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November 2013

Posted by David Gerstman on November 04, 2013 4 Comments
As we've noted earlier, much of the media is obsessed with settlements, intent on portraying them as the main obstacle to peace. There's a tendency on the other side to take one of the most outrageous examples of Palestinian behavior and dismiss it. As Professor Jacobson noted last week, Israel, in order to entice the Palestinians to negotiate for a state of their own offered to release 104 prisoners from jail. These aren't just prisoners. Most, if not all, are remorseless murderers who are treated as heroes by all segments of Palestinian society, including their leaders. Jonathan Tobin made an apt observation about this phenomenon:
One group of people was happy as murderers went free while others wept. But the gulf here is more than emotional or merely, as the Times seemed to describe it, a difficult process that is part of the price Israel must pay for the chance of peace. In fact, the “emotional gulf” is indicative of a vast cultural divide between these two peoples that explains more about the absence of peace than any lecture about history, borders, or refugees. Simply put, so long as the Palestinians honor murderers, there is no reason to believe they are willing to end the conflict.
Consider the way the New York Times in the article cited by Tobin portrayed the Israeli reaction to the prisoner release:
In Israel, where the returnees are widely viewed as terrorists, the release on Tuesday, like the one in August, has stirred protests and anguish. Many said it was too heavy a price to pay for entering negotiations with no guarantee of a peace accord.
"[W]idely viewed?!?!" This statement is incredible. It's not only in Israel that they are "viewed as terrorists," but by definition. Only in the crazy New York Times worldview is the definition of terrorists subjective.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on November 04, 2013 64 Comments
Hey, remember when Nancy Pelosi triumphantly predicted that Obamacare would allow artists to have health insurance without worrying about their day jobs?
Think of an economy where people could be an artist or a photographer or, eh, a writer without worrying about keeping their day job in order to have health insurance....
Nancy Pelosi Helath Care Will Give up More of... by GWHH19 It's a dream come true, and you are subsidizing it, as this NY Times spotlight piece about two artists in Albequerque who quality for free Obamacare plans demonstrates:

NYT Artists free Obamacare

Elisabeth and Mark Horst, artists in Albuquerque who earn $24,000 a year between them, qualified for a zero-premium plan.

I have nothing against the Horsts. Living and painting in Albuquerque is a dream for many people. But why should the taxpayers have to subsidize what clearly is a lifestyle choice? The Horsts are not exactly uneducated or without choices in their lives. Here's a part of Mark Horst's bio at his art website:
Mark Horst grew up in small town Minnesota. He studied pottery and printmaking in high school and college, but his encounter with Dorothy Day and the Catholic Worker led to years of very different work. After earning a Ph.D. in theology from Yale University, he spent time teaching and working toward neighborhood renewal in south Minneapolis. He pursued the craft of painting and drawing at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design and the New York Studio School. He lives in Albuquerque. If paint were a means of freezing time and protecting us from the dangerous life of the spirit, I would put down my brushes. But, for me, painting is a way of breaking time’s grip and setting loose something wild and strong.
Elizabeth also is highly educated and closed her psychology practice to paint:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on November 04, 2013 18 Comments
On June 16, 2009, in the earliest days of discussion about what form Obamacare would take, I wrote, Deception and Tyranny Key To Health Care Reform:
The only way the Obama administration and Democrats can force through the types of changes they envision for the health care system is through deception and tyranny. Honesty and freedom have no place in a system of national health care.
And now the deception and tyranny is being exposed for all to see.  You cannot keep your insurance plan and doctor, and administratively Obamacare is not ready for prime time.  Worse still, the dysfunctional nature of restructuring 1/6th of the economy is having ripple effects throughout the health care industry, with patients put at risk and doctors drafting exit plans. Meanwhile, the Editors of The NY Times are trying to wordsmith away Obama's clearly knowing false statement that people could keep their insurance plans by saying Obama "misspoke." Obama and his aides knew at the time that it was not accurate -- they even kicked around whether to make the statement. At least some other outlets are not playing the game. From NY Mag, this fairly comprehensive account of how many time that promise was made (h/t Twitchy): Meanwhile, CBS News reveals this morning that despite Obama's and Kathleen Sebekius's repeated assurances earlier this year that healthcare.gov was ready to go, there were clear and present warnings otherwise, Memo reveals health care adviser warned W.H. was losing control 3 years ago:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on November 04, 2013 2 Comments

From Amy: I recently moved from a purple district to a much redder one, where conservative bumper stickers are not so rare. Anyway, I saw this one in the Starbucks drive-thru. It doesn't say what he IS, but at least he's not a liberal. :-)...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on November 03, 2013 31 Comments

I have been following various faculty reactions to the Ray Kelly shout-down, including from Political Science Professor Marion Orr who apologized for inviting Kelly, and Biology Professor Ken Miller who issued a forceful denunciation of the shout-down. So when I saw an article in The Brown...

Posted by David Gerstman on November 03, 2013 10 Comments
To read through recent news reports one could assume that the biggest obstacle to Palestinian Israeli peace are "settlements." To cement that impression the New York Times published an article, 1,500 Units to Be Added in Settlement, Israel Says. The caption of a photograph directly beneath the headline reads:
A Palestinian construction worker at a building site on Wednesday in the Ramat Shlomo settlement in East Jerusalem.
If there is an official "East Jerusalem," I am unaware of it, but perhaps the paper meant "east Jerusalem." However if you read down a few paragraphs you learn:
The 1,500 new apartments are to be added to Ramat Shlomo, a largely religious neighborhood of 20,000 on the city’s northern edge. They were originally announced during a 2010 visit to Jerusalem by Vice President Joseph R. Biden, causing a diplomatic crisis that dampened Israel’s relationship with the White House and Europe for months.
So actually, Ramat Shlomo isn't in the city's east but in its north (or northeast) and it's not a settlement but a neighborhood. And while the announcement led to a major diplomatic blowup, it was of the administration's making. The Vice-President, Secretary of State and President could have remained silent. Everyone expects sections of Jerusalem, even those illegally occupied by Jordan from 1948 to 1967 to be part of Israel in any final agreement with the Palestinians. The announcement had occurred during an Israeli ban on settlement building outside of Jerusalem. That settlement ban brought about no serious negotiations. (The PA returned to the table only a few weeks before the end of the freeze and, when the freeze expired, walked away.) If settlement freezes were so important to the Palestinians, why didn't they negotiate then? So "settlements" provide a convenient excuse for a Palestinian refusal to negotiate or concede anything to Israel. But should they?

Posted by Mandy Nagy on November 03, 2013 12 Comments
Heritage came out with a disturbing report on its blog last night that highlighted another security concern with the Obamacare website, in which a user evaluating his health insurance options was presented with downloadable letters that contained insurance eligibility information about other people. https://twitter.com/Heritage/status/396796928949620737 From The Foundry:
[Justin] Hadley, a North Carolina father, buys his insurance on the individual market. His insurance company, Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina, directed him to HealthCare.gov in a cancellation letter he received in September. After multiple attempts to access the problem-plagued website, Hadley finally made it past the registration page Thursday. That’s when he was greeted with downloadable letters about eligibility — for two people in South Carolina. (Screenshot below.) Marketplace-eligibility-download-heritage The letters, dated October 8, acknowledge receipt of an application to the Health Insurance Marketplace and the eligibility of family members to purchase health coverage. One of the letters was addressed to Thomas Dougall, a lawyer from Elgin, SC.
Both Hadley and Heritage spoke with Dougall about the situation.  Dougall had apparently registered on healthcare.gov in early October but had decided not to sign up for a plan.  He had not seen the aforementioned letter until Hadley had shown it to him. Not surprisingly, Dougall said, “I want my personal information off of that website.” Hadley and Dougall have both contacted various representatives with healthcare.gov and HHS, but neither seems to be making much progress in rectifying the situation.  Both have also reached out to their elected officials, according to Heritage.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on November 03, 2013 42 Comments

Kirsten Powers in Christianity Today: Just seven years ago, if someone had told me that I'd be writing for Christianity Today magazine about how I came to believe in God, I would have laughed out loud. If there was one thing in which I was completely...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on November 03, 2013 69 Comments
The Revolt of the Kulaks Has Begun, February 22, 2009, just over a month after Obama's first inauguration:
In the end, as must all economic redistributors, Obama either will have to resort to repressive measures, or he will have to abandon his redistributive plans.
The great Obamacare reform is turning into the great thrust of tens of millions of people onto Medicaid. The problem is, fewer and fewer doctors are willing to take Medicaid patients because the reimbursements are so low. I have met numerous doctors who tell me they either refuse Medicaid patients or restrict them because the reimbursements do not cover their costs.  They also double and triple book, because so many Medicaid patients who make appointments don't show up.  As to Medicare the payments currently are bearable, but only because private insurance payments for other patients make up the shortfall. Increasingly, doctors are abandoning the government payment train wreck, and going all cash or some hybrid.  This all was foreseeable and was foreseen. The millions of new Medicaid patients will have insurance, just no doctors to see them.   That is a feature, not a glitch, to those who want single payer.  Obamacare is proceeding accordingly to plan. So this report (via @SissyWillis) is no surprise, Virginia Democrat Calls For Forcing Doctors To Accept Medicare And Medicaid Patients:
.... here is Kathleen Murphy, Democrat running for the House of Delegates against Barbara Comstock, telling a forum in Great Falls that she believes it should law to force doctors to accept Medicare and Medicaid patients. Forced by government decree, mind you. A birdie sent me this:
FYI last night at the Great Falls Grange debate, Democrat delegate candidate Kathleen Murphy said that since many doctors are not accepting medicaid and medicare patients, she advocates making it a legal requirement for those people to be accepted. She did not recognize that the payments are inadequate to cover the doctors' costs. She also did not recognize there is a shortage of over 45,000 physicians now and that it is forecast to be 90,000 in a few years.
Kerry Picket at Breitbart.com notes:

Posted by Mandy Nagy on November 03, 2013 2 Comments
The Extra Life website reportedly fell victim to a denial of service attack on Saturday, according to a post on the charity organization’s Facebook page. Extra Life is associated with the Children’s Miracle Network of Hospitals.  What started out in the Sarcastic Gamer community a few years ago as a modest effort to help cheer up a young girl battling an illness has grown into a network of support that’s since raised several million dollars.  And this year, November 2nd had been scheduled to be a major donation drive by way of the Extra Life gaming marathon to raise money to support Children’s Miracle Network hospitals. The event works much in the way runners and walk-a-thons raise money for charity:  thousands of gamers sign up to play, backed by pledges of support. But access to the gaming marathon on the charity’s website was temporarily interrupted when the site hit some downtime Saturday. https://twitter.com/ExtraLife4Kids/status/396720855881101312 The full post on the Extra Life Facebook page read as follows:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on November 02, 2013 46 Comments
In some countries, making fun of the President results in collective punishment I would not want to live in such a country. Oh, wait. At a Kentucky Hospital Halloween party some guy dressed like Obama in a straitjacket. Someone took offense. As a result, 750 people will get punished with mandatory diversity training, because diversity training has what to do with dressing like Obama for Halloween? No, you cannot keep your Obama Halloween costume even if you like it. Obama costume scares up controversy:
Hopkinsville, KY - - One Halloween costume is scaring up plenty of controversy along the Tennessee-Kentucky border. A person dressed as President Obama wearing a straitjacket is generating lots of complaints.... 1st Street Baptist Church Pastor C.E. Timberlake says it's wrong to portray any president that way. "I think it's very offensive and really that shouldn't have happened," Timberlake said. "There are other characters they could have dressed up and put a straitjacket other than the President of this country," Administrators of the hospital agree releasing a statement saying "no matter who the president is they deserve respect and honor." Joe turner is the Vice Chair of the Christian County Republican Party and he points out President Obama isn't the first to be made fun of on Halloween and believes this costume makes an amusing statement inside a hospital. "We see even still today Richard Nixon masks and George W Bush masks," Turner said.
Someone must be punished. Or better yet, everyone must be punished:

Posted by Mandy Nagy on November 02, 2013 21 Comments

The Wall Street Journal has published this report that Aides Debated Obama Health-Care Coverage Promise, revealing that some questioned whether the promise was one that could actually be kept. But apparently, it was important that the President's message not be cluttered. Pesky details. As President Barack Obama...

Posted by New Neo on November 02, 2013 19 Comments
Bill Clinton deceived the American people in a flagrant manner when he said, shaking his finger: Whatever narrow legal definition Clinton had used in his deposition in the Paula Jones lawsuit, virtually no one listening to what he said in that clip would think he was defining "sexual relations" in such an arcane manner. When a president addresses the American public, his words are taken with their usual meaning. And the same goes for Obama's oft-repeated pledge. It had an obvious meaning that completely resists any spin that operatives may try to put on it. "Everybody" knows what it meant, and everybody is correct.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on November 02, 2013 2 Comments

But you knew that, because we have been following the antics of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for years. Erdogan blames the Jews for Egypt and he has video! (so do we) Turkish Deputy Prime Minister blames “Jewish Diaspora” for Gezi Park protests Turkish Prime Minister drops...

Posted by Mandy Nagy on November 02, 2013 7 Comments
Ladar Levison, the founder of encrypted email service Lavabit, abruptly shut down the service in August after pressure from the government to hand over user information.  Levison said at the time that the move was necessary in order to avoid becoming “complicit in crimes against the American people.” Levison had been unable to comment much about the situation because he was legally prohibited from doing so. Since then, more has been made public in recent weeks after some of the documents in the case have been unsealed.  Those alone revealed the lengths to which Levison went to try and get around the government's demands, including fighting them with an ultra-tiny font (as The Verge put it). In a previous interview, Levison briefly elaborated that he had in the past complied with warrants on routine law enforcement requests.  But the circumstances surrounding the incident that finally prompted him to make the drastic decision to shut down his service were different.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on November 02, 2013 10 Comments

Save the Bear's Dudeness, Dudes: Cornell students demand end to “male heterosexual” Big Red Bear mascot The Tigress Insurrection: A Princeton Alumna Explains Why She Won’t Donate Anymore: "The notion of academic freedom is also false, as faculty stifle and ostracize those who produce scholarship that challenges the...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on November 01, 2013 52 Comments
There was some real angry ugliness at Brown University Tuesday night, as NYC Police Commissioner Ray Kelly was shouted down and his lecture shut down. There has been celebration in some circles at Brown, but not from Biology Professor Ken Miller, a Brown grad himself. Miller wrote a wonderful letter to the Brown Daily Herald about his experience hearing George Lincoln Rockwell, leader of the American Nazi Party, speak at Brown in the late 1960s, and how it compared to the shout down of Kelly. Read the whole thing, this excerpt will not do it justice:
I went to scores of seminars and talks during my four years as an undergraduate at Brown, but the one I will never forget took place on the evening of Nov. 30, 1966.The speaker, a Brown alum, had been invited by the Faunce House Board of Governors to take part in its fall lecture series. But once his name was announced, a storm of objections forced the board to withdraw its invitation. Counterprotests ensued citing academic freedom and arguing that our campus should be open to all views, even — and perhaps especially — to those a majority of its members found repugnant. The speaker was George Lincoln Rockwell ’40, leader of the American Nazi Party. A new campus group called “Open Mind” was formed. Once recognized by the University, it re-invited Rockwell to campus. Rockwell spoke to a packed house in Alumnae Hall.... For the first time in my life, I understood the allure of fascism, the reason that “good people” could have supported the likes of Franco, Mussolini and Hitler. I also understood why the notion that “it couldn’t happen here” is hopelessly naive. It could happen here, and it most certainly would happen if we forgot the lessons of history, lessons that Rockwell brought to life with a sinister smile that evening in Alumnae Hall. I’m glad I was there. I’m glad the talk was allowed to go on. And I’m glad Brown was an open campus where those lessons could be learned in the most personal way possible.
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