Via NRO’s The Corner:

We welcome President Obama’s announcement of forthcoming bipartisan health care talks. In fact, you may remember that last May, Republicans asked President Obama to hold bipartisan discussions on health care in an attempt to find common ground on health care, but he declined and instead chose to work with only Democrats. Since then, the President has given dozens of speeches on health care reform, operating under the premise that the more the American people learn about his plan, the more they will come to like it. Just the opposite has occurred…

…scrapping the House and Senate health care bills would help end the uncertainty they are creating for workers and businesses and thus strengthen our shared commitment to focusing on creating jobs. Assuming the President is sincere about moving forward on health care in a bipartisan way, does that mean he will agree to start over so that we can develop a bill that is truly worthy of the support and confidence of the American people? Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said today that the President is “absolutely not” resetting the legislative process for health care.

If the starting point for this meeting is the job-killing bills the American people have already soundly rejected, Republicans would rightly be reluctant to participate. Assuming the President is sincere about moving forward in a bipartisan way, does that mean he has taken off the table the idea of relying solely on Democratic votes and jamming through health care reform by way of reconciliation? As the President has noted recently, Democrats continue to hold large majorities in the House and Senate, which means they can attempt to pass a health care bill at any time through the reconciliation process.

Eliminating the possibility of reconciliation would represent an important show of good faith to Republicans and the American people.If the President intends to present any kind of legislative proposal at this discussion, will he make it available to members of Congress and the American people at least 72 hours beforehand? Our ability to move forward in a bipartisan way through this discussion rests on openness and transparency. Will the President include in this discussion congressional Democrats who have opposed the House and Senate health care bills? This bipartisan discussion should reflect the bipartisan opposition to both the House bill and the kickbacks and sweetheart deals in the Senate bill. Will the President be inviting officials and lawmakers from the states to participate in this discussion?…

…We look forward to receiving your answers and continuing to discuss ways we can move forward in a bipartisan manner to address the challenges facing the American people.

That certainly isn’t pulling any punches. Obama hopes to either co-opt a few Republicans to vote for a stripped down version of ObamaCare, or set the GOP as the “do nothing” party preventing work from getting done. The House GOP, at least, has seen right through this gambit and answered right back – if Obama and the Democrats are in any way sincere and honest, then we can move forward with the required assurances.

Given that Democrats would have to reach for a dictionary to figure out what “sincere” and “honest” mean, there’s not much hope of progress here. Even with 41 Senate GOP votes, Democrats still entirely control this – they can do as they please. If they want us along, they’ll have to divvy up the pie and ensure there are genuine free market and pro-life elements to whatever health care reform emerges. They don’t have to do this – they can muscle it through on their own – but if they want to cross the aisle, then there are requirements.

“Bi-partisan” no longer means “Republicans go along with the Democrats” – it means 50/50 give and take. And Democrats from Obama on down can take it or leave it.

Or, indeed, much of anything happening these days in politics – Roger Kimball writes:

…The hatred and contempt lavished upon Sarah Plain, from certain conservatives as well as from the Left, presents a dispiriting and, to me, hard-to-fathom spectacle. That is, I understand that the Left would regard her as a political threat and would therefore dislike her. But why the contempt? And why the contempt (and hatred) from the Right? I have several times explained why I admire Sarah Palin. Please note that I did not say I want her to run for the Presidency. But what (a locution that comes up often among her admirers) a breath of fresh air she is! Here you have a woman from a working-class background who, by dint of her own energy and ambition, becomes Governor of her state—a good Governor, too, by all account not tainted by The New York Times. She espouses good conservative principles: self-reliance, fiscal responsibility, a strong national defense. And, on top of all that, she is a courageous and loving mother to a passel of children.

What’s not to like? That she chose to keep and love a Down Syndrome child? That sets the teeth of many on edge, I know, though they are loathe to come right out and admit it. Granted: She’s not a lawyer. She’s not from the Ivy League. She’s not part of the Washington Establishment. Heavy liabilities, what? I acknowledge that her performance in front of Katie Couric and other barracuda-like interviewers was poor, embarrassing even. But put that and all the other charges in the scale on one side, then put her virtues on the other: which side wins out?…

Of course, to the left as a whole – and elitists conservatives, as well – it is the very fact that Palin lacks either a degree in law or journalism which is a flaw. Additional flaw: having more than one or two designer children. Really bad flaw: being married to a regular guy whom every other regular guy in the US wouldn’t mind going fishing/hunting with while not being willing to go within a country mile of, say, Al Gore (if she does become the GOP Presidential nominee there will be fierce competition among outsdoorsy GOPers for the VP slot…fishing trip to the Alaskan outback with Mr. Palin via Air Force One, anyone?). Final flaw: she doesn’t care what the left and sundry elites think of her.

Anyways, they won’t understand her. They are incapable of such comprehension because to understand Sarah Palin – and her appeal – is to understand the United States out side of the elite enclaves. It’ll be very fun to watch how this pans out over the next two years.

How on earth did we get saddled with such a fool at Treasury?

Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner said the U.S. isn’t in danger of losing its AAA debt rating even though the Obama administration has predicted a $1.6 trillion budget deficit in 2010.

“Absolutely not,” Geithner said, when asked in an ABC News interview broadcast yesterday whether a downgrade is a concern. “That will never happen to this country.”

Yes it darn will, you two-bit tax cheat! All you have to do is keep spending more than we take in and its a certainty…and even if your boss is promising “deficit reduction”, all that does – at best – is delay the day of reckoning. Foreigners don’t have to park their money in US securities – heck, they are probably only doing it now out of habit and the only reason we’re not already downgraded from AAA is because no one wants to be the first to declare the United States bankrupt.

We’re broke and this is the economic leadership we have – people who’s only goal must be to keep the ball in the air until their own assets – and the assets of their friends – are safely parked in things which wills survive a second Great Depression.

Is right here:

Egyptian activists have protested in front of parliament and called for legislation giving Christians equal rights as Muslims to build houses of worship.

The demonstrators, both Muslim and Christian, were also protesting Wednesday against sectarian strains in the country, particularly in light of a Christmas Eve slaying of six Coptic Christians and a Muslim guard outside a church in southern Egypt.

The government maintains that sectarian harmony prevails in Egypt and says the January 6 attack had no religious dimension.

The ten percent of Egyptians who are Coptic complain of being denied equal citizenship rights.

A very big thank you to those Egyptian Moslems who showed up in favor of Christian liberty – that took rare courage.

But the fundamental conflict is this: that Christians, as such, are considered a pollution by many powers in the Moslem world. Jews are,too – as are any non-Moslems. There can be no real, lasting peace between Islam and Christians (and thus Islam and the West) until all Moslems respect the right of Christians to worship freely and gain converts in the Moslem world. And this includes in places like Mecca and Medina. Until there is this change in Islam, any peace will be the merest papering over of the cracks.

Just wanted to send out our congratulations – great season, great game!

***************************************

Sorry I was remiss on the writing, guys and gals, but we had the party last night and after four or five beers, I’m probably not in shape for political discourse…

Sarah Palin’s TEA Party speech on You Tube.

Sarah Palin: Smarter than her opponents.

The GOP is encouraging new comers to run for office – a smart, but risky move. Smart because it brings new blood in and taps voter anger with the political maching; risky because you might get the odd bad apple in there…

Gore Vidal called a “crackpot”…read to find out who, apparently, was the last person on earth to figure this out.

Following the money on Climategate.

Climategate – a failure of Old Media journalism.

Mark Steyn: “The president tells us, with a straight face, that his grossly irresponsible profligate wastrel of a predecessor took the federal budget on an eight-year joyride, so the only way his sober, fiscally prudent successor can get things under control is to grab the throttle and crank it up to what Mel Brooks in Spaceballs (which seems the appropriate comparison) called ‘Ludicrous Speed.'”

And the Saints win it by 7.

UPDATE: The Tebow ad. Leftist, pro-abortion people are idiots, ya know?

My, goodness, that’s a lot:

Gay, Mentally Challenged Biracial Male Cheerleader Claims Discrimination

No more problems, though – every corporation in America will be seeking to hire this guy to fill a score or so affirmative action slots…

This is, as I said, getting more and more fun all the time:

Not just any generic Democrat either. Debra Medina, businesswoman and “tea party acitivist,” 41; Bill White, mayor of Houston, 38.

She’s not an “official” tea-party candidate, of course, since there’s no such thing — for the moment.

Gonna be a really fun year…

Told ya so:

There’s a reason why Americans who don’t happen to work for the government or directly benefit from its largesse are not sensing an economic recovery. For them, it’s mostly not happening. ADP’s January employment report showing 22,000 private-sector jobs lost, the last available jobs-related information available when this column was written, only confirms that feeling.

A look at what has happened to the nation’s inflation-adjusted gross domestic product (GDP), the value of all goods and services produced in the economy, during the last six quarters is sadly instructive. Comparing the fourth quarter of 2009 with the second quarter of 2008, we see that:

* Even after six months of “recovery,” the economy as a whole has shrunk by almost 2%.

* Uncle Sam’s level of annualized consumption and “investment” has grown by 8.5%.

* Despite the incessant pleadings of poverty by most state and local governments, their consumption and “investment” have hardly changed.

* What remains, i.e., the private sector, is over 3% smaller.(emphasis added)

Its all smoke and mirrors – Uncle Sam, via the Fed, magically created money out of thin air and has used it to “invest” in the economy resulting in GDP numbers which appear to be growing…but the real economy, where wealth is created, continues to shrink. And this means we are net poorer than we were before Obama’s spendulus was enacted.

We must balance the budget. We must cut taxes. We must remove the regulations which prevent wealth creation via making, mining and growing things. If we don’t do this, then we’ll just flop around – increasingly impoverished and ultimately heading for a crash which might result in a default on our sovereign debt.

If we follow Obama and his Democrats then we are just following them off a cliff…

Geesh:

Harry Knox, a member of President Barack Obama’s Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, has stood by his past comment that Pope Benedict XVI is “hurting people in the name of Jesus.”

Knox, a former licensed minister of the United Methodist Church and a leader with the homosexual activist group Human Rights Campaign (HRC), originally made his comments in March 2009 in response to Pope Benedict’s comments about the effectiveness of condoms in fighting AIDS in Africa…

…In March 2009, Dr. Green told CNA that researchers cannot find an association between more condom use and lower HIV rates. He has also written that programs to increase fidelity in relationships and to reduce the number of sex partners are effective.

Previously, Knox has described Pope Benedict XVI and certain Catholic bishops as “discredited leaders” because of their opposition to same-sex “marriage.”

Though acknowledging the Knights of Columbus’ “good works,” he also called the Catholic fraternal order’s members “foot soldiers of a discredited army of oppression” because of the organization’s support for the successful California ballot measure Proposition 8…

Way to change the tone, there, and bring us all together. I feel the love. Is there anyone in the Obama Administration who isn’t an ass or a fool?

Anyways…

We know the drill – for the left, the way to cure the problems caused by immorality is to make immorality more prevalent. Thus the leftist response to teen pregnancy is to teach teens how to have sex and their response to the spread of AIDS is to work out ways where African men can remain promiscuous but feel like they are safe. We’re the “discredited army of oppression” because we dare to point out that the sure fire way to cure the problems caused by immorality is to try and be a bit more moral.

While we are called to be perfect as our Heavenly Father is perfect, in practical terms we are only expected to try, day by day, to do a little better than the day before. Liberals bought the lie that we can be as gods, and when this boomerangs on them their response is to get angry with those of us who pointed out the error. Meanwhile, people are dying – but that is ok because they are poor, brown-skinned people that liberals never meet in Manhattan or DC or San Francisco…their deaths might be bad, but more important is to adhere to the notion that self-control is the worst thing possible.

And, of course, these people have found a home in the Obama Administration. How am I, as a Catholic, supposed to work with such people? I realize that no matter how gross the insult I am to forgive – and that is something I can and will do. But when Obama says he wants people like me to join him in partnership to make America better, what am I supposed to do? Grin like an idiot when some fool makes a bigoted statement about me and mine?

I don’t think so. There are many steps President Obama can take to make it more likely that Christians of an orthodox stripe will give him a hearing – and one of the first he can do is get rid of Harry Knox.

The news:

Feb. 5 (Bloomberg) — Non-performing loans in China have risen into the “trillions of renminbi” because of poor lending practices, an insolvency lawyer said.

“We work really closely with SASAC, the state-owned enterprise regulator in China, and there are literally trillions and trillions of renminbi of, frankly, defaulting loans already in China that no one is doing anything about,” Neil McDonald, a Hong Kong-based business restructuring and insolvency partner with Lovells LLP, said at an Asia-Pacific Loan Market Association conference yesterday. “At some point there’s going to be a reckoning for that.”

What is happening? Well, the truth is that no one really knows – least of all the Chinese government. Think of it like this: the Chinese government at the start of the year says that growth will be 8% this year. Are you going to be the apparatchik who sends up word that there was actually a contraction of 10%? Only if you want to get shot.

The only thing we do know for certain is that a huge amount of fiat money has been shoved in to the Chinese economy. The government made the money and then ordered China’s banks to lend it – and lend they did. And the Chinese people borrowed like mad and bought property and stocks in a gigantic, speculative bubble. Is that bubble bursting right now? Impossible to tell.

China’s government – at least officially – is concerned about this and is allegedly taking steps to reign in the borrow and spend binge before it gets entirely out of control. But there still is the fact that if you’re in charge of anything in China, you’d better show growth. And if a higher up wants a loan, you’d better give it to him. Its a huge mess – the lid is kept on, for the present, because the Chinese government is willing to use extreme measures to crack down on any unrest sparked by this…and, of course, a lot of western financial institutions, invested to the hilt in China’s stock and property bubbles, have a vested interest in convincing everyone that all is well…just as they had such interest in the US housing bubble…and we remember how well that worked out.

This will blow up in everyone’s face. Do not for a minute believe those who are selling the story that China has developed a new economic paradigm which is destined to over take the United States and become the model for the world. China is a communist dictatorship – corrupt, hidebound and fundamentally unstable, as are all regimes which don’t base their power upon consent of the governed. We heard the stories of a new paradigm with Germany in the 60’s and Japan in the 80’s – each of those nations was also supposed to have permanently figured it out and was going to outstrip the United States. This one is worse than Japan and Germany because, of course, the entire Chinese economy is a confidence game.

Get ready for the crash – now, next week, next month, next year; it will come.

HAT TIP: Mish’s