Harlem Nocturne

The world is black and white.

You sit, uncomfortable in your new suit of nubbly wool, looking around at all the swells.  The guys with the greased hair and pencil moustaches, the dolls with slinky, sparkly dresses and spitcurls.

The cigarette girl comes by in her porter cap, sequined jacket and shorts.  The seams on her stockings are not quite straight, but your eyes follow them from the floor all the way up.  She feels your eyes on her, and looks at you over her shoulder, then winks.

You take another sip from your ice-cold vodka martini as the lights dim, the Duke's band comes in,



and you are swept away.

Patty Murray working hard to garner the illegal alien vote...

...and steal another election.

And on a side note, I hope Fay is having a fabulous time with her sister in England.

The Stark Reality of ObamaCare

At ground level, the rolling tide that is ObamaCare is beginning to lap up on the steps of small, regional hospitals.

BRMC CEO Ron Peterson told The Baxter Bulletin earlier this month that the hospital anticipates declining Medicare reimbursements to the tune of $4 million a year over the coming 10 years. He said the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 is expected to provide funding to cover uncompensated care to offset scheduled reductions in Medicare reimbursements.

Peterson said the equation the law uses to calculate the trade-off doesn't immediately offer an equitable exchange for a hospital like BRMC that relies on Medicare reimbursements for 65 percent to 70 percent of its operating revenue.
Peterson and BRMC officers met with employees Thursday to explain cost-cutting measures anticipated now and into 2011, including the following:

 Elimination of merit pay increases during 2011

 29 current personnel vacancies at BRMC will not be refilled

Unless ObamaCare is repealed and smarter policies put in place, I anticipate that hospitals like this one will eventually close their doors.  The new guidelines for Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements don't pay the bills, and unfortunately, in retirement communities and poor communities, this will mean limited or no health care.  In towns like this one, it would also dump 1,300 more people onto the unemployment rolls.

I'll let the people who supported this monstrosity of a health care "fix" explain to you how all of this is a "good" thing.   Something about a magical, rainbow money-tree...oh, and you're a racist.

The Chinese Professor

HT: Instapundit.

Juan Williams Fired!

National Public Radio has sacked Juan Williams for political incorrectness.

The move came after Mr. Williams, who is also a Fox News political analyst, appeared on the “The O’Reilly Factor” on Monday. On the show, the host, Bill O’Reilly, asked him to respond to the notion that the United States was facing a “Muslim dilemma.” Mr. O’Reilly said, “The cold truth is that in the world today jihad, aided and abetted by some Muslim nations, is the biggest threat on the planet.”

Mr. Williams said he concurred with Mr. O’Reilly.

He continued: “I mean, look, Bill, I’m not a bigot. You know the kind of books I’ve written about the civil rights movement in this country. But when I get on the plane, I got to tell you, if I see people who are in Muslim garb and I think, you know, they are identifying themselves first and foremost as Muslims, I get worried. I get nervous.”

Unbelievable.  The world has gone crazy.  Mr. Williams and I may disagree on many issues, but I believe him to be a sincere, brilliant, and classy guy.  He didn't deserve to be fired.

Britain Slims Down

Our cousins across the pond are jumping head-first into a massive austerity program to salvage what's left of their flailing economy.  The axe is falling everywhere, and social programs will be hard-hit.  I expect that many unemployed immigrants will leave for greener pastures. somewhat easing the drain on Britain's purse.  That's a good thing.  Starting in 2020, the retirement age will be 66.   Another good thing.

Also on the national chopping block are 500,000 government jobs.  It seems like a great idea on the surface; who isn't sick of a bloated federal government?  But my question is this:  where will they work?

If Britain's happy-axe doesn't fall on restrictive regulations and trade policies, if they don't encourage businesses to create something tangible, they'll be looking at unemployment numbers like ours.  Their current rate is 7.7%.  Adding half a million people to the benefit roles will not only boost that number, but eat up much of their cost savings.

At least they're trying. 

Happy Tuesday: The Bite Me Edition

The President speaks:

"People out there are still hurting very badly, and they are still scared. And so part of the reason that our politics seems so tough right now, and facts and science and argument does not seem to be winning the day all the time, is because we're hard-wired not to always think clearly when we're scared," Obama said at a Democratic fundraiser Saturday in Boston. "And the country is scared, and they have good reason to be."

Bite me, you spoiled, badly educated Marxist drone.  Your platitudes are insulting.  You've never had a real job where you actually created something of value from raw materials.  Millions of us schlubs worked in factories or pounded nails to pay your way through school, and your ungrateful wife through school too.  Scared?  You think the peons are scared?  Try again.

We're angry.  We're very angry.  Your "science" is bought-and-paid-for CRAP.  Your politics are to force-feed us a socialist system that has never worked anywhere.  The facts?  How about the fact that the rest of the world is kicking our ass in manufacturing, the unemployment rate and the debt are in the nosebleed section and getting higher, our politicians are corrupt, our currency is in the toilet, and an unprecedented number of people are on the dole.  Those facts?  You must be kidding about "argument"; I haven't heard you give a satisfactory argument for anything except "vote for me", and even that turned out to be smoke and mirrors.

Don't pretend to understand us.  You don't.  We'll tolerate you for another two years because we're a peaceable country, and then we're sending you home to never-never land.

The Electric Tea Party Acid Test?

A very interesting, and at least partially true (like me, for instance) theory on the relationship between the original, pre-Marxist infiltration hippie beliefs and the current Tea Party beliefs -

"the Tea Party and the hippie movement share four fundamental core values:

•A craving for independence;
•A celebration of individualism;
•Joy in the freedom offered by self-sufficiency;
•And an acceptance of the natural order of things."

OK, so far, but this, to me, is the clincher -

"Actually, considering that the Tea Party demographic skews toward people in their 50s and 60s, it may very well be that many Tea Partiers did wear long hair and practice free love 40 years ago when they were young. In other words, a certain percentage of Tea Partiers aren’t simply like the original hippies — they were the original hippies . . ."

Current 'hippies' are pale and foolish copies who never got past the dependancy stage. 

We are the real deal.

Anyway, give this a read, it is truly worth your time.

I have not watched the embedded video yet, but will tomorrow,  after I lay my tired old bones down for a while.

Good night, all.

A Sad Waste Of Bacon

Christian Science Monitor reports on anti-muslim acts, using pork as a weapon.

No pigs could be reached for their comments.

Education FAIL

Writing in the WSJ this morning, Peter Berkowitz tackles the fundamental reason America's "elites" snub the Tea Party movement.

Our universities haven't taught much political history for decades. No wonder so many progressives have disdain for the principles that animated the Federalist debates.

*snip*

For the better part of two generations, the best political science departments have concentrated on equipping students with skills for performing empirical research and teaching mathematical models that purport to describe political affairs. Meanwhile, leading history departments have emphasized social history and issues of race, class and gender at the expense of constitutional history, diplomatic history and military history.

Even hard-science university students are required to waste their money on classes like "psychology" and "sociology". Basket weaving 101 has more relevance! Why not require "alchemy" too? At my college, two semesters of English composition are required; no, you don't learn how to be a college-level writer in the second semester. Rather, it's a "race relations" class, with very little writing. I despise it. Intensely. I worked very hard for the money to go to school, and when it's wasted on claptrap classes posing as education, steam comes out my ears.

Oh, and American History To 1876?  Wasn't.  However, I now know all the contributions to our nation's founding, both real and contrived, of blacks, women, Indians, yada yada yada.  Funny though.  There wasn't much about James Madison, just a line or two taking a catty swipe at his personality flaws.  John Jay rated a mention deep in the text.  Of course, they're just evil white guys.  The Federalist Papers?  Pfft.  Move along; nothing to see here.

And the problem isn't just in our universities. The rot is deep into our high schools and grade schools too. I don't know how we're going to turn this around, but we can take a step in the right direction (I hope) in November.  Most importantly, we can teach our kids, grandkids, nieces, and nephews.  It's a cinch that our schools won't.