Never attribute to malice
what can be adequately explained by stupidity.
Unknown
Earlier One-Off Rant: Enough Already With Politically-Correct Feminists!
Sunday Talk Soup
- Paul Krugman on Trillion Dollar Coins and Hostage Taking. As I mentioned in a recent post, I'm catching up on a backlog of NBC, ABC, and Fox News Channel Sunday talk shows. Yes, I know the gimmick suggested as a workaround to Obama to evade the debt ceiling limit was ruled out by the Administration some time back, but hearing him argue a GOP Congress had provided a loophole by not putting a cap face value on commemorative platinum coins is ludicrous: given the richest American is worth in the tens of billions, who could buy trillion-dollar coins? As to Krugman's "we don't negotiate with terrorists" mantra over the debt limit, it's really future generations of American taxpayers whom are being held hostage by this spendthrift Congress and President, which have more than doubled the publicly held debt. Krugman seems totally oblivious to the fact there are consequences to high debt, including a debased currency.
- Rove Misleads on Rand Paul's Drone Position. I have a lot of respect for Rove as a political pundit. But I believe he materially misstates Rand Paul's position. The issue is not whether an American-born or naturalized terrorist can be targeted--but whether a President can act unilaterally without due process. Rand Paul in fact suggested rogue American clerics might be brought up on treason charges and does not imply legal action can't be taken against a fugitive. He does believe in the rule of law and the balance of power. Rand Paul and I are also skeptical about Obama's authority to order drone strikes where the Congress has not authorized military action. I have no doubt Rove's views are neo-con and ours aren't.
The Intellectually Dishonest Progressive Straw Man of the Tea Party
I am getting tired of the scapegoating of the Tea Party, but I usually don't want to publicize progressives behaving badly. But in this case I'll make an exception:
Speaking with his guests on Wednesday’s Hardball, Matthews asked:
Is it sort of a resumption of the Old South, of the way things were before the Civil War for example? Is it like that old dreamy nostalgia you get in the old movies "Gone With The Wind"? Is it that kind of America they want to bring back or what? When there were no gays, where blacks were slaves, Mexicans were in Mexico. I mean, is this what they want?
A place where there are no gays? No. Matthews here, being an incompetent analyst, confuses social conservatives with the Tea Party. The Tea Party takes no position on culture warrior issues like abortion, "gay marriage", etc. Most Tea Party people accept the rights of gays to be left alone, to be able to associate freely, etc.
A place where blacks were slaves? No, we believe in the unalienable rights to life, liberty, and property.
A place where Mexicans were in Mexico? This is an obvious reference to immigration. Two Tea Party favorites, Marco Rubio and Rand Paul,, have been advocating immigration reform including legal residency for unauthorized aliens in good standing.
Update from the Coalition on Sugar Reform
The Coalition for Sugar Reform today applauded a bipartisan group of Senators for their efforts to push for reform of the Depression-era sugar program during debate on the budget resolution bill. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) offered an amendment to the bill, championed by Senator Pat Toomey (R-PA) and others, which would have taken away funding for the Feedstock Flexibility Program (FFP), a provision of the outdated sugar program, which requires USDA — and ultimately taxpayers — to buy excess sugar and sell it to U.S. ethanol producers for pennies a pound. The amendment was cosponsored by Senators Shaheen, Toomey, Mark Kirk (R-IL), Dick Durbin (D-IL), John McCain (R-AZ), Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), Jeff Flake (R-AZ) and Susan Collins (R-ME). In the last four calendar years, the U.S. price for refined sugar ran anywhere from 64 to 92 percent higher than the average world price. In addition, since 2008, it is estimated that higher sugar prices have cost U.S. consumers $14 billion in higher food costs.
How Lawyers, Not Competition, Killed Blitz,
The Market Leader Manufacturer of Gas Cans
From Faces of Lawsuit Abuse:
At its peak, Blitz USA, the 50-year-old producer of three out of every four portable gas cans nationwide, employed 350 people in the small town of Miami, Oklahoma. Around the turn of the century, Blitz came into the crosshairs of the product liability lawyers who saw opportunity in the handful of injuries that came almost exclusively from misuse or miss-storage of the gas can. What started as one lawsuit against Blitz quickly ballooned to more than 40. As the cases mounted and Blitz was forced to empty more than $30 million from its coffers in defense and damage fees, the writing was on the wall. Blitz had to declare bankruptcy, forcing 117 of its remaining employees out of work.
Political Cartoon
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| Courtesy of Steve Kelley and Townhall |
Backstreet Boys, "Quit Playing Games (With My Heart)"
