JAMES PETHOKOUKIS: China questions costs of U.S. healthcare reform.
Archive for 2009
November 17, 2009
ANOTHER GRIM MILESTONE: National debt now tops … $12 trillion.
DON SURBER ON 2010 AND the “Babe Theory” of revolutions.
NBC IN THE TANK (CONT’D): Law & Order episode a commercial for Obamacare. Immelt’s really giving his all for the “team,” isn’t he?
BOOZE CULTURE IS AS OLD AS THE HILLS: Stephanie Pain reviews Patrick McGovern’s Uncorking the Past: The Quest for Wine, Beer, and Other Alcoholic Beverages. “Rather than the root of all evil, alcohol is the root of all that makes us human: art, music, religion and other aspects of our culture all got their start in palaeolithic binge-drinking. That’s the theory, and McGovern has found plenty of evidence to support it.” Sounds like a good interview prospect for Stephen Green . . . .
ED DRISCOLL: Oh, That Liberal Fascism.
N.Y. POLICE raid newspaper circulation offices.
TERRIFIC NEWS: Cory Maye Gets A New Trial.
REVIEWING THE REVIEWERS: A roundup of book reviews from all over.
BILL WHITTLE, AFTERBURNER: Memo to Obama: Detainees Are Not Soldiers, They Are the Weapons in This War.
TROUBLE AT APTERA? But I want one!
VITAMIN D shows heart benefits in study. “Those with the lowest vitamin D levels were 77 percent more likely to die during the follow-up, 78 percent more likely to have a stroke and 45 percent more likely to develop coronary artery disease than those with normal levels. They were twice as likely to develop heart failure as those with normal levels. And even those who had moderate deficiencies were at higher risk, the researchers said.”
GOOD NEWS FOR MY LINE OF WORK: Record Numbers Take LSAT. “The numbers are out, and they are huge. On September 26th, more students took the LSAT than have ever taken a single administration of the LSAT in the history of the exam.”
EUGENE VOLOKH: Is Sex More Likely To Be Emotionally Traumatizing for 17-Year-Old Boys or Girls?
Possible source of insight here. Or not.
POPULAR MECHANICS: The Retirement of the Space Shuttle—And What’s Next for NASA.
THE COUNTRY’S IN THE VERY BEST OF HANDS: Recovery.gov shows money flowing to nonexistent Congressional districts. “Recovery.gov also shows 2,893.9 jobs created with $194,537,372 in stimulus funding in New Hampshire’s 00 congressional district. But, there is no such thing. The site also shows $1,471,518 going to New Hampshire’s 6th congressional district, $1,033,809 to the 4th congressional district and $124,774 to the 27th congressional district. In fact, New Hampshire only has two congressional districts; inviting confusion about where the money listed for the 00, 4th, 6th and 27th districts is going.”
Reader David Kirkham emails: “Must be in one of those 57 states somewhere…”
IN THE MAIL: From Dan Senor, Start-up Nation: The Story of Israel’s Economic Miracle.
EXAMINER EDITORIAL: Stop Lying About Those Stimulus Jobs.
Give the mainstream news media some credit: They have diligently dug into President Obama’s fanciful boasts of job creation. When Obama claimed earlier this month that his $787 billion economic stimulus package had “saved or created” 640,000 jobs, a dozen news organizations pounced. They soon highlighted some of the most egregious cases of sketchy job creation in about 20 states.
From their reports, The Examiner has created an online interactive map for tracking exaggerated stimulus claims. So far, more than 75,000 jobs — exceeding 10 percent of the total — are either highly doubtful or clearly imaginary. In the coming weeks, we expect to add many thousands more to that total as other media organizations scrutinize stimulus grants in their areas.
Obama and his senior aides have sought to downplay the importance of exact numbers, but they invited close scrutiny earlier this year by setting dramatic expectations for the effect the stimulus program would have on employment. If his stimulus program was approved, Obama promised, unemployment would not go above 8 percent this year. The reality is that it passed 10.3 percent in October. So now the stimulus books are being cooked to mollify an anxious public worried that real-world jobs continue to disappear and angry that Obama has thrown almost $1 trillion down the stimulus rathole.
It’s like the whole thing was some kind of scam or something.
TIM CAVANAUGH: Post-3962 Town Hall Tour: Becerra Bombs In L.A., Sherman Kills In Van Nuys. I’m not surprised that Brad Sherman held up well on technical questions. I interviewed him several years ago on nanotechnology for TCS Daily and he was a very smart guy. Still, Cavanaugh’s conclusion is striking: “Sherman and Becerra both made statements about how getting scorched by town hall opponents is part of what makes American democracy the first or second best democracy in the NAFTA region, and it was pleasing to see such engaged citizens getting their two cents in. But if this is the best victory lap the Democrats can muster, after a late-Saturday-night vote and with a generally compliant media, it makes you wonder what a loss would have looked like.”
DON SURBER: Angry old white men are (gulp) Kossers?
MAN BITES DOG: ACORN Employee Refuses to Help Underaged Prostitution Scheme. Nominate this guy for Employee of the Year!
REASON TV: Dating for Ayn Rand Fans.
ANDREW MALCOLM ON the reaction to Sarah Palin’s book. “You know how sometimes a friend tells you how much he/she doesn’t really care about…. …someone else. Really doesn’t! And repeats it a sufficient number of times that you become convinced of precisely the opposite?”