Yeah, That Whole Socialized Medicine Thing's Working Out Well

France has been held up as the model country that we would want to imitate with our health care system. It seems to be working out real well:

PARIS (Reuters) - The French government is looking at ways to plug a gaping hole in its health care budget and may charge patients more for hospital stays, Budget Minister Eric Woerth said on Monday.

France's health system is largely financed by the state and has been hailed as the best in the world by the World Health Organization. It is also one of the most costly and the government constantly struggles to control spending.

After a 4.4 billion euro ($6.31 billion) shortfall in the health budget in 2008, Woerth said he expected the deficit to hit 10 billion euros this year and 15 billion next, with the economic downturn denting social security contributions.

Read it all, the system sounds, er, sound...or not. They've had a socialized system for decades and it still is in the red while Obama eschews all historical precedent and promises to make it revenue neutral. Oh, okay, I believe him.

Historical precedent showed that FDR's spending policies actually prolonged the recession and Obama followed right in his footsteps. Countries such as Germany who didn't throw money at the recession and essentially into a black hole are coming out of the recession as we speak.

But San Fran Nan and the vile Harry Reid are going to pass it whether you and I want it or not and before you have a chance to know what's in it.

Update: In spite of the full-court press and probably because of the response our elected betters got at townhall meetings, the people ain't buying what Obama's selling.

This should make every single representative who has a "D" after his name think twice:

Sunday Morning News and Notes

Happy March. Only three weeks til spring springs and the crack of the bat is heard all over the place.

Here's what's new in the world:

More Hope and Change (TM) is coming. Obama has assigned a guy who was a lobbyist for the Saudi's, hates Israel and supports Hamas, blames the US for 9/11 and said Israeli tactics were akin to the Nazi's for the head of the National Intelligence Council. Just another swift move and broken promise by The One.

Speaking of broken promises, didn't Obama claim that no one who was a lobbyist would work for him? So much for that.

Radio icon Paul Harvey is dead at age 90. RIP Mr. Harvey.

The new green revolution Obama talks about should start with Congress. Perhaps a nuclear power plant right next to Pelosi's office would suffice.

Rush rallies the faithful at CPAC. He seems to be enjoying being in the minority as much as us conservative bloggers and knows that we have four years of daily fodder with BHO occupying the Oval Office, Pelosi as Speaker and Reid as the Majority Leader. Below is video number one of ten. You can view the rest at Hot Air:

Pelosi, Schumer and Reid Pissy About Iraq Plan

The Democrat braintrust is not feeling all tingly after learning of Obama's Iraq plans:

"I have long been for a significant drawback of troops in Iraq," Reid, the Senate majority leader, told reporters in a news conference. "Fifty-thousand is a higher number than I anticipated."

Added Schumer: "Fifty-thousand is more than I would have thought."

Reid said he was going to the White House Thursday afternoon for a briefing on Iraq.

On Wednesday, Pelosi criticized the 50,000-troop figure, telling MSNBC: "I don't know what the justification is for 50,000, at the present, the 50,000 troops in Iraq. I do think that there's a need for some. I don't know that all of them have to be in country."

Of course none of them have the guts to say that the reason we can withdrawal troops is because George W. Bush had the balls to order the surge and our troops won the un-winnable war.

Just curious Speaker Pelosi, where exactly would you deploy them if not "in country"? Perhaps we can follow the Murtha plan and redeploy them to Okinawa.

Those Who Do Not Remember Bad FDR Policies....

An interesting drama is playing out in Washington, DC. It started two and a half weeks ago when Obama was inaugurated and is heading toward the climax as we speak. In this play, we've seen a beaten group--the GOP--rise up and assert their collective power against an overwhelming majority led by a man who rode into the White House on the crest of an enormous wave.

It started in the House of Representatives where the GOP formed a cohesive union and voted en banc to not support a bill that is rife with pork and hand-outs to Democrat-supporting groups. The bill still passed but the GOP base became emboldened by the stand even though it was in a losing cause. The stand called into question once again the Speaker of the House and her lack of leadership and turned her into an incoherent Chicken Little.

We also saw a sitting president attack a civilian radio talk show host by name and has galvanized his supporters and brought him new ones. Obama's attack on Rush Limbaugh--just as Sen. Reid's attack previously resulted in making both elected officials look petty and far from statesman-like.

Now we approach the climactic final scene where Majority Leader Reid in the Senate is determined to push through essentially the same bill and we are now seeing Democrats defect. Add to that the fact that the public is paying more attention to this bill than most and you have the perfect storm of anti-wasteful spending coming together. Support has nose-dived and the new president looks unsure of himself.

Now comes a report by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office that shows the "stimulus" bill will not be the medicine the economy needs and will in fact make things worse:

President Obama's economic recovery package will actually hurt the economy more in the long run than if he were to do nothing, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said Wednesday.

CBO, the official scorekeepers for legislation, said the House and Senate bills will help in the short term but result in so much government debt that within a few years they would crowd out private investment, actually leading to a lower Gross Domestic Product over the next 10 years than if the government had done nothing.

CBO estimates that by 2019 the Senate legislation would reduce GDP by 0.1 percent to 0.3 percent on net. [The House bill] would have similar long-run effects, CBO said in a letter to Sen. Judd Gregg, New Hampshire Republican, who was tapped by Mr. Obama on Tuesday to be Commerce Secretary.

The people of the US have a major stake in this. As one in the business world, I have watched great hope and expectation about this legislation turn to despair as people realize exactly what's in it and what's not. The idea of providing infrastructure stimulus had given way to money for birth control, the NEA, ACORN, dog parks and other ridiculous funding requests.

Furthermore, the liberal media has actually hurt themselves severely in this case by not properly vetting Obama and getting him ready to defend his actions. He's on his heels and it's not reassuring to the average American citizen who's paying even an iota of attention. The MSM has been nearly relegated to the sidelines as people like Rush, Glenn Beck and the right-wing blogosphere have hammered the message home that this bill is horrid. In fact, the MSM is actually attacking the Obama administration on a daily basis as they flounder about in a brave new world of lost messages, dirty nominees and infighting.

So who will win and who will lose? Tough to say but this is an important time for the Republic. I'm of a mind that we will recover without doing anything, yet a bill will be passed. The key question is what will be in it. So to answer the question: Obama has been weakened faster than any incoming president in history; The GOP minority has found strength in unity and conservatism and Dem congressional leadership has been shown to be inept at best. If things continue as they are it will be a GOP win and a win for America, should the Dems gain back the momentum, the nation will suffer.

Saturday Morning News and Notes

Happy weekend.

Here's what happening:

Breitbart unveils his new site Big Hollywood. It's meant to be a competitor to HuffPo with a conservative slant.

Breaking news! Obama sent out an e-mail with no plea for money for the first time in two years.

Irony alert: Somali pirates drown with ransom money paid via parachute by the Saudis for the oil tanker they hijacked (see picture at right). Enjoy hell boys.

Little girl found via Google. Is there anything Google can't do (besides stand up to the oppressive Chinese that is)?

Democrats finally realize their Senate leader is a (barely)functional idiot.

Finally; I like Carolina and Baltimore today in the NFL playoffs.

The Oil Bubble is Bursting

Or at least deflating at a good clip:

Nymex September West Texas Intermediate sank $2.99 to a session low of $122.50 a barrel on Friday, down 5 per cent this week.

ICE September Brent lost $3.05 to a session low of $123.39 a barrel on Friday, off 5.9 per cent this week. Hurricane Dolly caused minimal disruption to production in the Gulf of Mexico and the ending of that threat contributed to selling pressure this week.

The correction for oil prices has lasted two weeks with Brent down 16.3 per cent since hitting a record $147.50 on July 11 while WTI has sunk 16.8 per cent since reaching an all-time high of $147.27 on the same day.

“We would still see any price below $120 as representing a fairly strong buy signal,” said analysts at Barclays Capital. “Crude oil stocks remain low globally while the projected path of incremental demand and supply suggests virtually no inventory build over the course of the current quarter.”

I wrote earlier that this was indeed a bubble as much as the housing market was and once it reached an unsustainable point it would retreat. We may be at the point, which will have very good side-effects. First, the dollar will strengthen, domestic spending in all industries will increase and inflation will lessen.

I guess the next question is just how much more would oil prices have decreased if Congress took real action on drilling as the GOP has proposed? If Speaker Pelosi and Senator Reid were not so quick to shelve these crucial bills until after the August break, we might be seeing the oil bubble really pop and prices declining below $100 per barrel. When that happens, the oil market will be a bear market and retail gas will fall by $0.50 or more per gallon in a couple of weeks time.

This is a sure-fire loser for Congressional Democrats as the nation has clearly spoken out and said that domestic production is a paramount issue. Congressional "Blue Dogs" could be on shaky ground come November because the libs led by Pelosi can't find it in themselves to go against the vocal "green" base even though it's political suicide. Once again, Democrats have handed the GOP an issue with which to beat them in a year when Republicans are looking into the political abyss. We are now seeing Majority Leader Reid attempt to take a scalpel to a cornerstone of capitalism by targeting speculators while simultaneously ignoring the wishes of the American people including his own constituents. I'd pay close attention to the push within Reid's state for exploiting the oil that is suspected to be there as a threat to him from that angle would make him take notice damn quickly.

Update: If Reid thinks taxes are "voluntary," perhaps hoping he understands the nuances of oil production increases is a hopeless cause.

San Fran Nan Responds to Cheney

Nancy Pelosi responded to the jibes aimed at her and Senate Leader Reid I noted yesterday:

“To tell you the truth, I’ve been really busy the last 24 hours,” Pelosi said. “How can I say this with the dignity of the office that I hold, and especially the dignity of the office that the vice president holds? It’s so beneath the dignity of his office — and mine — that I don’t even want to address it.”

Pelosi said her leadership style is to find consensus among leaders and committee chairs.

“Of course, I have the responsibility at the end of the day,” she said. “But I’m very respectful of their read on the situation,” she said. “Those people are … our distinguished chairmen. I have enormous respect for their knowledge of the subject.”

Dignity of the office? I don't recall her saying anything about the "dignity" of the Oval Office after Clinton tarnished it. I did find this little nugget from then Congresswoman Pelosi:

REP. NANCY PELOSI, (D) California: You, Mr. Speaker , were charged with and admitted to lying under oath to the Ethics Committee about the conduct of your political affairs. How inconsistent, then, Mr. Speaker, for this same Republican majority to move to an impeachment inquiry of the president for lying about his personal life. Our Republican majority have said lying under oath is a dagger in the heart of the legal system. We all agree that lying is wrong. But why the double standard?

It didn't sound like Pelosi was too worried about the undignified way in which Clinton treated his office, now did it?

Now back to Reid. If someone calls you out and questions your manhood, the typical male response is to come back with a clever retort that zings them or at least say something about it. Not Senator Reid:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) did not comment on the remark but said in a Politico interview that “someone I was with said that” the comment sounded sexist.

That's it? This man is the highest ranking member of the Senate and he can only come back with that? Instead, just as Cheney insinuated, Reid let Pelosi speak for him. It must be crowded behind her skirt, what with Reid and Pelosi hiding there.

The above picture is Harry Reid defending himself against the "big stick" comment by Cheney. It appears Cheney was right.

Bush Owns Reid and Pelosi on Iraq

The Dems have invented a great charade in fighting the President on funding for the war in Iraq. Bush doesn't need a charade, he only needs the truth, that if Congress puts time lines on funding measures, layoff notices are going out and the Dem Congress will have to read about families who can't afford Christmas because they have no income. They'll read that our troops are having trouble with the supply chain and they'll not be able to spin it in their favor.

The "idiot" Bush is beating them again:

Each day lately, Democrats inch closer to giving President Bush more money for the war in Iraq without any serious mandates for withdrawing U.S. troops.

Democratic leaders are loath to acknowledge they’ve backed off, but lawmakers from both sides of the aisle, as well as congressional aides, say Democrats are trying to find a way to provide continued troop funding while searching for some compromises that show they’re still intent on challenging the president on the war.

And of course Darth Cheney is kicking them square in the nads while they're down:

Murtha “and the other senior leaders … march to the tune of Nancy Pelosi to an extent I had not seen, frankly, with any previous speaker,” Cheney said. “I’m trying to think how to say all of this in a gentlemanly fashion, but [in] the Congress I served in, that wouldn’t have happened.”

But his implication was clear: When asked if these men had lost their spines, he responded, “They are not carrying the big sticks I would have expected."

The Vice President is calling Murtha by name and others by implication wussies and subservient to San Fran Nan. Sweet. Cheney is needling them and if they were to come out themselves and defend their actions, they'd look petty so they sent Clinton lapdog Rahm Emanuel--not exactly the picture of "big stick" manhood by the way.

Wait, it gets better. A troop draw down is currently taking place so Reid and Pelosi are stuck looking even more helpless than in recent days (no easy task, that).

Meanwhile, the bewildered Reid gets called out by that man who just exudes leadership (or not) Arlen Specter.

H/T: Gateway Pundit on the draw down story.

Update: Piling on--more at Redstate.

Bush Outsmarts Dems Again

For an idiot, George W. Bush sure seems to be better at the political game then congressional Democrats. This time he's beating them on the budget:

President Bush seems to have House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in a full nelson.

Just a year after Democrats charged into power on Capitol Hill against a Republican president with bottom-scraping poll numbers and a soured war, it's the Democrats who are crying uncle in the biggest budget confrontation since the 1995 government shutdown.

...Democrats are struggling even to pass a middle-class tax cut under the banner of fiscal responsibility. A House plan to shield 21 million mainly Democratic households from the alternative minimum tax, and offset the lost revenue with higher taxes on Wall Street, appears to be unraveling. If it does, so does the vaunted "pay as you go" rule that Pelosi pledged would re-establish fiscal responsibility in Washington after years of rampant Republican borrowing.

Bewildered Democrats have concluded that Republicans simply want them to fail.

That last line is amusing considering the Democrats have been pulling for our military efforts to fail since approximately March of 2003 on the eve of the Iraq invasion. Maybe now they know a bit how it feels.

Bush is a lame duck with microscopic approval ratings and a facing a hostile Congress yet still continues to smack the donks at every opportunity. Yet another example of expert leadership by Speaker Pelosi and Senator Reid. With GOP veterans retiring in droves, we may have to face an even longer period of time deal with their inadequate lead.

The Last Dying Gasps of a Defeatist Senate

They tried once again to withhold money for the war effort if President Bush doesn't agree to bring the troops home:

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Senate on Friday blocked a Democratic proposal to pay for the Iraq war but require that troops start coming home.

The 53-45 vote was seven votes short of the 60 needed to advance. It came minutes after the Senate rejected a Republican proposal to pay for the Iraq war without strings attached.

The Republican measure failed 45-53, 15 short of the number of votes needed to go forward.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said the only way to get troops the money was to approve the restrictions outlined by Democrats.

"Our troops continue to fight and die valiantly. And our Treasury continues to be depleted rapidly, for a peace that we seem far more interested in achieving than Iraq's own political leaders," said Reid, D-Nev.

Thank you Senator Reid, the worst Majority Leader the Senate has had in decades. No one is buying the old talking points about Iraqi political failures, the country has gotten the word that we are in fact winning at this point. I think it's well past time for the GOP to call for another showing by General Petraeus and he can further update us on how well the surge worked out. I guess Reid was reading a memo from last August.

Let's look at where the donks are vulnerable next year: immigration is an issue they are getting creamed on as the citizens of this country make it clear that they don't want amnesty.

The war in Iraq is going better than anyone dared hope and those who continued to support it will be rewarded (Has anyone heard Chuck Hagel's name lately?) when the polls open on the first Tuesday in November 2008.

Last is taxes; all the Dems have made it clear that they will repeal Bush's tax cuts and will raise taxes to pay for the myriad things they've promised while on the stump.

Reid in the Senate and Pelosi in the House have been getting destroyed by the President on every issue and it's got the nutroots worked up. The party is coming apart and the two leaders are too helpless and weak to prevent it from happening. The GOP had our differences, namely with the Harriet Miers fiasco and the "shamnesty" bill, but we've managed to come back together and if Bush leaves the illegal alien issue alone, we'll have some pretty smooth sailing next year.

Should Reid and Pelosi play around with troop funding to the point it effects the military efforts, they'll be handing the GOP the club they'll use to whack them like a mole in carnival game. If Pelosi and Reid think things are difficult at this juncture, wait until the GOP machine goes full-bore about the lack of support for our troops while we are gaining Strong momentum. The Dems have manged to keep the successes a secret thus far but will not be able to once the funding war begins.