With somewhat curious timing, Arkansas Democratic Rep. Mike Ross has announced that he will not run for reelection in 2012. One year ago today, Ross was part of a congressional delegation that was 5-1 Democratic: both the state’s U.S. senators, Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor, and three out of its four congressmen—Ross of the 4th district, Marion Berry of the 1st district and Vic Snyder of the 2nd district—were all Democrats.
But Berry and Snyder decided to retire rather than run for reelection in 2010, and both were replaced by Republicans. Lincoln was defeated by John Boozman, then the state’s only Republican in Congress, by a breathtaking 58%-37% margin. Now Ross, who as a Blue Dog leader and member of the Energy and Commerce Committee played a high-visibility game on Obamacare, has announced he’s quitting. Ross was reelected by a solid 58%-40% margin in 2010, one of the few Blue Dogs to do so well, and although redistricting reportedly made his district a little less Democratic he obviously hs the capacity to run ahead of his party. But Arkansas, the most Democratic Southern state in the years when Bill Clinton was running, voted 59%-39% for John McCain and against Barack Obama, and no one thinks that opinion has moved in Obama’s direction since.
Ross's retirement will make it just a bit harder for Democrats to regain their House majority. Republicans are in excellent shape to pick up and hold this seat.
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Little Rock gets an honor
Kiplinger's Newsletter has ranked Little Rock at no. 7 in its "10 best value" cities for 2011.
George Will thinks that we are moving toward libertarianism. The real questions this summer is: "What should be the nature of the American regime? America is moving in the libertarians" direction not because they have won an argument but because government and the sectors it dominates have made themselves ludicrous. This has, however, opened minds to the libertarians" argument."
Harry Reid, sideshow
In the recent negotiations, according to this report, Harry Reid has been reduced to a sideshow.
America's most elusive fugitive
The DB Cooper mystery may be solved soon. He was the hijacker who took control of a Northwest flight in 1971, got his ransom, and bailed out over Washington state. For more on Cooper see here.
Do we have a deal?
Jennifer Rubin: A deal on the debt may be coming together.
"The president gets a deal through 2012; the House gets its cuts; and Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) gets his commission. And the GOP extremists don’t get their balanced budget amendment passed and sent to the states or the satisfaction of blowing up the deal. As for the country, if it passes, the agreement will take us from the days of automatic debt-ceiling raises to the first, tentative steps toward fiscal sanity."More here. And here.
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Who's laughing now?
Harry Reid was highly amused when he announced that the Boehner bill was DOA in the Senate. Now this report says that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky) delivered a letter to Reid, signed by 43 Republicans, declaring that Reid's bill would not pass. Reid will need 60 votes.
Watergate myth
Watergate is a media myth if the total focus is on Bob Woodward and the Washington Post.
It's the elderly, stupid
Robert Samuelson: The main problem that makes the budget so intractable? "It's the elderly, stupid." This is a very good article that deserves a close reading. We as a country have to face some hard choices and harder truths.
Friday, July 29, 2011
What if we don't raise the debt ceiling?
Megan McArdle: What will happen if we really don't raise the debt ceiling? Very good summary of possibilities and probabilities.
Thursday, July 28, 2011
The terrible loneliness
I know loneliness is a terrible thing. This essay is a thoughtful reflection by a woman who suffered from it for years. It's the silence that loneliness drives you too that's the problem. Other people are afraid to talk about it because they are afraid of loneliness themselves. I don't think Twitter will help any.
TaxProf Blog: Scaring Seniors With Social Security
TaxProf Blog argues that Social Security checks could be issued regardless of any debt deal that may or may not be worked out. Well, good, but I had always heard that the Social Security reserve was just an IOU and in a practical sense uncollectable.
Why Obama has no plan for the debt crisis?
What doesn't Obama come up with a plan to fix the debt crisis? Roger Simon:
Well, the reason for the latter is simple: because he can’t. The minute the president evinces a budget plan, the game is up. No liberal budget will stand up to scrutiny. There is no money left for deficit spending in our aging society. The welfare state is kaput. It’s gone — probably for generations to come.
Of course, there’s always that canard about taxing the rich. That will save things. But the truth is even if you tax the rich at 100%, it barely sets back our entitlement crisis a year or two, while virtually bankrupting the few job creators who remain.
So no wonder Obama doesn’t have a plan. What would it be?
Health costs
According to an AP report, the nation's healthcare cost will hit $4.6 trillion by 2010.
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Noticeably sanguine Wall Street
Megan McArdle: If Wall Street was really freaking out, the markets would be down far more than they are. They're relatively calm because they simply cannot bring themselves to believe that we're not, in the end, going to raise the ceiling.
I think Stan Collender is right: Washington, particularly the GOP bit of it, is interpreting Wall Street's lack of a reaction as a sign that it's maybe not such a big deal to breach the debt ceiling. But the real message Wall Street is sending is "You can't be serious! Not raising the debt ceiling would be a disaster!"
Even to the extent that they do understand that it's a problem, there's a lot of confusion about what, exactly, the problem is. I've heard progressives arguing that "defaulting" on our Social Security obligations will somehow spook the markets, which is just nonsense. Wall Street does not care whether Granny gets paid; they care whether they get paid.
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
How to grieve
Men and women grieve differently. I know a man whose wife died six months ago, and he just remarried. I can't imagine doing that.
Why bother to listen anymore?
Megan McArdle describes her reaction to Obama and Boehner's speeches last evening: why bother? The speeches were not about how to get a deal both can live with, they were about who to blame the other side. Yet the PR battle is already over: the GOP has lost. She closes with this old Soviet joke:
An old man has been standing in line for bread for eight hours. His feet hurt, his back hurts, and he is faint from hunger. Finally, finally the door opens and the baker comes out. He starts to salivate. He fingers the rubles in his pocket.
"Comrades, go home," says the baker. "There is no flour to make bread today."
Something in the old man snaps. He has been waiting in these lines for decades, and he has had enough. "This is ridiculous!" he shouts. "I fought in the Great Patriotic War! I worked for forty years in the factory! Now you make me wait in line for eight hours when there's no flour? You didn't know this eight hours ago? I spit on you, and I spit on the regime!" And he spits in front of the baker.
A man steps out of line behind him. "Careful, comrade. You know how it would have been in the old days if you had said these things." With his thumb and forefinger, he mimes a gun being fired at the temple.
Defeated, the man steps out of line and trudges home with everyone else. He goes into his apartment and sits down at the table. His wife walks in just as he pours the last of his vodka into a glass, and drinks it down in one gulp.
"Sergei, what's wrong?!" she cries, seeing the look on his face. "Don't tell me they're out of bread!"
"It's worse than that. Much worse." he says heavily.
"What could be worse?"
"They're out of bullets."
Arkansas congressional politics
Michael Barone:
Where's my base?
LAT: Obama's base is falling apart. Nobody's happy. This article is an analysis of his recent speech word for word.
Wealth gap
An AP article on the gap between whites and minorities, but it sounds over generalized to me. No doubt many whites are not doing well, and blacks are better off than some whites.
Monday, July 25, 2011
Huey Long with a better tailor
George Will: Obama has marginalized himself. Will calls Obama a Huey Long with a better tailor.
Mike Ross not a candidate for re-election
Mike Ross announced that he will not run again for re-election to the House of Representatives. He may run for governor in 2014. All four of Arkansas' congressmen have now announced their retirement over the past couple of year.
Playing with fire
Jennifer Rubin:
This incident should be remembered when we are assessing blame at election time.A Republican aide e-mails me: “The Speaker, Sen. Reid and Sen. McConnell all agreed on the general framework of a two-part plan. A short-term increase (with cuts greater than the increase), combined with a committee to find long-term savings before the rest of the increase would be considered. Sen. Reid took the bipartisan plan to the White House and the President said no.”
If this is accurate the president is playing with fire. By halting a bipartisan deal he imperils the country’s finances and can rightly be accused of putting partisanship above all else. The ONLY reason to reject a short-term, two-step deal embraced by both the House and Senate is to avoid another approval-killing face-off for President Obama before the election. Next to pulling troops out of Afghanistan to fit the election calendar, this is the most irresponsible and shameful move of his presidency.
As for the House, why not pass the deal that Sen. Harry Reid agreed to, send it to the Senate and leave town? Enough already.
AARP's conflict of interest
Daily Caller: The AARP has a financial interest in the Medicare copay debate, but won't acknowledge it. I fume every time I see an AARP commercial.
Which is worse?
Obama fears losing the 2012 election more than default. That's why he demands that the debt limit be extended past the election.
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Debt ceiling analysis
Michael Barone on the debt talks: "What I think I saw early Friday evening was a President who saw his project of expanding America’s welfare state to European proportions meeting serious reverses. And a Speaker has determinedly sought to fulfill the mandate that voters gave his party and his chamber in November 2010 and who has taken command of the negotiations."
Microsoft update
This report indicates that Microsoft is selling fewer copies of its Windows OS, which may indicate that more people are moving to tablet computers. Times change.
States taxed most and least
What are the states where people pay the most and least taxes? I agree with one of the commenters: if you included per capita income everything on this list would be different.
Salt: good or bad?
This Scientific American article indicates there is some disagreement about our salt intake. I went to a meeting last week and found, as expected, that salt was bad for me. I know that many foods are simply loaded with it.
SS checks not at risk
This statement from the Stanford's Hoover Institution argues that your Social Security check is not at risk even if Congress does not raise the debt limit, and explains what is going to happen, or at least what is supposed to happen. So Obama's recent statement (“I cannot guarantee that those [Social Security] checks go out on August 3rd if we haven’t resolved this issue. Because there may simply not be the money in the coffers to do it.") is merely a scare tactic.
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Waste of tax money
Jonah Goldberg: "Republicans successfully sell their anti-tax message not because they have better orators or buy craftier linguists, but because taxpayers don't feel they're getting a lot of value for their dollars, and most suspect they could feel the same 'awe and respect' for half the price." Well, okay, but I think my tax money is just wasted.
Friday, July 22, 2011
Auto industry heats up
Ford executive Jim Farley lets it go: "Fuck GM. I hate them and their company and what they stand for."
A proxy for 2012
Michael Barone: The popular vote for the House in an off-year election is a pretty good proxy for the vote for president in the next presidential election. That has been the trend since 1994.
Look out for racist dogs
Ann Althouse notes that Madison, Wisconsin, schools will employ drug-sniffing dogs. The FAQ asks, "Won't certain groups of students be unfairly targeted for drug sweeps? How will you prevent racial and ethnic bias in conducting checks?"
"Hey, that's easy," she says. "Don't use a racist dog!"
"Hey, that's easy," she says. "Don't use a racist dog!"
The worst legislation? Not quite.
Sen. Harry Reid said the House's Cut, Cap, and Balance bill was the worst legislation in American history.
What about the Smoot-Hawley Tariff (1930), which was a major cause of the Great Depression? Don't be fooled by the date. The bill was debated throughout 1929 and financial markets followed the debate closely. The stock market went down every time the bill's chances for passage improved.
Worst. In history. You don’t say? I wonder where Reid would rank it on this list. Maybe:I would add as possibilities the National Industrial Recovery Act (1933) which created the NRA, and the Agricultural Adjustment Act (1933) which set up the AAA. Neither of these agencies worked, and both laws were declared unconstitutional.
- Fugitive Slave Act (1850)
- Indian Removal Act (1830)
- Cut, Cap and Balance Act (2011)
- Alien and Sedition Acts (1798)
- Executive Order #9066 [Japanese internment] (1942)
- The Volstead Act [prohibition] (1919)
What about the Smoot-Hawley Tariff (1930), which was a major cause of the Great Depression? Don't be fooled by the date. The bill was debated throughout 1929 and financial markets followed the debate closely. The stock market went down every time the bill's chances for passage improved.
Honest dialogue
Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala) on the budget debate:
“One of the things that most frustrates the American people about Washington is how hard it can be to get reliable information and straightforward answers.There's more.
Politicians offer a budget proposal and say it cuts taxes even though taxes go up. They even come up with new names to disguise tax hikes—maybe they call them deficit cuts or revenue enhancements or reduced spending in the tax code. We hear people come to the floor and blame our massive deficit on anything and everything but our out-of-control spending—it’s the war in Iraq or it’s a tax cut passed a decade ago or it’s special preferences for private yachts and Learjets.
We can’t have an honest budget if we don’t have an honest dialogue.
So I’m here today to speak the plain truth, as best I can, and to provide some concrete facts for consideration by my colleagues, the media, and the public.
First, I would like to address the myth that the president has a $4 trillion deficit-reduction plan. The only plan the White House has ever put on paper is his February budget, which doubles our national debt.
The president has never put a single spending cut plan on paper and he has no proposal to slash the deficit. If he does, it’s a closely guarded secret. And if such a secret plan does exist it should be made public this very afternoon. I’d like to see it. I’m sure millions of Americans feel the same.
We also have no debt plan from Senate Democrats. In fact, they haven’t even passed a budget in 813 days..."
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Home Depot CEO on Obama administration
Here is another CEO, Bernie Marcus of Home Depot, who discusses the business climate created by the Obama administration.
IBD: What’s the single biggest impediment to job growth today?
Marcus: The U.S. government. Having built a small business into a big one, I can tell you that today the impediments that the government imposes are impossible to deal with. Home Depot would never have succeeded if we’d tried to start it today. Every day you see rules and regulations from a group of Washington bureaucrats who know nothing about running a business. And I mean every day. It’s become stifling.
If you’re a small businessman, the only way to deal with it is to work harder, put in more hours, and let people go. When you consider that something like 70% of the American people work for small businesses, you are talking about a big economic impact.
How about bringing grown-ups to the debt ceiling debate
... says Scott Rasmussen.
There is little doubt that the American people will take a more serious approach to resolving our long-term fiscal problems. They make hard choices in their own lives every day of the week and are prepared to do the same for the nation.
This won’t be much fun for the politicians — who tend to forget that governments derive their only just authority from the consent of the governed. In today’s world, that means the voters are not only the grown-ups in the room, they’re also the boss.
No Spotify
This review of the new music service Spotify is very positive. I tried to get an account but have not heard from them. They said they'd get back to me when they could.
If the 2012 election were held today...
A Democratic polling firm said President Obama's already weak job-approval numbers are "worse than they appear" and he likely would lose the election if it were held today.
For the first time in a year, Mr. Obama does not lead former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in Public Policy Polling's monthly national poll on the 2012 presidential race. They are tied at 45 percent, and Mr. Obama is losing among independent voters by a margin of 49 percent to 44 percent.
For the first time in a year, Mr. Obama does not lead former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in Public Policy Polling's monthly national poll on the 2012 presidential race. They are tied at 45 percent, and Mr. Obama is losing among independent voters by a margin of 49 percent to 44 percent.
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
A bubble that is about to burst
Michael Barone on the higher education bubble:
Politicians, including President Obama, still give lip service to the notion that everyone should go to college and can profit from it. And many college and university administrators may assume that the gravy train will go on forever.
But that's what Las Vegas real estate developers and home builders thought in 2006. My sense is that once again, well-intentioned public policy and greedy providers have produced a bubble that is about to burst.
New Criterion anniversary
The New Criterion is coming up on its 30th anniversary. I first came across this magazine because of this article.
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Wet blanket
CEO Steve Wynn went on an "epic anti-Obama rant" that included "And I'm saying it bluntly, that this administration is the greatest wet blanket to business, and progress and job creation in my lifetime."
Widespread deprivation?
What is modern poverty really like? You might be surprised. Are we talking soup kitchens and crumbling shacks?
Rebooting the PC industry: Tablets force a shift
Tablet PCs are forcing a major re-thinking in the computer industry. People already own more than one PC, and they are increasingly likely to buy a tablet, often an iPad, rather than a regular PC. Goldman Sachs calls tablets "one of the most disruptive forces in computing in nearly three decades. It predicts that as many as 21 million people will buy tablets instead of laptops this year, jumping to 26.5 million next year." Disruptive? Only if you are stuck in your ways. I believe we need more innovation, not less. For example, I wonder why solid state drives don't occupy a larger market share than they do. For me portability is a key. Even most laptops are too heavy. Try traveling with a 7 or 8 pound laptop and see how your shoulder feels. Recently I gave away an older laptop (or boat anchor) and purchased a light-weight Toshiba Portege.
I also like the idea of touch-screens. Let's move away from traditional keyboards. What about voice recognition? Everything ought to be wireless. Get rid of all these damn wires.
I also like the idea of touch-screens. Let's move away from traditional keyboards. What about voice recognition? Everything ought to be wireless. Get rid of all these damn wires.
Rocky road ahead
Hot Air: "Obama and his re-election team had better buckle their belts, because 2012 will be a very bumpy ride — for them, and for all of us."
What's at stake in debt ceiling debate? (again)
Michael Walsh answers the question, What is the debt ceiling debate really about?
Forget all the numbers being tossed around in Washington -- the millions and billions and trillions of dollars being taxed, borrowed, printed and spent as the country approaches the Aug. 2 debt-ceiling deadline.
Forget the political jockeying for position between a president desperately seeking re-election in 16 months and a Congress equally desperately seeking not to be blamed for spending even more money that we don't have.
Forget the fact that such "entitlements" as Social Security and Medicare -- social-insurance programs that the public long thought to be actuarially sound -- have been exposed as little more than legal Ponzi schemes, paying today's benefits out of tomorrow's borrowed receipts.
Instead, just ask yourself this simple question: When did it become the primary function of the federal government to send millions of Americans checks?GettyWelfare mentality: When did it become the federal government's primary job to send millions of Americans checks?
For this, in essence, is what the debt-ceiling fight is all about -- the inexorable and ultimately fatal growth of the welfare state. If you don't believe it, just look at President Obama's veiled threat to withhold Grandma's Social Security benefits if Congress doesn't let him borrow another $2 trillion or so to get himself safely past the 2012 election.
The feds now borrow 43 cents of every dollar they spend. Under Obama, outlays have soared to nearly a quarter of GDP (the historical average is just under 20 percent) -- and once ObamaCare starts to fully kick in around 2014, it will only rise.
Monday, July 18, 2011
What Erickson reads
What Erick Erickson reads. This is an interesting column. I sometimes wonder what other people read, where they get their ideas. My own reading is confined to the web with very few magazines and one newspaper. The iPad is crucial to Erickson.
Scooter fraud
Feds, Medicare crack down on medical scooter fraud. You've seen those commercials with the promise of no out of pocket cost.
What's at stake in debt ceiling debate?
Michael Barone on the debt ceiling debate:
The bedrock issue is whether we should have a larger and more expensive federal government. Over many years federal spending has averaged about 20 percent of gross domestic product.
The Obama Democrats have raised that to 24 or 25 percent. And the president's budget projects that that percentage will stay the same or increase far into the future.
In the process the national debt as a percentage of gross domestic product has increased from a manageable 40 percent in 2008 to 62 percent this year and an estimated 72 percent in 2012. And it's headed to the 90 percent level that economists Kenneth Rogoff and Carmen Reinhart have identified as the danger point, when governments face fiscal collapse.
This is a level of spending as a share of the economy Americans haven't seen since World War II. It seems more like Europe than like the America we have known.
Music Service
I've been reading about Spotify, a new music service, but have not tried it yet. I like Pandora.
Sunday, July 17, 2011
The Irascible Professor: "Where has all the money gone?"
Talk about bloat in higher education. You pay more, you get less today.
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Freedom from health care law
The Obama administration has granted 1,471 wavers from part of the health care law.
Wyoming Republican John Barrasso said today that he plans to introduce a bill next week that “will deliver choice to Americans who want to get the care they need, from the doctor they want, at a price they can afford” by allowing all Americans to apply for a waiver from the president’s health care law.
“If the law worked well, companies and unions would not demand a way out of its expensive mandates. Each waiver demonstrates that the President’s health care law is a complete failure. The law continues to crush jobs, increase premiums and encourage government controlled health care,” Barrasso said in a written statement. “It’s not fair that a particular group of Americans, including union employees, don’t have to abide by the law. Millions of other Americans across the country deserve the same freedom,” he said.
Friday, July 15, 2011
42 % of statistics are made up on the stop
What about President Obama's claim that 80 percent of Americans support a tax increase to achieve a balanced budget? As one the commenters said, "42 percent of statistics are made up on the spot. Anyone can make up statistics, 78 percent of the people know that." You know, lies, damn lies, and ...
You want higher taxes?
Obama: 80% Of The American People Want Higher Taxes. That's a lie. Where does he get this stuff?
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Social Security's big lie
Obama exposes Social Security's big lie:
In trying to score political points against the GOP by warning that retirement checks were in jeopardy if the debt ceiling isn't raised, President Obama exposed the fraud at the heart of Social Security...So Social Security is not so secure after all. Did anyone think it was?
Wait! What happened to Social Security's "guarantee"? You know, the iron-clad assurance of Social Security benefits in exchange for paying into the program your whole working life? It's something Democrats constantly talk about, particularly when attacking Republicans who propose privatizing the program.
The man who won't listen to anybody
Glenn Reynolds has this summary reaction to Obama's recent speech:
JAMES TARANTO: America Tunes Out: Why is Obama such a bore? One historian blames Reagan.
Michael Goodwin of the New York Post “listened intently” to President Obama’s Monday press conference, but only “for 15 minutes or so.” That’s 15 minutes or so longer than the duration of our own intentness, but we did listen falteringly to the whole thing. By contrast, as the president “droned on,” Goodwin reveals that he “did something I never did before during an Obama appearance: I turned off the TV.”That's definitely my impression. He talks a lot but he doesn't listen to anybody.
“Enough,” writes Goodwin. “He is the Man Who Won’t Listen to Anybody, so why should anybody listen to him? . . . I will leave that unhappy duty to others. I am tired of Barack Obama. There’s nothing new there. His speeches are like ‘Groundhog Day.’ ”
Goodwin is dead wrong about that last point, and he owes Bill Murray an apology. “Groundhog Day” was a terrific movie. Apart from that quibble, though, we feel Goodwin’s pain, and we suspect most Americans do. The World’s Greatest Orator is almost always uninspiring, condescending, self-aggrandizing, peevish and grim. He is also, as Goodwin notes, ideologically inflexible.
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Who decides to put your SS check in the mail?
Update on whether Social Security checks will go out on August 3: It's a political decision. But don't worry, you're in the best of hands.
Boehner: Obama is Jello
John Boehner (R-Ohio):
“Dealing with them the last couple months has been like dealing with Jell-o,” Boehner said. “Some days it’s firmer than others. Sometimes it’s like they’ve left it out over night.”
Boehner explained that talks broke down over the weekend because, he said, the president backed off entitlement reforms so much from Friday to Saturday, “It was Jell-o; it was damn near liquid.”
Die-hard Republican
This obit appeared in a Rome, Georgia, newspaper:
See here.
The family respectfully asked in lieu of flowers that memorial contributions be made to the American Cancer Society or to the campaign of whoever is running against President Barack Obama in 2012.
See here.
Who is paying attention to the debt ceiling?
Contrary to President Obama, Americans are paying attention to the debt ceiling and they are opposed to lifting it.
President Obama has run into a brick wall. It’s called the will of the people. The reason he can’t force Republicans to raise the debt ceiling is that he will not countenance a deal that cuts spending but doesn’t raise taxes. He seems unable to grasp that 236 Republicans in the House of Representatives and 41 Senators have signed the Taxpayer Protection Pledge, promising that they will “oppose any and all efforts to increase the marginal income tax rates for individuals and /or businesses…and oppose any net reduction or elimination of deductions and credits, unless matched dollar for dollar by further reducing tax rates.”
The newly elected Republicans in the House believe they were sent to Congress to harness runaway government by reducing spending. They are, shockingly, committed to the principles on which they campaigned. This is such a foreign concept in Washington that it seems President Obama can’t wrap his mind around it.
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Monday, July 11, 2011
Obama and Nixon
Brit Hume comments on the Obama DOJ and the Fast and Furious scandal:
“This Obama Justice Department reminds me of nothing so much as the Nixon Justice Department,” Hume said on Fox News Sunday. “You have the scent of high-level knowledge of serious wrongdoing and you have the smell of cover-up and I think the stench of cover-up on this gun-running operation is very strong indeed.”
Welcome aboard, iPad
According to an article published in our paper this morning, a growing number of airline pilots are carrying their flight manuals, checklists, and logbooks aboard in an iPad. Very interesting. This is happening on Alaska Airlines.
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Sugar Daddy is out of sugar
Sarah Palin: "Hard working taxpayers have been big government’s Sugar Daddy for far too long, and now we’re out of sugar. We don’t want big government, we can’t afford it, and we are unwilling to pay for it." She can really coin a phrase, can't she?
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Friday, July 8, 2011
Megan McArdle on Medicaid
Megan McArdle asks, How much does Medicaid improve well-being? She says, "... the evidence for the effect of health insurance on mortality is not really that strong."
2011 Cotton Bowl
Ohio State is vacating all of their football victories in the 2010 season, including the 2011 Cotton Bowl victory over Arkansas. So now the 2011 Cotton Bowl has no winner. Under NCAA rules, Arkansas cannot claim a victory in the game. OSU coach Jim Tressel has already lost his job.
Atlanta schools cheating scandal
Across Atlanta Public Schools, staff worked feverishly in secret to transform testing failures into successes.
Teachers and principals erased and corrected mistakes on students’ answer sheets.
Area superintendents silenced whistle-blowers and rewarded subordinates who met academic goals by any means possible.
Superintendent Beverly Hall and her top aides ignored, buried, destroyed or altered complaints about misconduct, claimed ignorance of wrongdoing and accused naysayers of failing to believe in poor children’s ability to learn.
Tea Party to new Congress: Obamacare must go
In my opinion the Tea Party movement is about Obamacare more than any other issue. Yes government deficits are very important, but what triggered the movement was the government-takeover of medical care.
Medicare ’doughnut hole’ looms for drug customers
Want to know what to expect with your Medicare part D prescription drug plan this year? The "donut" hole is coming up. I know because I've disappeared into the hole as early as the middle of the year. I'm still not clear how it will work this year, but this article offers some help. When I read that "Companies that make brand-name pharmaceuticals are providing 50-percent discounts," I still want to know, what companies and what drugs?
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Meryl as the Iron Lady
Hollywood is making a movie about Margaret Thatcher starring Meryl Streep. I hope it's good, but I'm not optimistic, given what Hollywood is.
Jeff Ashton: Why the tattoo?
Jeff Ashton, the prosecutor in the Casey Anthony case, has his reaction to the verdict here. One question he wanted to ask Casey on the witness stand is, Why did you get the tattoo? This was the tattoo she got after Caylee was dead and she was out partying. Good question.
Give me my money
Fox News: Casey Anthony could rake in $1 million from media interviews. Hello, Katie Couric. Hello, Oprah. Then there's the book, and then the movie, etc. She will be a pariah if she does it. But you know she will.
Casey's future?
What kind of future will Cacey Anthony face now that she is declared not guilty? This article says her prospects are bleak. But she will still have that big book contract, right?
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
US empire overextended
Pat Buchanan: "The United States is strategically overextended worldwide. What are we doing borrowing money from Japan to defend Japan. Borrow money from Europe to defend Europe. Borrow money from the Persian Gulf to defend the Persian Gulf. This country is over extended. It is an empire and the empire is coming down."
He made it worse
James Pethokoukis: "The Republican charge is a body shot aimed right at the belly of President Barack Obama's re-election effort: He made it worse." Not just inefficient or wasteful, but worse. He taxed, he spent, he regulated, and made it worse.
Internet sales tax
An effort to impose an internet sales tax has failed in Massachusetts. If the government would just keep its damn hands out of our pockets! Governments at all levels simply must learn to do what everybody does -- live on less.
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Casey Anthony verdict
The Casey Anthony verdict recalls the O.J. Simpson trial. I felt that O.J. was guilty beyond any doubt, and I was inclined to believe that Casey Anthony was guilty as well. In Casey's trial at least, I feel that the prosecution just did not prove their case. Sure, some of Casey's action were questionable, and even unexplainable. But the prosecution did not meet the burden of proof.
The whole criminal justice system is biased in favor of the defendant. The assumption that it's better for the guilty to go free than it is for the innocent to suffer.
The whole criminal justice system is biased in favor of the defendant. The assumption that it's better for the guilty to go free than it is for the innocent to suffer.
Want to live forever?
Scientists believe they are going to "cure" aging, and the first person who will live to be 150 years old has already been born. Well, I doubt it. What if our bodies just wear out since they were not made to last forever? The prospect really raises some questions about Social Security, LOL.
You may recall the Biblical story of Methuselah, who lived to be 969 years. See Gen. 5: 21-27. Apparently conditions were different back then.
You may recall the Biblical story of Methuselah, who lived to be 969 years. See Gen. 5: 21-27. Apparently conditions were different back then.
Permanent middle-aged unemployment
Charles Krauthammer: Middle-aged workers may never get employed again.
Monday, July 4, 2011
Reagan statue
The British are erecting a statue in tribute to Ronald Reagan.
[Mary Jo] Jacobi, who has met every US president since Lyndon Johnson, said Reagan stands apart from subsequent presidents as he was able to articulate and execute a clear vision for the United States.
"He connected with the common person in the United States and in many parts of the world, and I think that that's a rare gift, we haven't seen it since. Bill Clinton was very good at empathy, President Obama was very good at articulating a vague notion of hope and change, but not a clear vision of what that hope and change would look like or feel like and that was the difference with Ronald Reagan," she explained.
Happy Independence Day
For some people this is not a happy 4th. According to this article, "The last comparable Fourth of July was probably in 1980, when there was a recession, skyrocketing petrol prices and an Iranian hostage crisis, with 53 Americans being held in Tehran." But I'm upbeat. Happy Independence Day!
Boots on the ground 6
I can't believe we are now in SIX wars! We've sent troops into Somalia. And I can't believe the Democrats did it.
Sunday, July 3, 2011
American history today
I find it interesting when American history gets involved in our political debate. The recent Michele-George exchange over whether the Founders promoted the end of slavery is a case in point. Of course they hoped to end slavery. The Constitution was intended to put slavery "on the path of extinction." Congress banned the slave trade in 1808. Also note that the much-maligned three-fifths provision gave the slave states an incentive to end slavery because they could immediately increase their representation in Congress if they did so.
How to stay married for 50 years
Colbert King, who's been married for 50 years, explained how he did it. It's simple: Follow orders, do what she tells you.
Why doesn't John Adams have a memorial?
Excellent question. He was one of the greatest Founding Fathers, and he was an opponent of slavery too.
I recommend David McCullough's book if you want to know about Adams.
I recommend David McCullough's book if you want to know about Adams.
Saturday, July 2, 2011
It's not about color
Herman Cain: "One of the things I have done throughout this ... is that I'm not going to allow people to distract us with this whole color thing," he told the crowd. "It is not about color. It's about good ideas that will save this economy and this nation."
SoCal secession
Southern California is looking to secede from California. They have good reasons, too.
Friday, July 1, 2011
Fireworks laws
The 4th of July is just around the corner. Need to know about fireworks laws?
But burn bans are also in effect across a wide area.
But burn bans are also in effect across a wide area.
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