Rounding Up The Week

We've gone over a lot of stuff this week. As you head into your weekend, I thought I'd try to cap off several of the biggest items with a bit of follow-up.

NY-23 (previous link)

Due to the incomprehensibly inept job of the New York (and national) Republican party picking Dede Scozzafava as their representative rather than Doug Hoffman, Bill Owens was able to squeak out a win. So, what happens when you elect a 'conservative' Democrat to office? Ahem:

New Congressman From NY-23 Breaks 4 Promises Within One Hour Of Taking Office

When Nancy Pelosi said "we won", she was right.

Owens indicated in a press release that he was now in favor of the bill in direct contrast to his earlier position during his campaign.

During his campaign for Congress, Mr. Owens assured voters that he felt the public option had no place in the health care reform bill.

Contrary to that position, Mr. Owens now indicates that he intends to vote in favor of the bill even though it now contains a public option.

Owens also promised to vote against cutting Medicare benefits, taxing health care benefits, and increased taxes on the middle class. All of those are "features of the House bill.

Here's the Owens statement of support for the bill.

Heck of job Republican County Chairs, heck of a job.

I'm guessing he'll be shown the door in about 12 months. Still, this race is a great case study on both RINOs -- as in, they might as well be Democrats, proven by the fact that Scozzafava dropped out and endorsed the Democrat Owens, and skimmed just enough votes to throw him the victory -- and Democrats who claim to be 'conservative'. Can't trust either one any farther than you can throw 'em.




Fort Hood (previous link)
The left-wing media is doing its best to ignore the fact that Nidal Hasan was a radical Muslim and appeared to be on a religious jihad when he murdered over a dozen U.S. soldiers and civilians. Hey, media types - here's a clue: anyone who screams, "Allahu Akbar!" while gunning down unarmed pregnant women is probably a radical Muslim bent on religious jihad.


And, for those who are concerned about the potential backlash against Muslims because of incidents like this, well, here are two things that should put you at ease. First, a chart posted by Michelle Malkin in 2007:

Second, this observation from Mark Steyn:

The Headline of the Day, from the BBC:

Shooting Raises Fears For Muslims In US Army

Really? Right now the body count stands at:

Non-Muslims 13
Muslims 0

Even if you are concerned that it would be terribly unfair if all Muslims were to be tarred by Major Hasan's brush, it is, to put it at its mildest, the grossest bad taste to default every single time within minutes to the position that what's of most interest about an actual actrocity with real victims is that it may provoke an entirely hypothetical atrocity with entirely hypothetical victims.

Just something to keep in mind as you wring your hands. By the way, if you were ever captured by radical Muslims, your hands would likely be the first (but only the first) things they'd cut off. Something else to keep in mind...

The Stimulus Swindle (previous link)

'Nuff said. (link)





ObamaKennedyDeathCare
The polls continue to prove that more and more Americans don't want it. One key result:

Opposition to The One’s plan is now a clear majority, up seven points since September; the number of Americans who want Congress to either make major changes to the bill, start over on the bill, or scrap the entire effort stands at a combined 72 percent...

Nancy Pelosi is trying to force a vote on this America-busting legislation this weekend because she knows that with each passing day, this bill becomes a little less likely to pass. So far, it looks like she's short of the votes she needs, but the Dems are apparently being cooped up in Washington and shuffled into her office for bribery/arm-breaking until she comes up with the magic number of 218. Will she get them? It's hard to say. It appears that the major bones of contention are the fact that illegal immigrants and abortion are both going to be covered by the bill; a big faction of Dems is fighting both of these measures, and another big faction of Dems won't sign on without them. Only time will tell which side stands firmer; your phone calls and e-mails will help tip the balance.

Oh, and the cost. When the CBO determines the cost of any bill in Congress, it always calculates the cost over 10 years. Due to budget trickery, the more expensive pieces of ObamaKennedyDeathCare aren't counted until about 4 years from now, so the number we've previously see ($900 billion) is way, way low (it only counts 6 years rather than 10). If you were to actually look at the cost of ObamaKennedyDeathCare's first 10 years after its actual implementation, the cost skyrockets to darn near $3 trillion.

And guess who's going to get to pay for that? Yep, that soon-to-be-much-poorer schlub you see every morning in your mirror. Oh, and that schlub's kids and grandkids. They'll actually get to deal with the bulk of it.

There's my two cents.