Medary.com

Displaying a tone-deafness which is jaw-dropping even for me, an unrepentant cynic about such things, the Obama administration somehow decided it would be an absolutely FINE idea to fly one of their Air Force One planes (a Boeing 747--a BIG jet) with a fighter escort, low and slow over lower Manhattan in New York City. It made not one, not two, but three passes over Manhattan.

For a f'ing photo op.

And they told the NYC authorities to keep it secret.

Pardon my language, but Jesus H. F. Christ on a popsicle stick!

Our government is entirely, 100%, completely composed of utter, complete morons. Is there not one single intelligent person above GS-6 in Federal service with sufficient wit to think that New Yorkers might be just a teensy bit apprehensive about a big honking airliner flying low and slow near the site of the former World Trade Center? One person? Just one?

I didn't think they could top the hysterical, over the top panic about swine flu. (Oh, yeah, we're all gonna die.) But I was wrong.

What stupid thing can these morons do next? We've already let these pinheads take over the automotive and finance industries in the U.S.--literally.

Hey, I've got a great idea! Let's let these dimwits run our entire medical system! And destroy what's left of our economy, in order to save us from bogus global warming. Golly, those sound like swell ideas. What could possibly go wrong?

I hope something changes soon. But we're stuck with this sorry excuse of a national government for the next three and a half years. They'll be long ones.

Universal health insurance, that is--so says researcher Richard Kronick, from UC San Diego:

“the evidence we have concerning the relationship between lack of insurance and mortality is not very good, and a reasonable reading of that evidence is that the number of deaths in the United States probably wouldn’t change a lot if everybody gets health insurance.”

One more for the very, very large file of "things that sound good but are simply not true."

The Taliban are sixty miles outside Pakistan's capital, Islamabad. Bill Roggio writes at The Long War Journal:

"If the Taliban continue to move at this pace, they will soon be knocking at the doors of Islamabad as the Margala Hills seem to be the only hurdle in their march towards the federal capital," Fazl said, according to a report in The News. "After occupying Buner, they have reached Kala Dhaka and may also be taking over the water reservoir of the Tarbela Dam."

Pakistan has reportedly rushed paramilitary forces into Buner today, but some units were attacked by the Taliban stationed there. Six platoons of Frontier Constabulary forces were sent into Buner to secure government buildings. One policeman was reported killed after the Taliban ambushed a convoy, The Associated Press reported. The military claimed the Taliban only control 25 percent of Buner, but Taliban fighters have been reported in all of the major regions in the district.

The Taliban advance on Mansehra and Haripur takes place at the same time they are moving on the districts of Swabi, Mardan, and Malakand. The takeover of these five districts would essentially cement the Taliban's control of the province.

The Taliban takeover of Haripur would put the Taliban on the doorstep of Islamabad and would also put two major nuclear facilities at risk.

Haripur borders the Margala Hills, a region in the Islamabad Capital Territory. Haripur also borders the Punjab districts of Attock and Rawalpindi.

This is bad. Really bad. Really, really bad.

Those few of you who were paying attention in high school may have learned that the United States is not in fact a "democracy" but instead a "federal republic." Now, those two words may have an alien, or even a frightening ring to many people today. In fact, the founders of the USA were as concerned about the excesses of pure democracy as they were about the excesses of the English monarchy that they rebelled against.

Randy Barnett, a professor of Constitutional Law at Georgetown University, offers in the Wall Street Journal a modest proposal of a Constitutional amendment to restore the "federal" part of our federal republic:

Section 1: Congress shall have power to regulate or prohibit any activity between one state and another, or with foreign nations, provided that no regulation or prohibition shall infringe any enumerated or unenumerated right, privilege or immunity recognized by this Constitution.

Section 2: Nothing in this article, or the eighth section of article I, shall be construed to authorize Congress to regulate or prohibit any activity that takes place wholly within a single state, regardless of its effects outside the state or whether it employs instrumentalities therefrom; but Congress may define and punish offenses constituting acts of war or violent insurrection against the United States.

Section 3: The power of Congress to appropriate any funds shall be limited to carrying into execution the powers enumerated by this Constitution and vested in the government of the United States, or in any department or officer thereof; or to satisfy any current obligation of the United States to any person living at the time of the ratification of this article.

Section 4: The 16th article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States is hereby repealed, effective five years from the date of the ratification of this article.

Section 5: The judicial power of the United States to enforce this article includes but is not limited to the power to nullify any prohibition or unreasonable regulation of a rightful exercise of liberty. The words of this article, and any other provision of this Constitution, shall be interpreted according to their public meaning at the time of their enactment.

Click on the WSJ link above for more explanation. It seems like a good place to start for me, especially the part about abolishing the income tax in Section 4, and the "no, really, we mean it" language in Section 5.

Rasmussen has the numbers:

Sixty percent (60%) of Americans say the federal government has too much power and too much money, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.

Just nine percent (9%) say the government has too little power and money. Twenty-four percent (24%) believe the government has about the right amount of both.

So why then are we throwing money at the government like it's going out of style? (money, that is, not government)

Hope! Change!

Dolphins.

China Radio International reported the Chinese merchant ships escorted by a China's fleet sailed on the Gulf of Aden when they met some suspected pirate ships. Thousands of dolphins suddenly leaped out of water between pirates and merchants when the pirate ships headed for the China's.

The suspected pirates ships stopped and then turned away. The pirates could only lament their littleness before the vast number of dolphins. The spectacular scene continued for a while.

No. Seriously.

A short horror film, by Andrew Klavan.

It would be funnier if it wasn't the cold simple truth.

Via Little Green Footballs (a blog I'm rapidly developing a strong appreciation for) a YouTube video, about 9:40 long (probably 3 minutes too long, but oh, well):

I kept thinking about global warming and the Food Pyramid when watching this . . . not to mention the uncritical acclaim for Obama in certain circles.

Freelance journalist Michael Yon reports:

My suggestion, for folks heading to Thailand at this time, is to make other plans. Though it's extremely unlikely that Thai people would lash out at tourists, travelers could get stuck stuck in Thailand if the airport is closed again. If you do get stuck and cannot fly from Bangkok, there are myriad ways to get out -- such as flying from Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Koh Samui, or going overland to Laos, Cambodia, or Malaysia. Or hop on a cruise ship and step off in some another country such as Singapore, from which you can fly to anywhere in the world. Singapore is probably about the safest country in the world so long as you remember two things: 1) Don't smuggle drugs (execution); 2) Look both ways before crossing a road.

The unrest in Thailand is an ongoing tragedy.

Watch. Learn. Understand.