Honduras

Several months ago, President Zelaya of Honduras was removed from office by the country's highest court and the legislature. Zelaya was attempted to change the constitution and seek re-election as President. Hugo Chavez used a similar plan to change the Venezulan constitution once he was elected President and is now President for life.

The Honduras constitution does not have an impreachment procedures so the actions of the court and legislature was the only option open and the military followed their actions.

Obama condemned the removal of Zelaya. However, on 11/29/09, the Honduran people held an election and elected Lobo as President and Obama has stated that he is now satisfied by the process. The free election is a victory for the Honduran people and the rule of law. And a defeat for the Latin American socialists, including Brazil, Chile, Venezula, and Bolivia.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703939404574566150432623012.html

Obama deserves praise for changing his mind on this issue.

The World Still Hates the US

What a surprise! During the Bush Administration, opponents loved to bring out global surveys that indicated that the US was despised by many. While it is true in western Europe, surveys are not quite as clear in other parts of the world. Bush enjoyed an appreciation in sub-Saharan Africa and India, for example.

Now we find that the US continues to be maligned in the Arab world. We have actually lost ground in Pakistan which is certainly understandable since Obama is using drones to kill Pakistani civilians.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703499404574558300500152682.html

Personally, I find it odd that anyone would change their opinion about a country based on the head of state. Countries tend to follow a pattern and the same country that elected Obama elected Bush. The US remains the US, as obvious as that sounds. Has your opinions of Canada changed recently? Your attitude toward Germany?

Obama Continues Bush Policy on Land Mines

More than 150 countries have signed an agreement not to use land mines while the US continues it's unilateral approach and refuses to sign the agreement.

http://www.bermanpost.com/2009/11/obama-rejects-international-convention.html

The sad part here is that Obama campaigned as an agent of hope and change and putting the US back into the international community. Of course, that was either campaign rhetoric which he had no intention of following, or, more likely, Obama lacked the understanding of issues while on the campaign trail, having little experience, and now he is beginning to understand the nuances of policy.

Climate Change

First of all, I consider myself an environmentalist and think that we should tread lightly in terms of our environmental impact. I also believe that the philosophy of science indicates that we know very little and all scientific theories are only the best guesses based upon our current knowledge. All theories change with more data. And now there is data that indicates for the past 10 years we have had some global cooling.

"Even alarmist Tim Flannery, confronted on Lateline with the emails of the global warming conspiracy, concedes holes in the “science is settled” argument and admits to what he didn’t before:

We’re dealing with an incomplete understanding of the way the earth system works… When we come to the last few years when we haven’t seen a continuation of that (warming) trend we don’t understand all of the factors that create earth’s climate...We just don’t understand the way the whole system works… See, these people work with models, computer modelling. So when the computer modelling and the real world data disagree you’ve got a very interesting problem… Sure for the last 10 years we’ve gone through a slight cooling trend."

http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/the_global_warming_conspiracy_news_spreads/

Health Care Reform

I am troubled by the health care legislation. I support the idea of a government providing a safety net on health care, providing some basic preventative measures, as well as catastrophic care to help financially when a major illness hits. However, I am troubled by this group warfare and the continuing shifting of benefits from the young adults to older adults. Currently, young adults are largely subsidizing the 65+ people and Medicare. With the current plans, it looks like young adults will now also subsidize the 50-64 yr olds. The plan will require that older people be charged no more than twice the premiums of young adults despite the fact that older adults use 4-5 times the medical care.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/22/AR2009112201237.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns

If young adults really understand this and want this, I guess that I will support the plan but I find it very hard to believe that the young adults really want more money shifting from them to the 50 and over crowd.

US and the Global Economy

So, as we move toward the European model with highly taxed entitlement societies, what do you think will happen to the US? It appears that since the post-Vietnam era, the US has maintained it's share of the world economy (from 26.3% in 1973 to 26.7% in 2009) while the European share dropped from 36% to 26%.

Depressing News of the Day

Apparently 4 out of 5 "orphans" worldwide actually have at least one parent. But orphanage coerce parents into giving up custody and the result is that children suffer rapes, beatings, etc in institutions. Parents tend to give up custody in part beacuse they are poor and lack the funds or food to adequately care for the child. But the institutions are worst.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/8375579.stm

I was made a pledge to donate all of my charity dollars to overseas charities. My two favorite institutions are Kiva.org and ChildFund.org. 2 billion people are living on less than $2.50 per day. The infant mortality rate in Angola is 180 which means that out of 1,000 new borns, 180 will die before their first birthday.

Climate Change

Climate Change scientist caught with Al Gore blow-up doll.

http://optoons.blogspot.com/2009/11/scientists-advocating-man-made-global.html

P.S. This is a joke.

Obama and World Opinion

While the main media has been trumpheting the new found popularity of the US since Obama got elected the reaction is not consistent world-wide. The approval for the US went up primarily in western Europe. In some other places the situation is different. As a continent, Africa benefited from Bush's policies and enjoined tremendous economic growth as was the case in India. Eastern Europe also had an appreciated for Bush.

But the country with the biggest change was Germany, where Bush was despiced and Obama greatly admired. But the situation is changing quickly. Der Spiegel, the most prominent magazine in Germany, is blunt: Obama lied to Europe. He is following the Bush plan on Climate Change. And his niceness is not producing any improvements in any relations with other countries. Der Spiegel thinks that he should adopt some Bush like toughness.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,662822,00.html

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,661678,00.html

Obama and Experience

I am a little hung up on the legacy of Lyndon B. Johnson. As a draft age male growing up amidst daily ubiquitous reports of the causalities from the Vietnam War and knowing that all males 18-26 would be required to register for the draft, his decisions had an impact. But there is also the legacy of his legislative accomplishments.

LBJ had considerable legislative experience prior to becoming President and he pushed through an amazing agenda. He changed America, perhaps more than any President. But there is a downside to his Great Society, unintended consequences, that seem to have harmed the US ever since.

It is my fundamental belief that governments should reward behavior that they want and punish behavior that they don't want. This causes a conflict with the liberal agenda items and also makes it very easy to rally support for the liberal agenda. For example, Unemployment Compensation rewards people who are not working and thereby encourages people to not even bother looking actively for work. Aid to singe parents encourages single parent families. Meanwhile, taxes on interest earned in saving accounts discourages savings. Capital gains taxes discourages investments.

One can sympathize with people out of work and want to assist them but the assistance should not have the unintended consequence of encouraging people to remain unemployed. People who oppose aid to single parent children are not mean-spirited but may want to find another means to support the children without encouraging the behavior.

Anyway, back to the subject. Since LBJ, hardly any President has had legislative experience. Since his departure, elected Presidents have only had 16 total years in Congress, with the 6 years of Nixon, 6 years from GHWBush, and 4 years from Obama.

Now Obama is having troubles getting legislation through Congress despite the 60% majorities in both houses. And it is good that he lacks the leadership skills to improve this situation. Otherwise, his legacy would be as bad a LBJ's.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704204304574545733826430664.htm l

Wealth of Nations

What makes a country wealthy? Perhaps having a government that promotes transparent transactions and allows it's citizens to keep the wealth that they have earned.

http://www.esquire.com/features/best-and-brightest-2009/world-poverty-map-1209

Palin and the Main Street Media

Apparently the Associated Press assigned 10 reporters to read Sarah Palin's book and look for errors. And they discovered 6 errors. Among the errors in the book is the following:

"PALIN: Says she made frugality a point when traveling on state business as Alaska governor, asking "only" for reasonably priced rooms and not "often" going for the "high-end, robe-and-slippers" hotels.

THE FACTS: Although she usually opted for less-pricey hotels while governor, Palin and daughter Bristol stayed five days and four nights at the $707.29-per-night Essex House luxury hotel (robes and slippers come standard) . . ."

I guess that some people will read this and wonder what is the difference "not often" using high end hotels and "usually" using high end hotels. And the Palin haters will pompously proclaim :$707.29 PER NIGHT? Is she nuts?"

http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MTE2YmEyMDZkM2Y3NjAzYWZjOTRmYjExZDg4MGE0NzE=

Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal discovered the following about Palin versus the health care bills:
"Number of AP reporters assigned to story:
• ObamaCare bills: 2
• Palin book: 11

Number of pages in document being covered:
• ObamaCare bills: 4,064
• Palin book: 432

Number of pages per AP reporter:
• ObamaCare bill: 2,032
• Palin book: 39.3

"On a per-page basis, that is, the AP devoted 52 times as much manpower to the memoir of a former Republican officeholder as to a piece of legislation that will cost trillions of dollars and an untold number of lives. That's what they call accountability journalism. "

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704204304574545733826430664.html

Health Care Reform

Some thoughts on Health Care from the Dean of Havard Medical School. Too often the health care debate consists of Dems pushing their idealogical, partisian approach and criticizing Repubs for standing in the way of progress and Repub not offering any meaningful alternatives beyond the good ideas of increased competition and tort reform.

It should be obvious that we can not just add 50 million people to our current system without considerable costs and considerable increases in waiting times to get into seeing a doctor. And probably extra cost increases because emergency room usage will increase when people can't get into seeing a doctor otherwise. Doctors aren't just working at 70% of capacity now, waiting to provide service to all these new people.

And you can not just cut $50 billion or so, c 16%, from Medicare spending. Oh sure, you can pay less to the Doctors but they are not required to take Medicare patients. What would you do if you got 20% less for working for someone? Would you find another employer?

Somewhat is going to have to explain that we either need rationing or some customer based pricing for services. Someone who insists on motorized scooters and medical testing of questionable value should have to pay out of pocket.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704431804574539581994054014.html

Climate Control

OK, Clinton failed to get Congress to pass any global warming legislation for the Kyoto Accords of 1997 and now Obama will be equally unable to get any approval for legislation for the Copenhagen meetings, designed to replace the retiring Kyoto Accords in 2012.

And yet Bush is the bad guy, apparently. Obama, with the Democratic Party controlling 60% of both houses in Congress, has no excuse, except for his own poor leadership.

http://www.economist.com/world/unitedstates/displaystory.cfm?story_id=14900648&fsrc=rss

Want to Save the Planet? Eat your dog.

Pets have a rather large "pawprint. A medium size dog contributes as much CO2 as a 4.6 liter Land Cruiser driven 6,000 miles/year.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/ethicalman/2009/11/time_to_eat_the_pets.html

ObamaCare

http://www.thenewatlantis.com/blog/diagnosis/rahm-emanuel-vs-obamacare

The Federal Debt

Just had a look at the FY 2010 Federal Budget, the first totally controlled by Obama (although it would be wrong not to give him credit/blame for changes in the FY2009 budget).

At the end of Bush's last complete fiscal year, the debt held by the public (as opposed to on-the books debt held by the Social Security Administration, Medicare, and other governmental agencies) was $5,803 billion. It is currently, as of 11/12/09, $7,588 billion. By the end of Obama's first term's fiscal year, this debt is projected at $10,985.

At the end of the last complete Clinton Fiscal year (9/30/2000) this debt was $3,405.

So, if my math is correct, Bush added c. $2.6 billion to the public held debt in 8 years, while Obama is adding $5.1 billion in 4 years.

Note: The Total Public Debt (Federal) now is $11,986,954,033,520. as of yesterday.
The FY 2010 budget is projected to add $1,171 billion to the debt.

UPDATE: The FY2010 Budget is already off by $20 Billion with $176.4 Billion in deficits for the month. Revenues at 18% lower than expected.
http://hotair.com/archives/2009/11/13/october-deficit-bigger-than-expected/

Definitions

Joe Klein recently defined neoconservatism in roughly accurate terms, “as unilateral bellicosity cloaked in the utopian rhetoric of freedom and democracy.”

http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1826064,00.html

I like that definition because it got me thinking of the definition of liberalism, as practiced in the US. Winston Churchill famously said that a 20 year old who is not a liberal has no heart and a 40 year old who is not a conservative has no brain. I think that this is true, with the basic reason that liberalism tends to disregard the behavior sciences and doesn't understand how people think and act.

Liberalism perhaps should be defined as “as oligarchy cloaked in the utopian rhetoric of social justice, freedom and democracy.”

Shakeup In the Obama Administration

"Democratic officials said Craig(Chief Legal Counsel) was ousted because of frustration among senior White House aides over his handling of the plans to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay. As the White House's top lawyer, Craig was pivotal in advising Obama to sign an executive order during his first week in office promising to shut the prison by the end of January 2010.


In a politically embarrassing move that has frustrated some of the president's liberal supporters, White House aides have since backed off that deadline, citing complex legal issues surrounding what to do with the approximately 200 terror suspects still detained at Guantanamo."

Who knew that it was a tricky matter dealing with Gitmo people? Oh, that's right-Bush.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/11/12/top-white-house-lawyer-pushed-out/

Don't Ask, Don't Tell

Maybe Clinton's directive should be extended to religion as well as sexual orientation in the military.
Nadal Hasan openly talked about jihad, the problems with sending Muslims to fight in "Muslim" wars, etc. The Turkish Army, with strong secular tendencies, would have booted out someone like Hasan some time ago.

http//www.forbes.com/2009/11/12/major-nidal-hassan-fort-hood-muslim-opinions-columnists-melik-kaylan.html

Obama's Health Tax

What is a tax? Wouldn't the requirement to buy insurance (regardless of anything you do, such as driving) constitute a tax? Certainly the dictionary would say so:
"a charge…imposed by authority on persons or property for public purposes” is commonly considered a tax."

Anyway, it appears now that there may be a 2.5% of income penalty if someone does not purchase health insurance and a 11% of income "tax" (or compulsory premium) to buy health insurance. It will be interesting to see how many opt for the penalty instead of the tax.

http://reason.com/archives/2009/11/04/obamas-hidden-fees

http://republicans.waysandmeans.house.gov/webreturn/?url=http://cbo.gov/ftpdocs/106xx/doc10691/hr3962SubsidiesRangelLtr.pdf

Pakistan Drone War

"Obama, far from curtailing the drone program he inherited from President George W. Bush, has dramatically increased the number of U.S. Predator and Reaper drone strikes. There have been 44 strikes in Pakistan this year (two while Bush was still in office), compared with 34 in all of 2008. None of the strikes under either Bush or Obama has targeted Osama bin Laden, who seems to have vanished like a wraith."

"Under President Obama, the strikes have taken out at most half a dozen militant leaders while killing approximately 450 other people. Of those, about 75 percent are reported to have been lower-level militants, and about a quarter appear to have been civilians. The strikes appear to have killed a slightly lower percentage of civilians in the past nine months than during the earlier years of the American drone campaign in Pakistan."

http://www.cnn.com/2009/OPINION/10/29/bergen.drone.war/index.html

I just do not get it. So much is being written about waterboarding 3 people under medical supervision and prosecuting those responsible for this action and yet nothing is being done to determine who authorized this undeclared war on Pakistani civilians.