Obamacare revisited

Once again the debate over Obamacare, now passed into law, is heating up because Republicans, now in the majority in the HR, are ready to bring a bill to the floor to actually repeal the law.  No one expects the bill to repeal will become law when it pass in the House because the Senate, still in the control of Dems, will not pass it.  Furthermore Obama would veto it should it, miracles of miracles, pass the Senate.  The vote is a symbolic one designed to put people on record as being for or against the legislation passed last year. What we see here is Paul Ryan's rebuttal of the Wapo commentator, Ezra Klein's, a 25-year old flaming liberal, typically irrational critique of Ryan's original published comments on the Obamacare bill before it passed both houses and became law.

Jennifer Rubin of WaPo also weighs in here with an analysis of why and how the dems are are up to their usual tricks trying to confuse and obfuscate over the issues surrounding the law.

Da budget, debt, etc

This is revealing.

The Muslim dilemma

Anyone wanting to understand just how toxic the Muslim faith is in terms of Western Civilization can learn much from the brief article here and the books mentioned in it.  It is really not terribly difficult to grasp what has happened over the years since Muhammed's birth and the rise of this faith.  The short answer is the Muslim rejection of reason and the scientific inquiry into life by the West. This fact makes the clash of civilizations inevitable, all the multi-culti b.s. to the contrary notwithstanding.  All those preaching tolerance toward the muslim faith, starting with George W. Bush immediately after 9/11, are simply in denial.  The Muslim faith and world view must be confronted head-on or we risk a slow and invidious takeover by this truly flawed and dangerous political religion.  It is Islam that needs reforming, not the West, and the sooner the opinion-makers and others recognize this, the safer we all will become.  Winston Churchill's analysis of the Muslim faith is as accurate today as it was when he made it in the early part of the 20th century.

ADDED:  Diana West points out here that freedom has one meaning in the west and another to a Muslim.  As long as we fail to understand why followers of the Muslim faith do not value our way of life, based as it is on individual rights and freedom of choice, we will forever be engaged in fruitless attempts to impose our political belief system on them and they will always ignore us.  The evidence for this is in the Pew surveys quoted in West's article.  I have come to believe Diana West has it right.  Our belief systems are incompatible.  We should concentrate on becoming energy independent and getting as far away from these people as we can.  Live and let live.

Ridley's The Rational Optimist -- How Prosperity Evolves

A good friend just sent me this book (not yet read) critiqued here by Steven Malanga of the City Journal.  This should be an interesting read particularly given the hard times and rather gloomy prospects before us as we try to figure out how to unwind the ridiculous government debt and out-of-control bureaucracy that stifles and frustrates free market capitalism.

Watch out below

Want to see where Obama and his crowd of socialists wants to take the US economy, read this piece, and the link to the NYT article, about the status of young people coming into the workforce in Italy and Spain.  Government meddling in the economy and in the labor market is a prescription for disaster, and yet we see it happening here in the US, thankfully on a reasonably limited basis thus far, and big time in Europe.  In fact unions are represented on the boards of many European companies, and of course the riots and shutdowns that occur every time a reform is mentioned are but precursors to a complete failure of the capitalist system over there.  That's why the youth are restless and moving on to where they can find more opportunity for advancement.  Smaller government equals bigger opportunities for young people to find good jobs.  Somebody needs to tell Obama.

Progressivism, Obama and all the rest

Peter Berkowitz provides a succinct analysis of the roots of Progressivism including its irresolvable contradictions.  Bottom line:  the P movement is largely one thought up and promoted by academics who live in the theoretical world in which those with superior intellects know what's best for everyone and should be in charge of society.  It goes without saying this concept is anti democracy and antithetical to all the great American experiment has been about.  To read this article is to understand exactly how anti American the Obama crown is in fact and how dangerous to the way of life we have constructed and fought many wars to preserve.  This Obama experiment so many bought into was/is a catastrophic mistake and one we will have great difficulty overcoming given the damage already done.