BP Spills Coffee

This video has gone viral so I'm betting you've already seen it somewhere else. Still it's funnier than having to discuss the real events and issues. So here goes:

Someone mentioned the only thing curiously missing from the video is the government.

Errr..... No. What you see here is pretty much correct. The Federal Government has been essentially missing in action on this one, as anyone actually down here on the coast can tell you. And the absence of any intelligent Federal response has allowed Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal to become a folk hero.

It is tragic that this event has developed in slow motion. Even today President Obama and the folks in Washington do not understand the magnitude of the destruction that has taken place, both to the environment and to the gulf coast economy.

How to Make Universal Health Care an Overwhelming Success

If ever a national program deserves to succeed, it is Universal Health Care. It is a great goal, worthy of a great nation. Americans, and, indeed, all people deserve Universal Health Care. Even the weakest and poorest among us deserve health care with respect, caring and quality.

A catastrophic health crisis should not drive anyone into bankruptcy. There should never be a choice between a loved one and a mortgage. As a nation we can afford Universal Health Care and now is the time we should gather our brightest and our very best and design a plan that protects and shelters our people and strengthens our nation.

We should gather our best and brightest, our experts in each area of wellness, care and management and we should craft a program that combines our greatest strengths with our capacity for caring for our poor and those currently uninsured, for what ever reason.

We should bring our very best and brightest to the table. But we're not. Instead we've gathered a bunch of politicians and bureaucrats and partisan hacks who have virtually no real world experience and no health care expertise. What they do know how to do is raise money for their re-election. They do know how to demonize their opposition. The do know how to pad the wallets of their patrons. They do know how to fill reams and reams of paper with bizarre and convoluted legal jargon.

The one thing that is emerging from their efforts at Universal Health Care is the virtual destruction of our current system which works so very well for the vast majority of Americans to be replaced by a bureaucratic nightmare of forms, quotas, rationing and, well, more bureaucracy.

Both the House and Senate have now got drafts of programs that exceed 2,000 pages each! And the Congressional Budget Office has reviewed these plan and certified that they will not work. Taxes and health care costs will skyrocket to the point they will bankrupt our nation in just a few short years.

What doctors and health care experts are pointing out is that these few short years will be miserable. Delays in service. Loss of your personal physician. And doctors who will be unable to use their best judgement in treating your ailments.

How did this happen? Nancy Pelosi, the most incompetent, partisan hack to ever fill the seat of Speaker of the House, has DEMANDED that only far left liberal members even be allowed to work on the House proposal. Absolutely NO REPUBLICANS and no MODERATE DEMOCRATS were allowed to raise a single objection and add a single idea to the bloated give-away to party loyalists. As a result, great ideas that would have reduced red tape, lowered costs, increased competition and improve care were left out.

Harry Reid has done essentially the same thing in the Senate, although rules there will eventually demand more thoughtful input.

But, for reasons no one will ever understand, President Obama is attempting to rush the program through the Congress without review, input, ideas, study or analysis. It is impossible for anyone to guess why. It is, most assuredly, a betrayal of the American people.

Can this be fixed. Of course it can. Everyone and I mean EVERYONE has signed on to the goal of Universal Health Care! Doctors, hospitals, insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, virtually all Republicans and all Democrats. The team is here and ready to work.

It can be fixed. But it won't be unless Barack Obama wakes up and realizes that the Democratically controlled Congress is the problem. It won't be fixed unless Obama uses this recess to gather a true bi-partisan team at the White House and works them day and night to really compromise and to build the best possible plan. Republicans, Blue Dog Democrats and Liberals, all at one table, all with their eyes focused on the ball.

Governor Bobby Jindal of Louisiana has submitted an excellent compromise plan. It's a hell of a good place to start. You can all read it here: How to Make Health-Care Reform Bipartisan

Barack Obama's Vision

This is exceptionally short entry just to add my voice to the overwhelming approval the President has received for his speech last night. Barack Obama did a masterful job. He was articulate and inspiring. One poll I saw this morning on MSNBC indicated his post speech approval rating jumped to 80%.

Taking a step back and looking at the scope of his vision for America, I cannot disagree with him on anything. He has my support on every single proposal.

Of course the devil is in the details and those details will take do time to develop. And Obama still runs the risk that Nancy Pelosi will circumvent his vision and replace it with a pale partisan version of her own.

Already there is one rather horrific note to indicate politics as usual will actually hold sway in Washington. Obama "promised" that "next year" there would be "no earmarks in the omnibus spending bill." He cleverly omitted that promise for this year's bill. The Pelosi authored spending bill being introduced tomorrow contains over 8,000 pork laden earmarks, some so stupefyingly wasteful they defy belief.

As I said, the devil is in the details.

Unfortunately, I heard absolutely nothing from Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal to inspire me. His bizarre partisan pandering seemed small, petty and out of place. He did not represent the Republican Party well. But Jindal was just the sideshow, Obama was the star.

Bobby Jindal for Vice President

The Wizard sits in front of the television once again on a Tuesday Night and opines on the day's primary results........

If you were smart or lucky enough to switch over from MSNBC to FOX NEWS, you might have caught Bobby Jindal's stunningly brilliant introductory speech for John McCain. You would have also caught McCain's entire speech start to finish instead of hearing Keith Olbermann slobber shamelessly over the Barack Obama nomination. Thanks to TiVo I got to do both. Only FOX carries McCain's entire speech.

MSNBC is rapidly becoming an insult to journalism, their viewers and to everyone's intelligence. If FOX leans to the right (and it does), MSNBC leans so far left they literally capsize the boat every night. Don't get me wrong. I watch MSNBC all the time. I just recognize how pathetic they have become.

FOX and MSNBC. What a sorry state news television is in. What happened to integrity and intellectual honesty?

But back to Bobby Jindal. Bobby Jindal gave an excellent speech. He was bright, articulate, knowledgeable and he is a gifted speaker. Jindal is the future of the Republican party. Nominating him puts him in position to carry the party's banner in 2012 or 2016.

Regular readers might assume I will endorse Barack Obama in the general election. Certainly I've written much more about Obama than I have McCain. But hold your horses. I endorsed BOTH for their primary nominations. I will discuss my views of their strengths and weaknesses and, much more importantly, their positions in the issues over the next few months. I genuinely have not made up my mind. I promise I will endorse one by October and I will have thoroughly aired my reasons.

BUT...... but.... but, I'm going out on a limb tonight. I confidently predict Barack Obama will be elected the next President of the United States.

Anyone who did watch FOX NEWS tonight and listened carefully to EVERY WORD of McCain's speech and EVERY WORD of Obama Speech knows the results right now.

That doesn't mean I think Obama should win. I have many, many problems with his candidacy. But I think he will win.