On the Vine

Bad Science
Twenty-nine of the nation’s top scientists — including Nobel laureates, veteran makers of nuclear arms and former White House science advisers — wrote to President Obama on Saturday to praise the Iran deal, calling it innovative and stringent. (New York Times, 8/9/2015)

Which inevitably recalls the column written a while back by George Will who quoted Albert Einstein's comments when Nazi Germany announced "100 scientists against Einstein." Einstein said: "If I was wrong, they would need only one."


Far Away
Even as support for ending marijuana prohibition is building around the country, Congress and the Obama administration remain far too timid about the need for change. (New York Times editorial, 8/9/2015)

New York Times editors want to legalize marijuana...and outlaw plastic water bottles. 


Hands Off
“What this campaign is doing is sending a loud and clear message to the billionaire class: And that is that their greed is destroying the United States of America,” Mr. Sanders, a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, shouted above the roar of the crowd. “This country belongs to all of us — and not just a handful of billionaires.” (New York Times, 8/9/2015)

"And by 'billionaires' I mean George Soros, Tom Steyer and Jeffrey Katzenberg."


Lapsed
Against the backdrop of other current government computer security lapses, notably the large-scale theft of files from the Office of Personnel Management, most specialists believe the occasional appearance of classified information in the Clinton account was probably of marginal consequence. (New York Times, 8/9/2015)

Correction (we would like to see):
Against the backdrop of other current government computer security lapses, notably the large-scale theft of files from the Office of Personnel Management, most specialists who plan to vote for Hillary Clinton believe the occasional appearance of classified information in the Clinton account was probably of marginal consequence.


White Privilege
At a Saturday afternoon rally in Seattle, Washington, Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Sen. Bernie Sanders was shut down by screeching Black Lives Matters protestors. As Sanders was speaking, two women surrounded his podium and said they would shut the event down if they were not allowed to speak. When an attempt was made to ask the women to “be reasonable,” they began shouting. Soon, avowed socialist Sanders was forced to leave the stage where he shook hands with many white well-wishers in the audience. (Breitbart.com, 8/9/2015)

Trust us, there is nothing more satisfying than seeing Liberals confronted....by even crazier Liberals!

Hillary Clinton: I Urge Me to Release My E-Mails

Trader B
At the White House, Josh Earnest, the press secretary, told reporters that President Obama traded emails with Mrs. Clinton while she was secretary of state, but that the president did not understand that her messages were not being made available to the government in some form. (New York Times, 3/10/2015)

Said the president: "I don't really understand how all this computer stuff works."


Preparation H
Hillary Rodham Clinton is preparing in coming days to address her use of a private email account while serving as secretary of state, according to people close to Mrs. Clinton, even as she continued to avoid questions about the matter on Monday after speaking at a Clinton Foundation event in New York. (New York Times, 3/10/2015)

Hillary has a few things to do before she addresses the issue of why she violated State Department policy including: choosing an outfit to wear (will she go with pink?), speaking out for women's rights, getting photographed with Chelsea's baby, poll-testing possible excuses, and finally, deleting any embarrassing e-mails. 


Muscle Bound
Beyond that, Democrats assert, the new laws throughout the region are intended to help Republicans build a favorable electoral map for 2016, by weakening the labor groups that have traditionally provided muscle and money to Democratic candidates in crucial swing states. (New York Times, 3/9/2015)

So right-to-work laws which "help Republicans" are bad because they disadvantage Democrats.

Question: How do they disadvantage Democrats? 

Answer: Democrats get less money from unions.

Question: Why does this matter?

Answer: See below.

...In Mr. de Blasio’s case, the parent union of the United Federation of Teachers made a $350,000 contribution to the fund last spring, as City Hall and the teachers’ union negotiated a labor contract. (New York Times, 3/10/2015)

So union bribes to Democrats are jeopardized by right-to-work laws. Score one for democracy.


Fractured
The fractious debate over a possible nuclear deal with Iran escalated on Monday as 47 Republican senators warned Iran about making an agreement with President Obama, and the White House accused them of undercutting foreign policy. (New York Times, 3/10/2015)

So President Obama does not like it when Republicans act unilaterally. Who else acts unilaterally? 


Darkness
Last week, at a gathering convened without the mayor, the commissioner turned the city’s attention to marijuana again, delivering a darker message: Homicides were up — to 54 through March 1, compared with 45 over the same period the year before. Shootings too. And marijuana, Mr. Bratton said, was a factor in the violence.

“The seemingly innocent drug that’s being legalized around the country,” he said. “In this city, people are killing each other over marijuana.” (New York Times, 3/10/2015)

Like Vermont's Shumlin, NYC mayor, Sub-commander de Blasio cannot wait to legalize marijuana. Meanwhile NYC returns to chaos. Could it have ANYTHING to do with the mayor's directive to police to cease "stop-and-frisk?"

Whosoever Dwells in Heaven

Up and Away
The odds that Obamacare architect Jonathan Gruber may face charges for padding invoices are going up.

Vermont State Auditor Douglas Hoffer’s methodical investigation of Gruber’s undocumented billing practices shifted to a higher gear on Friday, when Hoffer called Gruber’s response to his inquiries to date “unsatisfactory.” (Breitbart.com, 1/23/2015)

Thankfully we have Breitbart to tell us what is happening in Vermont.


Consequential
Colorado’s decision to legalize marijuana was a bad idea, the state’s governor said Friday.

Gov. John Hickenlooper, a Democrat who opposed the 2012 decision by voters to make pot legal, said the state still doesn’t fully know what the unintended consequences of the move will be.

“If I could've waved a wand the day after the election, I would've reversed the election and said, 'This was a bad idea,’ ” Hickenlooper said Friday on CNBC's “Squawk Box.” (thehill.com, 1/23/2015)

So let's review. California's decision to legalize dope was an abject failure. Even the hippie politicians realized that things were out of control and forced a crackdown on the "medicinal" dope stores that had opened on every corner. (Patient to Doctor: I'm in pain! Doctor to Patient: Here is a prescription for weed. Smoke it twice a day and you will feel better.)

Then we had the stories of Colorado's dope-loving politicians being caught by surprise on the issue of how to regulate dope-infused cuisine. The old hash brownies thing...

And then - also in Colorado - we had the recent story of hash-extraction procedures going bad and blowing up the neighborhood. 

Not to worry, Vermont's Governor Peter Shumlin is still "all in" for legal dope. No doubt he is jealously looking at Colorado's marijuana tourism dollars and thinking: 'Hey, I can close the budget deficit I created if we can get some of that money.' 


Detachment
The president’s habit of detaching from what is actually happening—of declaring in fact that the opposite is happening—is a marvel to behold. History will speak of it. (Peggy Noonan, Wall Street Journal, 1/24/2015)

Of course, Noonan is exactly correct. In Obama's world, Obamacare is a raging success, terrorism has been defeated, Russia did not invade the Ukraine, the economy is roaring, and Liberalism is triumphant. 

Yonder Tomb

Depths
In the final days before the election, Democrats in the closest Senate races across the South are turning to racially charged messages — invoking Trayvon Martin’s death, the unrest in Ferguson, Mo., and Jim Crow-era segregation — to jolt African-Americans into voting and stop a Republican takeover in Washington.

The images and words they are using are striking for how overtly they play on fears of intimidation and repression. And their source is surprising. The effort is being led by national Democrats and their state party organizations — not, in most instances, by the shadowy and often untraceable political action committees that typically employ such provocative messages. (New York Times, 10/30/2014)

There is nothing that Democrats will not stoop to in order to win elections. They are a despicable and disgraceful party.


Eat More Pot
Since recreational marijuana sales began here in January, edible pot has become a top seller at dispensaries across Colorado, a sweet and tasty way for wary first-timers to sample marijuana, or for people to get high without coughing and reeking of smoke. But a spate of accidental ingestions by children and adults, and two deaths tied to edibles this year, have prompted widespread calls to clamp down on the edible corner of the marijuana market. (New York Times, 10/30/2014)

Liberals have unleashed the genie. Society will pay the price. And then there is this deranged moonbat:

“They clearly did not consider why we created edibles in the first place,” she said. “We believe wholeheartedly that this is a medicine.”


This is a Liberal's Brain on Drugs
But it has long been known that, with the brain developing into the mid-20s, young people who smoke early and often are more likely to have learning and mental health problems. Now researchers suggest existing studies are no longer sufficient. Much of what’s known is based on studies conducted years ago with much less powerful pot. 
....
High-THC marijuana is associated with paranoia and psychosis, according to a June article in The New England Journal of Medicine. 
....
Emergency room visits related to marijuana have nearly doubled, from 66,000 in 2004 to 129,000 in 2011, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
....
What is already known is that in casual users, THC can disrupt focus, working memory, decision making and motivation for about 24 hours. “The fact that we can see these structural effects in the brain could indicate that the effects of THC are longer lasting than we previously thought,” said Dr. Gilman, an instructor in psychology at Harvard’s medical school. (New York Times, 10/30/2014)

Mere weeks after the New York Times goes on a week-long high touting marijuana they give us this sober report. Perhaps the editors forgot their previous glorification of dope. That is what happens with dope. 


Every
Foreign-policy planners and national leaders in Moscow, Tehran and Beijing get up every day and do one thing: think about how they can diminish or destabilize the U.S. Our leadership got up every day for six years and thought about . . . wind farms. (Daniel Henninger, Wall Street Journal, 10/29/2014)

Exactly right. Liberals cannot be trusted with keeping the country safe. 

Quick! Who Still Thinks Obama is the Smartest Guy in the Room?

Doubtful
Hillary Clinton, in a sit-down interview with Fox News, suggested Tuesday that she had doubts from the outset about whether the Benghazi terror attack was triggered by a protest over an anti-Islam film -- though her State Department ended up pushing that narrative for days. (Foxnews.com, 6/17/2014)

So Hillary 'Inevitable' Clinton admits that all Republicans were right and all Democrats were wrong. Next thing you know, she will admit that there really never was a 'vast right wing conspiracy.'


Headline News from the New York Times
In Wichita, Koch Influence Is Revered and Reviled
Koch Group Forms ‘Super PAC’ as 2014 Races Near

The Koch Brothers share two of the top three headlines in the U.S. section of the online New York Times today. And just in case you missed it, the same headlines make up two of the top three listings in the Politics section.

Liberals despise the Koch Brothers and we cannot figure out why. The only reasons we can come up with are that they employ thousands of people and give millions of dollars to charity. Employing people and giving out largess are both functions that Liberals believe are the proper functions of government.

For the Times, from now until the mid-terms elections, it is going to be all Koch Brothers all the time with an occasional Sheldon Adelson thrown in.  How else to change the subject from the disaster that awaits Democrats?


Face Time
In the face of this threat, Mr. Obama is busy ushering America's adversaries into positions of power in the Middle East. First it was the Russians in Syria. Now, in a move that defies credulity, he toys with the idea of ushering Iran into Iraq. Only a fool would believe American policy in Iraq should be ceded to Iran, the world's largest state sponsor of terror. (Dick Cheney and Liz Cheney, Wall Street Journal, 6/18/2014)

A lovable, if misguided Liberal blogger friend asks: why would we NOT talk to the Iranians? 

Answer above.

Answer (also) below:

Such is America's strategic disarray in Iraq that the Obama Administration has come up with a new version of an old idea—court Iran as an ally. So in order to defeat Sunni extremists who want to form a potentially terrorist state, we are going to get in bed with a terrorist-sponsoring Shiite regime that wants to dominate the Middle East....This outreach to Iran smacks mostly of strategic desperation. It is what an Administration does when it realizes its policy has failed and the damage to U.S. interests is becoming too obvious to hide from the American public. (Wall Street Journal, 6/18/2014)


Equivalent
In the current cacophony of Washington, we must remember that there is no equivalence to be drawn between Bush’s 2003 decision to invade Iraq and Obama’s 2011 decision to withdraw U.S. troops. Bush’s invasion, after all, was not just a mistake. At best a fool’s errand, at worst a criminal act, this great blunder helped set the stage for Iraq’s chaos today. The increased sectarian violence stems not from the 2011 withdrawal; rather, it is the fruit of the 2003 invasion, subsequent occupation and much-vaunted “surge” of 2007–08. (Katrina vanden Heuvel, Washington Post, 6/16/2014)

Katrina 'Always Wrong, Never in Doubt' vanden Heuvel says that no one who was in favor of the Iraq War is allowed to comment on what is happening now in Iraq. Well, that eliminates Hillary Clinton and a lot of other Democrats. Further, in order to preserve her fantasy that everything Bush did was wrong and everything Obama did is right, she gives us this whopper: the current situation is a result of the 2003 invasion. If we recall correctly, the results of such invasion were Saddam Hussein being toppled, Baghdad being secured and democratic elections being held. All of which dates to ten or eleven years ago. Now - a mere three years after President Feckless cut and ran, squandering all gains, sectarian violence breaks out and Baghdad is threatened. But it's Bush's fault!  Which is what you would think if you were completely deranged. 


Stuck
Marijuana can be ingested in a tincture, capsule and vaporized form. But the issue of smoking, which advocates for the drug’s medical benefits say is often the most efficacious and controllable method of use, has become a major sticking point.

“Smoking needs to be an option for people,” said State Senator Diane J. Savino, a Democrat representing parts of Staten Island and the bill’s sponsor in that chamber. “And we’re going to hold to that.” (New York Times, 6/18/2014)

Liberals sued tobacco manufacturers for billions because people inhaled. Inhaling dope is perfectly fine to Liberals, however. In fact, it is preferable.

Test of Conformity

THANK YOU FOR 20,000 PAGEVIEWS!

Costly
From a White House podium late Friday, Obama told the Russian government that “there will be costs” for any military foray into Ukraine, including the semiautonomous region of Crimea, a strategically important peninsula on the Black Sea.

Within hours, Putin asked the Russian parliament for approval to send forces into Ukraine. The vote endorsing his request was unanimous, Obama’s warning drowned out by lawmakers’ rousing rendition of Russia’s national anthem at the end of the session. Russian troops now control the Crimean Peninsula. (Washington Post, 3/1/2014)

Vlad the Impaler teaches Obama something about "red lines." Namely the RED LINE he drew around Crimea. 


Off Base
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) implored President Obama to stop going on television and making baseless threats against Vladimir Putin or other dictators Sunday on CNN.

“It’s not your strong suit, every time the president goes on national television and threatens Putin or anyone like Putin, everybody’s eyes roll, including mine,” he said. (Freebeacon.com, 3/2/2014)

A pretty funny line from Graham.


Mainly
Mr. Obama came to office with little foreign-policy experience and has been repeatedly tested by a new world in which the main threats are Islamic extremism and civil war. (New York Times, 3/3/2014)

We remember well the concerns that the New York Times expressed in 2008 and again in 2012 in numerous articles, essays and editorials about Obama's weak foreign policy credentials. Just kidding!


Moving Violation
A movement with confidence in its scientific theories would be able to admit there are many climate factors beyond carbon dioxide that are not yet well understood, and that some climate models have been shown to be unreliable. Such a movement would not downplay or whitewash leaked emails evincing the possibility of massaged data. When it criticizes its skeptics as hired guns of the fossil-fuel industry who are influenced by money, it would be willing to acknowledge that it thrives on government and private funding that would shrink if its research did not continue to say warming is here and getting worse. And there would be more confessions such as Al Gore's belated acknowledgment that his support for ethanol was misguided. (Pete du Pont, Wall Street Journal, 2/27/2014)

If you are a global warming skeptic, Liberals call you a denier. If you believe that voters should be required to show an I.D., Liberals call you a racist. If you do not agree with gay marriage, Liberals call you a homophobe. This is how Liberals defend their positions. 


Be A Lert, We Need More Lerts
Gov. Jerry Brown (D., Calif.) said he wants to wait to see how experiments with marijuana legalization play out in Colorado and Washington before expanding access to pot in California.

“How many people can get stoned and still have a great state or a great nation?” Brown asked on NBC’s Meet the Press. “The world’s pretty dangerous, very competitive. I think we need to stay alert, if not 24 hours a day, more than some of the potheads might be able to put together, ” Brown added. (Freebeacon.com, 3/2/2014)

The original Governor Moonbat occasionally says something sensible. And so the question posed to Liberals is this: "How does legalizing another mind altering substance make America a better nation?

Forward in the Queue

It's Back
“Republicans have turned the floor of the House into the battleground for their relentless war on women’s health care and freedoms,” said Representative Steve Israel of New York, the chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. “Every time they launch another extreme attack against women’s rights, they lose more ground with women voters.” (New York Times, 1/21/2014)

Loyal readers know that RedStateVT has been wondering what happened to the Republican War on Women. Well this being an election year, Democrats have dusted off this gem just in time. Just a reminder of the horrible things that Republicans want to do to punish women:

- They want to deny a woman's right to an abortion after 5 months. (Just doing the math, that is 55% into a normal term of pregnancy.)

- They want to insist that a doctor performing abortions have admitting privileges at a local hospital.

- They want to abolish partial birth abortion wherein the baby's life is terminated as it is being delivered. 

Instead of running scared on the issue of abortion, Republicans should force Democrats to defend it.


Own It
In fact, three out of four Americans killed in Afghanistan have died under Barack Obama’s command. That’s ownership enough. (Charles Krauthammer, Washington Post, 1/16/2014)

A fact unknown by Americans because a directive issued by the Democrat party forbade the non-Fox media from reporting casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan when Obama became president. 


The Peril
America's most worrisome problem may not be the failed takeover of our healthcare system. It may not be our languishing economy or even the massive federal debt hanging over future generations. As dangerous as these problems are, perhaps more perilous is just how far our nation has fallen in the eyes of our allies and the lack of caution our feckless foreign policy inspires in our adversaries. (Pete du Pont, Wall Street Journal, 1/21/2014)

Exactly the point, that RedStateVT has long made. Many of Obama's domestic blunders can eventually be undone or mitigated. The havoc he wreaks in foreign policy, however, has long-lasting consequences. Anti-democratic forces are emboldened, people die, and the world is a more dangerous place. 

Witness:

Mr. Obama boxed himself in with his vow to stop Iran from achieving nuclear breakout on his watch. He doesn't want his promise tested. And in return for a generous payment, Ayatollah Khamenei might well find it worthwhile not to flaunt any nuclear progress during Mr. Obama's remaining 36 months. Iran would likely be getting paid for a time-out it would have taken anyway. After all, in the past three decades, when have the mullahs felt more confident and secure in the face of external threats than they do right now? (Holman W. Jenkins, Jr., Wall Street Journal, 1/21/2014)


High Times
Mr. Obama is now the President, not a stoned teenager riffing with his Choom Gang, and he might have set a better example. Parents trying to teach their kids to make better choices than getting high are at a disadvantage when the person in charge of upholding the law says breaking the law is no big deal. (Wall Street Journal, 1/21/2014)

Why Obama would risk talking about legalizing marijuana given his own inglorious, smoke-filled high school years is certainly a subject that demands deeper scrutiny. He is either feeling very confident or very reckless. His message to America's teenagers is apparently as follows: dope should be legal, but don't smoke dope. Makes perfect sense....

Meanwhile, Vermont Progressive Senator David Zuckerman introduces a bill to legalize marijuana. He takes his cue from Governor Peter Shumlin who is already on record in support, at the same time that he decries opiate addiction in the state. Makes perfect sense....

Avoid Disappointment and Future Regret!

Snow Day
Considering the enormous value of the information he has revealed, and the abuses he has exposed, Mr. Snowden deserves better than a life of permanent exile, fear and flight. He may have committed a crime to do so, but he has done his country a great service. It is time for the United States to offer Mr. Snowden a plea bargain or some form of clemency that would allow him to return home, face at least substantially reduced punishment in light of his role as a whistle-blower, and have the hope of a life advocating for greater privacy and far stronger oversight of the runaway intelligence community. (New York Times editorial, 1/2/2013)

And so the New York Times finally comes clean and reveals itself as not just far Left, but as anti-American. Edward Snowden engaged in traitorous acts and the Times declares that "he has done his country a great service." Accordingly, with the moral relativism that only Liberals can conjure, the Times suggests for Snowden a slap on the wrist...and a parade.


Beastly
President Clinton, who swore in the new mayor, deregulated the financial industry, and possibly helped to unleash the animal spirits that led to the recent Great Recession. (New York Times, 1/2/2013)

The far Left New York Times says it so it must be true. 

George Bush and will now accept all apologies.


Kinship
More broadly, the new mayor’s speech underlines that those conservatives who cast a querulous eye and accuse New York City of floating closer to Europe than to North America are not entirely mistaken. It can seem more akin to a Social Democratic nation-state than to a typical American city. (New York Times, 1/2/2013)

Prediction? By the time Sub-Commander Bill de Blasio is done, it will be - New York City: meet Detroit. 


Grandiose
Mr. de Blasio’s hopes are grand. “When I said we would take dead aim at the Tale of Two Cities, I meant it,” he said. “And we will do it.” (New York Times, 1/2/2014)

Sub-Commander Bill needs to go back and read his Dickens. The two cities of his novel were London and Paris, the latter depicted during the time of the French Revolution which overthrew the monarchy. Undoubtedly de Blasio likes the analogy of the people taking power from the elites. After all that is essentially what his campaign was all about. Read (or re-read) the book to learn of the horrors that occurred AFTER the revolution when the people controlled the jails...and the guillotines. 


High Times
They lined up before dawn and in the snow on Wednesday, baby boomers from Nebraska, retirees from Denver and a young man who had driven all day from Ohio. Some were longtime marijuana users. Some had been arrested for marijuana possession.

They were among the hundreds of tourists and residents across Colorado who eagerly took part in the country’s first-ever sales of state-regulated recreational marijuana. (New York Times, 1/1/2014)

And so, little by little America dies.


Silver Lining
Ms. Hornbach, who has had breast cancer and retired early from the technology industry, said that insurance companies in Arizona had refused to cover her until about two years ago, when she got a policy with monthly premiums of $285 and a deductible of $5,500 a year. Last month, using the federal insurance exchange, she bought a midlevel silver plan with lower premiums and deductible. (New York Times, 1/2/2014)

We wish Ms. Hornbach nothing but the best.

We also note that she bought a silver level plan which makes her eligible for generous government subsidies. The New York Times does not explore this because to do so would undermine the puff piece they wanted to write on the wonders of Obamacare.

Render unto Caesar

Breaking News! Obama Permits Americans to Keep Junk Policies Issued by Bad Apple Insurers!

More Obama Health Care Lies
President Obama - who likely never read an insurance policy in his life - continues to lie about how insurance works. He said today that the policies that he would prefer to see cancelled contain fine print about high deductibles that insureds would not see until they tried to file a claim. This is pure and unadulterated nonsense. Pick up any insurance policy and the first thing you will notice is a Schedule of Benefits/Declarations Page which summarizes your coverage including benefits and deductibles. Even a former community organizer could understand what the coverage is. You just have to read it. If you cannot understand it, an insurance agent would be more than happy to explain it to you.

The next lie from our fearless leader is that people in the individual market have their insurance cancelled because they file claims. More hogwash. Insurers cannot cancel a policy because a legitimate claim is filed. The only time a policy can be cancelled (besides non-payment of premium) is for fraud or if the insurer decides to no longer offers that policy in the state, in which case it is cancelled for all covered under that class. Insurers cannot selectively cancel policies for insureds covered by the same policy form. 

Finally, President Misspoke talked again about people going bankrupt because their coverage was exhausted, referring to the Lifetime Benefit Maximum, often around $1 million. We wonder how many people in the U.S. have gone bankrupt because they have exhausted their policy's $1 million cap. None? OK, four, maybe five? The sweet irony of this complaint, however, is that the president wants this cap lifted, but at the same time wants to rein in the amount of money spent on health care for seniors. Hence, the Obamacaid directive that doctors should discuss "end of life" decisions with the elderly. Obama is fretfully concerned about the infinitesimal number of people who go or might go bankrupt due to a medical catastrophe, but views as rounding error the 5 million people with high deductible health policies that his legislation outlaws.


Lead story in the New York Times: JPMorgan's Fruitful Ties to a Member of China's Elite

(Second place goes to : Democrats Threaten to Abandon Obama on Health Provision)

In fact, hundreds of thousands of Americans have received cancellation notices from their insurers because their health care coverage does not meet the minimum standards dictated by the new law. (NYT, 11/14/2013)

Fox News reported last night a figure of 5 million people who have lost their health care coverage because of Obamacaid. 

So it is somewhere between "hundreds of thousands" and 5 million...

White House officials said they recognized the need for Democrats to vent their frustration about the health care problems. Mr. Carney said that the dissatisfaction felt by Democrats on Capitol Hill “is similar to the frustration that the president feels.” (NYT, 11/14/2013)

Really, the president is frustrated? What exactly is he frustrated about? Is he frustrated that he lied when he told the American people that they could keep their health insurance? Is that what has got him so doggone frustrated?

"No one is more frustrated then me that I told you that you could keep your health insurance."

“This has been a complete embarrassment,” Representative Patrick Murphy, Democrat of Florida, said. “It doesn’t matter what party you are. The focus needs to be how do we get this right.” (NYT, 11/14/2013)

Well actually, it matters a whole lot what party you are when you pass legislation that does not garner a single opposition vote. Not one. 


Lunch Bell
“There’s no free lunch. The healthier have to pay more to make the law work,” said MIT economics professor Jon Gruber, who advised the White House on ObamaCare.  “If you keep the promise for younger and healthier people to keep their current plans, you break the promise to provide affordable coverage to many more millions of people.” (NYPost.com, 11/14/2013)

At last, an honest Democrat.


Penalty Flag
Once an NFL wide receiver and local hero with a $5 million contract, Sam Hurd was reduced to being a convicted felon in orange jail scrubs pleading with a judge to avoid spending the rest of his life in prison.
...
His biggest regret was starting to smoke marijuana, an addiction he said he picked up in college at Northern Illinois and that grew once he got to the pros. (NYPost.com, 11/14/2013)

Governor Shumlin? Governor Peter Shumlin? Governor Peter Shumlin of Vermont? Governor Peter Shumlin of Vermont who decriminalized marijuana?

What say you?

Dime Dancing

Egged On
The more honest Obamacare advocates are, in effect, admitting that to make this omelet you have to break 8 million eggs — roughly the number of people with individual plans who are expected to lose them. Obama, however, goes on as if he can conjure omelets out of thin air.

This rather bizarre belief in the unlimited power of the speech arises from Obama’s biography. Isn’t that how he rose? Words. It’s not as if he built a company, an enterprise, an institution. He built one thing — his own persona. By persuasion. One great speech in 2004 propels him to the presidential level. More great speeches and he wins the White House.

But then comes governance. (Charles Krauthammer, Washington Post, 11/4/2013)

Krauthammer nails it. Obama is an empty suit with a teleprompter and a so-so speechwriter. He has proven monumentally inept at governing. His signature legislative accomplishment was passed solely because at one brief moment in time he had full control. Now it turns out to be a national joke that even Democrats are running from. 


Emitted
Developing countries want the West — historically responsible for emissions, for the most part — not only to take the lead in reducing the use of fossil fuels, but to put up huge amounts of money to help poorer countries adapt to climatic changes that have already become inevitable. Western governments, which in some cases are already starting to consider their own adaptations to climate change, agree in principle that they should help poor countries. (NYT, 11/12/2013)

And so now we have it in writing. The whole climate change nonsense is nothing more than a wealth transfer scheme. It is designed to work on a large scale as described above and an individual scale (see McKibben, Bill). 


Consumed
Americans are growing more comfortable with marijuana, with 58 percent favoring legalization, according to the latest Gallup poll. At the same time, some researchers believe they have identified a side benefit to increasing availability of the drug: It could lead to decreased consumption of alcohol among young people. (New York Times editorial, 11/3/2013)

Sheer brilliance from the geniuses at the Times. Legal dope will result in fewer drunk teens. 

(Of course, there will be more stoned teens....)

Regression Analysis

Swipe-Out
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius took a swipe Friday at those calling for her to resign over the botched ObamaCare website rollout, suggesting that Republican efforts to delay and defund the law contributed to HealthCare.gov's glitch-ridden debut. (Foxnews.com, 10/26/2013)

Just to be clear, we had a Republican-led government shutdown over the issue of defunding Obamacare. 

Which was unsuccessful in defunding Obamacare. 

And which now - according to Sebelius - is a reason that the website does not work. Not a surprise really coming from the administration which is accountable for NOTHING. Meanwhile there appears to be plenty of money to run prime time commercials urging everyone to sign up for health care. 


Pusher
In the months ahead, Mr. Obama is expected to push for Congress to pass an immigration overhaul in the face of conservative skeptics who doubt that the government can secure borders or verify the status of all workers. He has said he will push to create a Web-based system to rank colleges and universities, with the intention of eventually linking $150 billion in student aid to the results. (NYT, 10/27/2013)

Choose the RedStateVT response:

A) Having proven we can do technology.
B) For my next trick.
C) What could go wrong?


Non-responsive
RedStateVT happened to catch Mark Larson, Commissioner of the Department of Health Access in Vermont, on local radio last night participating in a softball interview talking about healthcare in the state. One exchange caught our attention, however. Asked if Vermonters who liked their current health plan would be able to keep it, Larson launched into a description of the eighteen plans now available to residents. (Since there are only two providers in Vermont offering plans that vary primarily by the deductible amount, the claim that there are eighteen plans is a stretch. A big stretch.) 

The question called for a simple yes or no answer which, of course, was not forthcoming. 

Because the answer is no. 

Larson has learned well from the Obama administration that in service of the greater good - Obamacare - evasion is the proper course when faced with inconvenient truths. See the following:

Though the news coverage is still not accurate...the story of middle class Americans losing the health insurance they were happy with, and promised they could keep, is finally starting to break through in the mainstream media. Hundreds of thousands who were perfectly happy with their health plans, and took Obama at his word, have already been blindsided by cancellation notices. Soon, according to the Congressional Budget Office, the same will happen to millions. Basically, millions are and will be herded into government-approved, one-size-fits-all plans that are more expensive, have higher deductibles, and might not allow them to keep their doctor (another Obama broken promise). (Breitbart.com, 10/28/2013)


Unknown
The account suggests President Barack Obama went nearly five years without knowing his own spies were bugging the phones of world leaders. (WSJ, 10/28/2013)

Quick, what scares you more? That the Obama administration was spying on allies or that Obama did not even know. 


Partly
In the 2008 campaign, he said he believed “that part of my job is to make government cool again.” His campaign sometimes talked about creating an “iPod government” that is user-friendly and efficient. (NYT, 10/27/2013)

Who was it that said Obama has succeeded in creating a Commodore 64 government?


End of Times
Finally, for consumers, the era of legalized medical marijuana has meant an expanded market and often cheaper prices. Buyers here gaze over showcases offering a rich assortment of marijuana, promising different potencies and different kinds of highs. Cannabis sativa produces a pronounced psychological high, a “head buzz,” while cannabis indica delivers a more relaxed, lethargic effect, a “body buzz.” (NYT, 10/27/2013)

Ain't life grand? Liberals should be ashamed of themselves. They aren't, of course, because they have no shame. 

Kindness Before Devotion

Liberal Definitions
Close-minded: What Liberals call you when you do not agree with them.


Proof Positive
Representative Jim Langevin, a Rhode Island Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, said on Monday that among those in Congress who are most informed, the consensus was strong and bipartisan. “Those who have been fully briefed are comfortable with the capabilities used, the way they have been used and the due diligence exercised in making sure the agency responsible for carrying out and using the tools has been doing so within confines of the law,” he said. “There is nothing nefarious going on here.” (NYT, 6/10/2013)

The Patriot Act provision that allowed the National Security Agency to collect phone records has helped thwart "dozens" of terror events, Gen. Keith Alexander said Wednesday at a congressional hearing on cybersecurity. (Washington Post, 6/12/2013)

The American Civil Liberties Union sued the Obama administration on Tuesday over its “dragnet” collection of logs of domestic phone calls, contending that the once-secret program — whose existence was exposed last week by a former National Security Agency contractor — is illegal and asking a judge to stop it and order the records purged. (NYT, 6/11/2013)

The strongest proof that the NSA intelligence gathering is necessary and correct:

-- A Democrat President reviews a program put in place by a Republican President and continues it.

-- The program saves American lives.

-- The ACLU objects.


Knots
With the recreational use of marijuana now legal in Colorado, officers who patrol the state’s roads face a new set of challenges. Though smoking or possessing small amounts of cannabis is no longer breaking the law, anyone who drives while impaired is still subject to arrest.

Which raises a knotty question: How many tokes can a driver take before the ability to control a vehicle is compromised to the point of being a danger on the road? (NYT, 6/7/2013)

Ooops! A minor overlooked issue in the rush to legalize dope.