We have had months of growing unemployment, even after a rushed stimulus bill was passed which promised to stem the tide of pink slips. Only to find out the stimulus package wasn’t really meant to stimulate a damn thing until late this year, early next.

And we have had an assault on our health care system which is expensive – not broken. The proposed cure is much worse than the problem of rising costs.

Amidst all this we have racked up mind blowing record deficits this year – all to no avail. It will take decades and generations to pay this wasted money back.

Congress and the Political Industrial Complex (media, lobbyists, insiders, etc)  is apparently shocked that Americans are fed up with this mess?

Screaming constituents, protesters dragged out by the cops, congressmen fearful for their safety — welcome to the new town-hall-style meeting, the once-staid forum that is rapidly turning into a house of horrors for members of Congress.

 

On the eve of the August recess, members are reporting meetings that have gone terribly awry, marked by angry, sign-carrying mobs and disruptive behavior. In at least one case, a congressman has stopped holding town hall events because the situation has spiraled so far out of control.

 

“I had felt they would be pointless,” Rep.Tim Bishop (D-N.Y.) told POLITICO, referring to his recent decision to suspend the events in his Long Island district. “There is no point in meeting with my constituents and [to] listen to them and have them listen to you if what is basically an unruly mob prevents you from having an intelligent conversation.”

Ah, you can run but you cannot hide. If you refuse to listen we will refuse to vote for you.

The health care overhauls released to date would increase, not reduce, the burgeoning long-term health costs facing the government, Congressional Budget Office Director Douglas Elmendorf said Thursday.

…

The chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Democrat Max Baucus of Montana, who has not yet released a bill, said his panel is acutely aware of the long-term cost concern. “Clearly our committee will do what it can,” he said. “We are very seriously concerned about that issue. We very much want to come up with a bill that bends the cost curve.”

But Baucus suggested the White House is making the task difficult with opposition to one cost-cutting approach Elmendorf cited — limiting or even ending the tax exclusion for employer-provided health benefits.

Well imagine that! Since the federal government has been underpaying their Medicare/Medicaid bills for decades in a cynical exercise in pretending to ‘cut costs’ it is no surprise that, when they now must pay full dollar on health care, the cost is going to go up.

Welcome to reality liberal DC Dems!

It’s been a while since I dusted off the Duh! Files category, but this news article cries out for the label:

Holder: Closing Gitmo won’t be easy

…

Closing Guantanamo, he said, “will not be an easy process.”

…

“It’s going to take us a good portion of that time to look at all of the files that we have to examine, until we get our hands around what Guantanamo is, and also what Guantanamo was,” he said.

Friday night, Representative Ron Paul, a long-shot G.O.P. candidate from Texas, basically conceded that he’s not going to win the party’s nomination.

Seems Ron Paul is the last person on Earth to figure this out – which says a lot about his powers of observation generally!

House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) said Monday that a strongly positive report on progress on Iraq by Army Gen. David Petraeus likely would split Democrats in the House and impede his party’s efforts to press for a timetable to end the war.

Clyburn, in an interview with the washingtonpost.com video program PostTalk, said Democrats might be wise to wait for the Petraeus report, scheduled to be delivered in September, before charting next steps in their year-long struggle with President Bush over the direction of U.S. strategy.

Clyburn noted that Petraeus carries significant weight among the 47 members of the Blue Dog caucus in the House, a group of moderate to conservative Democrats. Without their support, he said, Democratic leaders would find it virtually impossible to pass legislation setting a timetable for withdrawal.

“I think there would be enough support in that group to want to stay the course and if the Republicans were to stay united as they have been, then it would be a problem for us,” Clyburn said. “We, by and large, would be wise to wait on the report.”

Amazing. A Democrat (a.k.a. a Surrendercrat) finally notices that trying to pull a defeat from a pending success in Iraq would not be the best position for the Democrats. You think?

Is it possible that the Surrendercrats hope of defeat in Iraq is now as untenable as al-Qaeda’s hopes for success – since the whole damn country is now swearing on the Koran to defeat al-Qaeda in Iraq. Now that Muslims in Iraq are begging the one US Congressman who is Muslim and a Democrat to join forces with them in their fight against al-Qaeda and to not turn tail and run, the Democrats might be cluing in on what is happening and trying to pull defeat from victory may not be a wise political move? You think it might have to do with the fact that even liberal ‘think tanks’ see the progress in Iraq and trying to pretend all our recent progress is a failure may not win votes has anything to do with it? I am nit sure – let’s see what else this political genius has to say:

But of late there have been signs that the commander of U.S. forces might be preparing something more generally positive. Clyburn said that would be “a real big problem for us.”

No sh&t Sherlock! You think after months of claiming pending doom that real signs of success might just destroy the Democrats’ credibility with the American public (who like to win)? What in the world finally clued you fools in? Did you do a focus group poll or something? Duh!

The Justice Department and a Northeastern Democrat have formed a rare alliance intended to restrict gun sales to terror suspects.

The bill, introduced late Thursday by Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., after two years of study produced an endorsement by the Justice Department, would give the attorney general power to block gun sales to persons on terrorism watch lists. In some instances, the attorney general could let a sale go through _ for example, when stopping the sale would hinder a terrorism investigation.

Two years???? Where was the confusion? Actually the article explains it (basically Dems did not want to exclude sting operations – leaving law enforcement legally exposed). This is just too painful even to post.

Is this acceptable discourse? I don’t think so.

This is why I find it harder and harder to remain aligned with conservatism. As Michael Medved pointed out, this is not just about civility – although that is important in and of itself. Daily Kos may say “Screw `em” about contractors killed in Iraq. Comments at the Huffington Post can wish that Dick Cheney was killed in a terrorist bombing in Afghanistan. But conservatives are supposed to be above such things.

Not only has she engaged in gutter politics, Ann Coulter has handed NARAL the basis for a major fund-raiser, just as she did with John Edwards at CPAC. Her self-promotion is helping the left raise money for its causes and candidates. Is this conduct that we should reward? I think the answer to that is not only no, but it should be HELL, NO!

As someone who believes that abortion should only be legal in cases of rape, incest, or circumstances in which the mother faces imminent and otherwise unavoidable risk of death or grave bodily harm (the same justification for self-defense), I do not see that goal being any closer as a result of Ann Coulter’s ill-advised comments (and that is being charitable). To the contrary, she has reinforced the worst stereotypes of pro-life activists in the media and pop culture. She has also given those who favor the status quo ample ammunition to raise funds and attack those who seek to end it.

This is not about political correctness. It is primarily about common decency, but also it has become obvious that Ann Coulter’s mouth is something that is helping the opposition far more than it helps us. That can no longer be tolerated when we already have trouble getting anything resembling fair coverage from the media.

If conservatism will not deal with Ann Coulter, then it will leave a lot of decent people. People who vote, I might add.

Unless they have proof of nefarious intent, then they need to lay off. The biggest reason I have NOT purchased satellite radio is the fact that I can’t get everything I’d like from just one service. I can’t exactly get two satellite radios in my car or anything like that.

But if I could get a combination of both for $20 a month, it would be a very good thing for me. Maybe I can listen to the King of all Media in the morning, and catch the latest Brewers game inthe evening on one boom box. No hassles, no frustrations.

So why can’t the Feds just lay off this deal? It’s not as if this is the most pressing issue in the world.

They are part of the reason that Republicans got spanked in the 2006 mid-terms. Conservatives are not a majority – it is less likely that those who view comments like Ann Coulter’s as acceptable discourse are. Yet, there are some who insist that their use of should not be questioned.

I’m not buying that at all. I refuse to be silent about stuff I feel is unacceptable, and if the Ann Coulter groupies can’t handle that, then maybe they should prevail upon Ann to use her brain (which graduates of Ivy League law schools presumably have) before she engages her mouth.

Is that an unreasonable request?

The Government’s terrorism watchdog is to call for tighter checks on executive jets arriving in Britain amid concern that foreign militants could use them to enter the country.

In a report to ministers, Lord Carlile of Berriew will raise fears about a loophole in flight notification rules that means the UK authorities are only told about the last place an aircraft took off from and not its original point of departure.

This means that an aircraft that takes off from the Middle East, Pakistan or other potential danger spot and touches down briefly in Paris is listed only as coming from France.

Lord Carlile, a QC appointed by the Government to monitor its counterterrorism measures, believes this is a potentially serious weakness that could be exploited by terrorists.

You think?! Relegating this flash of brilliance to The Duh! Files.

Israel would agree to a cease-fire in its six-day-old offensive against Hezbollah if the Lebanese guerrillas withdraw from the border area with Israel and release two captured Israeli soldiers, a senior official said Monday.

The Islamo Fascists know that to end this all they need to do is undo what they started. Hezballah and Hamas started this war by killing and kidnapping Israeli soldiers from inside Israel. My fear is these soldiers may have played their required role in the typical terrorist snuff film. But the path to an end has always been known. Israel will beat on these people until they cry uncle and either give up their captives (if this is still possible) or at least admit the error of their ways and pay retribution to the families of those killed. There can be no face saving for the terrorists this round.

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