Joe Conason: 0bama Shows Why 2010 Election Was a Mistake

No Joe, 0bama showed why the 2008 election was a mistake.

I'M BEAUTIFUL IN MY WAY
'CAUSE GOD MAKES NO MISTAKES
I'M ON THE RIGHT TRACK BABY
I WAS BORN THIS WAY

"I’d sooner let a Tesco butcher fix my toe than ask the NHS"

Those in the USA who advocate European-style national socialist health insurance are invariably deaf to the many problems those countries face with their health care. Here is one British woman's experience:

For three weeks I’ve been limping around on a broken toe. The horse stamped on it and I’m in agony, but I’m not going to get it seen to because I do not want to go anywhere near my local hospital. I’m sorry, I know I will get complaints from doctors and nurses about how hard they work. I know the NHS is a sacred institution that must not be criticised. But I have been to St George’s Hospital in Tooting in London, and my nearest alternative, King’s College in Denmark Hill, and hell and high water wouldn’t drag me back to either.

I consider a little toe the size of a big toe far preferable to the horrors that might await me at either of those emporiums of state-sponsored, one-size-fits-all, “sit down and do as you’re told” totalitarianism.

The last time I went to St George’s, they made me fill in a questionnaire about my drinking habits before they would even look at my injury, which was a hole through the middle of my hand where I had got it stuck in my horse’s mouth. I told them I had been teetotal for most of my adult life, but that didn’t put them off. They mercilessly insisted I tick about 30 boxes with a “no” or “never”, while gripping and writing with one hand, before I qualified for anything approaching care.

And all the while, I could see people being admitted for emergency dental work. This is not my NHS, I thought. It’s someone else’s. I just pay for it. It quite likes my tax money but is not the least bit concerned about me. If it does care, it cares only in so much as I am fodder for its next risk assessment.

And we will have the same here, if the advoocates of socialized medicine for the USA get their way.

Disinformation on Immigration

Those who wish to give amnesty to illegal immigrants often use disingenious arguments or often outright lies to advance their position. An example of this comes from Micaela Saucedo, who advocates immigration 'reform' in the USA:

For Saucedo, head of Casa Refugio Elvira in Tijuana, a shelter for deported families, the upcoming march spotlights the absence of a legal entry system for Mexicans and Latin Americans and a lack of economic opportunity in those countries.

First of all Micaela, there is a legal entry system for Mexicans and other Latin Americans. Legal immigration from Mexico to the USA is averaging about 175,000 people per year. The would-be immigrants can wait their turn with other law-abiding people.

Why is there a lack of economic opportunity in Latin American countries? The reason can be summarized properly with one word: Socialism. For example, the PRI regime in Mexico nationalized all oil properties in Mexico in 1938. Their government-controlled economies, along with their lack of a consistent system of property rights and rule of law, have caused nothing but poverty and misery for generations of people.

And those of you here in the USA who want our government to control our economy (e.g. 0bamacare, Greenhouse Emissions, etc.) should take note. At least the Mexicans have the USA to run to. When 0bama and his worshippers turn the USA into a third-world hellhole, we won't have anywhere to run.

Alessandra Ferri and Sting

The Pretty Reckless are about to start a new headline tour in the USA!

Gerry Rafferty: 1947 - 2011

Tom Vandegriff: 1926 - 2010

The Song: 2-13-11 The Record: 5-23-11

Housing Prices are Still Too High

Peter Schiff argues in this Op-Ed in the Wall Street journal that average US housing prices are still too high:

If we assume the bubble was artificial, we can instead imagine that home prices should have followed a more traditional path during that time. In stock-market terms, prices should have followed a trend line. When you do these extrapolations (see lower line in the nearby chart), a sobering picture emerges. In his book "Irrational Exuberance," Yale economist Robert Shiller (co-creator of the Case-Shiller indices along with economists Karl Case and Allan Weiss), determined that in the 100 years between 1900 and 2000, home prices in the U.S. increased an average 3.35% per year, just a tad above the average rate of inflation. This period includes the Great Depression when home prices sank significantly, but it also includes the frothy postwar years of the 1950s and '60s, as well as the strong market of the early-to-mid 1980s, and the surge in the late '90s.

In January 1998 the 10-City Index was at 82.7. If home prices had followed the 3.35% annual 100 year trend line, then the index would have arrived at 126.7 in October 2010. This week, Case-Shiller announced that figure to be 159.0. This would suggest that the index would need to decline an additional 20.3% from current levels just to get back to the trend line.

Schiff is quite correct. And I would add that the diversion of capital from other industries to housing during the 1998-2006 bubble is one of the reasons why the current recession is so severe. It is unfortunate that the federal government continues to subsidize the home mortgage market.

#1: Jimmy Page

Back in the 1960s, there was an excellent British rock band called the Yardbirds. Their personnel changed several times, and included the likes of Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck.

After Beck and Clapton left the group, the lead guitarist was a man from London named Jimmy Page. He played for the Yardbirds for a time, and then all the other members of the group quit. So he found a new singer, bassist, and drummer and they went on their first tour billed as the "New Yardbirds". And then they changed their name --- to Led Zeppelin.

Page was heavily influenced by Robert Johnson. But he brought the art of guitar playing to its highest level. As can be seen in this early video of one of their greatest songs: Communication Breakdown:




Like a handful of other people, Page has that unusual ability to transform his thoughts and emotions into music. Watch how he makes a masterpiece by simply strumming a scale on his guitar:




So there we have the greatest musician on the planet. But you'd best watch out Jimmy. There's a tiny woman from New York in your rear-view mirror. And she's gaining on you fast.

Top 20 Musicians

Before we discuss who is #1, let's first review #2 through 19:

2 Lady Gaga
3 John Bonham
4 John Lennon
5 Paul McCartney
6 Jimi Hendrix
7 Brian Jones
8 David Bowie
9 Elvis Presley
10 Robert Johnson
11 Hank Williams Sr
12 Patsy Cline
13 Nat King Cole
14 Cindy Wilson
15 Diana Ross
16 Johnny Cash
17 Brian Wilson
18 Willie Nelson
19 Mick Jagger
20 Paul Simon

"Britain will be hit by longer and colder winters in coming years because of global warming, scientists have said."

Chris Monckton Asks for Perspective on "Global Warming"

Chris Monckton, aka Viscount Monckton of Brenchley, has been attending the Climate-Change junket in Cancun. He has the following to say:

With perspective, no one would waste a single second of his own time or a red cent of other people’s money trying, Canute-like, to make “global warming” go away.

In the me and now, even eminent professors lack perspective. Last week one such wrote to the Daily Telegraph to say that Roger Helmer, the jovial Tory MEP, ought not to have gone to Cancun for the latest big-carbon-footprint UN climate junket. Instead, said the Prof, Mr Helmer should have used the time learning that “global warming” of 0.7C in a single century was unprecedented in the last 600,000 years.

Once the number of people who are waking up to the global warming hoax reaches a critical mass, those who are currently promoting this nonsense will have nowhere to hide.