ISAIAH
9:6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
-
- “To Us A Child is Born”: Sermon on Isaiah 9:6, Martin Luther. Word & World, Luther Northwestern Theological Seminary
- http://www.luthersem.edu/word&world/Archives/16-4_Corinthians/16-4_Luther_Sermon.pdf
- http://www.4shared.com/file/168567302/980c706c/01_Carol_Of_The_Bells_Traditio.html
- http://www.4shared.com/file/168567380/bedb9b48/02_Oh_Christmas_Tree_Tradition.html
- http://www.4shared.com/file/168567491/d5888c1a/03_Greensleeves_What_Child_Is_.html
- http://www.4shared.com/file/168567587/24327259/04_Jesu_Joy_Of_Man_S_Desiring_.html
- http://www.4shared.com/file/168567626/ab9c141c/05_God_Rest_Ye_Merry_Gentlemen.html
- http://www.4shared.com/file/168567710/681088dd/06_Unto_Us_A_Child_Is_Born_G_F.html
- http://www.4shared.com/file/168567754/b1189c0/07_Jingle_Bells_J_Pierpont.html
- http://www.4shared.com/file/168567839/28a615c6/08_Merry_Christmas_Mr_Lawrence.html
- http://www.4shared.com/file/168567917/fcea3074/09_Happy_Xmas_War_Is_Over_J_Le.html
- http://www.4shared.com/file/168567987/2d288b3d/10_Silent_Night_F_Gruber.html
- Sir Colin Davis conducts the London Symphony Orchestra, Susan Gritton, Sara Mingardo, Mark Padmore, Alastair Miles and the Tenebrae choir performing Handel’s Messiah. Recorded in December 2006.
BlessedIsTruth's Blog 
December 9, 2009 at 3:49 pm |
Katie
Submitted on 2009/12/08 at 11:15pm
Hey Foxy Rosie – we’re having some fun over at your place. Hope you can stop by for a visit!
http://rosettasister.wordpress.com/2009/12/08/i-remember-when/
***
Sorry, Katie! I signed off early yesterday.
Just checked out “THE WINTER BLUES”
By jrinNC
Posted by ryansgrammy
Very nice!
I thought the musical selections appropriate.
Long time ago someone told me that when you’re feeling down, listen to a slow song, then gradually increase the tempo.
Works for me!
“Fistgate” ??? I’m afraid to ask!
That’s why I have RosettaSister with my morning coffee. I tend to obsess on one thing. If it weren’t for RS I wouldn’t have a clue!
Hope you like the Christmas music!
Rosie
December 9, 2009 at 3:54 pm |
From above
“To Us A Child is Born”: Sermon on Isaiah 9:6, Martin Luther. Word & World, Luther Northwestern Theological Seminary
If you have trouble with pdf, you can find link on this page:
http://www.textweek.com/prophets/isaiah9b.htm
December 9, 2009 at 4:03 pm |
Or click “Quick View” on this page:
http://tinyurl.com/yjyxjvr
(Since new comp which came with Adobe Reader 9, I’ve been having trouble viewing pdf files.)
December 9, 2009 at 4:09 pm |
Also, if you’re trying to listen to mp3 at 4shared and you hear ad, you just have to mute sound button in upper right-hand corner of ad.
Works for me!
December 9, 2009 at 5:55 pm |
Hey, this is me! Anne’s funeral.
Bill attended elementary school here.
And our son was baptised here.
December 9, 2009 at 5:56 pm |
More Like This:
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_type=videos&suggested_categories=22&search_sort=video_date_uploaded_reverse&search_filter=0&search_query=annemariecupofuneral
December 9, 2009 at 7:10 pm |
Every day is an epiphany!
December 9, 2009 at 11:23 pm |
http://m.youtube.com/results?hl=en&gl=CA&client=mv-google&q=unto+us+a+child+is+born&submit=Search
Let’s try again
December 10, 2009 at 1:26 am |
I was trying to post a link I could listen to on my bberry.
December 10, 2009 at 2:07 am |
Wisdom 3:1-9
But the souls of the just are in the hand of God, and no torment shall touch them.
They seemed, in the view of the foolish, to be dead;
and their passing away was thought an affliction and their going forth from us, utter destruction.
But they are in peace.
For if before men, indeed, they be punished, yet is their hope full of immortality;
Chastised a little, they shall be greatly blessed, because God tried them
As gold in the furnace, he proved them,
and as sacrificial offerings he took them to himself.
Those who trust in him shall understand truth, and the faithful shall abide with him in love:
Because grace and mercy are with His holy ones, and His care is with His elect.
December 10, 2009 at 2:17 am |
I was curious to see what I was posting a year ago:
http://rosettasister.wordpress.com/2008/12/page/3/
December 10, 2009 at 2:51 am |
December 10, 2009 at 3:04 am |
Found in some obscure folder on external drive:
http://www.4shared.com/file/169365390/7de78a2b/Fernando_Ortega_-_Let_All_Mort.html
http://www.4shared.com/file/169365442/230883cf/Klezmer_Conservatory_Band-Skot.html
http://www.4shared.com/file/169365633/18caf1f0/Klezmer20Conservatory20Band-Da.html
http://www.4shared.com/file/169366086/9d6c0fe8/Melanie_Safka_-_Gods_Only_Daug.html
http://www.4shared.com/file/169366149/a0a43742/Minnesota_Klezmer_Band-Book_Of.html
http://www.4shared.com/file/169366191/1bd1c13d/Minnesota20Klezmer20Band-Heyse.html
http://www.4shared.com/file/169366265/9962a7b2/Minnesota20Klezmer20Band-Minne.html
http://www.4shared.com/file/169366308/b04b16be/Waylon_Jennings_-_Kisses_Sweet.html
(Don’t forget to mute sound — upper right-hand corner of ad)
December 10, 2009 at 4:02 am |
“Ode to Freedom” Beethoven: Symphony No.9 in D minor Op.125, Leonard Bernstein,
Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Staatskapelle Dresden, Kirov Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris, June Anderson, Sarah Walker, Klaus Konig, Jan-Hendrik Rootering.
Live recording in Schauspielhaus Berlin, 25-12-1989.
December 10, 2009 at 4:03 am |
More Like This:
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_type=videos&suggested_categories=10&search_sort=video_date_uploaded_reverse&search_filter=0&search_query=zuccherohk+beethoven+symphony+No.9
December 10, 2009 at 3:34 pm |
Stranded hunters holding out
Deep snow and fallen trees have prompted a dozen rescue missions near Blue Ridge, where 1,500 residents remain without electricity since the blizzard.
http://azdailysun.com/articles/2009/12/10/news/20091210_front_208967.txt
The following is a list of the ongoing missions as of Wednesday late afternoon:
— Tusayan: Stranded man off Forest Road 310. It is unknown if the party has more than just one hunter.
— Tusayan: Ten people snowbound off Forest Road 310A. The group has enough propane and provisions until Saturday.
— Woods Canyon Lake: Two elderly men with their vehicle about a half mile into the forest.
— Turkey Butte: Three people snowbound with their vehicle disabled.
— Fry Park off Woody Mountain Road: Two people snowbound with food and water.
— Woody Mountain Road: Six people stranded at the junction of Forest Roads 527 and 528.
— Munds Park: At least one man stuck in a four-wheel drive vehicle about 1/2 mile in off Forest Road 700 north of Little Horse Park. The man has food, water and fuel for at least two more days.
— Mormon Lake: Three people and two vehicles, stuck in snow, have food and water, about one mile south off Stoneman Lake Road.
(Mormon Lake is one of our favorite destinations. It’s stunningly beautiful after one of these storms moves through. God help these poor souls return to their families.)
— Williams area: Man and his two sons are stuck in area of Ranch Road and Martinez. They have food and water and camper trailer but their vehicle is stuck.
— Shafer Tank: Three men in two trucks, one of which is out of gas. They are reportedly OK and have food, but are running out of water.
December 10, 2009 at 3:47 pm |
Who Likes The Public Option Deal, Who Doesn’t, And Will It Win 60 Votes For Health Care
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/12/who-likes-the-public-option-deal-who-doesnt-and-will-it-win-60-votes-for-health-care.php?ref=mp
Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) weighed in by saying he still opposes a triggered public plan–one of the elements of the compromise.
Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) told reporters yesterday she opposes the Medicare buy-in, suggesting, though not outright declaring, that she’s still out of the mix.
December 10, 2009 at 3:57 pm |
Many Questions Remain On Medicare Expansion Proposal
http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/Daily-Reports/2009/December/10/Medicare-expansion-thurs.aspx
NPR reports that a previous CBO estimate — done last year– concluded that allowing people age 62-64 to buy into Medicare would cost $7,600 a year including drug coverage,
more than the $4,722 for the average cost for purchasing coverage in the non-group market.
And a 2002 estimate found that without subsidies “a Medicare buy-in would only cut a single percentage point from the proportion of uninsured adults ages 55 to 64,
leaving 9 percent rather than 10 percent without coverage.”
But some think that allowing the non-disabled to buy in to Medicare could be less disruptive to the insurance market — and would cost less than a public option (Hensley, 12/9).
December 10, 2009 at 4:01 pm |
“allowing the non-disabled to buy in to Medicare”
what does THAT mean exactly?
I don’t see how expanding Medicare (govt-run) is any different from a new public “option” (govt-run).
December 10, 2009 at 4:33 pm |
CBO raised red flags on Medicare expansion last year; Lieberman not buying the “compromise”
http://hotair.com/archives/2009/12/09/cbo-raised-red-flags-on-medicare-expansion-last-year/
Meanwhile, Cato’s Michael Tanner points out seven inconvenient truths about Medicare expansion and the use of the Federal Employees Health Benefit Plan to replace the public option:
1.In choosing the FEHBP for a model, Democrats have actually chosen an insurance plan whose costs are rising faster than average. FEHBP premiums are expected to rise 7.9 percent this year and 8.8 percent in 2010. By comparison, the Congressional Budget Office predicts that on average, premiums will increase by 5.5 to 6.2 percent annually over the next few years. In fact, FEHBP premiums are rising so fast that nearly 100,000 federal employees have opted out of the program.
2.FEHBP members are also finding their choices cut back. Next year, 32 insurance plans will either drop out of the program or reduce their participation. Some 61,000 workers will lose their current coverage.
3.But former OPM director Linda Springer doubts that the agency has the “capacity, the staff, or the mission,” to be able to manage the new program. Taking on management of the new program could overburden OPM. “Ultimate, it would break the system.”
4.Medicare is currently $50-100 trillion in debt, depending on which accounting measure you use. Allowing younger workers to join the program is the equivalent of crowding a few more passengers onto the Titanic.
5.At the same time, Medicare under reimburses physicians, especially in rural areas. Expanding Medicare enrollment will both threaten the continued viability of rural hospitals and other providers, and also result in increased cost-shifting, driving up premiums for private insurance.
6.Medicaid is equally a budget-buster. The program now costs more than $330 billion per year, a cost that grew at a rate of roughly 10.7 percent annually. The program spends money by the bushel, yet under-reimburses providers even worse than Medicare.
7.Ultimately this so-called compromise would expand government health care programs and further squeeze private insurance, resulting in increased costs, result in higher insurance premiums, and provide a lower-quality of care.
***
In other words, we’re going to address a problem of premium-price growth of around 6% a year, which is higher than inflation, and do so by imposing government plans that normally increase prices by 8.8% and 10.7%.
Only in Washington DC could that be considered “progress.”
December 10, 2009 at 4:39 pm |
Washington and the 2010 stock market
http://blogs.reuters.com/james-pethokoukis/2009/12/10/washington-and-the-2010-stock-market/
Could the S&P 500 rise back to its record high next year?
I was in Boston on Tuesday, and met with the first money manager on Planet Earth to ask me this question.
That is definitely a contrarian’s scenario.
I am currently predicting a 2010 high between 1300-1350, and more specifically 1332 by March 6, which would be up 100% on a y/y basis, from the Da Vinci Code bottom of 666.
Then I see a nasty correction on growing concerns that the expiration of the Bush tax cuts might depress the economy in 2011.
That selloff could last until the November Congressional elections.
If Gridlock wins, with the Democrats losing their majority control of one or both houses of Congress, then stocks might resume the bull market.
December 10, 2009 at 4:55 pm |
Why ObamaCare is heading in the wrong direction
http://blogs.reuters.com/james-pethokoukis/2009/12/09/why-obamacare-is-heading-in-the-wrong-direction/
I believe that America’s health care system should be reformed.
Medicare is unsustainable.
Employer-provided health insurance should never have been instituted in the first place, and it is becoming more dysfunctional every year.
I would like to deal with the structural issues that bias our system in favor of specialists, fragmented care, and credentialism.
Americans need to learn how to make reasonable judgments about medical procedures that have high costs and low benefits.
None of these problems is addressed by the bills in Congress.
This year’s health care debate is proof that top-down reform is not going to work.
The more the system is politicized, the less likely it is that it will change.
The only direction for reform is market-oriented policy that by today’s standards seems radical and unacceptable.
In contrast, the politicians are struggling mightily to do what amounts to minor tinkering and tampering.
***
Amen to all of the above!
http://www.newamerica.net/blog/new-health-dialogue/2009/worldview-switzerlands-success-16025
December 10, 2009 at 5:04 pm |
Senator Jon Kyl Reminds That The Democrats Do Not Have 60 Votes In The Senate To Pass Obamacare Yet
http://hughhewitt.com/transcripts.aspx?id=1d709104-eaab-4a1f-bfcf-07691134d369
HH: Yes, you’ve been very good about making sure people understand they don’t have 60 votes, because again, it happened overnight,
Democrats said we’ve got it, we’re almost there, it shows up in the Washington Post and Politico and the New York Times and the AP.
Then I look around, and I don’t see Senator Lieberman saying, “Aye.”
I don’t see Senator Nelson saying, “Aye.”
I don’t see Senator Blanche Lincoln saying, “Aye.”
But it’s like the media is cheerleading here, calling for the officials to, you know, call the game over.
JK: They’re complicit in the Democrat leader and White House strategy of making this seem as if it is inevitable, to thus generate a momentum, a sense of inevitability, that will then envelop everyone and cause it eventually to pass.
It is not only not inevitable, right now, today, it wouldn’t pass.
They can’t figure out how to get to 60 votes.
And it’s a really difficult thing for them.
This thing, this idea or set of options that they’ve sent to the Congressional Budget Office, this is going to take three or four days to score, in other words, figure out the financial impacts and so on.
And by the way, I think one of the huge impacts of this proposal is that it will increase premiums for people who are not on the government programs, for a variety of reasons.
So I think they’re going to get the CBO score back this weekend and say well, that doesn’t look so good, either, so let’s go back to the drawing board.
I mean, they have a really hard problem, because they have bitten off more than even bright people in Washington can chew.
There’s a certain arrogance here that says we can figure all of this out.
And the reality is you can’t figure it all out.
It’s like the free market.
It takes millions of people making individual decisions every day to really function well in our economy.
And the same thing is true here.
No, I don’t care how bright these folks are, they cannot take over the entire health care system, and figure out a way to cover everybody, not have it cost any more, make everybody happy, no rationing, no new taxes.
You know, it just doesn’t work.
That’s why they have to cut Medicare, raise taxes, raise premiums, and still leave a whole bunch of people uninsured.
(Still, even some conservative pundits expect something to pass. The biggest mistake Obama made was allowing Reid and Pelosi to take the lead on crafting legislation. And painting Wyden — Bennett as being “too radical.”)
December 10, 2009 at 5:13 pm |
Really good summary here.
Deconstructing Harry
Ten things to watch in the Senate health-care debate.
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=YjhjNTViNDdmMzRiNzI5MzAwMjhjZDNlMjJmNzA2Njg=
December 10, 2009 at 5:16 pm |
4. Sen. Joe Lieberman.
Even after Reid announced his “deal” with Democrats on Tuesday night, Lieberman was back at it, questioning Reid’s leadership and promises.
If he even sniffs a public option, he’s gone.
“My opposition to a government-run insurance option, including any option with a trigger, has been clear for months and remains my position today,” the Connecticut independent said in a statement.
“It is my understanding that at this point there is no legislative language so I look forward to analyzing the details of the plan and reviewing analysis from the Congressional Budget Office and the Office of the Actuary in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid services,” he added.
Watch out, Reid.
Lieberman’s no pushover.
December 10, 2009 at 5:18 pm |
5. The manager’s amendment.
This is Reid’s safety net should he continue to stumble in cloakroom negotiations on his bill’s specifics — a bundle of amendments he can pin on his bill at the last minute to satisfy those on the fence.
Of course, there’s no guarantee that such a move would save him.
As William Kristol of The Weekly Standard points out,
“The much hyped (if utterly incoherent) deal that Harry Reid is touting doesn’t look as if it’s doing the trick — the trick being to cobble together anything (and I mean anything) that can get 60 votes in the Senate, introduce it as a manager’s amendment later this week, and jam it through.”
The reason: Some senators frown upon last-minute promises, especially on tricky issues like abortion or a public-option trigger.
They want to see their concerns worked out in the bill’s language rather than accept some legislative wink and nod.
December 10, 2009 at 5:21 pm |
10. Sen. Olympia Snowe.
As the Maine Republican makes her way around the Senate floor, her famous red jacket might as well be a red flag — for Republicans.
The GOP needs all 40 members to stick together if they want to knock off Reid’s bill, and Snowe has seemed open to crossing the aisle, especially since Reid started talking up a non-profit private alternative to the public option.
“It can be an innovative approach,” said Snowe to CNN.
On the other hand, Snowe is skeptical about Reid’s plan to expand Medicare to individuals as young as 55.
Where she’ll land is still in doubt.
(skeptical? actually she has stated she will oppose Medicare buy-in)
December 10, 2009 at 5:30 pm |
Wishful Lefty Thinking from Ezra Klein
Meanwhile, the Medicare buy-in lets people in the broader insurance market see what national bargaining power can do for individual premiums.
Right now, Medicare’s rates are largely hidden, as no one pays the full premiums, and so no one can really compare it to private offerings.
But
if the premiums become visible, and
Medicare’s superior bargaining power is capable of offering rates 20 to 30 percent lower than its private competitors can muster,
we’ll see how long it is before representatives begin getting calls from 50-year-olds who’d like the opportunity to exchange money in return for insurance as good as what 55-year-olds can get.
(Huh?!)
Now, will the deal hold when Joe Lieberman and Olympia Snowe get a look at it?
Stay tuned for more on that…
December 10, 2009 at 5:38 pm |
Updated Link after most recent additions:
Starting on page 2 # 148
http://www.4shared.com/play/10329682/efdae9dd/sharing.html
(Sorry, still have to mute ad in upper-right hand corner of ad. This is new, but I’ll fix.)
December 10, 2009 at 7:10 pm |
Haven’t been posting on this topic as of late, but I did notice this gentleman appeared on coast to coast am last night:
Writer and documentary film producer G. Edward Griffin talked about the Federal Reserve and who controls money.
Alex welcomes in-studio G. Edward Griffin, film producer, political lecturer, and author of numerous books, including the indispensable classic, The Creature from Jekyll Island: A Second Look at the Federal Reserve.
(Not sure which part G. Edward Griffin comes in.)
December 10, 2009 at 7:11 pm |
More Like This:
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_type=videos&suggested_categories=22&search_sort=video_date_uploaded_reverse&search_filter=0&search_query=infowarfair+edward+griffin+12.10.2009
December 10, 2009 at 7:49 pm |
Perhaps “infowarfair” will upload more later:
http://www.youtube.com/user/Infowarfair#g/u
December 10, 2009 at 7:59 pm |
Anyways, here’s first part of an earlier appearance.
December 10, 2009 at 8:07 pm |
Rasmussen Obama Approval (Likely Voters)
46 – 53
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/obama_administration/obama_approval_index_history
December 10, 2009 at 10:10 pm |
44% of Americans wish Bush were still president!
Public Policy Polling
By a 50-44 margin voters say they prefer having Obama as President to George W. Bush.
Nevertheless 20% already say they would like to see Obama impeached based on his actions so far, including 35% of Republicans.
December 10, 2009 at 10:15 pm |
From above
G. Edward Griffin starts at beginning of Part 19.
December 10, 2009 at 10:20 pm |
part 19
December 10, 2009 at 10:21 pm |
***
More Like This:
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_type=videos&suggested_categories=22&search_sort=video_date_uploaded_reverse&search_filter=0&search_query=infowarfair+edward+griffin+12.10.2009
December 10, 2009 at 11:06 pm |
My Two Cents – “Bernanke is not the Problem”
12/04/2009
http://www.sutton-associates.net/issues/mtc_2009/mtc_12042009.php
Andrew W. Sutton, MBA is the Chief Market Strategist for Sutton & Associates, LLC, a Registered Investment Adviser in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
***
EXCERPT
Mandate #1 – Price Stability
When the private Federal Reserve was chartered in 1913 by the unconstitutional Act of the same name, it stated two specific mandates: maximum employment and price stability.
Those were to be the Fed’s areas of activity.
However, with virtually no accountability to the American people (except vis a vis the President who appoints the Chairman and the Congress who invariably rubber-stamps such appointments), the Fed was turned loose on the undefended US Dollar.
For years, the American public has been duped into thinking that inflation is necessary for economic growth.
This outright lie will likely compete for the title of biggest financial fraud in history.
Aided by this unawareness, we have seen a fairly standard 5% rate of annual inflation institutionalized into our economic system.
For quite a while, this inflation went virtually undetected as it feasted mainly on the prosperity America had achieved, particularly after the Great Depression.
As a nation, we began to spend away our surpluses and attach claims on future economic activity through the great society programs of the 1960’s and the perpetuation of New Deal programs such as Social Security.
By the 1970s, however, we’d run short of real money and dealt the global financial system the shock of accepting paper dollars in settlement of our out of control deficit spending.
This resulted in a period of increased instability in the 1970s and twin severe recessions.
By this time, the devalued Dollar had destroyed enough of our purchasing power that it became necessary in many cases for a second breadwinner to work to maintain the standard of living.
In the 1980s and 1990s, Americans began to rely increasingly on consumer credit to bridge the gap left by the waning dollar, and for much of the first decade of this new century, the house became the ATM as another gap filler.
It is no wonder that the recent contraction in consumer credit isn’t touched by the mainstream press; it is that critical to economic growth.
This contraction is one of the biggest reasons the federal government has stepped in with record deficit spending.
To keep the economic charade going, it has had to.
The above bevy of charts and data should make it perfectly clear that the Fed has failed in spectacular fashion in terms of price stability.
The only thing it has been successful in is ensuring that the devaluation of the Dollar occurred gradually, over time, so as not to alarm Main Street.
December 11, 2009 at 3:36 pm |
Ha, Just Kidding, There Really Is No Health-Care Deal
http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2009/12/ha_just_kidding_there_really_i.html
In the few days since the supposed Gang of Ten compromise was reached — the one with the Medicare buy-in for 55- to 64-year-olds, private national plans similar to the ones federal employees use, and the trigger for a public option — it’s become increasingly clear that an agreement among 60 warm bodies in the Senate might be more difficult to attain than it initially seemed.
Gettable Republican Olympia Snowe said she won’t vote for the bill because of the Medicare buy-in.
Joe Lieberman, who threatened to filibuster any bill with a public option, says he still plans to do so for one with a public-option trigger.
Even some liberal Democrats are uneasy about Medicare’s low reimbursement rates to doctors and the solvency of the program.
And it doesn’t help the plan’s prospects when the Times reports that actually buying into Medicare will be pretty expensive — $7,600 for individuals before subsidies become available in 2014.
AARP leadership is also expressing doubts about the attractiveness of a Medicare buy-in.
So what’s going to come of the “deal”?
Everyone seems to be waiting on the Congressional Budget Office analysis, which should be completed by next week.
If the numbers aren’t good, Harry Reid is going to need a big hug.
December 11, 2009 at 3:54 pm |
Nobel winner O talks like hawk
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/nobel_winner_talks_like_hawk_d1DI9mSaZHuijquYAyTBKN
Mark Salter, a longtime confidant of Sen. John McCain, Obama’s Republican opponent for the presidency in 2008, gave the Nobel speech a thumbs-up.
“It’s certainly a different message than he emphasized during the presidential campaign. It was a good speech for the Nobel committee to hear. I congratulate him,” said Salter, a senior adviser to McCain’s campaign.
Meanwhile, Norwegians were miffed that Obama skipped some Nobel ceremonies, such as lunch with King Harald V and a children’s concert.
***
I had this conversation with my very politically astute daughter just the other day.
It doesn’t matter what a candidate says or even believes on the campaign trail.
Once he or she gets into office and takes on the role of Commander-in-Chief and sees every day the threats against the American people.
It’s like, “Oh, shit!”
When I first heard of Obama dissing a monarch, I thought how typically arrogant.
On second thought, how typically American.
December 11, 2009 at 4:17 pm |
http://pajamasmedia.com/phyllischesler/2009/12/10/tiger%e2%80%99s-sex-score/
Phyllis chesler on tiger woods?
Hmmm
December 11, 2009 at 4:33 pm |
The president’s speech accepting the Nobel Peace Prize was a good one. So was the speech on job creation earlier this week, and the one on Afghanistan from West Point. He can give a good speech.Now how about pulling back the disaster that is Obamacare and pushing forward some job-creating tax cuts?
From Hugh Hewitt
December 11, 2009 at 4:49 pm |
HH: Well, what did you make of his willingness to say there are…actually, he went further than I expected him to go, Mark. MS: Well, he did in the sense that when you’re telling a bunch of Norwegians that there are bad guys out there in the world, that is what you might call counterintuitive, because a bunch of pacifist Norwegians is probably the last people on the planet who want to hear that. But at the same time, you know, that is…the fact that that strikes one as a courageous thing to do is an appalling comment on the muscularity of Obama-era diplomacy.
Mark steyn
Good point!
December 11, 2009 at 5:00 pm |
The Financial Times cites Cato’s Chris Edwards in its report: The push for a bipartisan commission to deal with the fiscal challenges facing the US gained momentum on Wednesday as 27 senators sponsored revised legislation that would create such a task force. The bill, introduced by Democrat Kent Conrad and Republican Judd Gregg, both fiscal hawks, would charge an 18-member group of serving legislators and administration officials with coming up with a plan to solve what they called “the nation’s long-term fiscal imbalance”. …In a sign that the concept of such a commission is gaining ground politically, anti-tax activists immediately attacked the proposal, saying it would lead to tax increases. Grover Norquist, head of Americans for Tax Reform, published an open letter saying the “commission is unacceptable from a taxpayer perspective” because “it would lead to a guaranteed tax increase”. …Chris Edwards, director of tax policy at the small-government Cato Institute, said a commission was likely to put too much emphasis on tax increases when “long-term projections reveal a spending catastrophe, not a revenue challenge”.
Vat attack!
Hat tip
James pethokoukis
December 11, 2009 at 5:06 pm |
My bottom line: If I could replace our current tax system (including the personal income tax, corporate income tax, payroll tax, and estate tax) with a VAT, I would gladly do it.
Jimmy p’s take on vat
December 11, 2009 at 7:16 pm |
Hamas is the enemy!
Hamas Slams PNA for Seeking International Recognition of State’s Borders
http://www.champress.net/index.php?q=en/Article/view/49447
Islamic Hamas movement on Saturday criticized the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) for seeking international recognition of state’s borders.
“The Palestine Liberation Organization’s (PLO) trend to border demarcation is only an address of political failure that the PNA experiences,” said Salah al-Bardaweel, a senior Hamas official.
“The international community is unserious in dealing with this proposal and the U.S. administration colludes with Israel and can’t even press it to stop settlement,” al-Bardaweel added.
On Friday, chief negotiator Saeb Erekat said the PLO will resort to the UN Security Council to get a recognition of the Palestinian statehood’s borders. The move is part of a campaign the PNA had started to obtain international recognition of the statehood after peace negotiations with Israel had come to a stop.
Al-Bardaweel said his movement, which believes in destroying Israel, had once accepted a national Palestinian proposal for having a statehood in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem “but without recognizing Israel in exchange.”
“We don’t believe in the two-state solution and don’t believe in the other state (Israel) which was created on a Palestinian land, so defining the borders in a meaningless operation and has no reality on the ground,” al-Bardaweel continued.
(al-Bardaweel and his ilk will never accept a two-state solution as they will never accept the right of the modern nation-state of Israel to exist. Border demarcation is an essential first step to the establishment of a Palestinian state. The so-called two-state solution which President George W. Bush put forth. Of course the question is where will those lines be drawn?)
(And please listen to Netanyahu and Shimon Peres and look at polling done inside of Israel before you listen to outsiders with their own agenda.)
December 11, 2009 at 7:33 pm |
A biased source to be sure, but was all I could find.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned the Palestinians about what he called a unilateral U-N recognition of a Palestinian state.
Netanyahu said the Palestinian move would only bring unilateral steps from the Israeli side.
The Israeli P-M made the comments shortly after Palestinian officials said they were planning on taking their quest for independence to the U-N Security Council.
Earlier in the day, Chief Palestinian negotiator, Saeb Erekat, said the decision is NOT unilateral and is already backed by Arab foreign ministers.
December 11, 2009 at 7:49 pm |
Truman recognized Israel. Bush recognized Kosovo. Will Obama recognize Palestine?
A good place to see Palestinian point of view:
http://www.google.com/search?q=site:miftah.org&hl=en&lr=&tbo=1&tbs=qdr:w,sbd:1&filter=0
(Just because I post this doesn’t mean I agree with all that gets posted at this site. FYI)
December 11, 2009 at 8:07 pm |
The following poll has elicited some controversy, but I believe the source to be reputable.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3715759,00.html
Poll: 58% of Israeli Jews back two-state solution
Survey conducted ahead of Netanyahu’s visit to Washington shows secular, religious Israeli Jews split over US-backed plan to establish an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel
(BTW absolutely no one who has been studying the Middle East believes Palestine will get back “all” of the territory it lost in 1967. In fact that is exactly why UN resolutions were written as they were.)
December 11, 2009 at 8:30 pm |
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB126021732063080621.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_sections_world
Mr. Barghouti touches a raw nerve in Israel, however.
Though he supports a negotiated two-state solution, he continues to advocate the right of Palestinians to resist Israel’s occupation, by force if necessary.
He condemns targeting civilians inside Israel proper, a position that implicitly supports attacks on Jewish settlers and soldiers in the West Bank.
(“condemns targeting civilians inside Israel proper” — it is a shame all Palestinians didn’t feel the same way. Then there would have been no need for Israel to build that wall.)
December 11, 2009 at 8:33 pm |
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3818474,00.html
Earlier, Fatah head in the West Bank Marwan Barghouti said in an interview to CNN: “I am part of the list that Hamas is negotiating over, and I have high hopes and expectations to be released in this deal.”
December 11, 2009 at 8:35 pm |
Updated Link after most recent additions:
http://www.4shared.com/play/10329682/efdae9dd/sharing.html
(Sorry, still have to mute ad in upper-right hand corner of ad. This is new, but I’ll fix.)
December 11, 2009 at 8:53 pm |
cynkading
Submitted on 2009/12/11 at 12:52pm
Hi Rose,
I forgot you had this blog. Miss you and I will visit here when I can. Hope you and yours are doing well.
***
I miss you, too, cynka dynka!
I like to think of BlessedIsTruth as a secret pleasure. Or like a rich dessert.
Not on your everyday list, but when you have a little extra time.
After the chores are done.
If all goes well, I’ll be somewhat more scarce myself after the New Year.
Just got fingerprinted yet again and am awaiting the results of yet another background check.
Does being an alien abductee disqualify one from being offered a federal job? LOL!
Cynka dynka doo, I love you!
December 11, 2009 at 10:22 pm |
Hey, here’s a cool selection from this page:
http://www.4shared.com/file/159779305/bee71610/12_Malacun_Wawapa.html
The Lord loves it when you dance!
December 12, 2009 at 3:49 pm |
Israel v Sweden?
Disappointed US scales back its Middle East diplomacy
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1260447412591&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
The Jerusalem Post has learned, meanwhile, that Mitchell spoke by phone with Swedish foreign Minister Carl Bildt over the last few days, trying to convince him to water down the draft resolution he had placed before the EU that would have recognized east Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state.
Israeli officials lobbied Washington to do what it could to dilute the proposal, arguing that the draft resolution put forward by the Swedes would only reinforce a feeling among the Palestinians that they could “sit on their hands” and the international community would impose a solution on Israel.
This sentiment was expressed in a meeting Netanyahu held Wednesday with Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini, who flew into the region for half a day for talks in both Ramallah and Jerusalem.
Netanyahu relayed to Frattini, according to government sources, the feeling that if in the past the assessment in Jerusalem was that Abbas was not going toward negotiations because of the dysfunctional nature of Palestinian politics, now the assessment was that he had adopted a strategy to avoid talks with Israel. The reason for this, the sources said, was that he did not want to be put in a position of having to make concessions to Israel, and because of his feeling that he could hold out and a solution would be imposed on Israel from the outside.
In an apparent reference to Sweden, Netanyahu said there were “some voices in Europe feeding these expectations.” He added that the final, watered-down EU resolution should be a “wake-up” call to the Palestinians not to expect imposed solutions.
“We move forward, and they moved backward,” Netanyahu said. “And no matter what we do, some people will always see Israel as guilty.”
Bildt, who has come under a barrage of criticism from Israeli officials in recent days for his attempt to pass the EU resolution prejudging negotiations on Jerusalem, said Thursday that Israel should stop trying to divide the EU.
Bildt’s comments came after Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said on Israel Radio that Sweden wanted to present the EU declaration as its achievement before its six-month term as EU president ended.
“Sweden, which is completing its term as holder of the EU rotating presidency without any achievements or any significant returns, tried toward the end of its term to steal the show and steal the vote. That didn’t succeed,” Lieberman said.
Bildt shot back Thursday that Israel should not “think that a relationship with Europe is divide and rule.”
“You consider some [EU members] good and some bad, and then you try to maneuver from that position,” Bildt charged.
December 12, 2009 at 4:02 pm |
Giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -16. That’s the lowest Approval Index rating yet recorded for this President.
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/obama_administration/obama_approval_index_history
1 Date
2 Presidential Approval Index
3 Strongly Approve
4 Strongly Disapprove
5 Total Approve
6 Total Disapprove
1 12/12/2009
2 -16
3 25%
4 41%
5 46%
6 53%
(Are hard-left Dems upset with Obama because they perceive him as governing more from the center? One can hope.)
December 12, 2009 at 4:06 pm |
First, the Good News on the Economic Recovery…
A Commentary by Lawrence Kudlow
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/political_commentary/commentary_by_lawrence_kudlow/first_the_good_news_on_the_economic_recovery
According to Chris Edwards at Cato, there are now 383,000 federal workers earning six-figure salaries, and 22,000 earning salaries over $170,000. The number of civil servants making $100,000 or more has jumped over 46 percent since the start of the recession, and the average federal worker’s pay and benefits is $120,000, double the comparable $60,000 package in the private sector. Edwards also reports that Recovery Act funding has created 407,000 government-contract jobs.
All this helps explain why long-term economic growth is likely to slow to a 2 percent zone, rather than cruise in the 3.5 percent zone of the 1980s and 1990s. The primacy of government over private enterprise has been tried and has failed dismally.
I remember when President Ronald Reagan talked about “we the people,” borrowing from the Preamble to the Constitution. To the Gipper, “we the people” meant the government works for us — we don’t work for the government. It’s our money. And we should get it back through tax cuts whenever possible.
Reagan was talking about economic freedom. Unfortunately, that freedom is becoming a scarce commodity.
December 12, 2009 at 4:51 pm |
Good site for Israeli point of view:
http://www.theisraelproject.org/site/c.hsJPK0PIJpH/b.689705/k.9F22/Press_Releases/apps/nl/newsletter2.asp
December 12, 2009 at 5:01 pm |
Charles Krauthammer on Obamacare, Iran’s Mahdi goals, and the end around on cap and trade
http://hughhewitt.com/transcripts.aspx?id=2acee120-6ca9-4a75-9e20-67c6dc39d680
EXCERPT
HH: All right, back to domestic policy, speaking of trials, tribulations and troubles.
Today, the office of the Actuary at the Department of Health and Human Services issued a massive report that concluded that the Obamacare in the Senate version
would drive overall health care costs higher,
that it would lead to Medicare benefit cuts,
that the long term care insurance plan it includes would be a costly failure,
that 33 million people would remain uninsured after it went into effect,
and that cuts to doctors and hospitals proposed by the bill would put immediately one in five hospitals into the red.
Other dire consequences, including a rise in overall health spending, more than if the Senate did nothing.
Do you think this will do anything to stop the momentum behind the bill, Charles Krauthammer?
CK: Well, other than that, what you enumerate, it’s a great bill.
HH: (laughing)
CK: The Democrats are marching off a cliff here.
You know, how many reports do you have to have?
You get it from the Actuary here, as you say, all of these particulars, and we’ve got it from CBO again and again since the middle of June to prove a truism.
There’s no free lunch.
You want to increase the range, the scope of health care insurance by including 30 million people previously uninsured?
It’s going to cost more.
The idea that you’re going to expand it while you cut costs is absurd.
The idea that you can cut half a trillion out of Medicare, and as Senator Baucus has said even today, will improve care, is simply nutty.
We already know that doctors and hospitals are getting slaughtered by the low reimbursement in Medicare.
And many of them are simply drowning as a result of the fact that they aren’t even earning enough to cover costs.
You’re now going to reduce it by half a trillion more and you’re going to increase the quality of care?
This is sort of common sense.
And it seems to take a report after report to actually put it into numbers, and to make others acknowledge the obvious.
But they are so invested in this, the Democrats, they have a political need to produce something, no matter how monstrous it is, and that’s where they’re headed, to produce anything, no matter how contradictory or impractical.
HH: 30 seconds, Charles, in all your years in Washington, D.C., have you ever had a sense that it has been ever before this kind of strange or out of control?
CK: No, not really.
But I have to admit that as a journalist, that Obama and his powers in the House and the Senate are taking us over a cliff, but it is a hell of a ride.
December 12, 2009 at 5:21 pm |
Senate Health Bill Won’t Curb Spending, Study Says (Update2)
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=ai1ryUO8.8Oc&pos=8
Legislation being debated in the U.S. Senate would increase total spending on health care over the next decade and may contain “unrealistic” promises to save money on Medicare, according to a government report.
National health expenditures would grow about $234 billion from 2010-2019 under the bill, 0.7 percent more than if nothing were done, Richard Foster, the chief actuary at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said in the report.
December 12, 2009 at 9:00 pm |
New Thread: