Every week on Monday morning , the Council and our invited guests weigh in at the Watcher’s Forum, short takes on a major issue of the day,the culture or something that’s just fun. This week’s question: What’s Your Earliest Childhood Memory?
The Razor:Memories have been scientifically proven to be quite fallible, especially those of children, so I’m not sure how accurate my memory is. It is possible I saw the video later, but there is no way to prove it either way. Nevertheless I have always believed that my earliest memory is, at the age of 20 months, seeing the video of Robert F. Kennedy getting shot.
My family was Irish-Catholic New Deal Democrats. The Kennedy family was the embodiment of the American Dream combined with enlightened leadership, and the Kennedys were spoken with almost as much reverence as the Pope and the Holy Church. It wasn’t until I was in college that I was old enough to assess the Kennedy legacy subjectively, and even today, as a registered Republican and libertarian, I still hold JFK and RFK is higher regard than most. The assassinations struck my family hard, and I remember what to me were the sound of balloons popping and everyone around me crying. How accurate is this memory? I wish I could say, but it’s the earliest one I can date.
Another early political memory is of President Nixon’s visit to China. I was a little over 5 years old at the time playing with my infant niece. I remember saying “Peking!” and making her laugh while watching televised footage of the visit. Over and over I said “Peking!” and she laughed that rugged laugh of the infant that they quickly grow out of yet is so wonderful to elicit, especially when one is a child himself.
Bookworm Room: Two words: Kennedy’s assassination. I was just over two at the time, and my next memories don’t kick in for another two years, when I was about four.
The Colossus of Rhodey: The ambulance taking my mom to the hospital for the birth of my youngest sister. I was three.
JoshuaPundit: The earliest memory I have would have to be from when I couldn’t have been more than two.One of the first places we lived was an apartment in Santa Monica, California. It had an eat in kitchen and a black and white checkered floor and I have a real clear member of me and my Day (Z”l) playing ball with a pair of balled up socks…him rolling the ball towards me and me going after it and laughing a lot. From around the same time, I also recall a favorite toy, a stuffed monkey I called (of course) Mr. Monkey. He looked vaguely like Curious George, only with black fur and red overalls.
The Independent Sentinel:My earliest memory was when I couldn’t breathe while suffering from the whooping cough.
My mother took me by the feet, held me upside down, and hit my back hard several times. She later said I turned blue.
I remember the doctor who came to the house. He was nice but looked sad. There were people whispering outside the bedroom.
My mother later said I was a year-and-a-half old. I don’t know if she was right about that but I didn’t have the language to find out what was going on so I must have been very young.
My mother said at the time that I would forget all about the episode so I decided to remember it.
I’m a rebel.
The Glittering Eye: I’ve been wracking my brains such as they are, trying to identify my earliest distinct memory. Since I’m probably the oldest member of the Council, as you might imagine, that would be from quite a while ago—from before most of my fellow Council members were born.
Like many people I have many memories from when I was five or six or more years old. For example, I remember Eisenhower’s first election campaign, MacArthur’s farewell speech, and so on but those aren’t my earliest memories. Oddly, I don’t remember Truman as having been president. Since he had once asked my dad to be his campaign manager I would have thought I might have remembered it.
My dad was what is now called an “early adopter” so I don’t remember a time without television. That means that I can date certain early memories by television shows that were only shown when I was four years old or younger and never shown in syndication. I can remember several of those.
I am the oldest of five siblings. I can remember when the third child was born and at that point I was less than four then. I can also remember being potty-trained and when I was moved from a bed with sides to one you slept on top of, something that struck me at the time as a dangerously unsafe state of affairs (I’m used to it now). Those must have been when I was between two and four years of age.
None of that compares with my wife’s earliest distinct recollections when she was less than two years old. I have learned that she never forgets anything 😉
Nice Deb: My first memory is of being locked in the bathroom when I was 1 1/2. I remember my mother was outside the door in the hallway, trying to explain to me how to unlock it, but I just wasn’t getting it, and I was crying out of frustration and fear. My dad was at work so she called the fire dept. for help. They came with a big hook and ladder truck, sirens blaring which surprised my mother. She was a bit overwhelmed, not expecting such a big to-do. A fireman climbed up the ladder and broke through the bathroom window. He snatched me up, opened the door from the inside and handed me to my mother, “here ya go, ma’am.”
Mrs. Joshuapundit: I was about three and a half when my younger sister was born. My earliest memory is my mom throwing me a present she got for me out of the window of the hospital.
Well, there you have it.
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– Dean Griffin liked the health insurance he purchased for himself and his wife three years ago and thought he’d be able to keep the plan even after the federal Affordable Care Act took effect.
But the 64-year-old recently received a letter notifying him the plan was being canceled because it didn’t cover certain benefits required under the law.
The Griffins, who live near Philadelphia on the Delaware border, pay $770 monthly for their soon-to-be-terminated health care plan with a $2,500 deductible. The cheapest plan they found on their state insurance exchange was a so-called bronze plan charging a $1,275 monthly premium with deductibles totaling $12,700. It covers only providers in Pennsylvania, so the couple wouldn’t be able to see the doctors in Delaware whom they’ve used for more than a decade.
Edie Littlefield Sunby shared this heart-breaking story today at the Wall Street Journal. Thanks to Obamacare Edie will lose her healthcare and her doctors. Thank you, Democrats. The Wall Street Journal reported:
Everyone now is clamoring about Affordable Care Act winners and losers. I am one of the losers.
My grievance is not political; all my energies are directed to enjoying life and staying alive, and I have no time for politics. For almost seven years I have fought and survived stage-4 gallbladder cancer, with a five-year survival rate of less than 2% after diagnosis. I am a determined fighter and extremely lucky. But this luck may have just run out: My affordable, lifesaving medical insurance policy has been canceled effective Dec. 31.
My choice is to get coverage through the government health exchange and lose access to my cancer doctors, or pay much more for insurance outside the exchange (the quotes average 40% to 50% more) for the privilege of starting over with an unfamiliar insurance company and impaired benefits.
At least 3.5 million Americans have received notice that thier health insurance policies have been cancelled. Associated Press reported the finding, and caveated the number by adding that data is unavailable in half the states.
The administration is claiming that these people aren’t “cancelled” but rather ” ‘transitioned’ or ‘migrated’ to better plans because their current coverage doesn’t meet minimum standards.” There was no word if these people with cancelled policies were unhappy with their existing health insurance situation.
“Everyone now is clamoring about Affordable Care Act winners and losers. I am one of the losers.” (Wall Street Journal)
“Americans who face higher insurance costs under President Obama’s health-care law are angrily complaining about ‘sticker shock’…” (Washington Post)
“One of the fundamental flaws of the Affordable Care Act is that, despite its name, it makes health insurance more expensive. … In the average state, Obamacare will increase underlying premiums by 41 percent.” (Forbes)
“Hundreds of thousands of Californians who purchase their own health insurance are bracing to pay more for their plans, as the cost of the federal health care overhaul lands harder on middle-class customers.” (Sacramento Bee)
“…she could end up paying at least $5,000 more a year than she does now. ‘That’s just not fair,’ said Persico, who represents indigent criminal defendants. ‘This is ridiculous.’” (Washington Post)
“Small businesses: Costs up for care coverage” (Lancaster Eagle Gazette)
“Expert: At least 129 million will ‘not be able to keep’ health care plan if Obamacare fully implemented” (Daily Caller)
“‘I didn’t pay any attention to that because the president kept telling you, this won’t affect you if you like what you have,’ Buckley said last week.” (Arkansas News)
WATCH: “Gibbs: ‘Certainly’ Wrong of President to Promise People Could Keep Their Health Care Plans” (Weekly Standard)
“Insularity, incompetence and deception doomed the launch of the Affordable Care Act…” (National Journal)
WATCH: “Internal administration memos reveal that phone and paper applications for Obamacare are just as glitch-ridden as the website, Good Morning America reported Monday.” (Washington Free Beacon)
Meanwhile the left is working feverishly (and pathetically) to “debunk” Obamacare horror storiesbasically trying to convince the drones that what is happening to millions of Americans in order to subsidize their plans – isn’t.
I’ve written about Obamacare a few times. Selfishly, shortsightedly — like the partisan propagandist that I am — all I’ve done is concentrate on the NEGATIVE stories and the BAD things about Obamacare. Duped, I suppose, by Fox News and the Koch Brothers, I only thought about the millions of people who are facing skyrocketing premiums, canceled insurance plans, and loss of employment as a direct result of Obama’s health care legislation. I even went so far as to give these people a platform to tell their stories (The Definitive Guide to How Obamacare is Destroying American Lives).
Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people emailed to tell me how they are suffering because of Obamacare. But, as many liberals have reminded me, these folks were all lying. Or they’re mistaken. They’re reading letters from their insurance companies that say things like, “we’re canceling your plan because it doesn’t fit ACA regulations” — but they’re mistaken. Just because their insurance company is explicitly informing them that they are losing their coverage because of Obamacare, that doesn’t mean they’re necessarily losing their coverage because of Obamacare. They could be misinterpreting. Or they’re delusional. Something. They must be something. Anything. Anything to explain why it appears that Obama lied. Anything other than pondering the possibility that it looks like he lied because he did, in fact, lie.
Oh! I know. I know what’s going on here: these people are agents under the employ of Sean Hannity, sent to make up stories about how their children are now uninsured due to a law that was sold as a means to make sure no child would go uninsured. They’re usurpers. Spies. Traitors. GUARDS, SEIZE THEM!
I see it now. Thank you for showing me the light, dear left wingers. I apologize. How could I have been pulled in by these fraudsters? Besides, even if their stories ARE true, what about the POSITIVE impact of Obamacare? Many folks have reached out, not with positive stories themselves per se, but insisting that there MUST be positive stories out there somewhere.
They’re right. I mean, sure, millions of Americans are being put in a bind because of this thing, but their misfortune has proven profitable for a small number of citizens and a large number of insurance executives. When will THEY get THEIR day in the Sun? When will SOMEONE talk about the GOOD things Obamacare is doing? It’s like when there’s a hurricane or a tornado or something. All of a sudden everyone is going on and on about the “victims” of the “catastrophe,” yet nobody ever discusses the GOOD aspects of natural disasters. Sure, families are driven out of their homes, but think about the positive side of that. Think about how well it works out for squatters and looters. If the news wanted to be balanced and fair, they’d report on the carnage this way: “Here we have the Smith family. Their home was rendered unlivable by the storm. But over HERE we’ve got a man named Jake. The mandatory evacuation gave him the perfect opportunity to steal the Smith’s TV. While some are kind of bummed in the aftermath of the hurricane, guys like Jake are really pretty pumped about the whole thing.”
See? That’s called “showing both sides of the story.”
So, you got your hours cut, your plan canceled, and the cost of life saving medication for your diabetic son suddenly skyrocketed? And you’re complaining about this? You unbelievable narcissist! Did you ever consider how your pain and suffering could be really helpful to some strangers across town?
I’ve had enough of this biased nonsense. It’s time that SOMEONE (besides the President of the United States, dozens of government agencies, Democrats, ABC, NBC, CBC, CNN, MSNBC, and Hollywood) put a spotlight on the benefits of Obamacare. To atone for my past malfeasance, I’ll get the ball rolling.
On Saturday, Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming delivered the weekly Republican address. He ignored Syria, presumably because his party is deeply conflicted on the issue. (For the record, so am I.) Instead, he demanded repeal of the Affordable Care Act. “The health care law,” he declared, “has proven to be unpopular, unworkable and unaffordable,” and he predicted “sticker shock” in the months ahead.
What an idiot, huh?
So, another week, another denunciation of Obamacare. Who cares? But Mr. Barrasso’s remarks were actually interesting, although not in the way he intended. You see, all the recent news on health costs has been good. So Mr. Barrasso is predicting sticker shock precisely when serious fears of such a shock are fading fast. Why would he do that?
Well, one likely answer is that he hasn’t heard any of the good news. Think about it: Who would tell him?
My guess, in other words, was that Mr. Barrasso was inadvertently illustrating the widening “wonk gap” — the G.O.P.’s near-complete lack of expertise on anything substantive.
Just how bad is the Obama administration’s Cone of Silence? It’s not so much about this…
A slew of media organizations have petitioned the government to release ObamaCare data that the White House has refused to make public.
CNN, ABC, MSNBC and others have filed Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) seeking information on the beleaguered healthcare.gov website. They have also asked for government documents revealing how many people have enrolled in the new healthcare exchanges.
The gregarious Malaysian businessman nicknamed “Fat Leonard” is well known by U.S. Navy commanders in the Pacific. But prosecutors in court papers say Leonard Francis worked his connections to obtain military secrets by arranging prostitutes, Lady Gaga tickets and other bribes for a U.S. commander, in a scandal reverberating across the Navy.
The accusations unfolding in a federal court case signal serious national security breaches and corruption, with the threat that more people, including those of higher ranks, could be swept up as the investigation continues. A hearing Nov. 8 could set a trial date.
Navy commander Michael Vannak Khem Misiewicz passed confidential information on ship routes to Francis’ Singapore-based company, Glenn Defense Marine Asia Ltd., or GDMA, according to the court documents.
Misiewicz and Francis moved Navy vessels like chess pieces, diverting aircraft carriers, destroyers and other ships to Asian ports with lax oversight where Francis could inflate costs, according to the criminal complaint. The firm overcharged the Navy millions for fuel, food and other services it provided, and invented tariffs by using phony port authorities, the prosecution alleges.
“What difference at this point does it make?”
This morning’s point counterpoint brought to you by Dan Riehl and Jeff Dunetz.
In 9 plus years of blogging, never have I seen a story this telling of a Republican Party that doesn’t understand its base, or New Media. Worse, it’s indicative of a corrupt inside the Beltway party that has abandoned, or decided to ignore nearly everything I believe in as an American and a conservative. This is a disaster for several reasons I’ll try to briefly and clearly explain my thinking below.
The National Republican Senate Committee, the GOP campaign arm responsible for Senate elections, has decided to use its political power to block consulting firm Jamestown Associates from receiving political work from GOP candidates or incumbents.
First and foremost, this has nothing to do with Jamestown Associates, or the Senate Conservative Fund. It’s foolish for McConnell and company to pretend there aren’t dozens of firms capable of pursuing any business one, or another firm might forego.
Furthermore, since when did the GOP decide it was against the free market AND the First Amendment? The insular nature of thinking that led McConnell, Josh Holmes and the NRSC into this debacle should frighten all Americans. It’s Neo-leftist, all but Stalin-esque and especially grotesque coming from a party that purports to stand for liberty. This is not the GOP I came to support when I abandoned the Democrat Party to vote for Ronald Reagan. If this kind of nonsense keeps up, soon, I won’t be supporting the GOP at all.
The grassroots base the GOP needs to turn out for them to win elections neither knows, nor cares about a Jamestown whatever, or some ‘fund.’ But that some thirty-something upstart who appears to have never held a real job outside of the DC political bubble thinks runningto the New York Times is a smart way to send someone a message given the nature of this message and the current state of GOP politics is truly one of the dumbest moves I’ve seen out of DC in sometime. All it did was confirm the absolute worst fears of an already all-too-weary GOP base.
In March of 1988 Northwest Airlines announced that it would ban smoking on all flights within North America, effective April 23, 1988. Northwest was the first airlines to make the announcement and bragged about its no smoking policy in its new TV commercials. One week later, RJR Kraft the conglomerate which owned Kraft and RJ Reynolds cigarettes, moved its $70-$80 million dollar account from Saatchi & Saatchi DFS Compton, the agency which created the Northwest account. Their rationale was that their advertising consultant could not do a good job working both for and against them.
This past Friday the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) this week informed a Jamestown Associates, a prominent Republican advertising firm, that it would not receive any contracts with the campaign committee because of its work with the Senate Conservatives Fund, a group that at times targets incumbent Senate Republicans. It was also reported that a senior official at the committee called individual Republican Senate campaigns and other party organizations this week and urged them not to hire the firm, Jamestown Associates. Their rationale was that an advertising consultant could not do a good job working both for and against them.
A relationship between advertiser and agency is a unique one. For the agency to do it’s job well the advertiser must share with their consultant the most intimate of details—polling, strategy, when, where and how it intends to surprise it’s competition etc.
Both RJR Kraft and the NRSC made the correct decision. Not to support and/or share their strategy with a company working against those strategies.
Speaking for myself…I am neither a “party purist” nor am I a RINO. I am a deeply conservative but pragmatic Republican who wants to win.
I understand that there are districts in this country where a Republican as conservative as I am can. not. win – so we need to apply the Buckley rule – support the most conservative candidate who is electable. Sometimes that candidate is going to be someone who is much less conservative than I am. Unless there is a massive change in the political ideology in the bluer sections of the country, that’s just the way it has to be. All of this “establishment” vs “tea-party” infighting is childish and destructive because it plays right into the Democrat media complex’s narrative that the party is imploding. The tea party needs to understand that not every candidate is going to be their ideal limited government, culturally conservative candidate, and the establishment needs to try a little harder to get along with the more conservative factions of their party who are trying to pull it in the right direction.
This is, of course, a parody of Barack Obama’s actual remarks about Terry McAuliffe. You can tell because surely Barack Obama would not be stupid enough to praise Obamacare – and McAuliffe’s intention to actually drag the state further into its clutches – two days before the Virginia gubernatorial election. There are limits to idiocy.
There have to be.
Anyway, a taste:
I’m here today because Terry has always had my back — alright maybe not in 2008 — but ever since then. He’s been a vocal supporter for our legislative priorities, especially the Affordable Care Act. Terry even wanted the public option and was just as disappointed as I was when that didn’t work out.
Delta Flight 2255 from Atlanta to Los Angeles seemed to be an ordinary flight with the exception of Candy, who was the most loving flight attendant I’ve ever encountered. Besides using her Southern charm to quickly defuse every situation, she began her welcome announcement by thanking the handful of uniformed soldiers on-board for serving our country. Her poignant message was followed by applause, and it put into perspective that none of us would be able to do what we do without these brave men and women.
But this transcontinental flight turned out to be everything but ordinary. We later learned, when the captain got on the PA system about 45 minutes prior to landing, that we were transporting a fallen soldier. The plane went quiet as he explained that there was a military escort on-board and asked that everyone remain seated for a couple of minutes so the soldiers could get off first. He also warned us not to be alarmed if we see fire trucks since Los Angeles greets their fallen military with a water canon salute. See my video below.
A few minutes after touchdown, we did indeed have a water canon salute, which I’d previously only experienced on happy occasions like inaugural flights. This time, the water glistening on the windowpanes looked like tears.
ANN ARBOR, MI – U.S. Army Lieutenant General (Ret.) William “Jerry” Boykin, in a recent World Net Daily radio interview, confirmed that people with high security clearances connected to the Muslim Brotherhood hold important positions in every major federal agency including the Pentagon and the Department of Defense.
The Muslim Brotherhood is a radical Islamist organization that has vowed the destruction of America from within.
General Boykin has the credentials to back up his conclusions. He was one of the original members of the U.S. Army’s Delta Force which he ultimately led in combat operations. He also served a tour in the CIA during which time he participated in clandestine operations throughout the world. He served his last four years in the Army as Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence.
No Administration in our nation’s history has cut more government deals with campaign contributors than the Barack Obama Administration. They have increased federal spending by nearly $900 billion, to $3.9 trillion – and the President has sought to get as much of it as possible to his cronies.
On the national scene, President Obama and the Democrats defend the unpopular Obamacare law as settled law of the land, therefore do not question it. At the same time, though, the Democrats relentlessly attack voter ID laws that have been enacted in several states over the past few years. The Obama administration is even waging courtroom war against those laws, suing states including Texas that have passed voter ID to get the laws gutted. Texas is key to Democrats’ hopes to build a permanent presidency and congressional majority, so whatever happens in Texas won’t stay in Texas. Voter ID seems to fill Democrats with dread that they cannot win the state.
For the sake of perspective, it’s worth noting that while Obamacare has never had majority support, voter ID laws routinely grab about 70% support, across all ethnicities, including in Texas. These are popular laws that most Americans recognize are needed to keep our elections secure. In a border state like Texas, border jumping, identity theft, and absentee vote brokering all combine to make voter ID necessary to ensure that legitimate votes count, and illegal votes do not.
As NewsBusters reported earlier, the New York Times embarrassed itself Sunday with an editorial astonishingly claiming President Obama “misspoke” when he told Americans they could keep their health insurance plans if they liked them.
Fox News host Greta Van Susteren couldn’t wait until Monday’s On the Record to comment and instead took to her blog to rip the Times as only she can:
***
The point of this blog post is to point out how pathetic the NY Times Editorial Board looks trying to describe this as ‘misspeaking.’ Does the Board think the American people are that stupid? Misspeaking?
As a criminal defense lawyer, and consistent with my client’s Constitutional rights, I have had to argue some pretty absurd things (eg the government’s failure to prove my client’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt after he voluntarily confessed to police) but the NY Times tops anything I have had to argue with its editorial…
Yep, that’s a win right there. You see, the New York Times upped the hackery Sunday when its editorial board absurdly claimed that President Obama didn’t really lie when he said “you can keep your plan.” Guys, he totally just “misspoke!” Over and over. Period.
As Twitchy reported, the mockery was swift and sure. And “just bloggers” and citizens helped out the “real journalists” over at the paper of hack-tastic record with a brutal compilation video of all of President Liar Pants’ “misspeaking.“
Nice Deb 