The New Diplomacy

Great. First Obama tells the Canadian he's happy to be in Iowa, then he gives British PM Gordon Brown a chilly reception. He welshes on a commitment for a missile shield for Ukraine and allows a Senator to blow the cover on secret ops in Pakistan without a reprimand. He cooperates in consigning the people of the Swat region of Pakistan to living under Sharia law.

Not to worry. He's making up for it by dropping sanctions on Syria, bribing them to stay out of Lebanon and asking for their help in reasoning with Iran. He's giving $900 B to those thugs in Gaza. And he's welshing on that US commitment to Ukraine in order to wheedle some cooperation out of Putin.

Looks more profitable to be an enemy of the US than a friend.

UPDATE: The agreement in which the imposition of Sharia law was exchanged for peace in the Swat region has already been broken as militants in the region fired on government troops today. I'm so surprised. Really.

Limits On Health Care

hidden in the stimulus bill:

The bill’s health rules will affect “every individual in the United States”. Your medical treatments will be tracked electronically by a federal system. Having electronic medical records at your fingertips, easily transferred to a hospital, is beneficial. It will help avoid duplicate tests and errors.

But the bill goes further. One new bureaucracy, the National Coordinator of Health Information Technology, will monitor treatments to make sure your doctor is doing what the federal government deems appropriate and cost effective. The goal is to reduce costs and “guide” your doctor’s decisions.

As a person who aspires to be elderly one day, this is alarming. I don't want a paper pusher "guiding" my doctor on the best treatment.

I just hope it doesn't come to this:

Elderly people suffering from dementia should consider ending their lives because they are a burden on the NHS and their families, according to the influential medical ethics expert Baroness Warnock.

Medical Ethics Expert? You gotta be kidding me.

Ugh

Can this be serious? Paying the First Lady?