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*TIA Daily* • *September 2, 2009 * The Lamps Are Going Out All Over Europe In a preview of what we can expect under "cap-and-trade," Britain is facing the looming prospect of daily power blackouts. ------------------------------ *Top News Stories* 1. The Town Hall Battle <#1237ea8ccad0dbb2_Item+1> 2. Obama's Empty Mandate <#1237ea8ccad0dbb2_Item+2> 3. Contempt for the Governed <#1237ea8ccad0dbb2_Item+3> 4. "American-Style Free-Market Economics" <#1237ea8ccad0dbb2_Item+4> 5. The Lamps Are Going Out All Over Europe <#1237ea8ccad0dbb2_Item+5> 6. Defeatism <#1237ea8ccad0dbb2_Item+6> ------------------------------ Submit articles, interesting links, letters to editor, or comments to [email protected]. ------------------------------ *Top News Stories* *Commentary by Robert Tracinski* 1. The Town Hall Battle Throughout the month of August, town hall meetings have been a route for the advocates of socialized medicine. Opponents of Obama's health-care plan have proven more numerous and more passionate—reflecting the views of the American people as a whole. The left's response has been to denounce this spontaneous grass-roots opposition as fake—"Astroturf"—and then to scramble desperately to rig a fake grass-roots movement of their own. The article below describes how this works, with Democratic congressmen trying to pack town halls with their supporters. My favorite detail is the leftist organizer who is handing out hand-painted signs. They're hand-painted, so they look as if people made them all by themselves, on their own initiative. But they're actually manufactured in bulk by leftist activists, then handed out at the door. Thus, town hall meetings are becoming a battleground. For example, TIA Daily reader Mark Kalinowski, who is active in a northern New Jersey tea party group, has had to urge people to arrive at an upcoming town hall meeting three hours early—in order to counter leftist activists, who have told their supporters to arrive two hours early. But I think this new effort by the left will prove to be too little, too late. See another report<http://thehill.com/homenews/house/57033-hoyer-gets-earful-at-volatile-town-hall>on a town hall meeting for Steny Hoyer, the number 2 Democrat in the House. According to the report, "the Maryland chapter of Health Care for America Now, had counted on filling 1,300 of the 1,500 seats with health reform supporters." Read the rest of the report, and judge for yourself how successful that was. "Boos Reign at Reston Health-Care Event<http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/aug/26/connolly-faces-seniors-doubts-about-reform/?feat=article_related_stories>," Joseph Curl, *Washington Times*, August 26 President Obama's own campaign spinoff organization on Tuesday descended on a town-hall meeting in Northern Virginia, handing out hundreds of hand-painted signs that said "reform now" and "vote yes on HR 3200," the massive health care bill tabled in the House before its summer recess. Several workers passed out the homemade signs at the back of a high school gym shortly before a town hall featuring former Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean. "The signs are from Organizing for America," said one woman handing them out, but she would not give her name, saying, "I don't feel comfortable doing that." The push by the organization was part of a major effort by supporters to sway the debate, which has sent the president's approval rating on a free fall and threatened to crush the cornerstone of his lofty agenda of change. Proponents plan to hold about 500 events nationwide before lawmakers return to Washington after Labor Day in an effort to build support…. Tuesday's town hall at South Lakes High School in Reston, 20 miles west of Washington, was explosive before it even began. Thirty minutes before Mr. Dean and the local congressman arrived, hundreds of people on one side of the gym began chanting: "We can't afford it!" Hundreds more on opposite bleachers began their own chant: "Yes, we can!" deploying Mr. Obama's campaign slogan. "No, we can't! No, we can't!" people chanted back from the first side of the bleachers…. Rep. James P. Moran…tried to explain the cost—at least $100 billion a year, some estimates say twice that—Mr. Moran declared "that cost is fully paid for." The crowd burst out into loud laughter, again drowning out the congressman. "Nine trillion debt!" one man yelled. *back to top* <#1237ea8ccad0dbb2_TOC> 2. Obama's Empty Mandate Back on November 5, reacting to a bland victory speech in which the new president-elect gave absolutely no indication to the American people of what he actually wanted to achieve in office, I predicted that Obama would have no "mandate" to pursue an ideological agenda once he took office. I concluded: "He may want to claim a mandate, but he can't use it get anywhere if he refuses to tell the voters where he wants to go…. [I]f the Democrats try to enact an ambitious socialist agenda, they will prompt a backlash." Boy, did that turn out to be true! Having campaigned as a "blank screen" who worked assiduously to hide his far-left convictions, Barack Obama has suffered a catastrophic decline in his approval numbers after making his first big push for a central item in his agenda. I don't have an excerpt for this story, just a link to a table<http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/obama_administration/obama_approval_index_history>of Rasmussen polls showing the steady collapse of Obama's poll numbers, starting with his inauguration and accelerating during the August recess, and now bringing him into significant negative territory. (Look particularly at the numbers for "strongly approve" and "strongly disapprove.") Rasmussen's methods usually give less favorable results to Obama than those of other pollsters—but look for the rest of the polls to eventually follow suit. *back to top* <#1237ea8ccad0dbb2_TOC> 3. Contempt for the Governed The agenda of the far left is deeply unpopular—which is why the left is constantly searching for ways to bypass the consent of the governed and force their agenda on us without our approval. How deeply that impulse is buried in the left's ideology and sense of life can be gauged by the exposure of the Obama administration's FCC "diversity czar"—who turns out to be a longtime enemy of free speech and advocate of propagandistic state control of the media. I particularly like the description in the overview below from *Investor's Business Daily*: that the left seeks power, "not from the people or for the people, but over the people." "Diversity Czar Threatens Free Speech<http://www.ibdeditorials.com/IBDArticles.aspx?id=336613763986105>," *Investor's Business Daily*, August 31 When Mark Lloyd was appointed July 29 as the chief diversity officer at the Federal Communications Commission, a nation focused on ObamaCare and a deteriorating economy took little notice. But as angry constituents flood town hall meetings and call in to talk radio, a man dedicated to silencing them sits at the right hand of the president. They share a common hero—Saul Alinsky—who wrote the community organizer's bible, "Rules for Radicals." It speaks of confrontation or, as candidate Obama put it, of "getting in their faces" as a way to obtain power, not from the people or for the people, but over the people…. Fox News host Glenn Beck has done yeoman work in exposing this threat posed by Mr. Lloyd. He points out that in his 2006 book, "Prologue to a Farce: Communication and Democracy in America," Lloyd wrote: "It should be clear by now that my focus here is not freedom of speech or the press.... This freedom is all too often an exaggeration.... At the very least, blind references to freedom of speech or the press serve as a distraction from the critical examination of other communications policies."… He essentially proposes extorting money from broadcasters who have the audacity to air the likes of Beck, Limbaugh and Laura Ingraham, all of whom have competed in the marketplace of ideas and won in the ratings, and use it to fund those outfits nobody wants to listen to—like NPR and Air America…. Lloyd praises Hugo Chavez's "incredible revolution" in Venezuela and the way "Chavez began to take very seriously the media in his country" by "imposing restraints on cable TV and revoking the licenses of more than 200 radio stations" that insufficiently toed the Chavez party line. *back to top* <#1237ea8ccad0dbb2_TOC> 4. "American-Style Free-Market Economics" Japan has just elected a new leftist government whose leader denounces "American-style free-market economics." The *New York Times* report<http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/01/world/asia/01japan.html?_r=1&ref=world>on this is uncharacteristically quite excellent, making clear that Japan's economic problems stem from *too little* American-style free-market economics, particularly in its domestic market rather than its export manufacturing sector. The article quotes an entrepreneur who complains that "To do anything new in Japan means dealing with a nightmare of licenses, rules, and vested interests." Meanwhile, TIA Daily Wayne Kline points out that Poland is doing quite well during the current economic downturn precisely by adhering to American-style free-market economics, having taken on far less debt and kept government spending under control. "Despite the Downturn, a Polish City Thrives<http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/01/business/global/01zloty.html?_r=1&ref=world&pagewanted=all>," Carter Daugherty, *New York Times*, August 31 In the 19th century, the Polish novelist Wladyslaw Reymont titled his masterpiece about Lodz “The Promised Land” because the city attracted people from throughout Central Europe to work in its booming textile mills. These days, the industries have changed, but something similar is happening again, helping Poland to escape the searing global recession. With multinationals like Procter & Gamble, Dell and ABB leading a wave of foreign investment, cities like Lodz, in central Poland, are experiencing relative booms. Poles who left the country in search of work years ago are trickling back. As its peers in Central and Eastern Europe face a very rough year, Poland is emerging as the one economy in the region that has the heft to withstand a vicious downturn. And it just may end up being the one economy in Europe that avoids an outright contraction in 2009…. The government reported Friday that Poland’s economy expanded at an annual rate of 1.1 percent in the second quarter, bolstered by exports, construction and services. *back to top* <#1237ea8ccad0dbb2_TOC> 5. The Lamps Are Going Out All Over Europe What two World Wars could not achieve, Europe is now imposing on itself. The lamps are going out all over Europe—literally. Monday marked the beginning of Eruope's ban on the incandescent lightbulb<http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/01/business/energy-environment/01iht-bulb.html>, so that Europeans can pay 20 times more for the harsh light and dangerous chemicals of fluorescent bulbs. But the really big story, brought to my attention by TIA Daily readers Nancy Laney and Jeff Meek, is that even the fluorescent bulbs are going out soon. In the name of fighting global warming, Britain has systematically suppressed the production of energy from coal, while failing to replace it with nuclear energy. That leave Britain with wind and tide power, where the supply of energy fluctuates wildly. Or Britain can rely on natural gas—where the *price* of energy fluctuates wildly, depending on the whims of Czar Vladimir in Russia. Oh yes, and speaking of the failure of environmentalism, a major "green" business is going belly-up<http://www.ibdeditorials.com/IBDArticles.aspx?id=336696347257270>in California. This is the future envisioned for us under cap-and-trade. "Britain Facing Blackouts for First Time Since 1970s<http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/6118113/Britain-facing-blackouts-for-first-time-since-1970s.html>," Andrew Porter, *Daily Telegraph*, August 31 Britain is facing the prospect of widespread power cuts for the first time since the 1970s, government projections show. Demand for power from homes and businesses will exceed supply from the national grid within eight years, according to official figures. The shortage of supplies will hit the equivalent of many as 16 million families for at least one hour during the year, it is forecast…. The gap between Britain’s energy needs and demand throws fresh doubt on the Government’s assertion that renewable energy can make up for dwindling nuclear and coal capabilities…. The admission that Britain will face power-cuts is contained in a document that accompanied the Government’s Low Carbon Transition Plan, which was launched in July…. Under the plan, 40 per cent of the UK’s electricity will need to come from low-carbon energy sources including clean coal, nuclear, and renewables. Accompanying the report is an appendix, only published online, which warns of power shortages. It details supplies and expected demand between now and 2030…. The looming problem in Britain is caused by the scheduled closure by 2015 of nine oil and coal-fired power plants. They are the victim of an EU directive designed to cut pollution. In addition, four existing nuclear power plants are set to be shut, adding to the need for new sources of energy. Labour failed for several years to commit to a new generation of nuclear power stations. Several reviews and rows with the green lobby delayed any definitive statement on the issue. *back to top* <#1237ea8ccad0dbb2_TOC> 6. Defeatism Now that the Iraq defeatists have been defeated, be prepared for a *new*wave of defeatism—about Afghanistan. And this wave of defeatism will build because it is being enabled *by the right*. The big news from the past few days is a column from George Will advocating complete withdrawal from Afghanistan. He is joined<http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2009/09/02/george_will_is_right_98128.html>by libertarian columnist David Harsanyi, and by Diane West <http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0809/west081709.php3>, who, like Will, has been a defeatist for years. Will is also apparently planning<http://realclearpolitics.blogs.time.com/2009/09/02/george-will-doubles-down/>to add to his argument for defeat in Thursday's column. And make no mistake: it is an argument *for defeat*. The essence of defeatism is not the recognition of grave difficulties and problems—which there certainly are in Afghanistan. Defeatism is a commitment to the idea that these problems are inherently insurmountable, so the only option is to hasten the process of losing and get our defeat out of the way as soon as possible. I'll have more to say about this new wave of defeatism later, but first I just wanted to give you a heads-up that it is coming. "Time to Get Out of Afghanistan<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/31/AR2009083102912.html>," George F. Will, *Washington Post*, September 1 Allen and others of America's finest are also in Washington's hands. This city should keep faith with them by rapidly reversing the trajectory of America's involvement in Afghanistan, where, says the Dutch commander of coalition forces in a southern province, walking through the region is "like walking through the Old Testament." US strategy—protecting the population—is increasingly troop-intensive while Americans are increasingly impatient about "deteriorating" (says Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff) conditions. The war already is nearly 50 percent longer than the combined US involvements in two world wars, and NATO assistance is reluctant and often risible…. So, instead, forces should be substantially reduced to serve a comprehensively revised policy: America should do only what can be done from offshore, using intelligence, drones, cruise missiles, airstrikes, and small, potent Special Forces units, concentrating on the porous 1,500-mile border with Pakistan, a nation that actually matters. *back to top* <#1237ea8ccad0dbb2_TOC> ------------------------------ One-Year Subscription — $74 Six-Month Subscription — $38 Subscribe now! <http://www.TIADaily.com/subscribe> Copyright © 2009 by Tracinski Publishing Company PO Box 8086, Charlottesville, VA 22906 To remove yourself from this mailing list, reply to [email protected] with the subject line "unsubscribe." --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. 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