Posts from — December 2009

Today the Obama administration announced the latest in a series of nuanced approaches to its “Gitmo Problem.”  It will rename the base, Guantanamera Bay. “We believe the new name reflects a softer, more feminine tone,” said White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs in a statement. “We need to move away from the harsh and forbidding symbolism of the term ‘Gitmo.’  Of course, we are re-branding the base after the famous song and poem, Guantanamera. We believe the detainees will identify with the lyrics of the song, and the re-branding overall will help convince them of our good intentions. ‘Guantanamera, Guajira Guantanamera. I am a truthful man from the land of the palm trees, and before dying, I want to share these poems of my soul,’ concluded the statement from Mr. Gibbs.

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Civility loses another round. Apparently CNN was pleased with the ratings and the overall reaction to their new co-host last year. For those of you who don’t remember a few of her lovelier comments, here is a primer:

In the first 15 minutes of CNN’s New Year’s Eve Special, Kathy Griffin managed to antagonize, provoke and entertain in her own unrivaled way. Early comments included, “Can I get a pap smear from Dr. Sanjay Gupta?” “Has Ryan Seacrest been shot?” and, about former CNNer Glenn Beck, “He’s a heroin addict Mormon.”

via CNN Edits Kathy Griffin’s Blue Moment – mediabistro.com: TVNewser.

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Why Does Saying “Merry Christmas” Feel Like a Revolutionary Act? I went Christmas shopping at the Malls yesterday, since the Red Smith family celebrates Christmas.  At the end of every transaction, in every store, the salesperson or cashier wished me “Happy Holidays.”  My response every time was “Merry Christmas,” and I worried every time that someone would start screaming at me for my lack of political correctness, and that the PC Thought Police and Sensitivity Trainers would start following me as I left the store. [Read more →]

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According to the Associated Press, MSNBC’s Morning Meeting host Dylan Ratigan has issued an apology for a live confrontation with congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a Democrat from Florida who appeared on the show last Friday to discuss the health care reform bill with Ratigan.

The conversation became heated when Ratigan pressed Schultz to explain why presumed passage of the bill was spurring insurance stocks to rise in value when logic would seem to dictate the opposite; when she demurred, stating that “I am not a stock analyst,” Ratigan castigated her for “not answering my question,” adding “I do not have time for you to come do talking points because it makes you feel good.”

After a few days of reflection, however, Ratigan appears to have softened his stance, yesterday issuing an on-air apology…

via MSNBC’s Dylan Ratigan Yells at Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL).

No doubt Schultz had words after the show with her Democratic colleagues running the MSNBC network, and pressure was brought to bear on Ratigan to apologize. What was he thinking anyway, criticizing a Democrat on MSNBC? Perhaps he had a momentary lapse, and thought he was back on CNBC’s Fast Money.

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With so large a chunk of the economy and medical practice itself in Washington’s hands, quality will decline. Ultimately, “our capacity to innovate and develop new therapies would suffer most of all,” as Harvard Medical School Dean Jeffrey Flier recently wrote in our pages. Take the $2 billion annual tax—rising to $3 billion in 2018—that will be leveled against medical device makers, among the most innovative U.S. industries. Democrats believe that more advanced health technologies like MRI machines and drug-coated stents are driving costs too high, though patients and their physicians might disagree.

via A Reckless Health Care Bill That Nobody Believes In – WSJ.com.

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…[a] raw exercise of political power for the single purpose of permanently expanding the American entitlement state. An increasing roll of leaders in health care and business are looking on aghast at a bill that is so large and convoluted that no one can truly understand it, as Finance Chairman Max Baucus admitted on the floor last week. The only goal is to ram it into law while the political window is still open, and clean up the mess later.

via A Reckless Health Care Bill That Nobody Believes In – WSJ.com.

This is “change we can believe in?” A “health care” bill written by insurance companies?

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Mr. Lambert’s act left viewers feeling not just offended but assaulted…

I don’t mean to make too much of it. In the great scheme of things a creepy musical act doesn’t matter much. But increasingly people feel at the mercy of the Adam Lamberts, who of course view themselves, when criticized, as victims of prudery and closed-mindedness. America is not prudish or closed-minded, it is exhausted. It cannot be exaggerated, how much Americans feel besieged by the culture of their own country, and to what lengths they have to go to protect their children from it.

via Peggy Noonan: The Adam Lambert Problem – WSJ.com.

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“This bill personifies the worst of Washington,” Graham said Sunday.

Referring to one of the biggest accounting scandals in recent memory, Graham said the bill was characterized by “Enron accounting techniques.”

Graham quoted fellow Senator Kent Conrad, D-North Dakoka, who had described the new long-term care program “a Ponzi scheme of the first order,” a program “that Bernie Madoff would have been proud of.” Graham added, “So any Democratic senator who votes for this bill is a co-conspirator to one of the biggest Ponzi schemes in the history of Washington.”

via CNN Political Ticker: All politics, all the time Blog Archive – Graham: Dems engaging in ’seedy Chicago politics’ « – Blogs from CNN.com.

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But will the final bill worked out in the House-Senate Conference have any chance of passsage in both houses? Since it will only need 50 votes in the Senate, expect it to look more like the House bill, with either a Public Option or a “Medicare to 55 Buy-In” back on the table. So Nelson and Lieberman have played their cards, and now the action will swing back to the House. There, it will all depend on the Blue Dog Democrats. Can Pelosi keep them in line?

Sen. Ben Nelson (Neb.), the final Democratic holdout on health care, announced to his caucus Saturday morning that he would support the Senate reform bill, clearing the way for final passage by Christmas.

“We’re there,” said Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), as he headed into a special meeting to outline the deal.

via Sen. Ben Nelson to announce support for health-care bill.

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[The GAO] audit, by the way, would reveal the Fed’s FOMC policy discussions after six months, rather than the current-law five years. This is a good thing. More prompt disclosure. The public has a right to know, especially since Bernanke (as Alan Greenspan’s right-hand man) was instrumental in creating the easy-money housing and energy bubble that sank the economy, and since Bernanke (as Fed chairman) has provided unbelievable, ultra-easy, free-money, zero interest rates for too long.

via Kudlow’s Money Politic$: Should Helicopter Ben Withdraw His Name?.

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