The New Clarion

I took a look at the new Republican Pledge to America and I don’t like it at all. In the first paragraph of the introduction is this sentence: “America is the belief that any man or woman can – given economic, political, and religious liberty – advance themselves, their families, and the common good.” Right off the bat is the influence of collectivism-common good. Since only individuals exist, and since the good of individuals is the only good to exist, anytime the common good is said to be in addition to the good of individuals, it means that the good of some individuals can (and will be) sacrificed to other individuals. This is not a founding principle of our nation. (more…)

Principles in Practice, the blog of The Objective Standard, has an excellent analysis of some key elements in the health care bill now before the House, by Dr. John David Lewis. One case in point is the question ‘Will the Plan increase the government’s ability to scutinize our private affairs?’ His evaluation is:

“1.This section amends the Internal Revenue Code 2.The bill opens up income tax return information to federal officials.
3.Any stated “limits” to such information are circumvented by item (v), which allows federal officials to decide what information is needed.
4.Employers are required to report whatever information the government says it needs to enforce the plan.”

Basically, your right to privacy is gone.

Stella at Reason Pharm has another tidbit of info on this health care bill HR 3200. Evidently this bill won’t go into effect untill 2013, after the next election. Obviously, the plan is to get re-elected then bring the hammer down on the American public’s head.

A few weeks ago, conservative John Derbyshire posted a revealing item over at National Review Online.  It is revealing, in that it exposes one of the fundamental commonalities between conservatism and the Left, that sets them in opposition to Americanism: the idea that there are different (and contradictory) “kinds” of freedom.

Notice that Derbyshire characterizes these four “notions of liberty” originally described by David Hackett Fischer, as being “subtly different”.  Let us examine these differences, to see how “subtle” these differences are.

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In general, I don’t put any stock in what an actor says about politics. The following video with Janeane Garofalo {via} is nothing I haven’t read in the leftist blogospere; what makes it unique is having it all in one place and making Keith Olbermann seem cool-headed in comparison:

I enjoy these things because it reminds me how impotent and ignorant our opponents are. (Warning: there’s some vulgar innuendo, naturally.)

(HT: Daily Pundit)

Watch this video (sorry, but I can’t embed) and read this transcript. Really makes you appreciate Daniel Hannan even more, doesn’t it?

From the “whatever-works-makes-for-strange-bedfellows” department:

But no matter how much money we invest or how sensibly we design our policies, the change that Americans are looking for will not come from government alone. There is a force for good greater than government. It is an expression of faith, this yearning to give back, this hungering for a purpose larger than our own, that reveals itself not simply in places of worship, but in senior centers and shelters, schools and hospitals, and any place an American decides.

You may have seen this  story, which I found on the Drudge site.  Bill Gates, who clearly wants to make his audience feel guilty for not being their brothers’ keeper, unleashed a cloud of mosquitoes upon them: 

‘Malaria is spread by mosquitoes,’ Gates said while opening a jar on stage at the Technology, Entertainment, Design Conference in Monterey, California  — a gathering known to attract technology kings, politicians, and Hollywood stars.

‘I brought some. Here I’ll let them roam around. There is no reason only poor people should be infected.’

This is like shouting “Fire!” in a crowded theater.  Why wasn’t he arrested?  After a minute, he informed the audience that the mosquitoes were not malaria carriers.  What good would that have done, if there had been a stampede to the exits in which people got crushed, before his belated admission?

From the no-detail-about-The-One-goes-unreported department:

It’s the same Oval Office. The same desk. Even the same curtains. But President Obama has already made one major change: Go through eight years of White House photos, and you won’t find one of former President Bush in the Oval Office without his jacket on.

It wasn’t just a personal preference. In the Bush administration, it was a rule: Jackets in the Oval Office—and now, it seems, one of the first Bush-era regulations to get scrapped in the Obama White House.

And a commenter to the “non-news” left this poignant observation:

That’s because President Obama will actually be rolling up his sleeves and getting to work. You have to take off your jacket to do that. This new approach shows that Obama is down to earth and approachable. Way to go, Obama! Loving your style.

From the which-is-more-efficacious department:

“Some passengers screamed, others tucked their heads between their knees, and several prayed over and over: ‘Lord, forgive me for my sins.’ But a man named Josh who was sitting in the exit row did exactly what everyone is supposed to do but few ever do: he pulled out the safety card and read the instructions on how to open the exit door.”

From the Emanuel-Rahm-is-Fred-Kinnan department:

“Never let a serious crisis go to waste.”

From the cutting-your-own-throat department:

In separate actions, the two trade groups, America’s Health Insurance Plans and the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, announced their support for guaranteed coverage for people with pre-existing medical conditions, in conjunction with an enforceable mandate for individual coverage.

In the absence of such a mandate, insurers said, many people will wait until they become sick before they buy insurance.