Working its way through the Israeli Knesset is a bill declaring Jordan as the Palestinian nation. It has nearly half of the parliament’s support. If passed, the bill would have West Bank Palestinians choose between Israeli or Jordanian citizenship. What’s unclear to me is the status of West Bank land under this plan. That’s irrelevant though, if you follow the Christian Science Monitor’s opinion that the idea is crazy. Now the CSM doesn’t say that directly, but read this article and try not to notice how they paint the proposal as madness.

Is it madness? Geert Wilders doesn’t think so. Although I can see how he can be dismissed. He’s not the right sort, so there’s no need to pay attention to his opinion. Don’t remember who he is? I’ll help. Geert Wilders is the head of the Freedom Party, the third largest political party in the Netherlands, and just came off a strong electoral showing. That’s a little hard to translate into American terms, since we don’t have a parliamentary system. I guess Wilders would be similar in stature to a powerful senator. Yet despite being chosen by a significant portion of the Dutch electorate, Wilders should just be ignored because he doesn’t have the right kind of opinions. He’s a right-winger. Oh he’s a neo-fascist. Nevermind that a large chunk of the Dutch electorate voted for him. He’s clearly a crazy person on the fringe.

We can ignore Wilders, but Camie Davis has dug up some choice quotes on the topic.

• “We are the government of Palestine, the army of Palestine and the refugees of Palestine.”
  - Prime Minister of Jordan, Hazza’ al-Majali, 23 August 1959
• “Palestine and Transjordan are one.”
  - King Abdullah, Arab League meeting in Cairo, 12 April 1948
• “Palestine is Jordan and Jordan is Palestine; there is one people and one land, with one history and one and the same fate.”
  - Prince Hassan, brother of King Hussein, addressing the Jordanian National Assembly, 2 February 1970
• “Jordan is not just another Arab state with regard to Palestine, but rather, Jordan is Palestine and Palestine is Jordan in terms of territory, national identity, sufferings, hopes and aspirations.”
  - Jordanian Minister of Agriculture, 24 September 1980
• “The truth is that Jordan is Palestine and Palestine is Jordan.”
  - King Hussein 1981

Should King Hussein and King Abdullah be ignored? Who wants to dismiss them as people who know nothing about Middle Eastern history and politics?

This is why history is important. Israel should be throwing these quotes in the face of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the Arab League and the EU. Force all of them to publicly abrogate these ideas and explain why, before any movement on negotiations happen.

Americans need to know that Mr. Obama, whose coolness can seem like detachment, is engaged. This is not a mere question of presentation or stagecraft, although the White House could do better at both.

A NY Times editorial gives voice to progressives’ frustration at Pres. Obama, yet it’s so much more. On the surface it’s an essay complaining that the president has been too detached from the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Although it still tries to carry a little water (Bush gets blamed for the world’s economic collapse. Between controlling Earth’s economy and sending Hurricane Katrina directly into New Orleans, is there anything he can’t do? He’s like Bizarro Superman!), I assume, to reassure Times readers the author hasn’t gone completely off the reservation.

What we’re reading here is the birth of a progressive myth. Obama’s presidency is failing and it looks unlikely to turn around. Progressives aren’t going to allow their idology to be tainted by Obama’s personal failure. The cover is going to be that Obama was personally unlikeable. He was too cerebral. Just look at how this criticism is framed:

• “His inclination to hold back, then ride to the rescue…”
• “It certainly should not have taken days…”
• “…he should have moved a lot faster…”
• “It took too long for Mr. Obama to say…”

It’s all about the president’s speed. He’s taking too long to get things done. It’s just that “the contemplative nature that was so appealing in a candidate can seem indecisive in a president.” It’s not that Obama is too slow because he’s lazy, incompetent or just doesn’t care.

Barack Obama was unable to meet the leadership image of the common American because he was far too meditative and because of that, he was unable to make the case for a new progressive America. The problem is never that progressive ideas are unwanted. No, no, no! It’s just the messenger’s fault.

And so the progressives can move on to find another they will anoint as their standard bearer; A new messiah who can show the glories of progressive governance to those damn troglodytic idiots who keep rejecting socialism regular, everyday Americans. What’s the alternative? Recognizing you have some bad ideas? Not likely to happen.

For as long as Ted Kennedy’s name is remembered, it will be marred by Chappaquiddick. Up until today I never realized what a heinous story it is. I knew it involved a drunk Ted, a car crash and a girl dying. It sounded like a tragic and irresponsible accident to me. What I learned today is how callous and vile Ted behaved. Carl Cannon wrote a great narrative of the events on that night. I definitely recommend reading his post along with the Wikipedia entry, but I’ll summarize the key points in bullet form for the impatient.

Teddy Kennedy met up with friends and some girls at a party in a cottage on tiny Chappaquiddick Island, off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard. It wasn’t a huge crowd. It was a small get-together for Ted’s friends and the “Boiler Room Girls”; some women who worked the phones for RFK’s presidential campaign the year before. Kennedy decided to leave the party and the following events become murky.

• Kennedy claims he left the party at 11:15 pm and Mary Jo requested he drive her back to town. A local cop saw Kennedy’s car at 12:40 am. No one at the party knew Mary Jo left with Teddy, and she also left her purse and hotel key at the party.
• Kennedy leaves his chauffeur at the cottage and ended up driving in the exact opposite direction from the ferry landing.
• Kennedy misses a turn in the road and drives into the water, flipping the car on to its roof. He manages to swim out of the car, but for some unknown reason Mary Jo cannot. Kennedy will later go on to say after he made it back to dry land, he jumped back into the water seven or eight times trying to find Mary Jo.
• Once Kennedy gives up on trying to locate Mary Jo underwater, he walks back to the cottage. He walks by four other cottages with working phones on his trip back.
• At the cottage, which also has a working phone, he told two of his friends about the accident. They returned to the scene and attempted to rescue Mary Jo. When that failed, they drove Teddy to the ferry landing where he swam back to town (ferry service ended at midnight). His friends would later claim they did not call the police because Teddy told them he would report this when he got back.
• Back in town, Kennedy returned to his hotel, which has a working phone, and went to sleep. During the night he would complain to the hotel owner about a noisy party that was keeping him up. In the morning he was seen chatting with a local about sailing.
• Kennedy’s two friends visit him at his hotel where they question why he didn’t report the incident. The three of them return to Chappaquiddick Island. Kennedy is seen making several calls at a pay phone by the ferry dock, but none are to the police.

Here’s my guess on what really happened that night. Ted’s story was a cover for an extramarital affair. He couldn’t admit to that because it would ruin his career and humiliate his family. It also makes more sense to believe Mary Jo wasn’t going home for the night because she left her keys and purse at the party. Ted didn’t bring his chauffeur along to drive because who wants a third wheel around when you’re trying to have sex? Remember that if Ted was really trying to catch the last ferry back to Martha’s Vineyard (and the cop’s testimony makes this impossible too), his chauffeur would have been stranded at the cottage.

Ted Kennedy was a despicable human being for allowing a woman to die to preserve his privileged life. The police diver who was sent after two local fishermen reported the submerged car said Mary Jo’s body was pressed up against a part of the car where an air bubble would have formed. He estimated she lived for two hours down there. Two hours where Kennedy could have called for police from four houses in between the accident and the party cottage, or called from the cottage, or called from a pay phone at the ferry dock, or called from his hotel room. These lefty journalists I see on TV trying to wax poetic about the Liberal Lion are vermin. This man was scum and deserves no praise. If you think I’m exaggerating, check out this recording. “[O]ne of his favorite topics of humor was indeed Chappaquiddick itself.” What a monster.

I’m pretty well disgusted with the health care debate we’re having in this country. Even though I totally disagree with the notion that health care is a right and the government should be providing it, I can understand the pro-side. We just have a difference of opinion about the shape society should take. What disgusts me is the elitism that is bubbling its way up to the surface thanks to common people voicing their opposition. Here are some choice bits.

1. Barbara Boxer says protesters are too well dressed to be legitimate.

This is the most obvious form of elitism. Sen. Boxer “knows” what a real protester looks like. If a person is neatly groomed and takes care to dress appropriately, clearly they cannot be one of the common folk. The senator knows commoners are a filthy lot, often wearing dirty rags and flip-flops. Anyone dressed decently must be a paid operative of those evil Republicans. Real people are probably too drunk to show up at a town hall meeting anyway.

2. Andrea Mitchell says we don’t know what’s good for us.

Mitchell has settled the debate. We regular people are just too retarded to know what’s good for us. If only we would shut up and let our social betters run things, everything would be glorious.

3. Barack Obama wants us to stop talking.

Shutting up, isn’t that what representative democracy is all about? What better way is there for an elected official to govern but for opposition to shut up and let you do whatever you want? I wish I had the Constitution better memorized because I’m having trouble remembering the clause where it says anyone who disagrees with the president should keep it to themselves. I know it must be in there since that’s what our president has told us to do.

Really though this all goes to the heart of Progressivism. That ideology treats common people as incapable of caring for themselves. Government, run by society’s best and brightest, must step in to care for them. Barbara Boxer, Andrea Mitchell and Barack Obama clearly feel they know how to run your life better than you do. Do you think they do?

Half of me wants to laugh and half of me wants to weep. Watch this video and find out why.

I thought I was pretty harsh in my last post about people’s ignorance, but I’m rethinking that. This woman is so mindbogglingly stupid that she thinks rainbows are created by an unnamed toxic sludge dumped into the environment by a government effort to search for new energy sources. I guess her backyard sits at the corner of Paranoid Street and Stupid Lane.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that she is from Northern California. I don’t know if this is a byproduct of 60′s drug culture but this place is dominated by people just like her; totally ignorant of their own ignorance. She recorded this video because, in her mind, she was going to sound the alarm about this environmental abuse. Yet it never occurred to her to take a moment to research what causes rainbows. The thought never crossed her mind that there might be a simple explanation for it. No, she thought this phenomena was weird so immediately she just knew it was something toxic and caused by the government.

I just love that she jumped to this government conspiracy conclusion too because I would bet my paycheck that she is the type that supports a government takeover of the health care industry. She would be completely happy if the very same government that she believes is polluting her backyard with rainbows, controlled her health care.

Maybe there should be an intelligence test for voting.

Pew Research Center has proven with a simple web quiz that 90% of Americans are idiots. 0.5% are irredeemably stupid. You 0.5% can go to bed knowing you’re an anchor on human progress.

Take this quiz and find out where you stand. A normal person should get every single question right. If you have to pause on any of these, count yourself as ‘kinda dumb’.

All done? Good! Hopefully you did as well as me.

If you didn’t, well, take solace. It’s probably not your fault; not completely anyway. Ideally your brain would be interested enough to seek out knowledge on its own. Spend time reading books (non-fiction ones), magazines (no Hollywood gossip ones), blogs (find some serious ones, no gossip either). However I think the reason you haven’t sought this out already is because your education didn’t encourage it. Public education is crap. No child ever gets encouraged to search for answers. For instance, what did you ever get back from your literature classes? I remember them from high school, but I can’t think of any value I gained from that. What did I learn? We read from a set of books chosen by the teacher, and I can’t remember anything. Maybe I would have learned something from a more challenging curriculum. Instead of telling me what to read, I should have to find my own books on certain topics chosen by the teacher and write papers about them. In that sort of class I would have to learn to think abstractly. I would have to do my own research instead of briefly memorizing some plot points and forgetting them after the class. Maybe teachers can figure out some in-class presentation assignments so kids would get some experience in public speaking. Sure this class would be a lot harder, but the kids would be better for it. By finding their own books, they may even develop their own interests.

That’s just one example. That approach may not work with math and science but it definitely works for those soft and mushy social “sciences”. The problem with public education is that it’s structured to provide answers. Teachers present a problem, then present an answer. Students don’t need to think, so they never develop an interest in doing so. Then they spend the rest of their lives eating the intellectual pablum of People magazine and TMZ.

This news is just too delicious to check. So far it’s an unsubstantiated, anonymous report on LiveLeak, but I hope it turns out to be so much more. According to this report, one of President Obama’s Secret Service security detail has been fired because he complained about the Obama family’s frequent gripes over certain demographics. The retarded part of this unsubstantiated story, and what makes me doubt its reality, is that the Secret Service Agent took his complaint directly to the president. Who does that? Unless you really hate your job and are looking to be fired, you don’t lecture your boss. I wish I could hear that conversation go down.

Incidentally I have no problem believing the Obama family is there badmouthing “certain demographics”, which of course means white people in flyover country. They’re wealthy, lefty, urbanites so naturally they can look down their noses at the little people. Actually this reminds me of a rumor floating around during the 2008 campaign. I forget where this allegedly happened, but at some campaign event the police providing security were told to keep out of sight of the Obamas at all times. The implication being that the Obamas were such super-liberals they refused to suffer the presence of any law enforcement. I can’t say that was true either, but it’s such a caricature that you want to believe its true. I have a feeling this story about the Secret Service Agent will go that way too; it will fade away for lack of evidence but will be remembered because its too much of a caricature to forget.

But pretending its true, and even though I would love to have some solid evidence of Obama’s elitism, it’s probably a bad thing for the country if the Secret Service Agent comes forward publicly with this news. You don’t want the Secret Service getting politicized, and you don’t want future presidents having to keep their guard up 24/7 around these guys. The right thing for this guy would have been to quietly request a transfer or resign. Complaining to the president was just idiotic.

A long way back, after trashing GM’s car designs, I said I would mention some GM products I do enjoy. I’ve been lazy about this blog lately but I haven’t forgotten about that. This will be a short post though because there’s only one car I can think of that I would seriously consider buying: the 2010 Buick LaCrosse.

That I would like a Buick is amazing because I am under 50 years old. The new LaCrosse is so different than the frumpy old man cars I’ve seen Buick churn out though. Technically Buick is a second tier luxury nameplate, like Acura or Infiniti. However I think this car is so well done it can be compared to low-end luxury cars from first tier nameplates like the Lexus ES350 or Mercedes-Benz C-Class.

Buick finally produced a body that looks modern and refined with the capability to dust a few at the line. It’s a huge departure from their past designs, which to my eye, looked like they were trying to emulate the 1996 Ford Taurus. Oh and that interior just sells me. Sumptuous is the word that repeats in my mind when I look at pictures of it.

To be fair, I haven’t seen the car in person. I liked the ES350 until I sat in it. So maybe I’m getting ahead of myself, but it’s a huge leap forward for Buick to have a 30 year old Californian actually consider them at all.

But there’s a onion in the ointment. Actually two. What is the point of buying a luxury car if it won’t impress women? Last December when I told a woman I was looking to buy a Lexus, she swooned! Honest to God, she swooned. She became breathless and started peppering me with questions about it. I really doubt any woman is going to swoon over a Buick.

Second, GM has become Government Motors and I am far too angry over that to buy any GM. There is no way I will consider getting a GM car so long as the government owns a share. Hell, even if the government divests I’m not sure that will satisfy my anger.

I suppose it’s just as well that way. Since I’ve started hiking, I’ve been driving on a lot more country roads and gravel paths. I really shouldn’t bother getting a luxury car if I’m just going to beat them up with that sort of use.

With Barack Obama in the White House and Democrats controlling the House and Senate, they own the legislative agenda. So it looks like no matter what we’re going to end up with a massive disruption to the health care industry. I was thinking about how our society will cope when government controls the health care of most Americans. One issue grabbed my attention: abortion.

Abortion was a huge hot-button issue in the 1990s. The media spent a lot more time and ink back then covering it, and while I don’t have any statistics on this I suspect there were more protests about it back then. Today the issue feels mostly settled. Conservatives don’t like it but they have seemed to accept that Roe v. Wade isn’t going to be overturned. When Obamacare comes into force I expect abortion will roar back as an enormous social issue. When the federal government becomes every citizen’s health insurer, conservatives will not be happy paying for abortions. With the government as insurer it will have to pay with money collected as taxes. Don’t think that abortion will be an “elective” procedure and not eligible for coverage. NARAL and NOW will never ever permit Democrats to do that. And so tax money will go to pay for abortions, and there will be much outrage and protest. If Republicans want to actually derail Obamacare they should bring this up. If the health care debate can be sidetracked into the abortion quagmire, it will come to a standstill.

The American Spectator is a conservative publication I don’t normally read, but I saw a link to an article where they had a different take on the issue. They found a different abortion pitfall for Obamacare. The Roe v. Wade decision that permitted abortion nationally could make any government involvement in health care decisions unconstitutional. Before I explain TAS’s reasoning you need to understand that a key part of Obamacare is the government’s ability to decide on what treatments you’ll be allowed to have. President Obama has been saying the cost of health care is rising so fast because doctors run too many tests and prescribe too many medicines to cover their asses from malpractice lawsuits. Under Obamacare, government bureaucrats will decide what tests, surgeries and medicines you are permitted to have. They can overrule your doctor and yourself if they choose.

TAS sees two ways this conflicts with Roe v. Wade.

One: The State has a legitimate interest in keeping you healthy.

We repeat, however, that the State does have an important and legitimate interest in preserving and protecting the health of the pregnant woman, whether she be a resident of the State or a nonresident who seeks medical consultation and treatment there, and that it has still another important and legitimate interest in protecting the potentiality of human life.

- Roe v. Wade Decision

Roe’s language is focused on pregnant women, but that can easily be extended to all Americans.  The Supreme Court decided that the government has an interest in protecting the health of Americans. How can the government live up to that if it is denying treatments to lower costs? How can the State ever deny a hip replacement surgery to a 90 year old? The government must protect our health, and doing that requires pursuing every treatment. Denying a treatment to save money would be negligent and the government would then be liable. So much for cost savings.

Two: The right to privacy excludes the government from intruding on the patient-doctor relationship.

The right of privacy, whether it be founded in the Fourteenth Amendment’s concept of personal liberty and restrictions upon state action, as we feel it is, or, as the District Court determined, in the Ninth Amendment’s reservation of rights to the people, is broad enough to encompass a woman’s decision whether or not to terminate her pregnancy.

- Roe v. Wade Decision

In Roe v. Wade the Supreme Court found that the 14th Amendment’s right to privacy and 9th Amendment’s support for individual liberty would exclude the government from the abortion decision. It’s easy to extend “women” to all Americans, and an “abortion” can be extended to all medical procedures. I would like to see the logic that says only women have the right to make a decision on abortion, but the government can decide everything else.

So TAS concludes either Roe or Obamacare has to go. It’s a rather fascinating result and I’m happy to hear any news that could undermine the government’s takeover of our health care system. However, if this legal logic is correct, how come point two hasn’t been used to slay the twin beasts of Medicare and Medicaid?

America has four car companies again! GM has sold the Saturn franchise to Roger Penske. I never believed it would happen. I’m glad to have the choice in the marketplace.

Technically though this is probably a temporary situation. Once Fiat buys Chrysler, will Chrysler still count as an American car company anymore? The business will take its orders from Turin even if Fiat doesn’t own a controlling percentage of Chrysler shares. Well, maybe it will still be American. Mazda is still Japanese right, even though Ford tells it what to do.

Even though Penske won’t be building cars it does leave some exciting possibilities for the future. GM will provide Saturn vehicles for the first few years, but eventually Penske will contract with other automakers and rebadge their vehicles. What could we have in store? From what I read online, most people expect rebadged Renaults. That idea surprises me because Renault and Nissan are allied, so why would Nissan allow itself to compete against its ally’s cars in the US? I expect Nissan would veto any move by Renault to sell cars to Penske. I hope so anyway. I don’t care for Renault’s lineup (based on UK models). The Laguna coupe is the only exception and I’m still not that excited about it.

I sure as hell don’t want Penske to import the New Kangoo.

I would think Citroen or Peugeot might be a possibility. They’re a large company without any ties to the US. Neither of their lineups interest me either though. Here you can see Citroen and Peugeot in the UK. My heart still skips a beat for the Citroen C5 however. If the C5 Airscape is ever made and sold as a Saturn I’ll sell my ass on the street to get one.

Certainly Fiat is out of the running since they’re taking on Chrysler. That also rules out Alfa Romeo since it’s a part of the Fiat Group. I can’t really think of any other European manufacturers that could possibly supply a US car company. No American is going to buy an AvtoVAZ.

Representing Asia… I think Proton is a strong possibility. They sell in the UK and Australia so they’re familiar with first world safety standards, and they’re a bargain leader. I could see them supplying Penske with one or two compact, fuel-efficient cars; perhaps a small SUV as well. Nothing they make excites me though.

Other than Proton, Asia doesn’t have much to offer Penske. South Korea’s two biggest native manufacturers, Hyundai and Kia, already sell in the US. That leaves SsangYong which is in bankruptcy. I doubt Penske wants to rescue a second failed automaker. Even if he did I don’t recommend he save SsangYong. They manufacture some awkward looking vehicles. Japan doesn’t have any companies that aren’t involved in the US so no sense looking there. That leaves China.

A Chinese manufacturer presents political problems in the US. Penske will have a lot of baggage to deal with in terms of quality questions, safety concerns and a freakout over the loss of US manufacturing to China. The benefit is that Penske has plenty of choice in China – Geely, Great Wall, BYD, Brilliance, Chery, and probably others I can’t think of. I’m sure they would all bend over backwards to crack into the US market. Penske would also provide them with a lot of manufacturing know-how to bring their cars up to US standards. That’s a lot of work for Penske.

Don’t think Penske is going to import cars from several different sources. That would be a collosal headache for maintainance. Dealerships would have to stock parts from so many different companies and train their mechanics on completely different systems. I actually expect Proton to win out. They’re third world cheap but already know how to operate in the first world.