When they tell you how great Canadian healthcare is....

Just refer to this (From this in National Post):


Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Danny Williams is to have heart surgery in the United States later this week, a press conference this morning is expected to confirm.

Media reports last night suggested the popular 59-year-old Premier has opted not to remain in his home province or country for the scheduled surgery, opting instead for treatment at a U.S. institution. The exact destination is not known.

If Democrats succeed in destroying healthcare in the United States, where will we go?

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Obama's budget: $1.7 trillion in new spending

Following his theme of avoiding even the consideration of a spending decrease, Barack Obama has proposed a new budget short on spending cuts but long on taxes and debt. From the Heritage Foundation:

Over the 10 years in which both budgets overlap (FY 2010-2019), this year's budget would spend an additional $1.7 trillion and run up an additional $2 trillion in budget deficits (see Table 1).[1] In fact, this year's proposal shows annual budget deficits as much as 49 percent larger than last year's proposal--raising the debt by an additional 6 percent of GDP over the same period. It is a spending spree that will drive up both taxes and deficits.

Growing Debt

In addition, the President's budget would:

•Permanently expand the federal government by nearly 3 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) over 2007 pre-recession levels;
•Raise taxes onall Americans by more than $2 trillion over the next decade (counting health care reform and cap and trade);
•Raise taxes for 3.2 million small businesses and upper-income taxpayers by an average of $300,000 over the next decade;
•Borrow 42 cents for each dollar spent in 2010;
•Run a $1.6 trillion deficit in 2010--$143 billion higher than the recession-driven 2009 deficit;
•Leave permanent deficits that top $1 trillion in as late as 2020; and
•Double the publicly held national debt to over $18 trillion.[2]

And these are just some of the highlights. I sure hope that the congress has a little more self-preservation instinct than this President. He does not seem to get that his credibility is almost completely shot and his small suggestion for spending freezes (which will only impact a very small part of the budget) and his phony "deficit reduction commission" (non-binding of course) are transparent attempts to once again fool the voting public that spoke so clearly in Massecheusetts.


Keep it up Mister President. You are working hard to make the best deficit reduction plan come true-a one term presidency of Barack Obama.

Read the entire Heritage Foundation summary on the budget here.

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Liveblogging the State of the Union Address

I wasn't sure I was going to do this, but I heard the ABC commentators claim that Nancy Pelosi was wearing purple because (paraphrasing) "it's not blue, it's not red, it's right in the center. I don't think that's an accident. I think it's symbolic." I had to laugh. Nancy Pelosi is right in the center, of course -- of the Politburo.

9:14 It's interesting that he can claim that "these are the reasons" -- the struggles of ordinary Americans -- are the reason he ran for President. He never could articulate that during the campaign.

9:18 We all hated the bank bailout. His discussion here assumes that it's better to prop up failing businesses and to prevent homes from being foreclosed upon.

Joe Biden grins like an idiot.

9:19 I love the way the banks are going to pay a "modest fee". Didn't they already pay back the bailout, with interest?

9:20 We cut taxes for 95% of Americans. Yet. I guess letting the GWB tax cuts lapse doesn't count. I guess if you don't count their efforts to force people to buy insurance as a "tax".

9:22 Economists on the right say that the ARRA worked? Please. Yes, it saved individual jobs. There are plenty of anecdotes for him to point to. Take enough opium and you'll feel great -- until you overdose.

9:24 He's calling for a new jobs bill. Wanna bet it's another stimulus package?

9:25 Outstanding. He's going to force banks to lend to small businesses. Mark my words, this will be like the Community Reinvestment Act -- it will force people to lend to minority-owned and women-owned businesses and those in depressed areas. Don't expect them to last as well as the average small business will. He didn't say it, but I'll bet you a dollar.

9:27 Create jobs through infrastructure: by which he means increase spending. Expect more government money to be spent on pet projects and pork.

9:30 He mentions education costs. If you ask me, we provide too much money in financial aid to students. Increasing the demand-side funding will increase the supply-side costs.

9:31 "China's not waiting." Does he know that China's emphasis on not waiting has caused them to expand their factories so much that they don't have enough manufacturing demand to keep them in business? Does he know how wasteful that kind of centralized planning is?

9:33 We need consumers and families to have the information needed to make financial decisions. As if they don't now? There's never been so much information as is available now. And when you demand that the government dictate how much information is provided, you're assuming that American legislators and regulators know more about the risks of various instruments than the people who invest in them do. I don't think so.

9:34 Hey! Nuclear power! I actually agree with him on something!

9:35 ...and the offshore drilling stuff, too. Of course, then he has to make tie this into a climate bill. But note what that means in practice -- the second item on this post.

9:39 The formula is simple -- reward success and not failure. Nice. Makes you wonder whether he felt the same way about the Palestinian problem, for which he now says, "It's hard. It's really hard."

9:42 Again with the subsidizing education, which will ultimately cause the cost of education to go up. And then he says that colleges and universities have to fix their part of the problem, too. But how, Mr. President, and why? What incentive do they have?

9:43 Finally mentions health insurance reform. Note they're not saying "healthcare reform" anymore. That's long dead.

9:44 IT'S SO not true that he didn't take healthcare on because it's good politics. Of COURSE he thought it was good politics. In the bubble he lives in, everyone believes it's a good idea.

9:45 Would your approach preserve the right of Americans to be left alone with respect to health insurance?

No. Didn't think so.

The CBO, by the way, crunches numbers according to the formulae that the the politicians give them. It's not like they're objective.

9:47 You won't turn your back on the Americans who are having trouble with healthcare. How about the unborn Americans? How about the elderly for whom there won't be sufficient resources?

You can't eliminate ill health. Therefore, the only thing that government-run health care will do is put bureaucrats in charge of what is considered "ill enough to treat, and not too expensive to treat." Everything else will go by the wayside.

9:51 Okay, let's hear the amount by which the federal government will tighten its belt.

Sorry, Mr. President, but a spending freeze is not tightening your belt. I'm waiting to hear about one program that will come down.

"We will not continue tax cuts." So part of his "cut" is forcing people and companies to pay more in taxes.

Oh, and we're going to tighten our belts -- um, next year.

9:55 "Do our work openly"? Is that really Barack Obama talking?

9:59 Did you notice that the President is doing a lot of calling on Congress to do stuff? It's how he can sidestep almost every issue, giving no details and making platitudes while still coming off like an "idea guy".

10:02 Saying "no" is leadership. It's opposition leadership, but it is leadership. And the Republicans haven't filibustered -- they've only threatened to do so. If the laws that the Democrats want to pass are so divisive and unpopular that the Republicans are willing to take this radical step, and that they're not sure they can get 60% of the senate to agree to call it up for a vote, then maybe we shouldn't be passing it.

10:05 Why does he insist on giving a timeframe? It's like telling your poker opponent that you're going to stop bidding at ten dollars.

All of our combat troops out of Iraq by this August. Just hang on a little longer, Al Qaeda. The Americans will leave, and you can fill the torture rooms again. (And by torture I don't mean "enhanced interrogation techniques".)

10:08 I don't get it. Why would the leader in nuclear technology cowtow to those who aren't nearly as capable as we are? It will disarm us, and won't stop Iran or North Korea.

Of Iran's leaders he says: "They, too, will face growing consequences." I believe that's the 21st-century cry of "Wolf!"

10:14 Oh, great -- more government regulation of business by forcing people to hire quotas of people in order to avoid lawsuits. Thanks, Mr. President.

10:15 Yes, we are a "nation of immigrants". But immigrants from everywhere don't simply have those values. Even legal immigration, if it's of too many people from a country that doesn't share our values -- Saudi Arabia, Kenya, perhaps, dare I say it, Mexico -- the more we dilute the American values that the President is praising.

10:16 Democracy in a country of 300 million people can be noisy and messy -- which is why I did everything I could possibly do to ram healthcare down your throat. And, he says, by the way, please ignore the voters. Don't worry about your poll numbers, do what you think is right, even if the public hates it. Mr. President, are you a populist who loves the American people and this nation of immigrants, or are you an oligarchist who knows better than the common man?

10:20 I totally agree that you don't quit, Mr. President. I'm not sure that's a good thing.

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Community Service - Mandated by Trenton?

Philly.com reports that community service requirements may be coming to a school near you:

Community service may have inched closer to becoming a graduation requirement for New Jersey high school students under a bill signed into law in the final days of the Corzine administration.

The legislation calls for a four-year study to start this fall at 15 high schools, including five in the southern third of the state. Under the pilot program, incoming freshmen will complete at least 20 hours of community service during their high school careers. The service must be unpaid and can take place inside or outside school.

Let me be clear on this. I think it is a good idea for High School students to perform community service activities in their community. I also believe that they should be driven by the student themselves, not some bureaucrat in Trenton.

This initiative falls into the "well meaning but misguided" category of legislation that is so prone in the legislature in Trenton. It usually starts with some new member of the assembly fresh off their promotion from town council or county freeholder. They get elected and think "what a good idea this or that would be". They then proceed to "lets make that a law and MAKE everyone in the state do it".

And there is a good reason for legislation like mandated community service if you are an assembly member (or senator for that matter). If you are busy working on trivial legislation like this, maybe no one will notice that you aren't handling the really important issue to the state. It is also a product of "full time legislators". If our state legislators spent a lot less time in Trenton, they wouldn't have the time for garbage legislation like this.

Read the Philly.com article here.

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Who is Ellie Light? What in the world is going on here?

Instapundit.com and Hot Air broke this story about an alleged citizen concerned over Barack Obama's issues after the Massachusetts election (and after the NJ and VA elections as well). From Hot Air:

Someone appears to be doing a little Astroturfing for Obama.
In recent days, a letter defending Obama has appeared in dozens of newspapers throughout the country — all signed by an “Ellie Light.” In the letters, which all use identical language, Ms. Light explains that Obama never promised to fix all our problems quickly or painlessly.

She declares:
Today, the president is being attacked as if he’d promised that our problems would wash off in the morning. He never did. It’s time for Americans to realize that governing is hard work, and that a president can’t just wave a magic wand and fix everything.

Editors all over the country found Light’s message strangely compelling. It was reprinted at The Politico; the Philadelphia Daily News; the San Francisco Examiner; the Washington Times; and a USA Today blog. In addition, the letter has appeared at literally dozens of small-town papers across the country, with names like the Los Banos Enterprise, the North Adams Transcript, and the Danbury News-Times.

What is going on here? I get that someone might make the attempt to rehabilitate the disaster that has become the Obama administration. But using the same name and same words? And how did all of these 'news' organizations ALL DECIDE to publish the same thing from the same person? From Hot Air:

With the help of my commenters, I have been keeping a running total at my blog of the places where Light’s letter has appeared. At last count, her letter has appeared in at least 47 newspapers in at least 23 different states.

What is going on indeed.

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Schundler to NJ Education Commissioner

The New York Post reported today the appointment of Brett Schundler as Education Commissioner for the state of New Jersey. While this isn't exactly "new" news (the word on this had been out for a few days), the Post article seemed to grasp the importance of this appointment:

New Jersey Gov.-Elect Chris Christie's most audacious move so far has been his choice for state education commissioner -- former Jersey City Mayor Bret Schundler, a man the National Education Association once dubbed Public Enemy No. 1 for his advocacy of school choice.

Christie rolled to victory last November on the basis of voter discontent with the Garden State's high taxes and its budgetary problems. And it's clear that getting Jersey's spending under control means finding ways to get more bang for the state's education bucks -- which will require reforms like those Schundler has long advocated, but which teachers unions despise.

As the state's largest donor to political candidates, the NJEA is the kind of all 'Special Interests'. While Democrats like to pretend that special interests can only be businesses, citizens have learned to know better. As a matter of fact, the Obama administration has taken union special interest to an entirely new level (pushing a healthcare bill that apparently will only serve to help the SEIU and no one else). But while union politics is often unseemly, the situation in our urban schools is a mess:

Jersey serves as an example of how money alone, absent reform, does little to help failing schools. A series of court orders has forced the state to funnel billions of dollars into 31 urban districts (the total's now about $4 billion a year), with little impact on student achievement. Camden has a whopping $340 million budget for a system serving 13,000 students (more than $26,000 per student), yet 26 of the city's schools failed to make adequate progress last year toward federal education requirements. In Newark, only about 42 percent of eighth graders were deemed proficient on recent state math assessment tests.

Jersey's urban school districts suffer from decades of patronage, waste and a focus on politics instead of education. To take one example, in 1995, the state seized control of the Newark schools because of corruption and has operated them ever since. Though the state's takeover brought some measure of stability to the system, it did little to reform classroom instruction or improve student performance -- prompting an angered Mayor Cory Booker to declare last year, "We have to find ways to expand options for parents and reward innovation" in Newark.

I am with Cory Booker on this one. And let's hope that Schundler can start to make this system work for children instead of the NJEA.

Read the entire article here.

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Haiti CRS Update

I received an update from Catholic Relief Services today on their efforts to aid the earthquake victims in Haiti:

Almost immediately following the earthquake, CRS began delivering lifesaving supplies, including food and water, to desperate survivors. The supplies were already in place in CRS' Port-au-Prince warehouse.

"We are fortunate to have had water in our warehouse," says Karel Zelenka, country representative for CRS Haiti. "We also trucked in family food kits from Les Cayes."

CRS has a staff of 313 on the ground, with more personnel arriving daily. CRS Haiti's headquarters building was damaged but did not collapse. Until its structural integrity is assured, aid workers are working and sleeping outside in tents or cars.

Additional food will arrive soon. "Fifteen hundred metric tons of wheat and oil will arrive in port shortly," says Schuyler Thorup, Regional Director for CRS Latin America. "We will distribute it immediately."

In the neighboring Dominican Republic, CRS is preparing food packages to feed 50,000 people. The packages are five-gallon buckets loaded with ready-to-eat foods that don’t need to be cooked. CRS is also readying water storage containers, water purification tablets, hygiene kits, cookware and plastic sheeting in Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

If you are still looking for a way to help the relief efforts in Haiti, you can make an online donation at the Catholic Relief Services here.

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