Pete Stark’s Town Hall Meeting

If it sounds too good to be true, it isn't true – Judge Judy

You muck up everything you get your hands on – Senior Citizen at Pete Stark's Town Hall Meeting.
"I wouldn't dignify you by peeing on your leg, it wouldn't be worth wasting the urine" - Pete Stark to Senior Citizen, Town Hall Meeting

Don't blame Pete - He just can't help himself

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Imagine your representive saying to one of your Senior Citizens "I wouldn't dignify you by peeing on your leg." This is exactly what arrogant toilet mouth Pete Stark said to a Senior Citizen at the Town Hall Meeting on September 12. Why do voters keep this guy in office? Click on foul mouth for other incidents of Pete Stark. This is a pattern. He doesn't care about you the voter. He cares about power. The voter is a second class citizen.

Go to the fourth video for a high quality video provided by Steve Kemp.

Saturday, I decided to attend the town hall meeting of the feckless, buffoonish, foul-mouth, contemptuous, imperious and egotistical Pete Stark. The meeting took place at the Senior Center at Lake Elizabeth in Fremont California. Outside the Senior Center in front of the serene and calm waters of the lake, a group of Chinese men and women were practicing the martial art of "Tai Chi." I watched as the Chinese men and women stretched their arms and legs in carefully coordinated movements with such grace that they seemed to mimic the rolling currents of a river. An occasional quack of a duck could be heard in the background. This serenity was juxtaposed against the backdrop of our so-called representative Pete Stark who spoke and answered questions in the confines of the Senior Center about Barack Obama's Health Care Plan – a plan certain to remake America into Barack Obama's utopian vision of government control.

I have attended Pete Stark's meetings before, and the meetings are usually small, and more like a liberal love-fest where Stark speaks to his choir. This meeting was different. Parking was difficult to find, and there were people from all walks of life. As we entered the room, we were given a number, and Stark would randomly pick one from the myriad of people present. I thought this was actually a good idea. There were the occasional angry bursts and applauses for and against the bill. The meeting was dotted with a few Union Supporters wearing yellow tee shirts. The citizenry came prepared with information. It seemed that each individual seemed compelled to state that he or she was not part of an organized group, but just concerned citizens. They wanted to make sure they were not identified as some right-wing conspiracy group or card-carrying NAZIs as Nancy Pelosi would have you believe. These were as they would state "concerned citizens" who feared a government takeover of the health care system. In one instance, a high school girl went up with her question and asked how many people were against the health care plan sitting in the meeting. About half the group many of whom were seniors raised their hands. It was astonishing to see so many raise their hands in liberal Fremont.

I brought my Iphone 3GS and I took some video of typical questions or statements. I wish I had brought my video camera, because the quality would have been better. In any event, you can get an idea of how people feel about this health care plan even in the Bay Area.

What I believe is happening is that the people just do not believe the administration. It is simple as that. Why is that? – Because it doesn't make sense. What rational person actually believes that Obamacare will reduce the deficit yet this is exactly what Obama said on Sunday night's 60 minutes? Obama said, "Ironically, health care reform is critical to deficit reduction." He then went on to say that he knew that it was counterintuitive to think that health care would reduce the deficit. Counterintuitive? That is the dumbest thing I had ever heard. The CBO says that in the Senate version there is a 900 billion dollar increase in the deficit or the house version a 1.6 trillion addition to the deficit over the next ten years, and the CBO states there will be a deficit in its first ten years, and even worse the next ten years, (and considering that Medicare cost estimates was off by a factor of ten, you can imagine how off the CBO will be with Obamacare.) Obama flat out lied. Does he think the America people are stupid? He has to know these figures. Who in their right mind believes that Obama will be able to reduce the deficit by his so-called health care reform, and who in their right mind believes that Obama will be able pay for this boondoggle by the fraud and waste in Medicare? Well, the follow up question is if there is so much fraud and waste in Medicare, why have we not cleaned it up yet? And if there is fraud and waste in Medicare, who in their right mind believes we will not have the same fraud and abuse in a government takeover of the healthcare system? No one believes that adding 30 million or 47 million people to the health care system will not increase costs. None of it makes sense. None of it adds up. Obama has a knack for making his vision sound true, but to believe it, you have to be very gullible.

In his speech, the number of uninsured mysteriously dropped from 47 million to 30 million underinsured. Well, that is because he threw the illegal aliens under the bus. But, that doesn't mean they will not be insured because they will be. That is why the Democrats have blocked every amendment to verify the legal status of illegal aliens. There may be verbiage in the bill that says illegal aliens will not be covered, but there is no teeth in it. Moreover, Judge Napolitano on Fox News has said illegal aliens will be covered under a national healthcare plan, regardless of what wording to the contrary is added. He maintained that it would be ruled unconstitutional by the courts, in the same way the initiative to disqualify undocumented aliens from public healthcare in California, was struck down.

The following youtube videos are clips I recorded during the town hall meetings. I have included the transcripts since the audio is sometimes difficult to hear.

(begins at 5:55 seconds on Steve's video)
I am here as a concerned citizen. I don't represent one side or the other. I am here first of all to give praise to our great country. For us to be able to even be here today to speak what we want to speak…remember and realize why our nation is such a great nation today is because we have those freedoms. I want to make sure that we represent the US constitution. I believe that the government's role is to make sure that the constitution is upheld and not to put all these programs together. My husband comes from the automotive industry and has been out of work since December but we have scraped our pennies and things together and we are picking ourselves up. I come from good Midwestern stock and I have been taught to work hard and when times are lean you work harder and have been on very very lean times but I am not asking for a hand-out or a bailout. We work harder. Our family has not been without insurance. The group plan that my husband had through his employer was not as good as what we could have had myself being an independent business owner. So, we put our own plan together. We have options we got to choose what we want I don't feel that the government right now has shown us through any of their major programs and organizations over the decades that they have been successful in running any major plan, and the last thing we need to do is to ramrod this undecipherable program at lightning speed through congress without understanding the process. Now, Do I agree that reform and things need to happen – absolutely, because being an independent payer of my own health care for my family, the costs are exorbitant, they are outrageous, and it's going up. We just got a 250 dollar a month increase on our private insurance. Let's get down to the root cause of what the problems are. Let's talk about the physicians. Let's talk about all of this extra waste and spending. Let's approach the fraud that is going in through the Medi-Cal, Medicare, Medicaid…. Let's not make an immediate decision in 30 days because we have to. But what we want to do is let's take a look at those things. What I want to see right now especially for all of you Fremont-Nummi people I have very close friends many years working at Nummi my husband sold cars that were produced at Nummi and is now out of work- okay. What I want to see our government focus today on changing the 12.2% unemployment in this state and it's going up. That is where our focus needs to be, put money in our pocket so we can choose the insurance plans that we want. We are spending way too much time to put another layer on top. We are not fixing the root cause. If we put another layer, there is no fix to the root cause, and the fraud is going to increase, so Mr congressman I ask that you please take our message back and let's get to the root cause and what is the plan for addressing that and focusing more on our unemployment than the health care at this point.



(begins at 4 minutes and 22 seconds in Steve's hiqh quality video)

This is my second town hall and yes I have attended a tea party. I had to get up at 6:00 this morning so I wrote down some thoughts. The lightning and thunder woke me up. I am not here because I got a call from some organized group. I am here because I am a concerned citizen, and I am fired up. I am fired up not just because of the massive health care reform bill that is coming up for a vote, I am fired up about the government taking over our banking and financing industry. I am fired up because of the government taking over our American car industry.... 47 million people are going to be losing their jobs after the first of the year and tens and thousands of others are going in the area to be losing their job, and I am especially fired up because of the huge massive spending deficits that we are dealing with, yes Bush did leave us with a federal deficit of approximately 490 billion dollars. After eight years, the World Trade Center Bombings, a new homeland security department that has kept us safe, two wars whether we agree with them or not and the aftermath of having to deal with hurricane Katrina you know we have a sagging economy. I am a CPA. 130 million citizens got 600 to 1000 dollars in stimulus that he had to spend in order to try and get the economy back together. It didn't help too much. Obama in eight months has accumulated a deficit almost three times larger than what Bush did in eight months not eight years and no matter what you think of Bush, one man did not create these federal deficits ….. But you know what Republicans like their pork too and it is just awful. Now we are suppose to believe that the government is going to take over our entire health care system and make everyone healthier and save or cut (I'm sorry) our deficits. Our taxes won't go up one dime because the cost of this overhaul is going to be paid for by the insurance industry and 2/3rds of it from cost savings from Medicare…. If you have 60 billion dollars a year for ten years and deficits you know this pay as you go that you say I think savings for cutting fraud and waste are not pay as you go. You don't know if you are going to realize those. If I need to buy something, I need to save the money first, so let's cut the waste now. I think we need to break it down into four or five like many Republicans, Conservatives and even some Democrats Let's cut it down into sections. Deal with fraud and Medicare. Let's save those 60 billion dollars first. Cut it down… Let's create tort reform and let's create an insurance market that is competitive across the board.



Hat tip to Steve Kemp for providing the following video.

Stark: Social Security Card or Do you require that everyone has proof of citizenship? – followed by (yes yes). (this can also be seen about 1 minute and 40 seconds in Steve's video)

Starting at 1:04 on video: Mr Congressman, you answered part of my question a little while ago how this will affect Medicare. Medicaid is going to be available to more and more people.

…The question is President Obama's plan – he doesn't have a plan, Whatever plan is out there he talks about he is going to get half the savings for that from the waste in Medicare. That is all smoke and mirrors. He says he will raise taxes by ten cents, another smoke and mirrors. It is common sense. And If he can get this much savings out of Medicare, why isn't he doing it right now… Why didn't we do earlier. You got Social Security broke, you got Medicare broke, you got abysmal care for veterans, rats running around in Walter Reed Hospital, before they finally fired a couple of generals they finally got the message. Now, you muck up everything you get your hands on. Now why - Mr Congressmen Don't pee on my leg and tell me it's raining.

Stark - Thank you. I wouldn't dignify peeing on your leg. It wouldn't be worth wasting the urine. (Boos)

The San Francisco Chronicle says it this way:

Only a politician who assumes he has a job for life could behave so badly on a semi-regular basis by spewing personalized invective that might get him punched in certain East Bay taverns. Would-be challengers sometimes sense a whiff of opportunity, but the reality of taking on a 16-term Democrat in solidly liberal terrain is nothing short of daunting.

Surely there must be someone along the shoreline between Alameda and Fremont who could represent the good citizens of the district with class and dignity. It's not the case now.

Need I say more. These are the people who will be running Obamacare. Thank you but I don't think so.
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Debra Saunder's makes a few good observations in her piece ObamaCare is too good to be true.

Michelle Malkin also blogged about Pete Stark's latest rant click here.

Health Care Reform or Bust!

I have been having a lively debate on facebook with a former high school classmate of mine. He says he is a centrist, but for some reason unbeknownst to me, half the liberals I talk to say they are centrists. On his facebook profile page, his political view states the following, "Whatever causes the greatest good for the greatest number." I suppose that would be my philosophy too. I also suppose that that would be the philosophy of most. So, how will healthcare reform cause the greatest good for the greatest number. It won't.

Obama's presidential approval ratings continue to plummet. The latest Rasmussen presidential daily tracking report shows a presidential approval index of -12. In January, Obama's approval rating was +28. Democrat pundits will continue to decry those who are against Obamacare, "They haven't read the bill." "They are misinformed." "They are only repeating what Fox News and right wing radio have told them." The reason Obama tried to shove this bill down the throats of American citizens before the August recess in the first place was so Americans didn't have a chance to read and understand the bill. Obama was afraid that once Americans discovered what really was in the bill, they would reject it - so much for transparency.

No matter how Democrats try to paint it, if Obamacare passes, there will be rationing. It is the only way to decrease costs. It is the basic law of supply and demand. When you have a higher demand with the same amount of doctors (or fewer), the government has to ration. This has happened in the United Kingdom and It has happened in Canada.

The president of the Canadian Medical Association, Dr Anne Doig said this about the Canadian system, "We all agree that the system is imploding, we all agree that things are more precarious than perhaps running flat out, we're all just trying to stay ahead of the immediate day-to-day demands." Polls tend to be misleading whether or not Canadians like or dislike their system because until you need the healthcare, it doesn't really matter. What is more important is how Canadians perceive their healthcare vis à vis their U.S. counterparts. According to Gallup, one-fourth of Americans are completely satisfied or somewhat satisfied. This level of satisfaction is significantly lower in Canada, where 57% are satisfied with the availability of affordable healthcare including 16% who are very satisfied. The reverse is true however when it comes to the affordability of healthcare. In the end, Gallup concludes the following, "this dichotomy seems to support the hypothesis that private healthcare encourages high-quality standards, but may be a barrier to access and affordability." I concur with that statement. However, that does not mean there are not ways to decrease costs and preserve high-quality without a government takeover.

Spain has also been Obama's latest example of how well socialized healthcare works. But how well is Spain's healthcare working? Spain's government run healthcare is called, "la sanidad pública." In a report entitled, the decline of Spain's health care system, the journalist Francisco Rubiales of Spain writes:

The great paradox is that while the Spanish health system suffers from a shortage of health care providers, Spanish doctors and health specialists emigrate to work in the healthcare systems of Great Britain, Portugal, France and many others.

Perhaps the greatest example of the decline in the Spanish health care system can be seen in Andalucía where the PSOE (the Socialist party currently in power) has always used the public healthcare system as the standard of its government and symbol of the goodness of socialism. For decades, Andalucía has received the greatest and most generous investments in medicine… the quality of that magnificent Sanidad Pública is falling apart.

The media has not reported that hospitals lack resources or urgent medicines or that entire hospital wings are being closed, or that doctors are being pressured to send home the sick and that they don't prescribe too much medicine, or that doctors with valuable experience are leaving the health care system, establishing themselves in private hospitals or emigrating to foreign countries where they are able to obtain better salaries and above all better consideration and respect….

I have several friends in Spain, and I asked a few of them what they thought of their countries health care system. I wrote to an entrepreneur in Spain, and she sent the following response as she was trekking through Rome.

Our public health system does not work well. There are too many people, and the waiting lists for operations are enormous. Everyone even if they do not pay into it has a right to it including immigrants who bring relatives to be operated on and that has the effect of making everything even worse. (my comment - Spain has a huge immigration problem like France with illegal Islamic citizens coming over from Northern Africa)

 
 

It does however give you peace knowing that if you do not have anything a house or money you can still get doctors.

 
 

The people who have means, here, have private insurance and the private insurance carriers treat you differently. In those situations, there are no waiting lines, and the hospitals are like hotels with rooms.

 
 

One day Antonio and I went to the beach, I went to the doctor and the waiting line went around the other street. There were not enough doctors for everyone. I decided I wasn't sick enough to put up with this line and I left.

 
 

The following year Antonio had to go to the doctor, but he had private insurance his father paid for, and what a difference. The waiting room was air conditioned with very comfortable sofas, and in five minutes the doctor was seeing him.

 
 

That year we saw the difference between the two systems.

 
 

Now, fortunately I have private insurance.

 
 

With this economic crisis (my comment - Spain's unemployment is about 20%) We have noticed that since people do not have any money, the system is even worse. In a few years there will be a lack of medical personnel and a lack of medical technicians. With what is approaching, I really don't know what is going to happen. It sounds like a good idea to for the state to cover medicine for the people - at least you wouldn't die in a clean bed and then they could waste more on other things.

 
 

In Europe, private insurance is available, but only a small percentage can afford it. The pool of insured people is smaller making the insurance very expensive. Europeans will opt for private insurance if they can afford it, because it is a much better system.

 

In another email from a Spanish journalist, she writes in part:

 

We all have a family doctor assigned, so if I feel ill I just make a call to the health center to be checked or go to ER directly. The doctor makes the first checkup and then sends you to the specialist if necessary. Again, you have to wait days or months for the next visit, depending on the specialist you need. Of course, in the waiting rooms there are plenty of old people and immigrants. Some people just go to the family doctor to ask for prescriptions, because there the medicines cost much less even if you ask for a simple Ibuprofen prescription, so there are old people that waste 2 hours waiting to get their prescriptions filled. In my opinion, that is elder abuse. Big cities like Madrid or Barcelona health centers and hospitals are fuc**ing busy (sorry for the expression, but it´s quite worrying). And, I'm afraid, hospitals may have real problems when having to value who's first in the list of operations.

 
 

Are we happy with this system? Personally, I am, maybe because I don´t need to go to the doctor very often, but I don´t have to pay for it (the system is deficient, the taxes should be higher to cover costs), I'm certain I´ll be attended as soon as possible when I´m ill and we have competent doctors.

 
 

Each year Forbes magazine publishes its tax misery index. This is a compilation of all the taxes in a country to determine which country has the highest tax rate. The higher the tax rate, the more prohibitive one's life becomes as to his or her leisure activities. As taxes increase, the taxpayer becomes more of a slave to the state. France has topped the list for years because of all its entitlement programs. The more a country becomes a welfare state, the higher its tax misery index will go. Will the United States succeed in topping France for the number one spot? Only time will tell.

 

What do we know will happen for sure in an Obamacare world that we have learned from other countries with nationalized health care?

 

1. There will be rationing that will affect the most vulnerable of society.
   
2. The deficit will go up enormously not down as Obama claims.
   
3. The cost of Obamacare will have been severely underestimated. Just today he announced that the ten year deficit is going from 7 trillion to 9 trillion. Trying to figure out where the deficit will be is like the global warming alarmists trying to figure out where the weather will be in a century from now.
   
4. There will be long waits.
   
5. Emergency rooms will be more crowded than they already are.
   
6. We will become a magnet for illegal aliens since they will have access to our health care system.
   
7. There will be corruption, fraud and waste as there is in any government system.
   
8. Taxes will go through the roof (not just those who earn more than $250,000).
   

 

Barack Obama is trying to fundamentally change the United States. There is a reason the United States has been number one all these years. It is because the United States was founded on individual liberty, not on the nanny state. The liberal believes in a utopian world where everyone is equal and everyone is taken care of from cradle to grave. Before we used to talk about billions of dollars, now we talk about trillions of dollars. Before the dot-com crash, everyone said we have reached a new paradigm and valuations no longer mattered. In the world of stocks, valuations always matter. Before the housing crisis, houses kept going up in value, and we heard the mantra, "Real estate never falls in value." What goes up must always come down. Now we here the economist Barack Obama imply that printing trillions of dollars with nothing to back it up is no big deal, because he will reduce the deficit by the end of his term and somehow healthcare will not increase government deficit. Argentina gave a similar argument before the collapse of its peso If Obama succeeds in passing this healthcare reform, he will bankrupt this nation. If he succeeds in his cap and trade scheme, he will also fundamentally change this nation and not for the better. Both of these changes will be irreversible. Why are we not doing a test case? Why is Obama against tort reform? My classmate's political view is, "Whatever causes the greatest good for the greatest number" is a nice thought, but Obamacare will cause the greatest harm to the greatest number. Obamacare must be stopped before it is too late!!!!!!

30 years of suffering for the Nicaraguan people

 
Speech given by Daniel Ortega at 30^th celebration of the Nicaraguan Revolution July 17, 2009.
Because the truth is that our sister republic of Bolivia and Venezuela have come to the aid of the people of Nicaragua – that is the truth. We would be without energy in the entire country. There wouldn't be light in Nicaragua nor would companies be able to function if it were not for the solidarity of Hugo Chavez and Fidel who were the ones responsible for the formation of the ALBA alliance (a leftist Latin American Alliance). And when the United States decided to cut the last funds of the millennium, President Hugo Chavez immediately said we are going to help Nicaragua, and so we counted on Venezuela to generously give to Nicaragua 50 million dollars to defend itself in these difficult times.
President Hugo Chavez just called, and he sent a message that we are going to read and publish. In the telephone message that he just made, he called to send us his greeting. He is very happy for our 30^th anniversary. He is watching thousands of Nicaraguans through channel Telesur. He congratulates Daniel and all the people of Nicaragua. He is sorry he could not be present because of sudden health problems at the last minute. Soon we will be together Long live the people of Nicaragua. Long Live Sandino, signs Hugo Chavez and the president of the Republic of Bolivia 1:30 pm Nicaraguan time.
July 17, 2009 marks the 30^th anniversary of the Sandinista Revolution so says Ortega. My wife (who is from Nicaragua) and I used to travel to Nicaragua frequently before the revolution to enjoy its people and its culture. We have been back to Nicaragua since on several occasions, but Nicaragua is not the country it used to be. The destruction of its economy and the country can be attributed to one person Daniel Ortega, and Daniel Ortega's rise to power can be attributed to one man Jimmy Carter.

Ortega speaks of the 30th year of the revolution, yet for most of those years, the left in Nicaragua wasn't even in power.

I have followed Nicaragua since the 70s, so in commemoration of its 30^th anniversary, I thought I would post a few pieces I wrote about Nicaragua.
What the elections in El Salvador mean (including Nicaragua) click here

Fraud in Nicaragua – Continuing Jimmy Carter's legacy click here

Obama's new buddy – Daniel Ortega click here

One of the traditions in Nicaragua, and only in Nicaragua click here

Images from a Dallas Texas Tea party

37,000+ tea party goers in the 95%+ sweltering heat with Michelle Malkin.

https://mark24609.blogspot.com/2018/06/scams-in-singapore-jacky-tabanag.html




















Michelle Malkin speaking

Uprising in Iran

Jerusalem post:

Without support from the United States and other Western countries, Iranian opposition groups will likely stop demonstrations against the Iranian regime and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's declared victory in Friday's presidential elections, senior Israeli defense officials said Sunday.

continue

Wanna bet Barack Obama will not give any support to the uprising
Let's hope we do not have another tinanmen square.

My daughter’s letter to herself.

Here is an assignment I did not know my daughter had, but it was definitely a good assignment. Her eighth grade language arts teacher asked her students to write a letter to themselves. Four years later, she mailed the letters to the students at the end of their senior year in high school. This was definitely a creative idea by Raeann's language arts teacher Mrs. Sisneros. I liked the letter so much I thought I would post it (as written grammatical errors and all).

June 3, 2005

Dear Raeann,

I think high school is going to be fun but hard, and, and there's probably going to be a lot of drama. My best friends right now are Kiki, Jennie and a lot of other people. Kiki and me always hangout now, we say were cousins.

I don't really have any favorite teachers but I really like my lang. Arts teacher, Mrs Sisneros.

I mostly get As and Bs, but sometimes I mess up, and get lower grades that that L.

Me and my friends like to walk around a lot, we don't really have a certain spot, we hang out at.

I don't usually get allowance, but when I do get money, I spend it on clothes J

I used to do gymnastics and sport aerobics, but not anymore cuz I quit.

I wear Hollister clothes, or whatever is cute!

I listen to 89.3 94.9 and Mariah Carey, Usher, 50 cent, Frontline, Frankie J and a lot more.

Three guys liked me but I didn't really like them back except for one [Steven].

My favorite foods are tacos and macaroni & cheese, for drinks I like, smoothies, and anything that's good. My favorite color is pink! I like watching MTV, Degrassi, Blind Date. I hate action movies. I like chick flics. The kind of car I Hope to have is similar to my brothers car. Im not sure what to expect though.

My relationship with my parents is good, but sometimes we argue and then they say I get an attitude, but hey its not my fault. They have strict rules, and I don't like the rules they give. My brother and I used to fight, but starting this year we don't anymore, [wonder why?] Maybe he's finally growing up.

Love Raeann

And there you have it – four years later, Raeann is a graduate from high school.

 

Europe’s turn to the right

"The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain" Professor Higgins so deftly teaches Eliza Doolittle in the musical "My Fair Lady." But, Sunday, it did not rain in Spain, it poured as the left as we would say in America, "Got its proverbial butt kicked." Barack Obama, are you paying attention?

The Spanish newspaper, ABC after Sunday's parliamentary elections read, "Zapatero, the absent leader." The Prime Minister of Spain went into hiding realizing that Sunday's election was to be a big win for the right. Sunday's election in Spain was a stunning defeat for the left, El Partido Socialista Obrera Española, (PSOE). The Partido Popular, (PP), the party of the right picked up 23 seats led by its leader, Mariano Rajoy.

Zapatero has been a disaster for the Spanish economy. He was elected in 2004 after the Madrid bombings by Al-Queda when the then President José Aznar tried to cover up and blame the bombings on ETA, (a Basque separatist group.) If you want to know about Stimulus plans, look no further than Spain. Like Obama, Zapatero is a big believer in Keynesian economics and that the government is the answer to society's ills. Zapatero's stimulus package was 8 billion euros or 11 billion dollars. For a country slightly bigger than the state of Oregon, that is a lot of money. Spain doesn't have a Bush to blame for its economic woes like Obama does. The success of Zapatero's stimulus plan can be found in its unemployment number. Spain boasts the highest unemployment rate in the European Union recently reaching an astounding 20%, double that of any other country in the Union. Spain's unemployment is a frequent topic of Informe Semanal, Spain's 60 minutes. The unemployment graph looks like one of Al Gore's graphs on global warming. According to the Economist, Spain's real GDP is forecasted to decline by 4.9% in 2009. In a previous debate and in a last ditch effort to woo support for his fledgling party, Zapatero offered laptops for every schoolchild at a cost of $2,800 per pupil, tax-breaks for new car buyers, and other populist ideas. Of course, like Obama, he had no idea where the money would come from. Sunday, the voters of Spain showed its displeasure by voting back in the PP. I am going to venture a guess that in 2012, Spain's leftist party, El Partido Socialista Obrera Española, (PSOE) will lose Spain's general elections.

Spain, however, was not the only country where the left was defeated. European discontent with leftist policies has been growing throughout Europe. Sunday was the culmination of four days of elections throughout the continent. Most Americans are asleep when it comes to politics in the European Union, but the left in the United States should take notice. The entire continent of Europe was given a wake-up call after four days of elections. Europeans are fed up with company bailouts, fiscal stimulus, and other policies promoted by the left. During the Bush administration, center-right candidates were already being elected across the continent; France - Nicolas Sarkozy, Germany – Angela Merkel, Italy – Silvio Berlusconi and Sweden Fredrik Reinfeldt. Not since World War 2, has the left been so battered and bruised in Europe. The British Labor party suffered its worst defeat since 1918. Europe's parliamentary elections were a repudiation of these leftist policies.

The European Union's 27 countries are mired in onerous taxes, burdensome labor laws, high unemployment, and immigration problems. The European electorate believed that the EU has been headed down the wrong path. This was also reflected in the low turnout. Only 43% of the electorate voted; the lowest turnout in the EU's 30 year history. France, Germany, Spain and Italy were the biggest winners for the right. The elections strengthened the incumbent parties of President Nicolas Sarkozy of France, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, and Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi of Italy. One of the trends has also been a noticeable rejection of further European integration into the European Union. This is why Barack Obama was completely out of touch with the EU when he suggested that Turkey be part of the European Union, and French President Sarkozy told him to butt out of EU's affairs.

While Europe is moving to the right, the United States continues full speed ahead on its pathway to the left. In the latest move, Democrats are now trying to push through a bill that will pay $3,500 to people who junk old cars to buy so-called energy efficient new cars ordered by the new Chrysler CEO Barack Obama. Who comes up with these hair-brain schemes? When you can't get consumers to buy, you try and get the government to create the demand. Since when has government ever been able to create a sustainable demand? It can't. This idea will hurt the poor more than anyone else. Demand is created by the private sector not the government. Time and time again, policies such as these have proven to be ineffective, but we still continue to enact them. Let's say I have a brain tumor that I needed removed. I am transported to the operating room and I have in front of me a brain surgeon and a nurse. An argument ensues between the brain surgeon and me. Because of the argument I opt to forego the brain surgeon, and I ask the nurse to do the operation instead. That is what we have done. We have the nurse in charge of the country, not the brain surgeon. Sooner or later, the electorate wakes from its slumber after realizing who they elected. Europe is beginning to wake up. How long will it take us to realize that we have a cadre of "boobs" running this country? How long will it take for us to wake up? Only time will tell.

From Reuters (video below)

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown faces a grilling from opposition leader David Cameron in the wake of woeful results in local and European elections.

This was Brown's first appearance in the House of Commons since the ruling Labour Party's disastrous showing in European and local elections.

Brown faced tough criticism from the Conservative Party leader Cameron who claimed the Prime Minister is "a man with no democratic legitimacy" having succeeded Tony Blair as PM without a general election.

Brown responded saying that Cameron has "no plans for government and he doesn't deserve to be in government".

The Prime Minister has faced repeated calls for an early general election, in the wake of a parliament-wide scandal over expenses, and the resignations of several cabinet ministers.

Last weekend, the Labour Party plunged to its worst result in a century, polling under 16 percent in national elections to European Parliament.

Brown must call an election before mid-2010.

Can anyone say, "Jon Voight for President?"

Brokaw compares Israel to the NAZIs

The only word for this is "Unbelievable."

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Powerline states the following:

Much has been made of President Obama's "on the other hand" transition, in his speech yesterday, from the Holocaust to the travails of the Palestinians. Some thought that he implied a kind of equivalence. But the appalling Tom Brokaw reminded us that it could have been worse when he asked Obama about his visit to Buchenwald on the Today Show this morning:

BROKAW: What can the Israelis learn from your visit to Buchenwald? And what should they be thinking about their treatment of Palestinians?
Unbelievable. Obama, to his credit, squelched the analogy:

OBAMA: Well, look, there's no equivalency here.

A First in Barack Obama's Poll numbers

Rasmussen, the most accurate of the polling organizations shows Obama's approval ratings and disapproval ratings to be equal - a first.

The President’s ratings have slipped since General Motors filed for bankruptcy to initiate a new government bailout and takeover. Just 26% of Americans believe the GM bailout was a good idea and nearly as many support a boycott of GM products. It remains to be seen whether the dip in the President’s numbers is a temporary reaction to recent news or something more substantive.

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