Will 8/31/09

Washington Is Seriously Unserious

My take on George Will's latest. His essay was published in the Newsweek Magazine.

Summary: On at least two main issues in the news, health care, global warming, the legislation before Congress does not seriously face the facts. The global warming bill is called “cap and trade”.

Quote:

That legislation is a particularly lurid illustration of why no serious person nowadays takes seriously Washington's increasingly infantile bandying of numbers.

My Views: I’ve been drawing attention to the articles by George Will and Charles Krauthammer because they make serious criticisms of the issues. I fear that too much of the press is too infatuated with Obama to give these issues the kind of objective analysis that they deserve. In this essay, Will’s points ought to be addressed by responsible people in power.

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George Will almost didn't make it as a syndicated columnist. His style was considered too erudite for a general audience.

Whatever one thinks of his views, read his work for use of language and for how he marshals facts and uses logic.

Here's his Wiki bio.

His latest book is at the right.

Coulter 8/28/09

Left's Healthcare Lies - Part 2

My take on Ann Coulter's latest. Her column was published on Townhall.com.

Summary: This installment covers abortions, rationing, and cost control with a humorous play on the CIA angle to distract attention from the Healthcare issue.

List: The New National Health Care Plan will:

6. Have no rationing.
7. Reduce costs.
8. Not cover abortions.

Quote:

With the Democrats getting slaughtered -- or should I say, "receiving mandatory end-of-life counseling" -- in the debate over national health care, the Obama administration has decided to change the subject by indicting CIA interrogators for talking tough to three of the world's leading Muslim terrorists.

My Views: I doubt that Obama is using the prosecution of CIA agents as a device to distract attention to the issue. This is just Coulter humor. As for the main topics, she makes some effective points. Abortion funding may not be explicitly included in the bill but does anybody seriously think that when passed and it comes to Obama implementing it, that abortion funding won't be there? As for rationing, well . . . how can it be otherwise? Others have looked at the costs of this thing is a very seriously way and there is a great deal to be concerned about.

Part 1

Series Summary

Part 3

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Anybody who is as hated as Ann Coulter is must be doing something right. She is very right-wing but every left-wing blogger would love to write like her. I hate rants; opinion pieces must argue from the facts. Pay attention to how she uses facts and draws politically incorrect connections among them. People would do well to think and not just be outraged.

Here's her Wiki bio. Her latest book is at the right.

Kennedy RIP: End of an Era

Lots of eulogies of Edward Kennedy. Here's a larger view of the significance of this event.

This is the first time since 1956 that there has not been a Kennedy on the national scene in the first rank. At the 1956 Democratic National Convention, John F. Kennedy mounted a short-lived bid for the Vice-Presidential nomination. While he lost to Estes Kefauver, he emerged from that convention as a national figure and a contender for President in 1960.

Since then, there has been a Kennedy as a possible contender for top honors through the 1980's. After Ted Kennedy's loss of the presidential campaign in 1980 to Jimmy Carter, he gradually fell back upon Senate power. He was a major player in the Senate until his death a couple days ago.

There are other Kennedys, of course. A Kennedy may even be elected to replace him in the Senate. But no Kennedy will have front-rank stature and this marks a change in America's politics.

No Kennedy in the front rank. An era has passed.

Krauthammer 8/21/09

The Truth About Death Counseling

My take on Charles Krauthammer's latest. His column was published in the Washington Post.

Summary: It lies somewhere between the extreme statements of Sarah Palin and Barack Obama. Not "Death Panels" but not "non-existent", either.

Quote:

It's surely not a death panel. But it is subtle pressure applied by society through your doctor. And when you include it in a health-care reform whose major objective is to bend the cost curve downward, you have to be a fool or a knave to deny that it's intended to gently point the patient in a certain direction, toward the corner of the sickroom where stands a ghostly figure, scythe in hand, offering release.

My Views: I find myself quoting CK so much because he gets so much right. I've watched MSNBC where all the concerns about death counseling are dismissed as so much lies, so it is nice to read a reasoned analysis of what the issue is really about.

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Charles Krauthammer is a more establishment columnist. He came to punditry by way of psychiatry (at Massachusetts General Hospital) via the New Republic Magazine. He appears on TV where you never see his wheelchair. Here's his Wiki bio.

He wrote a book which is pictured at the right. I am drawn by the substance and the thinking than any particular writing flair.

Coulter 8/19/09

Left's Healthcare Lies - Part 1

My take on Ann Coulter's latest. Her column was published on Townhall.com.

Summary: She lists a number of Administration talking points and then refutes them. This installment's discussion concerns the insurance companies.

List: The New National Health Care Plan will:

1. Punish the insurance companies.
2. Increase competition and keep insurance companies honest.
3. Stop insurance companies denying legitimate claims.


4. Give Americans "basic consumer protections that will finally hold insurance companies accountable."
5. Be the only way to provide coverage for pre-existing conditions.

Quote:

You want to punish insurance companies? Make them compete.

My Views: There's been a lot of coverage of this issue and I fear that I am over-doing it myself. I can't help but notice that it has a number of dimensions: 1) The importance of the issue itself; 2) the political calculations involving the emphasis on the shortcomings of the insurance industry and not others such as the law firms; 3) the elitism towards public concerns expressed at town hall meetings and elsewhere; and 4) Obama's Administration imploding.

If I were Obama, I would at this point shift attention away from townhalls by challenging the Republicans to a debate - a real one - face to face using something like the old Buckey Firing Line format. Two teams line up and take turns banging away at an issue. D's vs. R's. Or else go one on one with a prominent R - like Sarah Palin. Presuming she would score badly, he could recover momentum.

Of course, there's the danger that the R's concerns aren't as bad as the D's and their amen corner in the media make it out to be - and that people like SP aren't as dumb as they're portrayed as being, either. Danger, yes but at this point if I were Obama, I would take the chance.

Series Summary

Part 2

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Anybody who is as hated as Ann Coulter is must be doing something right. She is very right-wing but every left-wing blogger would love to write like her. I hate rants; opinion pieces must argue from the facts. Pay attention to how she uses facts and draws politically incorrect connections among them. People would do well to think and not just be outraged.

Here's her Wiki bio. Her latest book is at the right.

Coulter 8/6/09

The R's Have the Birthers But What Do the D's Have?

My take on Ann Coulter's latest. Her column was published on Townhall.com.

Summary: Okay, the Birthers may be a little nuts. But before we judge the conservatives and the Republicans we also ought to look at the nutjob politics that the other side have tolerated - and even supported!

Quote:

And as has been recently noted, a 2007 Rasmussen poll showed that 35 percent of Democrats believe Bush knew about the 9/11 attacks in advance, while 26 percent aren't sure ...

My Views: It bothers me that so much of news coverage seems to be designed to influence rather than inform. The selective outrage at crazy political theories and the selective concern at the degree of crazy opinions and behavior in the political system is just one case of bother.

I would be a lot share the left's concern about the birthers a lot more if they weren’t so opportunistic in jumping on this story

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Anybody who is as hated as Ann Coulter is must be doing something right. She is very right-wing but every left-wing blogger would love to write like her. I hate rants; opinion pieces must argue from the facts. Pay attention to how she uses facts and draws politically incorrect connections among them. People would do well to think and not just be outraged.

Here's her Wiki bio. Her latest book is at the right.