additional $108 billion in federal spending it says CBO overlooked.

Payment rates for many other service providers would be held below the level of inflation. (Emphasis mine.) 

In real terms, this amounts to a pay cut (read more shortages.)

Now here is the kicker:

The projected longer-term savings for the proposal also assume that the Medicare Commission is relatively effective at reducing costs-beyond the reductions that would be achieved by other aspects of the proposal...

Medicare Commission? What is that? Could it possibly be the dreaded Death Panel?

The proposal would also establish a Medicare Commission, which would be required, under certain circumstances, to recommend changes to the Medicare program to limit the rate of growth in that program's spending.

Death Panel? C'mon! Don't be ridiculous! That was only what that silly Palin girl called it. This is simply a reasonable effort to control costs as some lawyer at Oxford University Press Blog described.

Granny, grandpa, ruuuun! 

This Commission is severely restricted in the current proposal as indicated by the relatively paltry savings CBO projected due to its activities: $22 billion. Yet the statement above clearly suggests that a much bigger role for the Commission is envisioned in later years.

 And finally:

The long-term budgetary impact could be quite different if those provisions were ultimately changed or not fully implemented.

So in order to make this thing work there will be $500 billion in new taxes and service cuts totalling another $400 billion, and most of those cuts will be achieved by this new "Medicare Commission." Great!

But they didn't tell you everything. The CBO made vague references to "national health expenditures":

Members have also requested information about the effect of proposals on national health expenditures (NHE). CBO does not analyze NHE as closely as it does the federal budget, however, and at this point the agency has not assessed the net effect of the current proposal on NHE...

Whoa! What do we call this, an er...ah... oversight?

They are talking about an additional one trillion dollars!

Over half the bill's mandates are unfunded and fall on businesses and individuals, and so are not counted in the "cost to government!"

This information is what killed Hillary's proposal in 1994 and is the reason they kept it out of this one!

And here is the last shocker of this CBO estimate: they did it without even seeing the legislation! None was provided to them to make these estimates, so we still don't even know what's really in the bill!

There are a host of other frauds being perpetrated on us right now by our government regarding health care. So let's get something straight about the high percentage of GDP (16-17 percent) devoted to healthcare in this country, because it is widely misunderstood.

First, most of the excessive costs of American medical care are the result of government intervention. In fact proponents of socialized medicine anticipated that the costs of Medicare and Medicaid would create a crisis in health care, generating calls for reform. Their ready answer was just more of the same.

We would all like to see costs of medical care come down. This country should move to reduce costs by removing the causes: excessive government intervention that distorts the market. The many ways government intervenes and the many solutions are beyond the scope of this essay, but that is the answer.

 But more importantly, even were this not true, it is irrelevant. It is not a zero sum game! This is the mistake all socialists make. You have heard the argument: "If we spend less on health care, we can spend more on other things."

When government confiscates the income generated by productive activity in one sector of the economy (it doesn't matter which sector), and transfers it to a sector of the economy that produces nothing (the government) the entire economy suffers.

Conversely, the healthcare sector of the economy is largely self-supporting - or would be, if the government got out of the way. That is, it thrives, without government help, on the productive activity of its professionals with the dollars voluntarily contributed by its clients (you and I.)

You and I are not constrained by what we voluntarily pay in order to stay healthy. We are constrained by parasitic government activity that confiscates today at least one third of our annual earnings without providing commensurate benefit.

This country chooses a high level of care. We prefer it that way, and so far, we have been able to afford it. Government's growing intrusion into the healthcare market may put costs out of reach, but be clear on the cause!

However, with ever higher taxes and ever more regulation over everything we do, our government is gradually strangling us. Now they are spending not only our hard-earned dollars, but a good portion of the dollars future generations are expected to earn before they are even able to earn it. Will they be able to?

And now House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has been caught on tape calling for a Value-Added-Tax (VAT) to pay for the healthcare bill and other goodies. Does this mean even the Democrats recognize CBO's cost estimates are a fraud? They should, because it is.

The healthcare overhaul bill currently hiding in the Senate Finance Committee of Max Baucus is a walking disaster. Proponents of this monstrosity claim we have to do something or things will get worse. Newsflash: things can always get worse, and under this bill they certainly will.

 (Nancy Pelosi AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

 

Ayers admits 'Dreams' authorship again - just kidding

The news that Bill Ayers admitted authorship of Obama's 'Dreams From My Father' posted on these pages yesterday generated a lot of interest and comment. While most believe Ayers to be the author, some doubted the story that he would admit it to anyone, much less a conservative blogger. Others dismissed it as simply a tease. Salon.com ridiculed it (what do you expect), and still others thought the whole thing irrelevant either way.

It has come to light that he said almost the identical thing to a National Journal reporter recently. Jonah Goldberg at National Review put up a post today in The Corner quoting the Journal's Will Englund:

Who actually wrote Dreams From My Father? ... National Journal caught up with Ayers at a recent book festival ... When he finished speaking, we put the authorship question right to him. For a split second, Ayers was nonplussed. Then an Abbie Hoffmanish, steal-this-book-sort-of-smile lit up his face. He gently took National Journal by the arm. "Here's what I'm going to say. This is my quote. Be sure to write it down: 'Yes, I wrote Dreams From My Father. I ghostwrote the whole thing. I met with the president three or four times, and then I wrote the entire book.'" He released National Journal's arm, and beamed in Marxist triumph. "And now I would like the royalties."

This is pretty much identical to what he said Monday. In light of that, I am inclined to agree with the skeptics that he was just having a joke on us. Or maybe it was a little more than that. Maybe this is the beginning of another smear campaign, wherein anyone who suggests Bill Ayers wrote Obama’s book is castigated, like people who question Obama’s eligibility. “Sure, I wrote Dreams, ha, ha, ha, and Sleeping Beauty too.”

It seems pretty clear that he did write most or all of the book. This is stated plainly in Christopher Andersen's biography, never mind Cashill's diligent sleuthing. And while no one, left or otherwise, would deny Ayers lies, Andersen's veracity has never been doubted before now.

As to its relevance, this is a blockbuster story really, because it completely discredits Obama's carefully crafted image. From that standpoint it makes sense that Ayers would try to ridicule those of us peddling it. As Jack Cashill makes clear at American Thinker today,

First, it reveals Obama to have been a shameless liar in his disavowal of Ayers during the campaign. Second, it suggests a dangerously intimate relationship with a man whose hatred of the United States borders on the pathological. And third, it makes a total sham out of the literary world's anointment of Obama as "the best writer to occupy the White House since Lincoln," the understanding on which the Obama genius myth is based.

Remember, influential people decided to back this president based on his supposed authorship of Dreams.

In light of the National Journal post it seems clear that Ayers was playing games, and I bought into it. Oh well, there goes perfect for the day.

But whatever Ayers hoped to gain, the story is not going away.

Ayers has been a very influential person in Obama's life going back at least to the early 1990s, and likely the 1980s. In the 1990s, Ayers helped Obama gain access to the deep pockets of Chicago foundations, where he used them to grease the skids for his political career.

He was a key player in many of the pro-Obama leftist organizations that helped Obama gain the White House. Until Ayers was summarily tossed under the bus in the campaign last year, many believed he was still a key influence, a mentor even.

The story of his authorship remains relevant and provides yet more fuel for those of us who believe that President Obama gained office on false pretenses, is a danger to this country and thoroughly unfit to serve.

Ayers may well be trying to marginalize those who legitimately question his role as Obama’s ghostwriter on Dreams. But he is playing with fire, considering the evidence that is at hand.

Photograph: Jeff Sciortino

Bill Ayers admits writing 'Dreams' to conservative blogger

Truth is stranger than fiction. Last Friday we posted an article asserting Bill Ayers' authorship of President Barack Obama's 'Dreams From My Father,' based on claims made by Obama biographer Christopher Andersen. It is possible that we have now gotten direct confirmation of this from Bill Ayers himself.

Anne Leary of Back Yard Conservative was passing through Washington, DC’s Reagan National Airport yesterday, and was surprised to come across Bill Ayers at Starbucks: “scruffy, thinning beard, dippy earring, and the wire rims, heading to order.” She struck up a conversation with him and snapped the accompanying photo. (Photo provided courtesy Anne Leary.)

I interviewed Anne this morning about it.

Ayers was in Washington, he told her, for a conference on education. “That's what I do, education,” he said. “You shouldn't believe everything you hear about me... You know nothing about me.”

To which she responded, “I said, I know plenty--I'm from Chicago, a conservative blogger, and I'll post this.”

I bet his heart skipped a beat on that one.

But he didn’t scowl, and didn’t run off as he has been known to do. Instead, unprompted, he blurted out: “I wrote ‘Dreams From My Father… Michelle asked me to.” Then he added “And if you can prove it we can split the royalties.”

Anne responded, “Stop pulling my leg!”

But he repeated insistently, “I wrote it, the wording was similar [to Ayers’ other writing.]”

Anne responded, “I believe you probably heavily edited it.”

Ayers stated firmly, “I wrote it.”

Anne ended the conversation by saying “why would I believe you? You're a liar.”

Good for her. But we are left to wonder. Despite her parting shot, Anne was convinced Ayers was in earnest. He was making a public statement. He wanted this news out there.

Was he, as she had asked, pulling our collective legs? Other sources report rumors that Ayers is very upset both about not getting any credit for helping Obama on ‘Dreams,’ and may also be put off by being summarily thrown under the bus along with Rev. Wright and everyone else who becomes an inconvenience to this President.

My understanding of communists is that most would know better and keep their mouths shut. But Ayers is a bit different. He is, as he says, a “small ‘c’ communist,” but he is also, in a certain, slimy way, an entrepreneur, as we explained in Monday's post. (Apologies in advance to entrepreneurs everywhere.) He grew up a very rich kid, used to getting everything he wanted. Even as an adult his career has relied on a hand up from his wealthy father. His past statements and radical activities also mark him as a megalomaniac. In youth he drew attention to himself by blowing things up. As an adult "educator" he merely attempts to subvert children. But that doesn't seem to be going so well.

He is under a lot of pressure, too. Ayers and his horrid wife Bernardine Dohrn are believed to have planned and executed the San Francisco Park Police Station bombing in 1970 that killed police sergeant Brian V. McDonnell and wounded several others. Efforts to bring them to justice have been underway for some time, as brought to light this past March in a National Press Club conference put on by Cliff Kincaid of America’s Survival.

Cliff’s guests included Larry Grathwohl, the FBI’s undercover agent who penetrated Ayers’ Weather Underground and produced this stunning testimony about Ayers’ plan to massacre 25 million Americans, retired S.F. policeman James Pera, first on the scene at the bombing, and veteran researcher Trevor Loudon.

Now, a recent exposé by San Francisco reporter Peter Jamison has revealed additional evidence, including testimony from other Weather Underground members, that Dohrn planted the bomb that killed Sgt. McDonnell.

Maybe in his overstressed state Bill’s megalomania has just gotten the better of him.

Entrepreneurial Parasites: Why socialists pursue socialism to the ends of the earth

This article is a shortened version of "Conspiracy of the lemmings," third in the Cloward/Piven series. It is an effort to explain what motivates socialists to inflict socialism on us despite its indisputable failure in both theory and practice.

Introduction

The United States of America is the world’s marketplace. Without the worldwide trade generated by American demand, the international marketplace will fail. Today we are witnessing an undeniable demonstration of this fact as world markets reel in response to our domestic financial crisis. This lesson must be burnt into our collective conscience.

Our nation is the last repository of free market economic principles, and a fundamental change in our government toward socialism will spell worldwide economic disaster from which we may never recover.

Yet this is exactly the endgame of the American radical Left – increasingly indistinguishable from today’s Democrat Party – and offers the only internally consistent explanation for their historic obsession with divisive policy.

From their early support of Hitler to their central role in the current financial crisis, the Left’s contribution to domestic and foreign policy at federal, state and local levels can only be described as wantonly destructive. Their takeover of schools and popular culture has been equally toxic. Their environmental radicalism has spawned the energy crisis, while offering no viable alternatives. It defies logic.

But there is logic, a deadly logic, and in the '60’s, two radicals gave it a name: the Cloward-Piven Strategy. As explained in a prior article in the series, the goal was to create a groundswell of demands for public services to overwhelm government, create crisis and usher in a widespread call for fundamental economic reform at the federal level, with socialism the ultimate goal.

Cloward and Piven focused on welfare, voting, housing and immigration “rights,” but leftist positions on any issue, whether championing equal “rights,” abortion “rights,” education “rights,” rights to health care, housing, legal protections of antisocial or even criminal behavior, to the point of absurdity, are intentionally divisive.

They add new fiscal and regulatory burdens on government, and set new precedents that undermine the limited government concepts embedded in our Constitution, while conferring discriminatory special benefits on legally defined groups the rest of us are forced to pay for.

They deliberately put our society at war with itself. And as Cloward and Piven made clear, the true purpose is not even to help those groups, but rather to duplicitously enlist them as part of an offensive to collapse our society from within!

Democrats embrace the rhetoric of “compassion,” but look past the rhetoric to the results. This country is polarized as never before because of their relentless agitation for extremist positions on every issue, and the outrageous tactics they use to promote them. While Radical Saul Alinsky’s tactics guide today’s Democrat electoral game plan, the Cloward-Piven Strategy describes the overarching goal of almost every leftwing organization/movement/ideal today.

How do they Survive?

These organizations rarely produce anything of value, yet are extremely adept at not only surviving but flourishing. Many receive their financial backbone from prominent philanthropies. They also receive subsidies and tax breaks with the help of friends in federal, state and local government. This fact is unknown to most voters, who would be outraged if they fully understood how their tax dollars were being spent. For example, the radical group, ACORN, responsible for widespread voter fraud, gets about 40 percent of its revenues, from federal, state and local government.

Our mass media is mostly to blame for the current state of affairs. The Left’s strategies could not survive the light of day. Radicals require a sympathetic media to deliver their message in an acceptable fashion and actively suppress inconvenient facts that reveal these organizations’ true character and agenda. Barack Obama’s presidential campaign and presidency are perhaps the most poignant current example of this. Without mass media’s shamelessly biased support, Obama would still be community organizing, or perhaps be in jail.

It is a tangled web of radical interconnections with the ultimate goal being an end to our Constitutional framework, the fall of our Republic and its replacement with a radical vision of socialist utopia – finally removing the last major roadblock to world socialism.

These radical individuals are highly motivated, in many cases intelligent and talented, and sometimes even driven by what they would describe as altruistic motives. Yet the impacts of socialist central planning are inarguably destructive.

Marx may have had some interesting insights on history, but despite his ponderous three volume “Das Kapital” he was no economist. Instead, Kapital provided the intellectual excuse for Marx’s anarchistic Communist Manifesto.

And the severe verdict of history on his perverted vision is without equal: over 100 million people murdered by their own governments in times of peace, more than all the wars of history combined. The rest face abject poverty, mass starvation, economic and environmental ruin, all overseen by smothering, indescribably brutal governments – a grey, barren existence for all but the apparatchiks. So why are so many Westerners infatuated with this demented vision?

Entrepreneurial Parasites

The high-minded types are driven by a galling sense of intellectual superiority. They are addicted to their own egos. They know better than everyone else and can defy the verdict of history because people as smart as they are weren’t around when Russia, China, Vietnam, Cambodia, North Korea, Ethiopia, Angola, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Congo, Nicaragua, Cuba, Venezuela, etc., went Red.

Living well in affluent, capitalist America, it is all theoretical, so they can indulge their fantasies with impunity while promoting this destructive agenda. For these people ignorance is literally a blessing, for if they soberly analyzed their ego-driven beliefs, they would be embarrassed.

If you examine their pasts closely, you learn that most of these people also came from upper class backgrounds. PhD Chemistry Professor George Wiley, the black radical who led Cloward and Piven’s National Welfare Rights Organization, was a well-to-do son of a Rhode Island family.

Wade Rathke, the NWRO veteran who started ACORN, was from a similarly well-to-do background, although he dropped out of Williams College.

Obama’s radical friend Bill Ayers’ family was very wealthy. Looking at his arrest photos, and listening to his smug self-righteousness, you really get the impression that he was little more than an arrogant, spoiled brat, with a titanic sense of entitlement that allowed him to rationalize mass murder.

This is a familiar story throughout the American left and indeed with many of the most infamous communist leaders around the world. For example, Communist China’s first leader, Mao Zedong, the inspiration for Ayers and many other radicals, was son of the wealthiest man in his home town.

According to the incredible biography, Mao: the Unknown Story, he was lazy, arrogant, and refused to work, despite his father’s repeated attempts to find him suitable employment. He finally saw an opportunity for real advancement working for the Soviets. During the Long March Mao was carried by porters.

As young idealists, many of these people are initially snared into this ideology by the exaggerated sense of self-importance that is often a characteristic of youth. But we all have to live, and as they grow up they discover that the radical profession can be a pretty lucrative racket.

Despite their high-minded rhetoric about saving the poor and oppressed, communists and socialists are what I call entrepreneurial parasites.

Consider what they demand of us: sacrifice of all worldly goods to the state, penurious, barren lifstyles, slavish observance of their dictates and full-time commitment to the well-being of the state, while our jobs, careers, industries, the environment, even our lives are threatened. But how do they live?

Obama’s pal Ayers, who describes himself as a “small ‘c’ communist,” lives in a lavish home, in the upscale Hyde Park neighborhood, with a six-figure (or more) income. It is easy to see how, given the open spigot of money his organizations receive from the various non-profit funds he’s ingratiated himself to. Bill Ayers father, Tom, had been CEO of Commonwealth Edison, so he’s used to money, and later developments in his career point to a hand up from Daddy.

Barack lives in Hyde Park too.

It is difficult to find anyone in the American Marxist elite who doesn’t fully enjoy the fruits of capitalism in his or her personal life. In fact, Obama’s early career seems to have been centered on dispensing foundation money as a means to secure his career in politics. Here and here are perfect examples.

Marxist austerity is only meant for the rest of us.

This taste for wealth is not limited to American socialists. Every socialist dictator from Stalin to Saddam has lived in opulent surroundings with multiple estates, scores of servants and every kind of luxury and indulgence available to them. See for example, Gorbachev’s dacha in Foros, Crimea; a testament to communist modesty if ever there was one.

Same with all the leaders of communist countries. Indeed, Bulgarian defector Georgi Markov was murdered for his extensive reporting on the opulent, decadent lifestyles of Bulgarian Communist leaders. It’s a good racket, if you don’t mind blood.

While socialist leaders live in lavish style, in every country where socialist policies are imposed, they measurably worsen the lives of everyday citizens in direct proportion to their scope. Even countries with vast natural resources, like Russia, founder because their economies are constructed on the fatally flawed economic principles of socialism.

Despite this, they still manage to live on, in many cases hanging by mere threads for years.

How?

The dirty little secret of socialism is that it cannot survive without capitalism – capitalist countries provide the resources necessary for these socialist governments to continue. In addition to providing a market for their goods, Western nations keep socialist countries afloat through grants and loans from the World Bank, the U.S. Agency for International Development and other governmental institutions, as well as huge investments by private companies.

Even China, widely misunderstood as the next “free market,” only practices market economics one-way in international trade while maintaining iron fisted central planning internally, and could not maintain its current level of economic growth without the markets provided by the United States and other Western countries.

Finally, there is a vast network of American enterprises, owned covertly by foreign dictators, whose true purpose is to provide underground income for these leaders and their socialist governments, while offering convenient cover for industrial and military spies. This fact is rarely mentioned and largely unknown.

At its core, socialism can only be parasitic. It cannot survive without its capitalist host.

Therefore, if the United States becomes a socialist country, worldwide capital will soon dry up. Remaining market economies around the world will succumb either to their own internal socialist movements or direct military threat from abroad. Without the protective umbrella of American military might, they will have no other choice.

Without the markets and resources capitalist economies provide, the many socialist countries that have survived on our largesse until now will find their income stream shut off. The world will plunge into an unprecedented, cataclysmic depression. This depression will be of indeterminate length because the wherewithal for recovery – a large capitalist economy – will no longer exist.

With a world controlled by parasites, the host will die. At this point even the parasites will be in danger. The socialists’ internationalist agenda truly is a Conspiracy of the Lemmings. It is not merely a criminal conspiracy, it is criminally insane.

There is nothing new under the sun. Socialism cannot cure the world's ills. It wasn't even designed to. It is merely the cleverest methodology ever devised by which the world's con men and thugs could take their rackets global and earn untold riches. It is a stark demonstration of one of man's oldest temptations: the lust for wealth and power.

A much smarter man than I observed this in a little-known pamphlet titled "The History and Impact of Marxist-Leninist Organizational Theory;" and he should know. John P. Roche was the socialist founder of Americans for Democratic Action, adviser to Presidents Kennedy and Johnson, and until his unfortunate death in 1994, a regular contributor to National Review magazine. He understood communists and socialists better than most men living, having had to deal directly with them for most of his life. He said:

Most analyses of Marxism-Leninism are philosophical exercises coducted in the intellectual stratosphere. This approach has a limited utility, but is based on a deeply flawed premise: that Marxism-Leninism a form of high theory, rather than a operational code for a new-style mafia, (emphasis mine) far more interested in finding a rationale for seizing or wielding power than in liberating "prisoners of starvation" or the "wretched of the earth."

"New-style mafia, far more interested in finding a rationale for seizing or wielding power..." Rings true, doesn't it?

Last fall I wrote:

If [Obama] is elected we can expect a sea change in Washington. But it will not be for the better. The socialist economic agenda he has publicly articulated is enough in the current financial crisis to plunge our economy into deep recession. The disarmament agenda he has publicly articulated is enough to strip us of the meager defenses we currently have against a rogue missile attack, and Iran has already telegraphed plans to launch such an attack. What is even more frightening is the agenda he has not shared, but is implicit in his radical upbringing, his radical connections, and his limited but demonstrative experience.

Since his election, Obama has revealed his true nature for all to see. Described in some detail on Friday, his recent trip to Copenhagen was a poignant, unseemly example of entrepreneurial parasites at work, chief among them, the President of the United States. Yet another is the decision for the federal government to provide a $2 billion dollar loan for a Brazilian oil exploration firm owned partly by Obama benefactor George Soros, while offshore drilling in U.S. is banned.

This same corrupt, power hungry, thuggish mindset is apparent in every advisor or "czar" Obama has put around him. It is apparent in every piece of legislation he has signed or supported to date.

The "Stimulus" bill will stimulate only those likely to vote Democrat, and it won't start working until next year, just in time for the 2010 elections. In the meantime, the economy continues to tank and we all are left to suffer.

The Health "reform" and Cap and Trade bills will confiscate huge swaths of the private economy, and make the American population more vulnerable to manipulation and control than ever. These were written to take effect in 2013, when the Democrats are gambling they will have complete control, and thus be immune to the enormous backlash this legislation is certain to create.

This president is taking our country on a path to destruction. He can do no different, because he is of a type, an entrepreneurial parasite.

Our one last chance is 2010. The current crop in Congress must be replaced with strong, principled leaders dedicated to upholding the U.S. Constitution and the rule of law.

Only such a qualified, courageous, bunch will have the stomach to repeal the destructive legislation signed into law by this president, launch an investigation and prepare the articles of impeachment he so richly deserves.

The hour is late and time is nigh. We cannot waste another second. This is a clarion call to action: America awaken! Arise, for the enemy is at the gates.

Copenhagen: President Obama reveals unfitness for office more every day

Ignoring pressing national security issues, President Obama flew off to Denmark yesterday to literally beg the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to accept Chicago as location for the 2016 Olympics.

Chicago.

Barack met up with Michelle, who had arrived on Wednesday, already suffering through her second day of sacrifice exploring Copenhagen with "chit-chat buddy" Oprah Winfrey. As Michelle related in a stirring speech to supporters:

As much of a sacrifice as people say this is for me or Oprah or the president to come for these few days, so many of you in this room have been working for years to bring this bid home.

She can't be serious. Obama was even less convincing:

I urge you to choose Chicago... And if you do - if we walk this path together - then I promise you this: The city of Chicago and the United States of America will make the world proud.

Chicago will make the world proud? How? And why shouldn't we feel proud now?

In what is widely percieved as a deliberate snub, the IOC rejected Chicago in the first round of decision- making shortly after Obama's speech. As Axcess News reported, one IOC member was overheard snickering: "there's no 'change' for Mr. Obama here."

Meanwhile PR consultant and Administration behind-the-scenes puppetmaster, David Axelrod, dismissed Obama's failure as "politics." There it is again: racism! I bet there were a bunch of Republicans over there spreading false rumors too! Or maybe it was one of those Tea Party people spreading lies about the corruption of Chicago!

No sitting president has ever gone before the IOC to plead our case. Oh wait! He wasn't pleading our case. He was pleading Chicago's case! Accompanying Obama was "the other side of Obama's brain," Valerie Jarrett. It seems that not only is Valerie Obama's confidante and senior advisor, she also was on the board of the Chicago 2016 olympics committee until joining the White House. No conflict of interest there. And while she resigned that position, she let everyone know this would be a big priority. Two more friends of Obama, John Rogers and Marty Nesbitt, remain on the Board. They went to Denmark too.

In fact an entire contingent of Obama's Chicago network, including Obama campaign finance chair Penny Pritzker, traveled to Copenhagen to "sacrifice" among the glitterati along with Oprah and the Obamas, while the President did his best to bring home the bacon.

This humiliating trip cost U.S. taxpayers one million dollars. That he would sully the office of the President for such naked parochial interests demonstrates just how out of touch, and entrenched in Chicago's corrupt politics, Obama is.

As we reported yesterday, it has recently been revealed that Obama isn't the great writer he claims to be either. He relied on the writing skills of Bill Ayers to compose his bestselling book "Dreams From My Father." So nix that qualification.

General Stanley McChrystal revealed Sunday that he has only spoken with Obama once since taking over U.S. military leadership in Afghanistan.

Once. For about a half-hour.

McChrystal requested more troops in August. That Obama would fail to discuss even this with his top military commander in Afghanistan for a month at the height of a shooting war is inexplicable. In an aptly titled post "Obama Lied, People Died," Redstate points out that Obama has dithered on troop strength increases since February, and:

To the detriment of us all, while Obama waffles and flips and flops (like the fish out of water we all knew he WOULD be in trying to fake it as a legitimate Commander in Chief) between all these strategies he can’t seem to make up his mind about, 317 MORE Soldiers have died fighting in defense of Operation Enduring Freedom which is more than 30% of the total lives lost during the entire 8 years of the conflict.

This week however, McChrystal has had an opportunity to speak with Obama twice by video phone. Wonder why? In an apparent effort to blunt criticism of his preoccupation with Chicago's bid for the Olympics, Obama met with the General for 25 minutes on Air Force One while it was parked on the tarmac at Copenhagen Airport.

That's reassuring. The President is on the case. Not to worry.

This comes on the heels of Obama speaking "without preconditions" to that lunatic Ahmadinejad. Note that Ahmadinejad never said he had no preconditions. So while Iranian democracy advocates get murdered in the streets, Obama seeks to "engage" with the Iranian thug responsible, but can't find time to speak with his own military commanders?

What planet are these people from?

Finally, the healthcare debate, the limp economic "stimulus" that appears in need of a big shot of Viagra, the 821 page Cap and Trade (read massive tax increase) bill, and every other facet of Obama's domestic policy, demonstrate an ignorance of basic economic principles so profound it defies belief.

That is why I do not believe these people are ignorant. They are simply reckless. They don't care. They are out to destroy this country.

They are succeeding.

Media malpractice: silence deafening on Ayers ghostwriting of “Dreams”

Perhaps one of the biggest political stories of the year is being completely overlooked by the Obama-struck old media. A new biography by veteran author Christopher Andersen, "Barack and Michelle: Portrait of a Marriage," reveals that former Weather Underground terrorist Bill Ayers wrote most, if not all of President Obama’s book "Dreams From My Father."

In a series of American Thinker articles over the past year, PhD author and columnist, Jack Cashill has been asserting just that. But while he found striking similarities between the two men’s writing styles he could never conclusively prove Ayers' ghost authorship. Andersen’s book does.

Cashill relates: "relying on inside sources, quite possibly Michelle Obama herself, Andersen describes how Dreams came to be published -- just as I had envisioned it in my articles on the authorship of Dreams.

"With the deadline pressing, Michelle recommended that Barack seek advice from 'his friend and Hyde Park neighbor Bill Ayers.' Despite a large advance, Obama found himself 'hopelessly blocked.’ After four futile years of trying to finish, Obama ‘sought advice from his friend and Hyde Park neighbor Bill Ayers.' This he did 'at Michelle’s urging.'"

Andersen explains their rationale: "Everyone knew they were friends and that they worked on various projects together. It was no secret. Why would it be?"

I don't know, but it was certainly considered a secret by candidate Obama, and the media bent over backwards to keep it that way.

This was not the first time Mr. Obama was "blocked" either.

Shortly after Mr. Obama was elected the first black president of the Harvard Law Review, an aggressive literary agent named Jane Dystel secured a $125,000 advance from Simon & Schuster for him to write his book. An astounding sum for a first-time author, he never delivered. After years of waiting, the publisher dropped him.

Dystel then secured him a second advance for $40,000 from Random House, and in 1995 "Dreams" was finally published. After gaining his U.S. Senate seat, Mr. Obama dumped Dystel in favor of someone cheaper. She was understandibly infuriated. It is worth noting that as editor of the Law Review, Mr. Obama wrote one short article. No other has ever been found. For such a supposedly gifted writer this is truly odd. And as Cashill has noted, Obama's published poetry is truly sophomoric.

Andersen concludes: "In the end, Ayers's contribution to Barack's Dreams From My Father would be significant--so much so that the book's language, oddly specific references, literary devices, and themes would bear a jarring similarity to Ayers's own writing."

All this has somehow been lost on mass media's intrepid investigative journalists. Nary a peep.

During his campaign, candidate Obama took great pains to distance himself from Ayers, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, and the many other radicals he knew. But investigation by many independent journalists overcame the media blackout to reveal extensive connections between the two men.

It is old news now that Ayers and Obama served on the boards of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge and the Woods Fund together, but in total, Obama worked with Ayers and other radicals on at least six related non-profit boards and shared the same office for three years with Ayers and fellow radicals, Susan and Mike Klonsky.

Now this latest revelation about Ayers' ghostwriting suggests that not only did they work together, but Ayers essentially gave Obama his voice.

Barack Obama is no literary giant. Furthermore, his steadfast refusal to provide any concrete information about any details of his past, his college grades, past job performance, or even voting record in the Illinois Senate, makes one wonder if Mr. Obama has any qualifications -- besides a polished public persona -- at all.

He is looking more and more like a mere construct, a carefully crafted mouthpiece for a cabal of anonymous radicals. Consider just a few of his "Czar" picks:

Kevin Jennings the openly homosexual "Safe Schools Czar" who encouraged pedophilia;

Cass Sunstein, the "Regulatory Czar" who believes, among other things, that animals should have the right to sue humans in court;

Van Jones, like Ayers, a self-described communist, fortunately resigned under a cloud. As "Green Jobs Czar," Jones was to distribute stimulus money based on formulas worked up by the Apollo Alliance, run in NY by Jeff Jones. No relation to Van, Jeff is an old Weather Underground friend of Bill Ayers.

Valerie Jarrett -- the "other side of Obama’s brain," -- has spent a lifetime working with and around the American Communist Party and is thoroughly plugged-in to Chicago radical networks. Jarrett recommended Van Jones for Green Jobs Czar.

The list goes on and on.

Obama’s early denial of Ayers is ringing ever hollower. Rather than being just "some guy in my neighborhood," Ayers and Obama are fused at the hip. And Ayers is typical of the rabid, anti-American lunatics Barack has surrounded himself with.

Meanwhile, the media's silence is deafening.

God help us.