Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) schools HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius on the costs and broken promises of ObamaCare.

Follow the link for the whole (short) exchange and see Sebelius fumble around like a clueless clown but here's a taste.

JOHNSON: So now we, we’ve reduced that $143 billion by $86 billion – by not getting revenue from the CLASS Act – and now $111 billion because we’ve increased the mandatory costs of the exchanges, correct?

SEBELIUS: IÂ’m assuming the numbers are correct. IÂ’m sorry I donÂ’t have them.

JOHNSON: So, when you add those together, thatÂ’s $197 billion added to the first 10-year cost estimate of Obamacare, so now we are instead of saving $143 billion, we are adding $54 billion to our deficit, correct?

SEBELIUS: Sir I –

JOHNSON: WeÂ’ll submit that to the record. But, thatÂ’s basically true. So instead of saving $143 billion, by this administrationÂ’s own figures and budget, weÂ’re now adding $54 billion to our deficit in the first 10 years. To me, that would be the first broken promise.

Remember when Pelosi said "we have to pass the bill to find out what's in it"? Well we did and now we know...lies, higher costs and less freedom. Of course some of us knew that from the start.

Posted by: DrewM at 07:45 AM | Comments (108)
Post contains 240 words, total size 2 kb.

Via Katherine Miller, too good to check?

The US offered to give Israel advanced weaponry -- including bunker-busting bombs and refueling planes -- in exchange for Israel's agreement not to attack Iranian nuclear sites, Israeli newspaper Maariv reported Thursday.

President Obama reportedly made the offer during Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to Washington this week.

Under the proposed deal, Israel would not attack Iran until 2013, after US elections in November this year. The newspaper cited unnamed Western diplomatic and intelligence sources.

The idea that Obama would play politics with such an important matter is disgusting but not surprising. When you combine it with this story, it's simply down right scary.

Satellite images of an Iranian military facility appear to show trucks and earth-moving vehicles at the site, indicating an attempted cleanup of radioactive traces possibly left by tests of a nuclear-weapon trigger, diplomats told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

The assertions from the diplomats, all nuclear experts accredited to the International Atomic Energy Agency, could add to the growing international pressure on Iran over its nuclear program, which Tehran insists is for peaceful purposes.

...

Two of the diplomats said the crews at the Parchin military site may be trying to erase evidence of tests of a small experimental neutron device used to set off a nuclear explosion. A third diplomat could not confirm that but said any attempt to trigger a so-called neutron initiator could only be in the context of trying to develop nuclear arms.

The diplomats said they suspect attempts at sanitization because some of the vehicles at the scene appeared to be haulage trucks and other equipment suited to carting off potentially contaminated soil from the site.

Story via Alert 5.

Obama can talk about having Israel's back and promise to take action before Iran acquires a nuclear capability all he wants but remember, the US track record of predicting such things is...poor.

Added: I don't think the arms for delay story makes much sense. Why would Netanyahu wait if he thought now was the time? Better weapons and more chance of success don't matter much if it's already too late. More to the point, why would he do anything to help Obama win reelection? Stranger things have happened I suppose but I have my doubts. Though I guess from his perspective, it doesn't hurt Obama to give it a shot.

Posted by: DrewM at 07:14 AM | Comments (162)
Post contains 425 words, total size 3 kb.

Not surprisingly my headline is a little different from Politico's but I think it's more accurate.

President Barack Obama is intervening in a Senate fight over the Keystone XL oil pipeline and personally lobbying Democrats to reject an amendment calling for its construction, according to several sources familiar with the talks.

The White House lobbying effort, including phone calls from the president to Democrats, signals that the vote could be close when it heads to the floor Thursday. The president is trying to defeat an amendment that would give election-year fodder to his Republican critics who have accused him of blocking a job-creating energy project at a time of high gas prices.

He may lead from behind in matters of war and peace but if there's any chance some jobs might be created without federal subsidies or he won't be getting some campaign donations out of the deal, then he will personally lead the charge against it.

Posted by: DrewM at 06:09 AM | Comments (127)
Post contains 179 words, total size 1 kb.

At least the average terrorist org. doesn't have much practice secreting weapons on their persons in non-standard ways.

Ohhh.

Wait.

No wonder the wife hints I should up my life insurance now that I'm flying more frequently.

Oh well. We can still rest easy knowing our other counter-terrorism efforts are effective and constructive and... ohhhh.

Scrump me.

* And by "safe" I mean "like a 6th grader whose P/E teacher likes to film the class stretching out".

COUNTER-TERRORISM 2012! ^TM When it's done right, they won't even know we're on to them. Mostly because we're making Nanna feel like an extra on the set of Porky's.

Posted by: Open Blogger at 05:30 AM | Comments (89)
Post contains 118 words, total size 1 kb.

Thursday. One day closer to the weekend + Archer. Other than that, I gots nuthin'.

Posted by: andy at 02:29 AM | Comments (361)
Post contains 23 words, total size 1 kb.

NYC-area and nearby New Jersey morons, longtime commenter CharlieBrown'sDildo (hey, I didn't pick it) has arranged a moron meetup this weekend and requests the dubious pleasure of your company.

Mr. Dildo tells me that the meetup will be at a bar in Hoboken, NJ, which is, allegedly, close "PATH and the trains", whatever that means, from 6pm to 8pm on Saturday, March 10. He says it's Happy Hour, but to be honest, if I had to go around telling people to call me CharlieBrown'sDildo, I wouldn't be all that happy about it.

If you are interested in attending, you may email Mr. Dildo at nynjmeet [at] optimum [dot] net for the full details. Mr. Dildo stressed, however, that arsonists, axe murderers, and Californians should not bother emailing, as he's fresh out of ex-girlfriends. I'm not sure what he meant by that either.

Nationwide Moron Meetups: I anticipate that as we get closer to the election more of you people will want to do meetups. I'm happy to put up notices for them, so long as I know who you are. A little spending money also helps. You can always reach me via email at gabriel.malor at the gmail thingy.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 06:13 PM | Comments (66)
Post contains 211 words, total size 1 kb.

Well since everyone seems to have slacked off today I'm thinking I should do the same. Of course that's also what I tell myself pretty much every night. But this time I kinda semi-sorta almost mean it.

So tonight we watch a movie.

Feature Presentation: Monty Python and The Holy Grail (1974)

If you've watched this 5 or fewer times, well now's your chance to correct that.

Posted by: Maetenloch at 06:11 PM | Comments (714)
Post contains 929 words, total size 10 kb.

It's a strange world we live in where we are friends with people we've never met. That's the beauty of this internet thing of ours. The tragic part is when we lose one of the friends we haven't really met but we known them, or at least the part of them they choose to share with us.

While we are still stunned at the loss of Andrew Breitbart, many of us follow the world through the eyes of milbloggers have lost another friend, Lex of Neptunus Lex. It wasn't the random and almost unfathomable loss of a man in his prime passing on his way home but rather an ever present possible outcome for a man who slipped into a fighter jet and took the skies.

In Better Days...Lex and his wife

There will be plenty of investigations, talk and not doubt more than a few recriminations about the crash itself (you can read about it here) but I'll leave all of that for others and another time. Today I'd like to share a few thoughts about a man who served his country, took many of us to sea with his words and loved a family that can only be devastated today.

I never served in the military but I love the Navy. When milbloggers started appearing on the scene a few years back I sought out Navycentric ones as much as possible. As much as I love folks like Bubblehead, Froggy, CDRSalamander and the gangs of Information Dissemination and the USNI blog, Lex was always my first millblog read. Partially it was the writing and the stories that captivated me but we also shared something...we were both pilots. Now, I'm taking some liberties there because a man with thousands of hours in high performance military jets and hundreds of carrier traps like Lex only shares the title "pilot" with someone like me who has a single engine private license in the broadest possible sense. But it's an important sense. There's something about being at the controls of a plane when the weight comes off the wheels and you are flying. I can't explain it but Lex could and I loved living vicariously through his stories.

It was a joy to see him transition from a retired fighter pilot used to thousands of pounds of thrust and speeds measured in mach numbers to planes that put out a few dozen horse power and weren't much faster than your average car and probably not any faster than his motorcycle. But it was flying and that was enough, it was everything. Slowly you could see in his writing that Lex was coming to love the joys of more basic stick and rudder flying and the sheer joy that comes from a well executed landing. Again, it's another feeling I can't explain but Lex could.

Not surprisingly though that wasn't enough for a man who spent his adult life flinging himself and his machine through the air and he took a part-time job flying mock dog fights for tourists, recipients of birthday presents and the like. But it was flying and that was everything.

After leaving the service Lex moved onto a job with a defense contractor that seemed to involve more computers, algorithms and meetings than a guy like Lex could stand. So not too long ago he took the leap and went to work for a defense contractor that provided adversary fighters to help Naval Aviators training for upcoming deployments.

As I said, I didn't know Lex and he didn't know me except for what we'd read from each other. And that was enough. We exchanged a few emails from time to time or a note on Twitter but when I needed to find out how to help someone get an embark on a carrier out San Diego I emailed Lex. Less than an hour latter I got an email back...from the public affairs officer for the Chief of Naval Operations. Yeah, that's the kind of guy Lex was.
more...

Posted by: DrewM at 04:04 PM | Comments (78)
Post contains 882 words, total size 5 kb.

Former blogger Dave At Garfield Ridge wrote a post years ago about how he was getting tired of raiding his 401K and working as a manwhore to be able to afford razor heads.

Or something to that effect. It was a long time ago. And since then, blades have only gotten more expensive.

Until now.

That young man is going places.

Anybody remember their first razor experience from back when the things were primitive, dangerous weapons?

My grandfather had this thing called a 'safety razor' that had the double-leaf opening on the top that you fed a double-sided blade into. He also used the old round brush and mug of soap to lather with.

Sleepover, 1985: a young hunchback realizes she did not bring any of her modern little plastic shavers to her grandparents' home, and tries out the old 'Safety Razor.'

And yeah, my grandparents had that slot in the back of their medicine cabinet.

Posted by: LauraW at 03:28 PM | Comments (161)
Post contains 160 words, total size 1 kb.

Here's a essay by a former San Diego mayor on what the rest of the country has to look forward to if the worst happens this November. As a California native and resident I'll vouch that everthing he says here is true (although the wildfire thing is poorly phrased).

Some high points follow - but Read The Whole Thing.

California is a one-party state dominated by a virulent Democratic Left enabled by a complicit media where every agency of local, county, and state government is run by and for the public employee unions. The unemployment rate is 12%.

... the governor proclaimed the rich must pay their fair share

Income of more than $1 million pays the "millionaires' and billionaires'" surcharge tax rate of 10.3%. Brown's proposal would add 2% for income over $250,000. A million-dollar income would then be taxed at 12.3%. ... Brown also proposed a one-half-cent sales tax increase, which would bring sales taxes (which vary by county) to 7.75% to 10%.

...

we don't want to turn down the Obama bullet-train bucks Florida and other states rejected because the operating costs would bankrupt them. Can't happen here - we're already insolvent.

Illegals get benefits from various generous welfare programs, free medical care, free schools for their kids, including meals, and of course, instate tuition rates and scholarships too. Governor Perry, California has a heart. Nothing's too good for our guests.

... more and more of California's public land is off-limits to recreation by the people who paid for that land. Unless you're illegal. Then you can clear the land, set up marijuana plantations at will, bring in fertilizers that legal farmers can no longer use, exploit illegal farm workers who live in hovels with no running water or sanitation, and protect your investment with armed illegals carrying guns no California citizen is allowed to own.

...After driving out the old industrial base (auto and airplane assembly, for example), air and water regulators and tax policies are now driving out the high-tech, biotech and even Internet-based companies that were supposed to be California's future.

No job is too small to escape the regulators. The state has even banned weekend amateur gold miners from the historic gold mining streams in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

Posted by: Open Blogger at 02:51 PM | Comments (116)
Post contains 383 words, total size 3 kb.