Wheels within Wheels

Well, healthcare reform has passed the House, and I find myself reminded of a Clair Wolfe quote:

“America is at that awkward stage. It’s too late to work within the system, but too early to shoot the bastards.”

- Claire Wolfe, 101 Things to Do ‘Til the Revolution

My question? Oh, of course.

Is it still too early?

Fess Parker has died. I remember wanting a coon-skin cap when I was a young boy. I never did get one. The other early American history television show I remember watching was Swamp Fox. About all I can remember about it now is that it was in black-and-white and had a lot of trees in it.

The death of Mr. Parker, who played Davy Crockett in his most memorable role, does bring about the timely opportunity to point out this event in Davy Crockett’s career, though. Would that more of our legislators understood this.

First, Pelosi claimed that Congress would be more bipartisan if the Democrats were given a larger majority. Then, no Republican input was allowed into the health care reform bills. Following that, Pelosi claimed that a bill could be bipartisan without any Republican votes. Next, she claimed that they had to pass the bill in order for us to find out what was in it.

And now, Louise Slaughter is proposing that the Democrats “gimmick” things in order to pass the health care reform bill without ever actually voting on it.

I have a hard time believing that anyone with a functioning brain can say that, unless they’re deliberately lying through their teeth.

Steve Green has a post up requesting advice on science fiction to read. He’s received a number of good suggestions, many of which I’ve read. I was particularly taken by a recommendation for H. Beam Piper, who is one of my favorite authors. That comment included a link to his author section on Project Gutenberg, and, in particular, Rebel Raider, from which comes the following. I thought the quote was particularly timely. I could have limited it to just the last sentence, but I felt the context was worth it.

In this last, his best selling-point was a recent act of the Confederate States Congress called the Scott Partisan Ranger Law. This piece of legislation was, in effect, an extension of the principles of prize law and privateering to land warfare. It authorized the formation of independent cavalry companies, to be considered part of the armed forces of the Confederacy, their members to serve without pay and mount themselves, in return for which they were to be entitled to keep any spoil of war captured from the enemy. The terms “enemy” and “spoil of war” were defined so liberally as to cover almost anything not the property of the government or citizens of the Confederacy. There were provisions, also, entitling partisan companies to draw on the Confederate government for arms and ammunition and permitting them to turn in and receive payment for any spoil which they did not wish to keep for themselves.

The law had met with considerable opposition from the Confederate military authorities, who claimed that it would attract men and horses away from the regular service and into ineffective freebooting. There is no doubt that a number of independent companies organized under the Scott Law accomplished nothing of military value. Some degenerated into mere bandit gangs, full of deserters from both sides, and terrible only to the unfortunate Confederate citizens living within their range of operations. On the other hand, as Mosby was to demonstrate, a properly employed partisan company could be of considerable use.

It was the provision about booty, however, which appealed to Mosby. As he intended operating in the Union rear, where the richest plunder could be found, he hoped that the prospect would attract numerous recruits. The countryside contained many men capable of bearing arms who had remained at home to look after their farms but who would be more than willing to ride with him now and then in hope of securing a new horse for farm work, or some needed harness, or food and blankets for their families. The regular Mosby Men called them the “Conglomerates,” and Mosby himself once said that they resembled the Democrat party, being “held together only by the cohesive power of public plunder.”

Note: I updated the post to make it clearer that Rebel Raider is history, not fiction. Piper was a history buff - in the introduction to one of his books (a collection of short stories, I believe, although it’s not handy for me to check), Jerry Pournelle states that Piper knew both the grand sweep of history, as well as many of the obscure stories.

It shouldn’t be a position or a strategy, either.

I recorded the SOTU last night, because I wasn’t home to watch it live. I tried, I really did, but I just couldn’t watch all the way to the end. I left the room before it was over, telling Marion that it was all lies and misrepresentations, and I couldn’t handle it any more. Gerard highlights a comment here that expresses my opinion pretty succinctly. I won’t be going to Mass about it, though … I’m not Catholic.

Our current President is actively ignoring reality in favor of continuing with his chosen agenda.

• Not-so-subtle digs at global warming - excuse me, climate change denialists, ignoring the damning CRU data dump and other recent revelations.
• Saying “we’re so close” to passing the Senate healthcare bill that we have to continue, ignoring the fact that a Republican won “Ted Kennedy’s seat” by promising to oppose it.
• Talking about continuing earmark reform, ignoring the 9000-odd earmarks in the stimulus bill.
• Complaining that the recent Supreme Court decision will allow foreign corporations access to our political process, ignoring the fact that on his campaign website, the default, standard checks had been deliberately disabled, thus allowing effectively anonymous donations to his campaign from around the world.
• Calling for bipartisanship when the Democrats have shown that their idea of bipartisanship is that Republicans should vote for bills into which they’ve had no input.

And I would have been absolutely horrified, if I thought he had any idea about how things operate in the real world, when he said that because of our current budget woes, he was going to freeze portions of the federal budget next year, because “that’s how budgets work.”

Really? So, if I’m in debt now, with lots more money going out than is coming in, I should keep spending at my current levels this year, and next year, I keep my spending on movie rentals and lawn service at this year’s levels? That’s how budgets work? I don’t think so.

There are other things I could mention (cap & trade, energy, proposing budget cuts that will, over the next ten years, save about one month’s worth of our current budget deficits, and so on), but I have better things to do. This isn’t a website people come to for news and political commentary. I’m actually not sure how many people ever come here, to be truthful - I don’t track visitors.

The bottom line is that we have an arrogant and supercilious fool in the office of the President, and he’s lying through his teeth to us in order to enact changes that he knows the American people don’t want, and I’m sick of him.

Top Democrats head for the exits.

Given the falling popularity of Congress, the fact that the health-care takeover that the Democrats are pushing through is heavily opposed by voters, and the fact that fewer people are self-identifying as Democrats these days, I think that’s a reasonable characterization.

… and Obama’s been hitting the ’snooze’ button.

I wonder why?

Why America Hates Universal Health Care: The Real Reason

Just a couple of links. First, the hockey stick graph was discredited a few years ago. Even if you consider it valid, however, try examining it in longer-term historical context.

Second, the East Anglia CRU records showed an increasing temperature trend for Antarctica. I wonder how that happened. Comments #13 and #26 in the thread are also interesting.

Third, the East Anglia CRU has problems - data that has been online for years is no longer available on their site. They’re either doing a clumsy attempt to cover things up, or their IT department is staffed by incompetents. Or both.

Fourth, the British Met (Meteorology) Office has a long list of scientists who still believe in AGW, and don’t think the current situation detracts from its validity. Bishop Hill found it interesting to note several prominent climate scientists who aren’t signatories.

Fifth, we have one response to awkward questions about the situation - call the guards to prevent more of them being asked: