Robert Novak, RIP

A great man, a great American, a great conservative – didn’t always agree with him, but he was a man to be listened to, no matter what. America’s intellect dropped by a noticeable amount when Novak left us.

Tuesday Open Thread

Have at it, boys and girls – lots to talk about in these ever changing times.

Phrase of the Day

Never give in to the doomsayers:

I have found it advisable not to give too much heed to what people say when I am trying to accomplish something of consequence. Invariably they proclaim it can’t be done. I deem that the very best time to make the effort. – Calvin Coolidge

Persecution Ordered From Washington?

Interesting new wrinkle in the Belmont Abbey case:

In an exclusive interview with LifeSiteNews.com (LSN) , Belmont Abbey College president Dr. William Thierfelder said officials at the Charlotte division of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) told him that a decision to close a discrimination complaint against the school for failing to offer contraception coverage was reversed after the matter went to the nation’s capital.

Eight BAC faculty members filed a complaint against the college for removing coverage for abortion, sterilization, and contraception from their employee health insurance, supplied by Wellpath. The faculty first complained to the North Carolina Department of Insurance that BAC was required to cover contraception under state law because it did not qualify for the religious employer exemption. Both the state department and Wellpath, however, disagreed with the complainants.

“If you ever came on this campus, the first thing you see is the Basilica of Mary Help of Christians,” said Thierfelder. “That basilica is connected to a monastery. That monastery is connected to the main administration building.”

The group of complainants, who joined forces with the National Women’s Law Center, then made a gender discrimination complaint to the EEOC, which in March informed the Abbey that it had closed the issue. Two months later, the EEOC reversed its decision.

What is the National Women’s Law Center? Here’s a sample from their website:

Jill offered a presentation called “Prosecuting Pregnancy,” where she talked about state actions that criminalize the medical decision-making and drug use of pregnant women. For example, women have been criminally prosecuted with such charges as child endangerment, neglect, or fetal homicide when their newborn infants test positive for drugs at birth. Jill posed the question: Is it right to prosecute pregnant women when they (or their newborn children) test positive for illegal drugs while we don’t prosecute anyone else for who tests positive for illegal drugs? And she answered it for us, too: No, she said, because having illegal drugs in your body is not a crime — even for a pregnant woman. Jill explained that the Supreme Court has held that it is unconstitutional to criminalize a person’s status, including the status of being an addict. A person can be charged with possession of a drug, but the appearance of that drug in their system can’t be a crime.

A group which insists that taking illegal drugs is not a crime. Interesting, to say the least – but entirely in keeping with a pro-abortion view that absolutely everything is ok as long as you stick “choice” some where in there. I think we can tell where the pressure lies, here – kook leftists weren’t about to let something as trivial as the law get in the way of smacking down a Catholic college which, you know?, actually insists upon being Catholic.

We can expect more of this as long as Obama is President – because his staff it just shot through with people either directly from screwball groups like the NWLC, or in sympathy with their views. Vigilance will be needed to defend liberty.

One Third of all Residential Mortgages "Under Water"

Mish’s links to the scoop (PDF) and quotes:

More than 15.2 million U.S. mortgages, or 32.2 percent of all mortgaged properties, were in negative equity position as of June 30, 2009 according to newly released data from First American CoreLogic. As of June 2009, there were an additional 2.5 million mortgaged properties that were approaching negative equity. Negative equity and near negative equity mortgages combined account for nearly 38 percent of all residential properties with a mortgage nationwide.

66% of the mortgages here in my State of Nevada are under water – with “near negative” bringing it to nearly 69%. That’s a lot – and its why the bottom here in Nevada is no where in sight. This is a State which is getting crushed between a collapsed housing market coupled with a heavily distressed tourism industry (more and more casino operators are reporting losses and indicating possible bankruptcy…if a casino is going broke, you know you’ve got some problems). How do we fix this?

Essentially, we need to reorganize our housing system as if it were going through bankruptcy. Do the best we can to determine the real value of the houses, adjust the mortgage amounts to fit and then just start building our way out of the mess by hard work. And don’t get me wrong, it means the $130,000 I’ve put in to my house is gone for good (or bad, as the case may be). Everyone bet wrong, everyone has to pay the price – well, except for those wise people who bought pre-boom and didn’t sell or refinance their house during the bubble…they’re sitting pretty on equity and deserve it for being wise.

While the mortgage crisis has hit worst just a few States, the fact remains that housing prices are dropping almost uniformly around the United States and it appears that no State has less than 15% of its mortgaged residential properties under water. It will be very painful to get out of this, but any attempt to put the matter off or hide it under various government and federal reserve schemes will just put off the day of reckoning, and make it worse when it finally arrives.

A look at the cold, hard facts is necessary – and the courage to ruthlessly cut to the chase and set things to right. We won’t get that from Obama, Reid, Pelosi and their Democrats, so we’re going to have to do it ourselves starting in 2010.

Race for Obama's Senate Seat a Toss Up

And it looks good to me:

Republican hopeful Mark Kirk finds himself starting out even in a Senate race against his likeliest Democratic competitor, State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias.

The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey in the state shows Kirk, a member of the House from the northern suburbs of Chciago, with 41% of the vote while Giannoulias attracts 38%. Four percent (4%) prefer some other candidate, and 17% are not sure.

The sole Republican in the race fares much better against the other top Democratic contender, Cheryle Jackson, president of the Chicago Urban League and a former top aide to disgraced Governor Rod Blagojevich. Kirk beats Jackson by 17 points, 47% to 30%. Six percent (6%) like another candidate, and again 17% are undecided.

Giannoulias is tied to Obama, and tied to Tony Rezko…a scion of a Chicago banking family which has had its share of questions, we couldn’t script a better example of what is wrong with politics to run against (except for whomever the GOP picks – wink, nudge – to run against Harry Reid). If we’re expecting someone to rise out of Chicago finance and banking to have a clean record, then we’re really hoping against hope. Well, more accurately, the Democrats are hoping against hope – we’ll just reap the electoral benefits.

Canada's Health Care System "Imploding"

A timely bit of info if there ever was:

The incoming president of the Canadian Medical Association says this country’s health-care system is sick and doctors need to develop a plan to cure it.

Dr. Anne Doig says patients are getting less than optimal care and she adds that physicians from across the country – who will gather in Saskatoon on Sunday for their annual meeting – recognize that changes must be made.

“We all agree that the system is imploding, we all agree that things are more precarious than perhaps Canadians realize,” Doing said in an interview with The Canadian Press.

“We know that there must be change,” she said. “We’re all running flat out, we’re all just trying to stay ahead of the immediate day-to-day demands.”

The pitch for change at the conference is to start with a presentation from Dr. Robert Ouellet, the current president of the CMA, who has said there’s a critical need to make Canada’s health-care system patient-centred. He will present details from his fact-finding trip to Europe in January, where he met with health groups in England, Denmark, Belgium, Netherlands and France.

His thoughts on the issue are already clear. Ouellet has been saying since his return that “a health-care revolution has passed us by,” that it’s possible to make wait lists disappear while maintaining universal coverage and “that competition should be welcomed, not feared.”

In other words, Ouellet believes there could be a role for private health-care delivery within the public system.

Anyone want Obamacare, now?

Look, liberals, government can play a role in helping manage funds to ensure that people without coverage aren’t left out in the cold – though, even there, the actual dispensing of the money would be best left to private charitable organizations. What government can’t do is run the system – even in the military, staffed with brave and dedicated men and women, things get screwed up…if the military can’t get the bureaucracy right, what makes you think anyone else will? All these boards and all the piles of bureaucratic flapdoodle proposed in Obamacare would, indeed, crush those private insurers your side is demonizing, but they would make the system bureaucrat-centered, rather than patient-centered. Canada is just learning this, the hard way.

We don’t need to – we can get quality, inexpensive health care to all Americans (don’t you mean “affordable”? No, “affordable” is liberal-speak for “costs like the Dickens but not directly” – inexpensive means precisely that). We can’t get it with Obama and his Democrats, but we can get it…it’ll just have to wait until at least 2011.

Business Insiders Bail Out

Is another economic bubble about to burst?:

A massive rally in U.S. stocks since March has reawakened bullish spirits, but insiders are jumping out of the market in a sign the run up is getting stretched.

Company executives are selling stock at a rate not seen in two years after a near 50 percent rise in the S&P 500 from a March 9 low. That suggests directors and managers may think stock prices are nearing the top end of their range in the current economic climate…

…Increased insider selling has in the past been an indicator of an inflection point for equity markets, said Ben Silverman, director of research at InsiderScore.com.

Sales of stock by company insiders suggests managers have a dim view of the market’s prospects…

This would be because there’s nothing to the so-called “improvement” in economic prospects. A huge infusion of cash – most of it created out of thin air by central banks – caused a temporary slow down in the collapse. This was coupled with a bunch of “ye-haw, everything’s great, again” economic spin to create the recent stock market boom – and not just here, but around the world and especially in China, where the bubble has risen higher and faster than anywhere else (this fueled by the Chinese government increasing the money supply by 26% and then essentially ordering banks to lend it on easy terms). But, meanwhile, Chinese exports – the thing which makes the Chinese economy tick – have fallen for 9 straight months; US consumer sales are down (in spite of alleged bumps up which are actually just price fluctuations on necessities); bankruptcies and loan impairments continue to rise; commercial real estate is in the midst of a collapse which may beggar the residential home melt down…on and on it goes, not a scintilla of good economic news, and now the piper will have to be paid.

Added to this is clear evidence of deflationary pressures (such as grocery stores cutting prices, etc. here and around the world). What we’ve got is all the elements of a Depression without anyone wanting to admit that is what we’re in. No admission – but as I always say, look at what people do as opposed to what they say. For all the talk of “green shoots”, the actuality is people in the know (about their own corporations as well as others) are bailing out a rapid clip.

It going to get a lot worse before it gets any better – and it won’t get better until we realize that only hard work will get us out of this. There’s no Economic Fairy named Barack Obama who will wave his magic wand of stimulus and make it all better – we’ve screwed up for generations, and now we have to pay up.

Phrase of the Day

Want to avoid another Great Depression? Then understand:

The Great Depression, like most other periods of severe unemployment, was produced by government mismanagement rather than by any inherent instability of the private economy. – Milton Friedman

Revenge of the Law of Unintended Consequences

The story:

The popular “cash-for-clunkers” program is boosting U.S. auto sales and manufacturing but is also slashing donations to charities that rely on gifts of cars to fund social programs, charity officials say.

Volunteers of America and other charities that receive tens of thousands of cars each year said such donations have quickly fallen up to 12 percent — and fear a 25 percent drop eventually, or over $100 million — as owners rush to trade gas guzzlers for new fuel-efficient models while federal rebates last.

“We started seeing it right away in July” when the program began, said Jim Hartman, vice president of vehicle donations at Volunteers of America, a nationwide charity. “It varies by market, but there’s been an 11 to 12 percent drop compared with last year.”

“The cars I’m seeing cashed in as clunkers, like older SUVs, are absolutely the typical donation to us,” he said.

Now, why didn’t Obama and his Democrats not see this coming? Because you can’t run the show from DC – its impossible. What we’ve got here is what happens when government steps in – because no one in government can possibly know all that is going on, any government action, even the most well-intentioned, is almost certain to have a baleful effect somewhere. In this case here, its crushing some charities and, of course, making used cars more scarce for poor Americans.

We can’t pick the winners and losers – the only thing we can do is help the losers to bear their burden. But it is beyond our power to figure out just who should get what from whom…we don’t know who should pay and who should benefit and we’re almost certain to punish and reward the wrong people.

Perhaps now some of you liberals will start thinking about things.