Medary.com

SECTION ONE: The Word:
Video: The Four-Minute Guide to the Seven-Hour Summit:



Your right to health care is exactly the same as your right to a car, or an ice cream cone, or a shirt, or a laptop computer. You certainly have a right to obtain those things--well, for now, anyway you have a right to obtain all of those things. But nobody else has any obligation to give you any of them, and you have no right to demand at the point of a government gun that somebody else hand any of those things over to you because of your "need." There may be people who feel that it is a moral thing to give to those less fortunate, but there is no obligation to do so--indeed, the virtue inherent in the act of giving is precisely that it is NOT an obligation. There is NO virtue in being generous with somebody else's money, time, skills, or life. Indeed, being generous with somebody else's money, time, skills, or life is a pretty good working definition of evil.

In a free market, you can have pretty much anything that you can afford. There is nothing magical about health care. There is nothing special about health care, other than its unique emotional hold on each and every one of us. It is just another economic good, which some people produce and other people consume--like a haircut, an airline ticket, or a meal. It's not fair that some people can afford $200 haircuts and some people have to do it themselves in front of a mirror. It's not fair that some people can fly first class, others have to fly on Southwest, and others can't afford to fly at all. It's not fair that some people can afford filet mignon and some people can't even afford McDonald's. Fairness is not a part of the discussion. Here's why:

THE DEMAND FOR HEALTH CARE IS INFINITE Everybody will always want more health care, especially if they don't have to pay for it, or even really know how much it even costs. But that's the health care system we have built in the United States today. Nobody knows how much their health care costs. Nobody really cares, because we have separated the consumer from the cost of the good being consumed. We have removed the cost control mechanism imposed by a free and open market--which is the only fair, humane cost control mechanism we know of. The ONLY alternative to cost control via the free market is some form of Sarah Palin's "death panels," however cleverly and intricately they might be structured. If the free market is not allowed to impose discipline on the individual health care customer, then the only alternative is to have some arbitrary authority do it. Freedom, or control. One or the other. Choose wisely.

Central control of economies does not work. Ever. Central control is ALWAYS less efficient than a free market and central control is ALWAYS more cruel and arbitrary. The extent to which central control appears to work, is the extent to which the free market can absorb the distortions and inequities that central control introduces into the economy. But there comes a time when the free market can absorb no more interference. There comes a time when the goose that lays the golden eggs becomes too weak to lay any more. Does anybody really want to let things go the way they're going? No more goose, no more golden eggs. Do we really want to risk killing the goose?

See, here's the deal, people. The problem with health care is not a supply problem. It's a demand problem. The demand has been artificially inflated due to the stupidity of government intervention, and the further stupid demogoging of the issue by vicious, cynical power-grubbing people bleating "people having a right to health care" which is utter, complete, unadulterated, evil, cruel, heartless, manipulative bullshit.

The time for choosing is now. The Democrats have chosen control over freedom. The Tea Partiers have chosen freedom over control, and are dragging the Republicans (and some Democrats) kicking and screaming to the pro-liberty position. SECTION TWO: Things That Amuse Me:
Simians and other aminals*:
Panda found eating like a pig -- Gnawing on bones . . . huh . . .
If Bonobo Kanzi Can Point as Humans Do, What Other Similarities Can Rearing Reveal?
Goat leads Texas authorities on chase through Taco Bell parking lot, university dorm area -- Another sweet headline from Fox 4 Kansas City . . . OK, it's probably an AP headline, but whatever . . .
El Niño and a Pathogen Killed Costa Rican Toad, Study Finds--Challenges Evidence That Global Warming Was the Cause -- Oddly enough, George W. Bush not cited as a contributing factor to the extinction . . .
Baby Monkeys Receive Signals Through Their Mother's Breast Milk That Affect Behavior and Temperament
*Yes, I know it's "animals," it's just that I always found the childhood mispronunciation really, really cute . . .

Travel:
Republic Orders New Bombardier Airplane That Will Compete with Boeing and Airbus (If It Works)
Runway closure at JFK expected to impact fliers across the USA
Flight attendant 'brawl' disrupts Delta Connection flight
Cruise Radio -- A weekly radio/podcast show dedicated to cruising!
Midwest Airlines brand 'appears headed for retirement'

Sports:
Enough About Canada; Let's Shoot Some Anti-Baseball Terrorists, and Slap a Hockey Puck in the Nuts of Every Nostalgic Writer in New York-- "it's time to tip our toques to Canada, loosen our grip on those curling rocks, and get back to the real American pastimes. Which are, in order: baseball, and arming ourselves to the teeth."
Already in Olympics Withdrawal? Play ‘Vancouver 2010′
SDSU wins titles at track meet
SDSU hoops set for busy Sunday: Men, women will both play on same day
It is finished -- The Summit League tournament brackets, that is . . . well, almost . . .
Sioux Falls, SD--Summit League Tournament Pre-game Rallies -- Go Rabbits!
Jacks roll past Western Illinois, 93-47
UMKC women set school record for league wins
Division I tourneys boost state's prestige: South Dakota hosts basketball, wrestling events this week
SDSU ends season on high note
Tuesday Tidbits -- "For the fourth year in a row, the SDSU women's basketball team finished the season with a better attendance average than the men, at 2,394 to 2,204."
Report: Right teams, more money -- Big Ten expansion . . .

Science Fiction and Writing:
How Not To Apologize -- One guide: any apology that includes the words "if" or "but" is quite probably not really an apology, but a justification masquerading as an apology. "Oh, hell, I screwed up!" is the appropriate tenor of an apology. "You misunderstood me!" is not.
The joy of an unfinished series
Writers on Writing: Sentence Structure Oopsies
The Five Stages of Book Blogging
Pondering the Nature of World Building.

Science, technology, and space:
Online 'more popular than newspapers' in US
"All our theories were wrong."

Miscellany (amusing things not fitting above, or below):
Cute baby video wins battle against music label
Chilean Quake a Warning to U.S. Northwest
Chicken-wing craze sends prices soaring
WaPo: ‘Hurt Locker’ Faces ‘Rising Backlash From People In Uniform’

SECTION THREE: Politics: The neverending battle against blithering idiocy:
People doing potentially good things (including sightings of politicians doing something less than totally idiotic):
Senate impasse puts federal employees out of work -- I'm tempted to label this "a good start" . . .
It Is Time For a New Tax Revolt
Dear Lord, Please Let Us Replace John McCain With J.D. Hayworth
Governing Like A Conservative
A Raw Deal: Farms selling milk straight from the cow vex food regulators, but the demand isn't diminishing.
A Majority for Incorporation of the Second Amendment
Jay Leno’s Un-Ironic Patriotism: The Most Controversial Man on TV Returns
C-SPAN, Civic-Minded Programming & Public Interest Regulation -- C-SPAN: Doing (with private-sector funding, coming from PROFITS) the public-policy information distribution work that the "public-broadcasting" networks with their snouts in the trough of government funding can't be bothered to do . . .
Hero Sen. Bunning After Agreement on Upcoming Senate Vote: “I’ll Be Watching Them Closely & Checking Off the Hypocrites One by One” (Video) -- Sometimes, you just have to whack the donkey between the eyes with a 2x4 to get its attention . . .

The cure for blithering idiocy: freedom and individual liberty (yeah, I know--ooh, ick, philosophy!):
Getting the 14th Amendment Right: The Chicago gun case and the fight for economic liberty -- “No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.”
Inventories Don't Kill Growth — People Kill Growth
Revive "Privileges or Immunities"
The Case for High-Deductible Health Insurance -- "in the long-run, the only way to spend less on health care is to consume less health care. . ."
Liberty and Government: An American Tipping Point -- "Thomas Paine said that “It is the duty of every patriot to protect his country from its government.”"
More Guns, Less Crime -- When more of the good guys have guns, the bad guys tend to get much more careful . . . the opposite is also true. "Every time gun bans have been tried murder rates have risen."
A Tale of Two Quakes II -- "Economic freedom saves lives."
A Tale of Two Libertarianisms: The conflict between Murray Rothbard and F.A. Hayek highlights an enduring division in the libertarian world. -- I'm becoming more Hayekian as I get older, I think, but I see the "conflict" as one between theory and practice, or strategy and tactics, perhaps . . .
An Alternate Ending to the Health-Care Saga -- "I’d like to give wavering Democrats another possibility to mull over. There is another way the health-care saga could end. It could end with the complete destruction of the Democrat Party."
The Fox Butterfield Effect and the Laffer Curve -- Leftists are simply wrong about how the world works . . .
Deathbed of Keynesian Economics Will Be in U.K.: Matthew Lynn

The reality of President Obama and his entire Administration as blithering idiots:
The Facilitator-in-Chief Failed Miserably -- You can't be an "honest broker" when you're both dishonest and stridently partisan.
We Need a Ready-for-Prime-Time Barack Obama Impersonator -- Well, we already have a full-time President-Impersonator . . .
Secretary Geithner's Got Some Explaining to Do
Kiss of Death… Obama Picks US Hockey Team Over Canada; Team USA Loses in OT
Obama Fatigue -- "Great orators get better in their rhetoric, not worse." Obama just keeps repeating the same stuff. "Let me be clear . . . there are those who say . . . the past eight years . . ."
Obama’s doctors recommend “moderation in alcohol intake”
Obama is Not a Drunk -- Although, after thinking about it, I think it might be an improvement . . .
PPP: Obama’s approval rating now negative in every red state that flipped in 2008

The reality of Washington Democrats (and Independents, and Socialists) as blithering idiots:
Pelosi on Rangel: Big deal, it’s not like he endangered national security or anything
Pelosi To House Democrats: I'll Sacrifice You For Obamacare -- Now we will find out who are the lemming/true believers and who aren't . . .
Rangel to keep gavel in most ethical Congress evah
Democrats Rally Around Idea That They Have to Pass Unpopular Legislation to Prove They Can "Govern"
Steny Hoyer: Yeah, We're Going To Have To Raise Taxes And We Really Hope The Republicans Will Help Us
Culture of Corruption Watch: Breaking – Rangel reportedly giving up House chairmanship; Update: Bitterly clinging to his gavel
NBC: Rangel to step down as Ways and Means chairman; Update: Rangel refuses to quit; Update: Taking “leave of absence”

The reality of Washington Republicans as blithering idiots:
The Manchurian Maverick: John McCain Claims Bailout ‘Brainwash’ Victimhood

Other blithering idiots at large making life difficult for regular folks:
What Happened to That ACORN Investigation Jerry Brown Promised?
Are The Most-Broke States The Most-Democrat? Or Just The Most Taxed by DC?
Tancredo: Palin not fit for the presidency -- Oddly enough, I think Tom Tancredo is unfit to be President, so I guess that's even then . . .
Unions demoralized by losses under Democratic Washington -- Unions could be a net benefit to everybody, if they stopped taking self-destructive positions and realized that anything they receive comes directly from the profits of the companies their workers work for . . . and that applies just as well to unions covering public-sector employees. All of their money ultimately comes from private companies that make lots of money. Hurt those companies, you hurt yourselves.
What are Profits and What Function Do They Serve? -- And, on cue, the Mises Institute comes forward with this video talking about what "profit" is:


Why the Chicago Tea Party “movement” collapsed

Opposition Research: because blithering idiocy can be dangerous, especially when organized into idiotic groups with idiotic ideologies:
“If Our Colleges And Universities Do Not Breed Men Who Riot…” -- Have I mentioned that Democrats Lie?
Misery, Thy Name Is Bureaucracy -- Both for those trapped in them as employees as well as those the bureaucracy was formed to "serve."
Soros: Another Golden Match for Arianna -- George Soros really is the World's Most Evil Person--Just ask the British. And, there is no logical explanation for the public prominence of Arianna Huffington, other than as a stalking horse . . .
Proxy Access: The Obama-Dodd-Alinsky Shareholder Jujitsu -- The only solution, short of just rounding up all of the leftists and institutionalizing them as dangers to themselves and others, is to remove the temptation by making the government have as little power as humanly possible . . .
Obama should expand court -- If you can't win by the rules, either change the rules, or just cheat. It's the Democrat way, since FDR at least.
Taste The Rainbow For Extra Credit, & Other Sex Ed Attempts Gone Horribly, Horribly Wrong
Matt Damon’s Upcoming ‘Green Zone’ a Bush-Bash-Athon
The Left Is Underestimating Opponents Again
Dennis Prager, Charles Johnson and Understanding the Left’s Smear Tactics
Is ‘Whore’ Too Strong a Word for Arianna Stassinopoulos Huffington?
Reconciliation: A Rarely-Used Procedure with Serious Consequences
Tea Party Knockoffs: Watered Down, Bitter -- False Flag Wavers for Obama!!!
The Five Varieties of Bad Political Thinking: Understanding what's wrong with politics today
How SPLC Hypes the Hate

The Keith Olbermann Memorial "Special Comment" on blithering idiots in the Media:
Edwards epilogue: Does the press really vet presidential candidates? -- Well, judging from the amateur poseur now occupying the White House, certainly not the Democratic ones . . .
Remember: If You Didn’t Vote for Obama, You’re a Dangerous Nut
Network news circling the drain? -- Well, companies that sell crap generally don't stay in business too long . . .
CNN: We need a radical procedure to save the ObamaCare patient
Could Anderson Cooper become the first gay nightly news anchor – kicking Katie Couric’s sorry butt to the curb?
Revealed: Media’s Phony Tea Party Leader Is a Phony Soldier Too
Crushing the Competition -- Fox News, who as a company is undoubtedly saying "Thank you, Lord, for our enemies!"
The Smartest Guys in the Room?
The “Independent” and “Objective” Media Pull for the Stalinization of Health Care
Media Ignores Bomb Threats at Senator Bunning’s Offices
NY Times Plugs Team Obama’s Latest Astroturfed Org “Coffee Party”
Oh, by the way, Coffee Party leader volunteered for Obama and worked for the NYT
“Anger in America,” MSNBC-style
Annabel Park: From Netroots Nation To Coffee Parties?

SECTION FOUR: Case Studies in Blithering Idiocy
"Global warming" aka "Climate change" -- or should that be "Climate Reform?":
Flashback: U.S. Data Since 1895 Fail To Show Warming Trend
Wax Your Chest for the Environment -- Bare pecs save polar bears?
IPCC “science” on hurricanes no longer settled, either -- "new peer-reviewed research published in Nature Geoscience concludes that hurricane strength has little to do with global warming"
The Edifice Falls
Spring, sprang, sprung
Can a zebra change his spots? Yes he can!
Phil Jones on the hot seat – not sharing data is “standard practice”
A tornado free February – first time ever!
Former CRU chief: Hiding data is a critical part of science!
Sea change in climate journalism: The Guardian and the D-word -- Wherein "most" of the Guardian's eco-reporting staff begin to think that maybe "denier" is kind of a loaded and pejorative word to describe people who just want real science to be done . . .
Climate Fluctuations 115,000 Years Ago: Were Short Warm Periods Typical for Transitions to Glacial Epochs? -- And a glacial epoch would be a REALLY BAD THING.
Phil Jones at Parliamentary Inquiry into ClimateGate: Peer-"Reviewed" Journals "Never Asked" for My Data and Methods
2001-2010 was the Snowiest Decade on Record

Health care "reform" aka health insurance "reform" -- or should that be health care "change?" Perhaps "Global healthing?:
Healthcare Summit Democrat Demagoguery
Democrats will have votes for health bill, Obama aide says -- As long as there remains a Democrat in office anywhere, this monstrous idea will never be "dead" . . .
The Kamakazi Option: On health care reform, the action is in the House
Dems: Screw bipartisanship, full steam ahead on Obamacare hara-kiri
Challenges of the Two Bill strategy
"Wouldn't it be *awesome* if Obama were as radical as the Rights thinks he is?" -- Don't even try to tell me this isn't fundamentally a statism vs. freedom issue, because that's how most of the pro-"health care" proponents see it . . .
The Best and Worst Health Care Reform Ideas
Democrats Get One Vote Closer to Passing ObamaCare in Both House and Senate?
Will repeal work? -- Best to make sure it doesn't pass in the first place . . .
Climate change may extend allergy season: study -- Study by Italians who apparently have not yet received the memo . . .
Andy McCarthy's Dire Prediction on Reconciliation and ObamaCare -- I think the American public needs to be very clear: if you pass this, Democrats, you are done as a major political party in this country. Forever.
Buffet to Obama: Start Over on Health Care
Medicare panel urges insurer payment cuts -- Oh, yes, please, let's do more of what's already working so very, very well! Not Only Do They Not Have the Votes…
Runaway health costs are rocking municipal budgets: But there’s no will or willingness to roll back benefits granted in palmier times -- And this is in Massachusetts . . .
Plan C: Obama set to introduce “much smaller” health-care bill on Wednesday
Wow, Obama's Really Compromising with Republicans on Health Care!!!! -- Yes, that's sarcasm.
Democrats prepare final healthcare push -- Oh, please, God, let it be the final one . . .
GOP rep: Obama’s “bipartisan” bill has less substance than … “Jersey Shore”; Confirmed: Obama to endorse reconciliation tomorrow
Obama says he's open to Republican healthcare ideas
Obama: Dems Will Use Nuke Option to Ram Through Obamacare

The Economy (Can the blithering idiots bring down the most productive economy the world has ever seen? Yes, They Can! Will they?):
Due North: Canada’s Marvelous Mortgage and Banking System
The Next Crash
Buffett: Way Too Optimistic on Real Estate Recovery
STEYN: Our own Greek tragedy -- "What's happening in the developed world today isn't so very hard to understand: The 20th century Bismarckian welfare state has run out of people to stick it to. In America, the feckless insatiable boobs in Washington, Sacramento, Albany and elsewhere are screwing over our kids and grandkids."
The Economy: Most likely lower GDP growth, higher unemployment, flat spending in 1st quarter
In Defense of Slums -- “Cities are so much more successful in promoting new forms of income generation, and it is so much cheaper to provide services in urban areas, that some experts have actually suggested that the only realistic poverty reduction strategy is to get as many people as possible to move to the city.”

Foreign affairs and National Security (Will blithering idiots get us all killed, or make us all speak Spanish--or Chinese--or Arabic--or all three?):
The latest on the Holder/DOJ national security cover-up
Why Does the American Left Fear the Rise of India?
Rebellious Province?


The Morning Whip is a (mostly) daily review of what's out there that caught my attention, sometimes but not always posted before 11 am Central time in the U. S. of A., unless I just don't feel like it that day, am out doing something more important or more fun, or I've been abducted, detained, arrested, or otherwise flummoxed by the agents of blithering idiotry.

I surf the Web, so you don't have to! (which would be a trademark, but come on, who am I kidding?)