Rich Lowry: Too busy for liberty

"In his first year in office, Bar ack Obama has visited more foreign countries than any other president. He has touched ground in 16 countries, easily outpacing Bill Clinton (three) and George W. Bush (11). It's an itinerary befitting a 'citizen of the world.'

"But there's one stop Obama won't make: He has begged off going to Berlin next week to attend ceremonies commemorating the fall of the Berlin Wall. His schedule is reportedly too crowded."

Yid with Lid: British Judge Rules Global Warming Belief is A Religion That Can be Discriminated Against

This is a scary day for freedom in Great Britain, the ruling will now limit the ability to dissent against the global warming nonsense and ads a whole other category of "PC" that must be practiced in the workplace. The only positive thing coming out of this case may be that this time, Larry David might urinate on Al Gore during his show. That would be worth the price of admission.

Barbara Curtis: Blogging Rules for Radicals Chapter One

"I wonder what Alinsky would make of the fact that rather than giving power to the people, these organizations have become political juggernauts exploiting people to build political power for one political party. The Democrat Party has for decades built a solid voting block of citizens dependent on government, even as they continued to foment a 'never enough' mentality and racial hostility to keep that block at their disposal.

"Alinsky describes this strategy as 'charitable handouts dressed up in ribbons of moral principle and "freedom," but with the price tag of unqualified political loyalty to us.' (p. 9)

"The way the Democrat Party has treated blacks is shameful, denying their individual personhood by laying waste to black conservatives. They’ve replaced segregated water fountains with an even more sinister form of segregation: robbing blacks of individuality and intellectual freedom."

Adam Graham: The ‘C’ in ACLU Is for Cowardice

"If the ACLU had any courage, it would 'speak truth to power' and take on Congress and the U.S. military with a frontal assault. Instead, this Christmas is the season for the ACLU to terrorize small towns and school districts in the name of protecting liberty from the imagined dangers of minor religious symbols and, of course, the dreaded moments of silence."

Yid with Lid: Barack Obama's Stupid JOBS-SAVED Tricks

"On his birthday I raised my son's allowance by a dollar/week I wonder if the POTUS is counting him as a saved job also. Mr. President it doesn't matter what my kid does, I am not going to fire him for taking out the trash.

"....officials defended the practice of counting raises as saved jobs. 'If I give you a raise, it is going to save a portion of your job," HHS spokesman Luis Rosero said.

"..The raises themselves were appropriate – the stimulus law set aside money for Head Start salary increases – but converting that number into jobs proved difficult. The Obama administration told Head Start officials to consider a fraction of each employee as a job saved."

Yid with Lid: Gallup Poll: Obama is A Liberal Who Doesn't Keep His Promises

"The decline in the percentage saying Obama has kept his promises is seen among all three major parties, dropping from 92% to 77% among Democrats, from 54% to 41% among independents, and from 45% to 22% among Republicans. To some degree, of course, the longer a president serves, the more opportunities there are for people to see him as breaking promises, which may account for some of this shift since the early months of Obama's presidency.

"A majority of Americans (56%) say it is very important to them that Obama keep his promises and another 26% call this somewhat important. A much smaller 16% say that keeping his word is either not that important to them or not important at all."

Not important? I wonder if a salesperson keeping his word would be important to them.

Brian T. Schwartz: Bizarro Health Care “Reform”: Expect Less, Pay More

"Mandatory insurance is a second path towards complete government-controlled insurance. Massachusetts has imposed this on its citizens, and they are learning to expect less. 'Long wait times for appointments for new patients continue to be a problem, resulting in delayed access and care,' reports the Massachusetts Medical Society. 'With our state health reform initiative,' said the society’s president, 'we quickly learned that universal coverage doesn’t equate to universal access.'

"With mandatory insurance, also expect less value from your insurance policy because politicians can make your current plan illegal. But you’ll pay more. A Cato Institute study concludes that 'any politically plausible mandate could … compel close to 100 million Americans to switch to a more comprehensive health plan with higher premiums, whether they value the added coverage or not.'

"Affordable plans become illegal because politicians cave to interest groups who want to force everyone to buy insurance with costly benefits that they may not want. In Massachusetts, such 'mandates are helping to drive up costs, making coverage unaffordable as many businesses and workers struggle,' reports the Boston Globe. Premium rates in Massachusetts are increasing at almost twice the average national rate. With nationwide mandatory insurance, we’ll all be paying more."