It's been nine months since obama stopped whining about GWB's use of the Patriot Act to capture incoming calls from suspected terrorists.

In this time, obama has apparently had it revealed to him, that he really does need the Patriot Act after all.

Obama's henchman in the Dept. of Justice (Eric Holder) is fighting tooth & nail to maintain GWB's procedures for keeping the nation safe- while at the same time, publicly stating the need to legislatively cancel the Act.

Looks like you can indeed fool some of the people all of the time.

And then, there's bin laden. Nine months after his last of many criticisms of GWB for not capturing bin laden, obama claims to still be looking for him. How's that search mode working out for you, barack?

Maybe you should try this approach...

Democrats want a so-called "government-option" to compete with the insurance companies. They do not tell us that by undercutting the costs, they will drive insurance companies out of business. People will be left with only the government "option" - except it won't be an option. It will be the only game in town. Liberals call that, the "Single Payer" plan. During the presidential campaign, obama promised the single-payer plan, and he warned that it won't come immediately, but will evolve from the legislative attempts along the way.

When a legitimate insurance company starts to falter, it will reduce costs and coverage or it will enter bankruptcy courts. But when the government option falters, the government will just print more money... keeping it afloat indefinitely.

Responsible people will not entertain discussion of healthcare from a liberal-socialist until the latter are willing to discuss Tort Reform, and unless they are willing to discuss interstate competition among bona-fide insurance companies. Those are two things that will reduce insurance costs naturally, and with no cost to the taxpayer. But the liberals are intent on protecting their trial lawyers lobby from such reform.

A liberal will also not tell you that all their plans collect taxes for their plans, for 10 years... in order to provide their "benefits" for only 5 years. That is, the actual cost they report is only half the initial cost- and that doesn't even consider the fact that all government programs always cost more than intended. Liberals on the Hill insist their plans are "deficit neutral." No, they aren't joking; they really think you are stupid enough to not follow their machinations. 

What else don't they like to talk about? How about the fact that the government plans also cover illegal aliens. Yes, obama says that is a rightwing lie. However, obama doesn't tell you that his next big program is to grant amnesty to illegal aliens... and once granted, those "legals" suddenly have healthcare paid for by you... Sucker!!

Those backroom deals within the democrat party seem to be all about how to artfully package a monster, making it look like a nice gift.

Their latest move is to have an "opt-out" provision where a state may choose to not involve itself with the government controlled aspect of the healthcare plan. What they didn't emphasize, is that the decision to "opt-out", is not left solely to the state... it depends of whether or not the federal government thinks that state has a valid reason or not. And who decides if the reason is valid? Why it's the good ol' federal government. Gotcha!

Another part of that repackaging of the government takeover of the health industry is to rename the government control... calling it instead, the "Consumer Option." No kidding. Face it. Liberals really do think you are as stupid as a human can be.

Still the biggest problem with the government control of the health industry is the simple fact that it is unconstitutional. When House Speaker nancy pelosi was asked about this, she had apparently forgotten her liberal-mantra talking points in response. Instead, the best she could come up with, was to answer the reporter's question, with a question of her own. Namely, she said, "Are you serious? "

Liberal-socialists like to use the "general welfare" clause in the constitution to justify all their nationalization efforts (like Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, & takeovers of financial institutions and auto makers, and now healthcare). But that is not what the Founding Fathers meant by the clause. Even a cursory reading of the Federalist Papers (which explain the motivations for the statements in the US Constitution) will reveal that the clause had to do with the idea that the federal government was to be just the glue to keep the states working together as a unit. The US Constitution does not preclude any individual state from tinkering with its own healthcare, though. But the liberal-socialists will have none of that.

The Yanks beat the LA Angels last night. So it'll be the Yanks vs the Phillies in the World Series.

I'm a long-time Yankees fan and observer, but it appears the Phillies will take the Series in 6 games (i.e., 4 - 2).

They say that good pitching always beats good hitting. I'm a firm believer in that- especially in the case of my favored Yanks. Despite their great offensive potential and skill at the plate up and down the lineup, they generally do not adapt very well to a great pitcher during the course of the game.

When you compare the Yanks batting, to the hitters for the Red Sox or the  LA Angels for example, you can see that the latter two teams have an easier time adapting to a skilled pitcher, after seeing his 'stuff' once or twice.

Compounding the Yanks problem in this regard, is the glowing apathy of the players as they repeatedly strike out at key points of a game. The Yanks are notorious for that. I think they make so much money that they just don't display the intensity of play needed to beat a team like the Phillies.

There are a few exceptions to this apparent rule. No one can argue with the intensity brought to the game by Andy Pettitte or Nick Swisher. But guys like Jeter and A-rod and esp the overrated hitter, Teixeira just don't seem to have it when it really counts.

The youthful exuberance of players like Robinson Cano and Melky Cabrera just won't be enough to overcome the consistent hitting power of the Phillies.

Besides my sometimes depressing habit of tracking the political exploits of the amatuer, Barack Obama, pretending to play American President, I have taken to keeping an eye on the adventures of the 16 year-old girl from Australia (Jessica Watson). She is attempting to become the youngest person to sail around the globe. She just started a couple of days ago. Currently she is somewhat north of New Zealand, in the vicinity of Lord Howe Island.

If you're interested in her observations and trials and tribulations, you can see her daily log at,

http://www.youngestround.blogspot.com/

A great deal of care and planning has gone into her adventure, and a lot of aussies have helped in the execution of the plans... from structural integrity of the boat, to the storage of 8 months of food onboard.

A 16 year old on the ocean in the middle of the night. Sounds frightening, until you realize that she's probably a million times safer than if she were in the bowels of Detroit in the middle of the night.

She has captivated the hearts of the aussies and a lot of people worldwide. If she fails, or dies in a storm, the aussies will be devastated, and the watching world will be stunned.

We can only hope that the Australian government realizes the importance of her safety, and has a submarine trailing her every move as she passes various natural and man-made danger points. What's that? Their subs are too busy trailing Russian and Chinese boats? C'mon... its good practice, and very fruitful to divert one sub for this task. Let the Americans pick up the slack (assuming of course, that obama hasn't given all our nuclear boats over to the Chinese yet).

If she's successful, then no one will ever know... and if she gets into trouble that sub could rise to the occasion and pluck her out of danger- whatever its form. Get on with it, aussies, you have more common sense than most nations of the world.

The format of the home page for xraynova has been revised a bit.

Currently the links to the various articles are not connected, but they will be in the next few days- as soon as I can figure out how to do it...

I expect to resume my (primarily political) blog in this location in the next day or two.