Happiness is good health and a bad memory.
Ingrid Bergman
Chart of the Day: Oil Price War (Aimed at Unconventional US/Canada Recovery?)
Obama Hits $18T in National Debt: 70% Increase With 2 Years Left To Go
Reason's Nanny of the Month: Nov. 2014
Father & Son
Political Potpourri
We are heading down the home stretch of the Louisiana Senate runoff this weekend. The last poll I've seen showed Cassidy with a 15-point lead. Early polling is not favorable for Landrieu; recall Landrieu barely edged Cassidy in the election day jungle primary and whereas the Dems outpolled the GOP in early voting both rounds, Dem votes in the second round are down over 20,000 while GOP votes are up 3000--and that GOP vote will be more cohesive this round. Libertarian Republican is running a piece showing a black mayor advocating voter fraud (multiple ballots for Landrieu). Landrieu is resorting to desperate tactics, including the race card in reference to Obama:
“They have shown our president so much disrespect,” says Rep. Cedric Richmond (D-La.) in the ad, which was first reported by BuzzFeed News.
“They said he wasn’t a U.S. citizen, they even sued him — and if Cassidy wins, they will impeach him.”First, whereas some people believe in the birther nonsense, this blog has constantly rejected it. It is true that the House has recently sued him--over his unauthorized, completely political decision to defer the business mandate to ObamaCare. It had nothing to do with them wanting a business mandate; they were willing to pass the mandate deferral, but Obama said that it was unnecessary and he would veto it if it ever reached his desk. This is a clear Constitutional issue involving the Separation of Powers and one quite appropriate to judicial review. As for impeachment, Speaker Boehner on July 29 unambiguously rejected it, preferring to use a lawsuit to challenge Obama's lawlessness; Politifact recently rejected a civil rights group's claim of impeachment as "mostly false", noting that only a dozen of so Republicans had raised the issue for different reasons. Not to mention the fact with 46 Dem seats in the Senate, the Republicans almost surely would be unlikely to get a supermajority to convict. What is absolutely undeniable is that if Cassidy is elected to the Senate, he would not be in a position to vote for impeachment, which is decided in the House; he would have a potential vote to convict.
Bad news in a Quinnipiac poll for Clinton: while she swamps the Dem field with 57% (the next closest, Warren, 44 points behind), she leads 5 GOP challengers from 1 to 5 points each (in fact, I think Romney narrowly edged her in this or other recent poll).
Finally, an odd thing about Obama's approvals: at least 3 polls last week had Obama's approvals in the upper 30's, although another 3 showed him in the mid-40's.
Facebook Corner
(Independent Institute). Senior Fellow John Graham: "Is it fair to give employees an unlimited tax break if they get health benefits from an employer, but not if they choose their own health insurance?"
Of course not, although I dislike the distinction between a subsidy vs. a tax expenditure. What I don't quite get is why free market reformers want to exempt healthcare transactions, which seems arbitrary. I don't quite get the purpose of a tax--why not simply allow a standard healthcare deduction--whether a personal (post-salary) policy or business-sponsored policy? I believe McCain had floated this concept back in 2008.
(Judge Napolitano). Another immigration lie... 'Does Obama Have an Adult Relationship with the Truth?' http://goo.gl/nGf9rF
Well, Barry was for the traditional definition of marriage before he was against it. "It depends on what the meaning of 'is' is".... It's what happens when you elect a university lecturer of Constitutional law to the Presidency...
(Lew Rockwell). "In one of the airports I was in recently (I forget where), I noticed a board on the wall with the names of the TSA employees of the quarter. I wonder how that is determined? Here are some possibilities," says Laurence Vance:
1. Most children scared.
2. Most passengers “gate raped.”
3. Most items stolen from luggage.
4. Most bottles of water passengers forced to throw away.
5. Most genitals felt on teenage boys.
6. Most breasts felt on teenage girls.
7. Most handicapped people embarrassed.
8. Most old people intimidated.
9. Most attractive women felt up.
10. Most passengers inconvenienced.
11. Most threats to call local police security.
My favorite personal TSA story: In San Antonio, I once had an outgoing flight. What I recall was that there was some sort of flight reassignment which left me a half hour or so going into security, where I won the lottery for a full screen. Apparently the TSA personnel were supposed to stamp my boarding pass after completing ths screen but "forgot". I race to the gate (the flight started boarding while I was in security), where an airline agent almost proudly noted the fact my pass had not been stamped and refused to let me board. TSA was called; a female TSA agent appeared with a security wand with all the dispatch of a DMV employee. (In the interim, a standby passenger was openly pleading with the agents to reassign my seat, and the gate agents made it clear they would not hold the flight for me.) The TSA person started scanning me when I protested a second scanning at the gate, asking her to check back with front; I'm sure they had a record of scanning me. She told me, "We can do this the easy way or hard way. The hard way is you're being escorted back to the front of security and you miss your flight."
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| via Tette per la Scienza on FB |
Great... Now the social conservatives have another reason to reject science...
Political Cartoon
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| Courtesy of Gary McCoy via Townhall |
Carol of the Bells
