Anti-semitism in the European, Socialist Utopia

I just read a story on CNN about an Israeli pop band named Teapack whose entry into the Eurovison music contest has causes some protest from Europe. They claim that the title, "Push the Button" is inappropriate for the contest. Teapack explains that it refers to "living in the shadow of danger and laughing in the face of terror," and is not a glorification of violence, rather the opposite. Despite this explanation, the outrage continues. I watched the video on YouTube (I am trying to figure out how to imbed the video itself in the post, but have had no luck yet) and happened to check out some of the comments, which I included. You tell me if the problem for Europeans is with the lyrics or just with the Jewish people.

foxbod1 (32 minutes ago)
Hopefully Iran can get a nuke and push the button on "israel". It should be Palestine anyways and everyone knows that.

eksoristos (6 hours ago)
You f#$%&ing hebrews .... get serious or be soaps [edited to be family friendly]

The latter comment is quite possibly the most amazing public anti-Semitism I have ever seen. For those of you with a lack of historical understanding, one of the more twisted aspects of the Holocaust was the Nazi's ingenuity in utilizing the actual corpses of dead Jews (and others) for commercial purposes. Skin made into lamp shades, hair used to stuff mattresses AND human fat tissue boiled down to use the glycerin for soap-making. Just thought you might like to know which side of the political spectrum contains the true "hatemongers."

Sir, are you sure you emptied your pockets?

I was directed to this little story by Dennis Prager on the radio today. This serves as counterpoint to my sad post of a few hours ago. In the Los Angeles Times there is a story of an Iraqi man being detained after having been caught smuggling suspicious items. This is a segment of the article.

Fadhel Al-Maliki, a 35-year-old Iraqi national living in Atlantic City, N.J., had been flagged by security officials at LAX and was undergoing a secondary "selectee screening" when he set off a metal detector. Al-Maliki, a former security guard, told screeners that he knew what had triggered the alarm and proceeded to remove items from his rectum, including a rock, chewing gum and thin wire filament...
...The rock, authorities said he told them, was from another planet.

I must say that there are very few things that can honestly say I would not do as a job, but I must now include removing and studying space rocks for perspective terrorists rectums.

In all seriousness, these types of incidents are not a joking matter. Annie Jacobsen has pointed out that these suspicious but inconclusive activities are often probes for security weaknesses. She relates that in August of 2001 actor James Woods was admittedly present when 9/11 leader Mohammad Atta and 3 associates perpetrated a false hijacking as a final test before the actual attacks.

I Could Cry...

I just caught this on The Drudge Report. It is a Boston Globe story about a woman who is suing a Planned Parenthood physician, the organization itself and a doctor at Boston Medical Center for child rearing costs. Is it because they failed in some way to keep her child healthy and as such are responsible for additional costs in raising her? No...nothing so human as this.

Ms. Raper is suing because her abortion at Planned Parenthood was botched and Boston Medical failed to recognise this in time to make a second attempt on the baby's life. Raper's daughter is now 2 and her mother is looking for compensation based on what? Regret of failed infanticide? I dare anyone to convince me that there isn't a slippery slope when it comes to valuing the life of a child.

I just thought you guys may have been having too good a day and needed a real downer.

Health Care in the US

I just took a quick look at the new CBS/New York Times poll which is being touted as a public opinion victory for the universal health care crowd. It shows that nearly 2/3 of the country believes that the government should guarantee health insurance for all Americans (and presumably anyone who can can fake it too). When I read the actual text of the poll and I am amazed how they played word games with the truth. Here is how the article is titled:

Poll: The Politics Of Health Care
Most Americans Favor Universal Health Care, Give Democrats Edge On Improving System

Oh really? How do you interpret "universal health care?" I think most reader would say that it is synonymous with the socialized medicine available in Europe. Universal means everyone has it and we're all on the same playing field, right? Is that what the poll actually says? Let's see:

Question #27 (from which the title gets its facts) - Do you think the federal government should guarantee health insurance for all Americans, or isn't this the responsibility of the federal government?
64% - Should Guarantee
27% - Not Responsibility

"Guaranteeing insurance" is not as definitively stated as "universal health care." The follow-up question asks those who approve of the guarantee if they stand by this opinion if their own costs go up (mandatory result of more policies with the same # of policy payers). This leaves only 49% (76% of respondents). Look at the results of the rest of the questions that deal with this issue.

Questions 31 and 32 (82% of the 60% from #31) show those same 49% would be willing "to pay $500 a year more in taxes so that all Americans have health insurance they can't lose, no matter what." Once again, without the money follow-up, the original question is just Utopianism.

Of course the question is easily misinterpreted (and I think was, in fact, in at least a few cases) to mean that for $500 more a year in taxes, all Americans would be covered by universal health insurance. Setting aside that $500 is a ridiculous number, I would be tempted to pay $500 a year for insurance instead of the $500 a MONTH that I pay for my current plan.

Question #38 shows roughly the same percentage (47%) approve of "having one health insurance program covering all Americans that would administered by the government and paid for by taxpayers."

We still have not hit the majority that is claimed in the title.

Here is the most interesting quirk of this poll. Question #37 asks "Do you think it would be fair or unfair for the government in Washington to require all Americans to participate in a national health care plan, funded by taxpayers?" 43% state that it would be fair.

Up to this point we have had about the same number of people submitting similar responses to similar questions. If you look closely and compare the percentages on questions 37 and 38 there is 4 percent of the population that want socialized medicine but recognize that it is fundamentally unfair. Weird, huh?

If we consider the follow-up questions that give answers context, we never do actually hit a majority of the American people being in favor of the universal health care touted in the title.

Laura Pix

I thought you guys might like to see one of the pictures of Evie and I meeting Laura Ingraham last week. We didn't make her website, but I was able to snag these off the KZNT website. Obviously I'm on the left, then it goes Laura, Joe Vollono (producer), and Evie.