OMG: We R Suing

Walking and texting may be hazardous to your health. So hazardous that you may just have to sue. And that’s exactly what the parents of 15-year-old Alexa Longueira have done.

According to news reports, Alexa was so busy tapping out a text message on her cell phone while walking along Victory Boulevard in Staten Island that she didn’t see the open manhole ahead of her.

You guessed it. She fell in.

The Department of Environmental Protection (“DEP”) said its workers had turned away briefly to grab some warning cones. “We regret that this happened and wish the young woman a speedy recovery,” DEP spokeswoman Mercedes Padilla said in a statement.

Alexa suffered some scrapes on her arms and back. “It was four or five feet, it was very painful. I kind of crawled out and the DEP guys came running and helped me,” Alexa said. “They were just like, ‘I’m sorry! I’m sorry!’”

Now Alexa’s parents are suing. “Oh my God, it was putrid. One of her sneakers is still down there,” her mother, Kim Longueira, said.

—Source: nbcnewyork.com

Deception and Tyranny Key To Health Care Reform

via: legalinsurrection

David Brooks has a piece in today’s NY Times in which he explains how Barack Obama will pass health care reform. The solution can be summed up in two words: Deception and Tyranny.

Health Insurance Fraud Exposed

via: legalinsurrection

The Congressional Budget Office has released its preliminary assessment of draft legislation to reform health insurance, and the picture is ugly. (h/t/ HotAir)

Contrary to the claims by the Obama administration and Congressional Democrats that the reform will provide coverage for all Americans without busting the budget, the CBO estimates that only a net of 16-17 million people will obtain coverage, after factoring in those people who lose coverage because of the reforms. At the same time, the cost will exceed $1 trillion, which likely is a gross understatement because the current analysis does not take into account expanded Medicaid coverage:

According to our preliminary assessment, enacting the proposal would result in a net increase in federal budget deficits of about $1.0 trillion over the 2010-2019 period. When fully implemented, about 39 million individuals would obtain coverage through the new insurance exchanges. At the same time, the number of people who had coverage through an employer would decline by about 15 million (or roughly 10percent), and coverage from other sources would fall by about 8 million, so the net decrease in the number of people uninsured would be about 16 million or 17 million.

These new figures do not represent a formal or complete cost estimate for the draft legislation, for several reasons. The estimates provided do not address the entire bill—only the major provisions related to health insurance coverage. Some details have not been estimated yet, and the draft legislation has not been fully reviewed. Also, because expanded eligibility for the Medicaid program may be added at a later date, those figures are not likely to represent the impact that more comprehensive proposals—which might include a significant expansion of Medicaid or other options for subsidizing coverage for those with income below 150 percent of the federal poverty level—would have both on the federal budget and on the extent of insurance coverage.

Given the CBO’s dire predictions, the rush to complete health care reform in the next few weeks is irresponsible in the extreme. We cannot afford another blind vote, as happened with the stimulus package in February, where neither the Congress nor the public had a chance to understand both the printed provisions and the implications of those provisions.

Added: Even though the proposal evaluated by the CBO is not a final draft, the fact that a proposal by a leading Democrat (Ted Kennedy) has been shown to have unintended consequences should give everyone pause. As with the stimulus plan, these massive legislative efforts must be addressed carefully and with adequate time, and not rushed through based on assumptions and promises which lack basis in fact.

Obama Gives Queen iPod Made In China By Exploited Workers

Gateway Pundit, Hot Air, Jammie Wearing Fool, and others are reporting that the Obamas gave the Queen of England an iPod as a present. Putting aside the tacky nature of such a gift in this context, one point that has been overlooked is that iPods are manufactured in CHINA by exploited female workers:

Apple’s iPods are made by mainly female workers who earn as little as £27 per month, according to a report in the Mail on Sunday yesterday.

The report, ‘iPod City’, isn’t available online. It offers photographs taken from inside the factories that make Apple music players, situated in China and owned by Foxconn.

The Mail visited some of these factories and spoke with staff there. It reports that Foxconn’s Longhua plant houses 200,000 workers, remarking: “This iPod City has a population bigger than Newcastle’s.”

The report claims Longhua’s workers live in dormitories that house 100 people, and that visitors from the outside world are not permitted. Workers toil for 15-hours a day to make the iconic music player, the report claims. They earn £27 per month.

The report reveals that the iPod nano is made in a five-storey factory (E3) that is secured by police officers.

Another factory in Suzhou, Shanghai, makes iPod shuffles. The workers are housed outside the plant, and earn £54 per month – but they must pay for their accommodation and food, “which takes up half their salaries”, the report observes.

A security guard told the Mail reporters that the iPod shuffle production lines are staffed by women workers because “they are more honest than male workers”.

The manufacturer in China denies that workers toil in sweatshop conditions, but its statement is hardly reassuring:

The company also said it has continued to make improvements to workers’ living conditions, providing safe and well-equipped dormitories complete with free laundry service, sports facilities, libraries, and other facilities.

Apple also denies the sweatshop allegations. But whether the workers toil in sweatshops or in workers’ paradise, is beside the point.

At least the President could have promoted U.S. manufacturing by giving something made in the U.S.A. Or does Obama think that iPods ARE made in the U.S.A.? Or perhaps this is part of his strategy to use the G-20 Summit to strengthen ties to China.
———————————————
UPDATE: Jake Tapper is reporting that the iPod contained three Obama speeches, photos of Obama’s inauguration, and photos from the Queen’s prior visits to the U.S. I’m sure Her Majesty can’t wait to snuggle up to a fire at the castle and listen to Obama’s 2004 speech at the Democratic National Convention.

And So It Goes In Shreveport has more iPod thoughts. She’s a teacher, so she knows. And Jammie points out the iPod included the song “Send in the Clowns.”

via: legalinsurrection

April Fools’ Day Headline Round-Up

My favorite April Fools’ day headlines from around the globe:

• Obama confesses to treason and resigns, co-conspirators are in custody, Hillary Clinton sworn in as president
• Twitter switch for Guardian, after 188 years of ink
• Microsoft releases Vista patch to improve battery life
• Dog poo biofuel to power Berlin buses
• World First Pinot Chocolat
• Germany Re-Introduces Deutsch Mark to Stabilize Economy
• Amazon Cloud Computing Reaches for the Sky
• Introducing Google Chrome with 3D
• Gmail Introduces Auto-Pilot
• BBC iPlayer now available on a toaster
• Swimming fish could be key to generating electricity for UK homes
• Oprah Named Fourth Person of the Trinity
• New One-Eye Burkas Introduced in Saudi Arabia
• Tricia Nixon Cox announces presidential candidacy on YouTube
• Brad dumps Angie for Jen
• Dalai Lama to speak at 2010 ceremony
• iPods get heavier with more music
• Obama Orders Chevrolet and Dodge Out Of NASCAR
• Flights to Mars from only $99
• Introducing CADIE
• Technologizer’s First Forty-Five Fabulous Years
• EA and Gameloft’s battle of the iPhone boobs
• TXT’N'WALK app lets you text and walk
• PomeGranate Phone
• Lemon cola becomes holy water in Norway baptism
• Welcome to the Hotel Cali-fauna
• THE INVISIBLE CAR: NOW YOU SEE IT…NOW YOU DON’T
• Michelle Malkin Guest Hosting For Rachel Maddow Tonight

via: legalinsurrection

NY Times: Anyone Who Disagrees With Us On Immigration Is A Racist Xenophobe

Just when I was feeling a little bad about how the NY Times had to take out a subprime mortgage on its headquarters and is on the brink of financial ruin, the NY Times editors reminded me why I shouldn’t feel bad. In yet another use of the race card, the NY Times runs an editorial labelling those who support border security and enforcing existing immigration laws as racist xenophobes hell-bent on ethnic cleansing of Latinos.

The relentlessly harsh Republican campaign against immigrants has always hidden a streak of racialist extremism….Americans want immigration solved, and they realize that mass deportations will not do that. When you add the unprecedented engagement of growing numbers of Latino voters in 2008, it becomes clear that the nativist path is the path to permanent political irrelevance. Unless you can find a way to get rid of all the Latinos.

In the view of the NY Times, the U.S. is the only country not entitled to sovereignty, including control of its borders, the right to decide who enters the country, and the right to deport those who violated the law through illegal immigration.

There is nothing inherently racist or xenophobic about sovereignty or immigration enforcement. For a hundred years there has been massive legal immigration of all manner of racial and ethnic groups. The issue is not what the color of the country’s skin will be, but whether we will exist as a sovereign nation, or simply an open border with no unique American identity. That unique identity is not based on race or ethnicity, but on a recognition of our sovereignty and a respect for our laws.

You would not think that the concept of sovereignty would be so controversial. But for at least two generations we have allowed the editors of the NY Times and others to deride the American identity as racist, sexist, and just about every other “ist” you can think of. We have allowed those who view America as inherently evil to frame the debate. The debate over an open border has evolved to the point that a large number of people, including apparently the editors of the NY Times, believe that an effectively open border should be our policy.

But it is one thing to disagree, and another thing to stifle legitimate debate by labelling people as racist. The use of the race card worked effectively in the presidential campaign, and seems to be the liberal tactic of the day. Let’s call it for what it is.

Found on Legal Insurrection

Rainforest Growth A Threat To Al Gore’s Pocketbook

As if it weren’t bad enough that we are having one of the coldest winters in memory, the sea ice is at record levels, and hundreds of climatologists are questioning if not outright debunking Al Gore’s hysterical predictions of global warming. Now, the rainforests are not cooperating in Gore’s political agenda, and you know if must be true, because it is reported by the NY Times: New Jungles Prompt a Debate on Rain Forests.

Rainforest resurgence is consistent with the experience in the U.S., where “throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, net forestland declined dramatically, but began to grow back in the earth 20th century. The United States has experienced net forest growth for most of the past century.”

This is a threat Gore cannot tolerate. Not because of the environmental impact, but because Gore has invested in companies whose profits are dependent on rainforest preservation, Al Gore’s investment firm bets that rainforest conservation will be profitable:

Tuesday London-based Generation Investment Management announced a minority stake in Sydney-based New Forests Pty Limited, a firm that specializes in business models that deliver returns from environmental markets such as carbon, biodiversity and water. Al Gore is the chairman of Generation Investment
Management.

Al Gore, that private-airplane hopping, big-mansion living, advocate of doom is profiting from the global-warming hysteria. If only the planet would cooperate, Gore really could make a killing.

Found on Legal Insurrection

Do Unto Obama As Obama Did Unto Bush? You Betcha

I really wanted to put my disgust at Bush Derangement Syndrome behind me in approaching Obama.

Yes, Obama and his supporters (i) repeatedly lied about Bush lying us into war, (ii) distorted the court rulings on Gitmo to create the false impression that Bush is a war criminal, (iii) refused to acknowledge that their Iraq policy either would have left tens of millions of people to live in tyranny or would have resulted in a genocidal civil war and an al Qaida run state, (iv) deliberately talked down the economy to the point that people believe that unemployment rates equal to those during the Clinton administration are the equivalent of the Depression era, (v) engaged in name calling while calling for an end to name calling, (vi) refused to acknowledge that the housing crisis and related credit crisis were the result of the free money policies started under the Clinton administration and the lowered lending standards mandated by Democratic policies, (vii) engaged in demeaning diatribes against Sarah Palin based on class arrogance and an ingrained hatred of traditional America, (viii) created bizarre and almost paranoid tales, including that Bush might not relinquish power in some sort of coup d’etat, and (ix) skillfully silenced legitimate criticisms of Obama’s background and policies by tagging critics as racist. And the mainstream media was the cheerleader-in-chief throughout it all.

I was ready to put it all behind me, until the inauguration. The disrespect showed to Bush during the inauguration was too much. I’m just not that big a person to let it go.

As many others have noted, that disrespect was not only by the crowd, but by Obama himself during his speech. Obama couldn’t seem to put his hostility towards Bush behind him for the inauguration, despite the extraordinary efforts of the Bush administration to ensure a smooth transition. There were no missing keyboard parts or petty vandalism as happened when Clinton left the White House.

The performance of the crowd and Obama was a metaphor for where this country is heading if those who oppose Obama’s policies remain silent in the hope that Obama will play nice. Being nice to Obama does not result in Obama or his supporters being nice to you. As I have noted before, Obama is one of the most aggressive politicians ever, and conservatives are kidding themselves if they think a few kind words now and then from Obama reflect a change in agenda.

So should we do unto Obama as Obama did unto Bush? Will the country be better off with a real opposition party? As Sarah Palin would say, “you betcha.”

Found on LegalInsurrection

The “Military Recruiting Goals” Media Lie

The media is all aflutter today with reports — as headlined in the NY Times — that “all active-duty and reserve forces meeting or exceeding their recruitment goals for the first time since 2004, the year that violence in Iraq intensified drastically….”

This is the perfect mainstream media story because it perpetuates two myths: That only the poor and uneducated join the military and that violence in Iraq caused reenlistment problems. This story, however, is a gross exaggeration at best, a lie at worst, premised on the hope that no one would check.

A simple web search reveals that in fiscal year 2007 (October 2006-December 2007), when the economy was strong and the surge in Iraq was under way, all military branches met or exceeded their recruiting goals and the reserves fell only slightly short:

The Department of Defense has announced its recruiting statistics by the active and reserve components for Fiscal Year 2007…. All of the active duty branches met or exceeded their recruiting goals for the fiscal year. On the Reserve side, four of the six reserve components met or exceeded their recruiting goals.

The increase in recruiting activity went back at least to 2006:

Last month’s recruiting figures for all military services exceeded goals, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said during testimony today [January 2007] before the House Armed Services Committee. “I’m pleased to report that all active branches of the United States military exceeded their recruiting goals for the month of December,” Gates said, “with particularly strong showings by the Army and the Marine Corps.”

The recruiting activity picked up dramatically during 2007 into October 2007, when the stock market and economy were at their peak:

The first month of fiscal 2008 was a success for all active and reserve military components.

In a meeting with Pentagon reporters today, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said all components met or exceeded their recruiting goals for October.

On the active-duty side, the Army made 101 percent of its goal of 4,500, with 4,564 recruits. The Navy made 100 percent of its goal of 2,788 recruits. The Marine Corps made 102 percent of its goal of 2,720, with 2,788 enlisting. The Air Force made 100 percent of its goal of 2,656.

The Guard and reserve components “did very well” in October, Whitman said. The Air National Guard made 134 percent of its goal of 609 accessions, actually signing up 818 airmen. The Army National Guard also had a very good month, signing up 123 percent of its goal of 4,311 soldiers. The Army Guard signed up 5,305 men and women.

The Navy Reserve made 112 percent of its goal of 818, signing up 918 sailors, and the Army Reserve made 104 percent of goal, signing up 3,297 against 3,169. The Marine Corps Reserve and Air Force Reserve both made 100 percent of their goals of 890 and 681, respectively.

The lie, in 2007, that the military was not meeting or exceeding its goals, was exposed by NewsBusters on November 13, 2007. That lie continues to this day because it is so perfect to attack the outgoing Bush administration on its last day in office.

Found on LegalInsurrection

So much for a cease-fire: Iran Already Rearming Hamas

“This people, small as it is, surrounded as it is by enemies, has decided to live. And if we have to pay the price for living, we have to pay it. This is not a people that can give in.” (Golda Meir)

Israel has ended its Gaza operation in the hope that Hamas has learned to change its ways. No surprise, Hamas already is attempting to rearm with even longer-range missiles via a large shipment from Iran:

US and Egyptian warships were scouring the Gulf of Aden and Red Sea Tuesday, Jan. 20 to waylay an Iranian freighter carrying scores of heavy rockets for delivery to Hamas…. [T]he cargo consists of 50 Fajr rockets whose range is 50-75 km, scores of heavy Grad rockets, new, improved launchers whose angle of fire can be precisely adjusted, tons of high-quality explosives, submachine guns, rifles and pistols and armor-piercing missiles and shells (of types used successfully by Hizballah against Israeli tanks in 2006).

The shipment, the largest Tehran has ever consigned to the Palestinian Hamas in Gaza, includes also a large number of anti-personnel and anti-vehicle mines, equipment for assembling roadside bombs and advanced communications and night vision gear.

The shipment is reminiscent of the Karin A ship seized by the Israelis in 2002. Video of the Karin A seizure is here

Found on LegalInsurrection