George Rebane

The French socialists and communists are really tuning up their anti-capitalist protesting methods.  You see, the market demand for getting properly trained in the skills of laying down in the streets, assaulting police lines, etc is getting so high that a new start-up will now teach you these skills over a weekend course that will cost $67.  Mr. Xavier Renou, the entrepreneur, has started this business to do his conscientious part to protest encroaching capitalism in France.  … how’s that again?

Now that President Obama has finished his trip abroad with a swing through the mid-east, we see that he can reel off the litany of US accomplishments to the Iraqi people as well as any Republican from the last administration.  Of course, he isn’t about to credit Bush with any of this.  From a careful perusal of his remarks to our troops, it is clear that they, on their own recognizance, decided to invade the country and do the dirty work of setting things right – and for that they were commended.  And since the surge worked so well in Iraq, Obama and Gates are going to apply it in Afghanistan with similar hopes.  Well, we can’t exactly call it a surge, now can we?  That’s why in Democratic circles it will henceforth be known as a “tactical demographic enhancement” – only from Washington DC.

The early harbingers of national healthcare are popping up here and there.  In today’s WSJ Drs. Groopman and Hartzband of the Harvard Medical School write that government imposed ‘quality’ care is dangerous (here).  It seems that if the socialist bureaucrats have their way, the government will establish the standards of care which must be uniformly applied across the land.  The only problem is that the tested application of such standards has never resulted in lowered mortality rates, but has proven to increase your chance of dying under this new form of the state’s embrace.

Idiot’s Corner.  And finally in the same healthcare vein, one of our local worthies – calling him a socialist would be an insult to the rest of them – writes in our local newspaper The Union that ‘Government needs to put America on a diet’.  To wit (or lack thereof)

Nevertheless, genetic factors, overeating, with a sedentary lifestyle play a significant role in causing obesity. But, the government should be playing the lead in reducing America’s extra-large sizes. Government needs to get people to eat less and exercise more. Where did government go to, that it abdicated its authority to promote healthy lifestyles?

“… abdicated its authority to promote healthy lifestyles?” my, my, my!  And the woods hereabouts are full of them.