J.S.Mill - Comments On Liberty Today

Stomping on the Ants

46 Million Uninsured out of 307 Million. That is 15% of the population. When you narrow down the data by eliminating those who could have insurance if chose to take what they are eligible for, the number is more like 11 million. Now we are down to about 4%.  I do not know when we can say that wed are focusing on a small problem, but 4 &  seems close to my threshold. Between being eligible for existing Federal programs or deciding not to take insurance because you are young and healthy, the majority of the uninsured already have options. Hence, I contend that we need to stop trying to stomp on the ants, and we need to focus on the total cost of an expanded universal health insurance that looks like Medicaid and Medicare. These plans are bankrupt, and that is what will happen to universal health care. The President needs to worry about the financial well being of existing programs before we expand to cover 4 % of the population.

Elections matter

The best example of the core proposition that "elections Matter" is the matter of the potential appeal to the Supreme Court by the Indiana state pension funds of the federal government's Chrysler bankruptcy plans. As I have written in earlier Blogs that I considered that the allocation of equity to the unions was an unconscionable "unlawful taking" from the secured creditors. The core legal foundation of our system is the protection of property rights, and this plan, in addition to that of the GM case, is the epitome of a violation of those rights. The brutal, and I think unlawful, bullying by the federal government of the secured creditors needs to be stopped.

It is ironic that a state pension fund, and Treasurer, have pursued this case, not the "private sector" creditors who have taken the "easy way out." Further, it is very clear that there is probably a low probability that this case will be heard by the Supreme Court, since the judge taking the referral from the appeals court is Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. I am afraid Ii do not see much chance that she will intervene, given her more than modest "labor" view of the world.  Elections matter, this judge represents the model view that we can expect to be followed by our current President. This justice probably makes Judge Sotomayor look conservative.

After Cairo, It's Clinton Time

I am back to the Op Ed pages of the New York Times today, and Tom Friedman has a piece that is pretty incredible. It is title, After Cairo, It's Clinton Time, but it really has nothing really to do with Hilary Clinton. There are times when Tom Friedman becomes a partisan bigot, making his progressive, global unity arguments, and being critical of everything conservative. Today, hew shows he is capable of a modest amount of objectivity.

Today, he actually reverses years of protestations about the folly of attempts to democratize the middle east, and argues that Iraq, yes...the mistaken the war of choice, Is a great platform for developing the democracy that can transform the middle east. He essentially claims that Iraq is the only country in the middle east that can serve as a model of democracy for the rest of the region.

I actually happen to have enjoyed enormously several of Friedman's books and think he is capable of being a very clear thinker, but his OpEd pieces almost always seem to take the "New York Times" party line of a progressive, liberal, blame America, world view. Today is a bit of an exception. After years of deriding the Bush vision of Iraq being a beacon of democracy in the middle east, Friedman, now that the Democrats are in power, is on board with the proposition.

From Cairo to Buchenwald

Barack Obama managed to give a speech in which he walked a very fine line (one that I did not agree with) between defending our country and another step along his continuing "apology tour." His comments in Cairo were only half what he should have done to make clear to the Muslims in the middle east that we have done more as a country to provide support and defend to their well being, than any other country, including the Arab countries themselves. Further, he "threw Israel under the bus" and clearly has set up that nation to have diminished support from the US, and greater pressure from the world community to compromise its own security. He then managed to send a signal to Iran that their "nuclear ambitions" were ok and that the US would not pursue an aggressive path to stop their pursuit of nuclear weapons."

As unhappy as I was with Barack Obama's comments in Cairo, I must say that the decision to go from Cairo to Buchenwald was a very strong signal to the Iranian President that denial of the Holocaust is a bizarre and irrational position that he will not honor in any respect. Excellent President Obama, that message was strong, and I applaud you for that. His comments at Normandy today were acceptable, but he had an opportunity to make a statement about the need for the world to remember that combined commitment to defeat tyranny was successful once, and can be successful again. He could have said that the tyranny of terrorism can be defeated if the same Allies who invaded and prevailed at Normandy, were to be united to defend liberty around the world against the fanatics who want to destroy our way of life. But then, that would have taken the courage of a leader, and Barack Obama is not willing to take that risk.

Hussein Speaks out

Yes, Mr. Hussein is speaking out today in the Middle east. Apparently he is going to remind the Muslim world that his father was a Muslim; his early youth he lived in the largest Muslim country and he has great friends in the Chicago Muslim community, and that the United States has enough Muslims to make us one of the largest Muslim Nations in the world. Yes, he is clearly rooted in the Muslim faith, so the Muslim world should not fear him, they should embrace him.

That is truly wonderful outreach. The only problem is that Hussein, is Barack Hussein Obama. Yes, the same man, who as a candidate, did not want to have his middle name used. Now, it is ok. Why?

The White House talking points say that we Americans should be happy to hear that Mr. Hussein is an American, and that he is our President. Yes, Our president is "out of the closet." He is now talking openly in public about his Muslim roots. We should all be happy, right?

No, I am not happy, and I am not willing to have my President refer to us as a Muslim Nation. That is patently absurd, and I resent it greatly. I realize that he is trying to reach out to the Muslim world to convince them that we are a nation not at war with Islam, but in my view he needs to turn that around and also say, that there is no reason for Islam radicals to be at war with us. That we are a nation of peacemakers, not war makers. We have done more than any nation in the world to protect freedom, and candidly, it is time our President defend our nation for the good that it has done; not apologize for what he thinks we have done wrong; or at least what some in the world think we have done wrong.

I am not ashamed for my country, I remain proud, and I do not need my President apologizing for me or my fellow Americans. The great irony is that just moments ago, apparently Osama, not Obama, Bin Laden released a statement that criticized the President as one with President Bush. Oh my goodness, the President's outreach just did not get to Osama. Well maybe the President will need to apologize to him for having the Twin towers in the flight path of the the airplanes his murderous goons flew into New York City. Maybe that will make Osama like us.