et ceteras

Fair warning: This et ceteras is all about politics, one way or another.

The "Boehner plan" passed the House vote earlier this evening. Does it go far enough? Hell no. Is it better than nothing, since it stands up to Obama on taxes and contains authentic, albeit minuscule, spending cuts? Yes. Was it smart to pass it? We won't know until the chips fall somewhere down the line.

You know all that talk the MSM has engaged in, saying the federal government's credit rating might get downgraded if the debt ceiling did not get raised by next week? It was all a bunch of hooey. Moody's, for one, is on record saying there is no downgrade on the table in the near term. What will eventually cause a downgrade, however, is the government continuing to plunge into an abyss of debt while spending at levels so high they are obviously unsustainable...therefore, raising the debt ceiling in the manner Obama & Co. prefer would actually hasten the arrival of the downgrade. It would be nice for the MSM to point this out, but of course they never will.

Speaking of the MSM, it is disgraceful how they are handling the case of Congressman David Wu, a 56-year-old Democrat in his seventh term. There have recently been accusations leveled at him by the 18-year-old daughter of one of his donors, which prompted him to say he would resign after the debt ceiling situation gets resolved. And what are those accusations? I have seen/heard them mentioned on online news outlets, in print news outlets, and on the radio, and in every single mention he was said to have been accused of an "unwanted sexual encounter." One outlet noted that in addition to "unwanted," the "encounter" was "aggressive." The way I see it -- and I dare anyone to see it differently -- that means Wu has been accused of rape. Why won't the MSM just say it? You know that if such accusations were made against a Republican, they would be the lead story for weeks and the word "rape" would be trumpeted all over the place. But when the accused is a Democrat, the story gets buried on the bottom of page 8; the word "rape" gets placed in the Witness Protection Program; and female-defending feminists are suddenly nowhere to be found.

Still sticking with the MSM, here's a story they have been sure to avoid reporting altogether: Pew Research shows a tectonic movement of white voters under the age of 30. In 2008 members of that group identified themselves more as Democrats than as Republicans, by a margin of seven points. This year they identify more as Republicans, by a margin of eleven points. That is an 18-point swing in only three years. I do not recall seeing the likes of that in my lifetime, so don't let anyone tell you that Obama is unbeatable in 2012.

I think every time I have mentioned Canada on this blog it has been in the context of hockey, or of the 2010 Winter Olympics that were hosted there. For some reason it just occurred to me (literally, right now) that I should give our northerly neighbors props on their prime minister. Stephen Harper has cut taxes and created a pro-business environment that has allowed Canada to weather the recession better than any other major country on earth. And he played piano and sang "With a Little Help from My Friends" with Yo Yo Ma. And this week he honored military heroes by laying a wreath at Canada's Korean Veterans National Wall of Remembrance. Harper is a much better leader than Obama, and I wish that Canuck was a Yank.

And finally, an observation: In Obama's entire time as president, the only time I can remember him taking a specific policy position and being adamant about it is when he has said he wants to raise taxes. He left it up to the legislature to write "his" health care law and to negotiate the debt ceiling. He kept Bush's war policies in place, but never said anything about it. However, when the subject is taxes, Obama's eyes alight with fire; and he argues passionately in favor of raising them; and he deploys class warfare propaganda that would make Cold War Soviets proud. I rarely say this about people, but in the case of Barack Obama, I truly despise the man. There is not one thing about him that is worthy of respect.

Hopefully my next post will be more uplifting, like the one I wrote last Sunday.