Do you want to know about our debt? How did we get here? Because of idiotic observations from people who are too blinded to think of the freaking big picture.

I hate to believe that people go through their days thinking “What can all the taxpayers in the rest of the country do for me?”, but what else can a person think when reading an article in the Denver Post about the potential closing of the local New Raymer post office when some “citizen” is quoted saying this.

“If they take out our post office it will leave a huge hole here,” said Gayle Krager, a 34-year resident of New Raymer.

“The post office is where we meet and visit. This is where we learn about funerals and weddings, bridal showers and Tupperware parties. And yeah, if local gossip is flying, we hear it there too.”

Seriously? You people can’t find some other place to discuss Tupperware parties and so people in Florida should cover this?. Are you effing kidding me?!?!

A million here, a billion here, who cares? I’d rather be reelected.

Click here for a graphic that makes you quit caring about the billions.

Ok, yesterday turned out to be another nail biting day and not the big day.
Warning: today might be the same

I’d like to add a few things to my observations yesterday.
1) I was asked about the crazy tea partiers and how can they think like they do. I think this NYPost column by Charles Gasparino spells it out one aspect pretty well. Tea Partiers came into being because Obamacare was their last straw of government spending/interference. They’d/we’d just put up with TARP and the stimulus and cash for clunkers and and and and. Tea Partiers rose up and said screw it. Every freaking “save” from hell is for the benefit of the big. And all in trust of what famed economists are promising.
When was the last time a famed economist predicted correctly?

See. The world will end as we know it if the debt ceiling is not raised. I am cynical, or it trusting enough to believe it and I don’t want to risk it. Tea Partiers have said “Enough!”.

I said yesterday we are not a “conservative nation” and tea partiers don’t get to win everything. However, they do have the power to stop this because they represent a huge portion of Americans. That needs to be respected.

2) I heard a man on the radio last night getting interviewed and though….”He makes sense!” Who was it?
John Bolton. I like that guy. Anyway he likened this to a battle and I have to agree.

Conservatives have not won the government but they can if they are smart and strategic. This debt ceiling thing is a battle to be won and not an answer to all our problems. What Boehner has strung together can be called a solid “win” leaving the right with more power for the next battle.
IF tea partiers decide that this is the war and not just a battle, then me thinks their strategy will fail and the actual war will be lost.

(I suppose such words are enticement for violence, but nyah, nyah)

So I say – once again – call your representatives and support Mr. Boehner today. This is a strong win.

Read Jennifer Rubin
Read Charles Krauthammer who is also thinking of this as part of a long term strategy to win back the White House and this country. As he says “We’re only at the midpoint”.

Also read House of Eratosthenes who holds the more conservative position. He’s got what people know in their guts. We can’t function this way forever and now is the time to change that.

Let’s vote.
Via Allapundit

To sum up, then: The man who’s supposed to be leading rebel troops to final victory over Qaddafi, thereby vindicating NATO’s decision to join the war, is now dead in his own capital on the orders of his own side, in all probability.

And via Best of the Web

Balance is supposed to be a good thing, which is why President Obama keeps using “balanced approach” as a euphemism for what he has also more bluntly described as “massive, job-killing tax increases.”

Mr. Boehner is still trying to drum up votes, but more and more people are sounding like they understand the scenario and need to lead for the whole country and not just a few. Sorry – not you Rush, or Glenn or Sean. (yes, I had errands to run yesterday and turned on talk radio)

Even my blog brothers at ThreeSources are onboard this latest bill. It was a good fight and with 1/2 of 1/3 of the governing body I think Boehner did a good job.

In the meantime – others – and you know who you are (including Rush, Glenn and Sean) – have a plan. Let’s see how John McKormick describes it.

Underpants Gnome debt plan:
Phase 1: Defeat Boehner;
Phase 2: ???;
Phase 3: Cut, Cap, Balance!

Yeah – that’s a good plan.

Allapundit, who I often think is a bit over the top, sounds like the adult in the room with this observation about that plan. (bold is mine) [tangent: he also links to Keith Hennessey who shares his reasoned arguments for support]

Yeah, I’m confused by Phase 2 also. What’s the scenario by which Barack Obama and Harry Reid magically become fiscal conservatives and lead the Democrats to adopt CCB? The thinking, I assume, is that if we hit the ceiling and the economy tanks, the left will have a panic attack and agree to pass CCB simply because it’s the only thing, supposedly, that can pass the House. But that assumes Democrats will agree to anything to raise the ceiling. They won’t. If you disagree, why not add the repeal of ObamaCare to the list of GOP demands? Why not add the privatization of Social Security? I hate to intrude with a bit of bracing political reality but Obama and Reid have to appease their base too. Giving the tea party everything it wants is the opposite of that, for which they’d pay a terrible electoral price. And since this fiasco is, after all, about nothing more than electoral politics on the Democratic side, that makes CCB an instant nonstarter.

Some people seem to think that this country is solidly “conservative”. It isn’t. And yes, the Republican Congress would definitely get blamed if interest rates shot through the roof due to a debt ceiling denial. It isn’t hard to do that. Watch what DerSpeigal does here in this article.
Step 1: Talk about the seriousness of the long term problem.

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble, widely respected in the US capital for his forthrightness, is the latest. “Everyone in the US should be aware of their responsibility for the global financial markets,” Schäuble told the daily Passauer Neue Presse on Thursday. He added that he remained confident a solution would be found, but “even then, America’s problems won’t be solved. The core of those difficulties is exorbitant debt and the economic prospects. Americans have to find long-term solutions to create solid fiscal and growth policies.”

Step 2: Blame Republicans

Conservative Republicans in Washington have pointed to such economic indicators in explanation for their refusal to give an inch in the ongoing battle with Obama. Yet while Republicans have insisted on massive budget cuts, they have refused to consider raising taxes on America’s richest. While Obama has been seeking to give a little in an effort to find a compromise, the Republicans, who many believe have been following the lead of the arch-conservative Tea Party movement, have done nothing but take.

I’m not suggesting we live in fear of being “blamed” for problems, but I am suggesting there is one thing far far worse than increasing the debt ceiling or even defaulting.

Four more years of Obama.

Radio Shows are there for ranting and raving. Politicians need to govern. They’ve done a great job of holding the line. Such a great job there still is not guarantee yet that this will pass, that it will pass the Senate or that Obama will sign it. So place your calls and send your letters. This isn’t quite over.

Brilliant.
Go big sis.

A new study suggests that Medicare’s 5-year-old prescription drug plan is keeping seniors out of hospitals and nursing homes, saving the federal program an estimated $12 billion a year in those costs.

…..

“This is what people always hope for: If people get drug coverage, they won’t need hospitalization,” said Marsha Gold of the nonpartisan Mathematica Policy Research, who wasn’t involved in the new study. “If it holds up, that’s great news.”

…..

Other savings come from doctors no longer admitting patients to hospitals just so Medicare would pay for drug treatments — like injectable clot-busting drugs for deep vein thrombosis — that can be given more cheaply in a doctor’s office, McWilliams said.

And remember the ‘donut hole’ that Obamacare removes?

The nation’s 1-year-old health care law is gradually closing the Medicare drug coverage gap, the “doughnut hole,” which also should keep seniors out of hospitals, McWilliams said.

But another view on the doughnut hole came from Joseph Antos, a health policy expert at the conservative-leaning American Enterprise Institute. Antos said the doughnut hole “turned out to be a very good idea” because it encourages seniors to use cheaper generics instead of more expensive brand-name drugs.

“It’s disastrous policy to whittle away at the doughnut hole,” Antos said. “If we see generic usage drop, that means the program is going to cost more.”

A nice look at President Bush’s courage.

So let others fret about George W. Bush’s smarts. For my nation’s sake, I’m hoping our next president has some of his steel.

Don’t bother with me, go read George Will today.

And call your representatives. Obama specifically requested that we call and tell them what we want.
Consider it done sir.

I was on a tear last year about our shameful, shameful support of ousted (legally) President Zelaya.
I thought the interim President Michelletti of Honduras was one of the most admirable men around.

Mary Anastasia O’Grady, the WSJ’s reporter on all things Latin America gets us up to date on a UN commissions report of what happened in Honduras. Read the whole thing.

Michelletti was one big damned hero.

Read the comments of this column. People are getting the connection.
Ok….some people. People who would read the column.